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Alison Wragg
GB
Visited:
October 2016
Reviewed: Aug 30, 2025
Email Alison Wragg | 65+ years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Beautiful reserve with excellent wildlife
I particularly enjoyed this reserve with it's hilly scenery and lush vegetation. We had the most incredible views of elephants at a water hole right by our vehicle. We stayed quite a while as a large group of up to 40 gradually gathered, drinking and playing in the muddy pool. We also saw more at other parts of the drive.
Other mammals included a large herd of buffalo, warthog, rhino and zebra all right by us. We only saw one reptile, a big monitor lizard. Birds we saw were yellow-billed kite, beautiful red bishops and a spectacular black-bellied bustard.
There are no giraffe, as the terrain is unsuitable, and we didn't see any big cats, I'm not sure if there are any.
It's 9 years now since this trip, but I haven't forgotten it!
Matthew Naugle
US
Visited:
January 2026
Reviewed: Jan 27, 2026
Email Matthew Naugle | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Hluhluwe–iMfolozi Park was absolutely stunning. The landscape was lush and beautiful, and the amount of wildlife we saw was incredible. Visiting in January made the experience even more special, as we saw many baby animals throughout the park. We watched wild dogs, lions, and cheetahs on the hunt, along with countless rhinos, elephants, zebras, giraffes, monkeys, and birds. Every game drive felt productive, with something new and exciting around every corner, and the time flew by faster than we expected. It was one of the most memorable safari experiences we could have imagined.
Hluhluwe - Umfolozi a great park to find vegetarian animals.
I live very close to Hluhluwe (2 hours drive) so I am going to this game reserve a lot because is the best in the area.
Hluhluwe - Umfolozi is not with a lot of predators so it's give the opportunity to see animals that are vegetarian and even there is not a lot of predators you can see them sometimes (about 1 a day). In the park there is a lot of elephants and massive amount of Rhinos, and a same as any other park a lot of Impala and Niala.
In the game reserve there is a nice view on the river and there is a big chance to see animals drinking from the water, in the park there is also huge amount of birds that is perfect for birding. In the game reserve there is also a lot of reptiles to see such as monitors and even some snakes.
The park is little comparing to Kruger National park but there is a lot less visitors which give you your enjoyment of nature without other people. This game reserve is perfect if you want to see vegetarian animals and a bit of the predators.
lupegarrou (Mick Bassett)
DE
Visited:
March 2007
Reviewed: May 6, 2012
Email lupegarrou (Mick Bassett) | 50-65 years of age
Better than Kruger
I will start with the Guide, excellent, he took real trouble to make us comfortable and explain the surroundings and the animals and a great deal of patience with people who were 'first time' and as excited as small children.
transport in the Landrover was as comfortable as needed, the pause for a 'picnic' in a central location with good views all around was ideal, no tables or chairs, no luxury that I found just great! it added to the atmosphere, during the Picnic pause the Guide took time to engage in conversation and to point out features and even handed me his binoculars too view Rhino on a distant hill, first class.
The weather was good except for one heavy shower but the weather was irrelevent to the enjoyment.
The Wildlife was in general more observable than in Krüger and the Guide took great care to careful position the vehical in a good observation point without undualy stressing the animals, an excellent guide.
Krüger was good but for me felt far too 'Tourist',
Umfolozi had that 'Personal touch'.
jeremiahr
ZA
Visited:
November 2014
Reviewed: Jun 5, 2015
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Lots of animals to see, but may take time to find.
Hluhluwe-iMfolozi is huge! There are lots of animals, but if you are driving yourself through (as we did), they may be hard to find (probably depends a bit on the season). We had a couple stretches of maybe 45 minutes where we didn't see anything. We spent about 5-6 hours there and probably only covered 60-70% of the park. The roads are fine, though there are lots of potholes on the tarred roads. The dirt roads we did drive were borderline too much for our small car, but manageable. We had a nice time, enjoyed seeing all the animals we did find and got some good pictures. There are plenty of facilities available throughout the park, so it made for an easy place to spend the day. Several picnic areas are available as well. I think that if we go back, we'd try to go at a different time of year, because all of the watering holes were dry and I suspect many animals were sticking close to certain areas with water that we didn't find.
Geoff
Since it's nature a lot of this comes down to luck but on our one morning here we saw a fresh buffalo kill with over a dozen lions feeding on it, and no less than eight rhinos, some with young calves. The atmospherics are a big different than Kruger as it's more green and there's less brush.
Again, easy to access. The tented camp at Mpila was GREAT. Stay there. For a few nights if you can.
Douglas Hibbard
CA
Visited:
October 2017
Reviewed: Nov 24, 2017
Email Douglas Hibbard | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
It is a beautiful reserve with a great camp at Hilltop. The wildlife viewing was amazing. Spending 30 minutes with a pack of Wild Dog with no other vehicles was truly amazing.
Loved every minute! We saw Rhino up close! Fantastic!!!!!
Everything was exactly what the dream expected. We never saw any of the Cat Family, but made up for it with Rhino sightings from the moment we entered the Park, and loved being so close to Elephant too. The scenery was breathtaking, amazing to travel from thick bush into open savanna.
We stayed in a tent in Mpila, very clean and comfortable rooms, and had the pleasure of watching the Hyena trying to "steal" our dinner each evening.
The Admin Staff were absolutely fantastic and helpful and everyone was so friendly
Would we go back again? You bet!
Mike
GB
Visited:
October 2023
Reviewed: Oct 28, 2023
Email Mike | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Amazing experience but the toilets and ablutions at the entry gates were horrendous.
Been to this reserve a number of times but I must say my experience today left me disappointed. No pos machine at the main gate to pay by card . No pos machine in the Hilltop restaurant and the food was mediocre . Limited wine available as their liquor license had expired. The gardens at hilltop have also deteriorated since my last visit and I can see attention to detail is missing .