uMkhuze Game Reserve

uMkhuze is the inland section of iSimangaliso, about 40,000 hectares of thornveld, pans and riverine bush, and it is built around hides. Kumasinga, Kubube and Kumahlala are sunken photographic hides at waterholes where you sit at eye level with whatever comes to drink - nyala, rhino, elephant, warthog, occasionally leopard - and this is the reserve's real product rather than driving around. Nsumo Pan holds pelicans and flamingos in numbers and has a hide of its own. The Fig Forest walk runs through a stand of enormous sycamore figs on an old dune along the Mkhuze River, a rare habitat with a canopy that closes overhead. The bird list is over 400 species. Game is present but this is not a big-five park in the Kruger sense; sightings are quieter, closer and slower.

What you actually see

• The sunken hides - photographic hides at eye level with animals at the waterholes.
• The Fig Forest - a walk under enormous sycamore figs on a fossil dune.
• Nsumo Pan - pelicans and flamingos on a large pan with its own hide.
• The 400-plus bird list - one of the strongest in the country.

When to go

May to September for game concentration; November to March for migrant birds. Two days.

Honest expectations

Hides reward patience - hours, not minutes. Roads are gravel and can be impassable after heavy rain. Malaria risk exists in summer. Lions are absent, so the big-five checklist does not complete here. Facilities are basic camps.

Nearby

Hluhluwe-iMfolozi is south; the iSimangaliso coast is east.