Recently, an article was writen about Timbavati Private Game Reserve on Africa Geographic. Read the article below which shares, the beauty of this amazing place.
What’s your favourite game reserve or national park? It’s an often asked, but unfair question. For me it’s hard to pick one definitively favourite part of the African bush because so many reserves and parks hold a special place in my heart for so many reasons.leopards
Rather than ranking destinations or comparing apples and oranges I prefer to look for best of breed (to mix my metaphors) in different categories.
For instance, for water views and lush scenery it’s impossible to top Zimbabwe’s Mana Pools National Park in the Lower Zambezi Valley. Kruger, for me, wins hands down as a self-drive destination for value for money and infrastructure. For wild solitude I like the lesser-visited Kafue National Park in Zambia and for sheer spectacle it’s hard to beat the Masai Mara and the Serengeti during the migration. Pin it down to individual animals and it has to be, for me, the Sabi Sand for leopard, the Kgalgadi for cheetah, Hwange in Zimbabwe for elephant, and Mkuze or Hluhluwe-Imfolozi for rhino.
For an all-round experience, if high-quality game viewing is your thing (and let’s face it, if you’re here reading this it probably is), I’ve found it hard to go past the Timbavati Private Game Reserve on the western edge of the greater Kruger Park. Unlike its more thickly vegetated southern neighbour; the Sabi Sand, the Timbavati has that open-plains feel about it, similar to the game-rich golden grasslands of Satara in Kruger, which lies to the east.
One other judging criteria comes to mind – community. Behind the scenes there’s a great feel of togetherness in this reserve; everyone knows everyone and there seems to be a genuine concern for the surrounding local communities and the staff who work in the reserve.lion
For example, Tanda Tula Safari Camp has a great adult literacy program for its staff. Instead of helping grown-ups improve their English language skills by using children’s text books they’ve started using adult novels, including mine. The feedback’s been that guides and hospitality staff would rather read about adventures in their own backyard, where my books are set, than some antiquated or foreign fairy tale.
It’s hard to single out one reserve or park form another, or one lodge over its neighbour, but when I’m contacted by prospective first-time visitors to South Africa – those who can afford a stay in a private lodge – I often find myself coming back, as I do myself, to the Timbavati.
If you haven’t already, enter our competition where you can win an exclusive and truly unique bush experience at Tanda Tula Field Camp with Tony Park, all expenses paid and worth over R100 000!
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website : Africa Geographic