A look at the landscape and African wildlife found at KwaZulu Natal's Phinda Private Game Reserve. Home to the Big Five, Phinda is a five star luxury private game reserve located adjacent to uMkhuze Game Reserve.
A 21 400 hectare safari park, Phinda is the flagship game reserve of the &Beyond group and offers visitors an incredible guided game -viewing experience while enjoying the luxury and sophistication of a five star game lodge. The reserve is only open to guests staying within the reserve and no day-visitors may explore the safari park on personal game drives.
Guests staying at Phinda can choose to stay in one of the 6 luxury lodges, all of which have restaurants, bars and swimming pools to cool off in on hot and humid summer days. A malaria area, visitors are advised to take the necessary medication prior to and during their stay at Phinda. Located on the south-eastern border of uMkhuze Game Reserve in KwaZulu Natal, the reserve stretched eastwards from the Lebombo Mountains to the Maputaland coastal plains in the west.
The western sector of the reserve is hilly with volcanic rocks jutting out in different areas. The vegetation of the safari park is very similar to its neighbouring reserve, uMkhuze rocky areas and sandy soils and Lebombo grassland, woodland and forest thicket growing in most regions. The tallest trees, including stinkwood, fluted milkwood and brown ironwood, are all located in the deep gorges and valleys. Acacia trees are found in the eastern sections where the soils are richer.
The wildlife population within the area was severely hunted prior to 1990 and a number of the mammals have been brought back from near extermination. The game reserve is now home to all of the large carnivores, Lion, Leopard and Cheetah as well as large and healthy populations of Rhinoceros, Savanna Elephant, Giraffe and Buffalo. The rare to South Africa; Diminutive Suni can be seen in the sand forest areas, and the reserve is also home to the Four-toed Sengi and the Red Bush Squirrel.
Guided bird-watching walks will introduce visitors to some of the 407 species of birds found within in the reserve. With the aid of the knowledgeable guides guests might be able to see 'special birds' such as Neergaard's Sunbird, African Broadbill, White-backed Heron and Southern banded snake eagles.