Tucked into the shadow of Sun City, and surrounded by industrial development and sprawling suburbs, Pilanesberg is a wild lifeline in a sea of urbanity. At less than a three-hour drive from Jo’burg, malaria-free Pilanesberg is South Africa’s most accessible big-game reserve. Conceptualised as a sort of back-to-nature weekend escape for nearby city dwellers at the end of the 1970s, the park remains a refreshing haven where lions, buffaloes and tourists still roam free today.
Although the park may be in a heavily developed area, don’t confuse it for a zoo. The animals roaming Pilanesberg’s extinct volcanic crater confines are 100% wild.
Pilanesberg started with Operation Genesis in 1979, a mission that brought dozens of translocated native species back to the reserve. Thirty-odd years later the park is home to more than 7000 animals. All the big cats are here, as are African wild dogs (introduced in 2000), jackals, hyenas, white and black rhinos, elephants, giraffes, hippos, buffaloes, zebras and a wide variety of antelope (including sables, elands, kudus and gemsboks) and more than 300 species of birds.
