User Reviews of Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park (96 Reviews)

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.

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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.

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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'.

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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.

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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.

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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!

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Game is wonderful, the accommodation very much below par. Staff not much better

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Being a national park the animals are more spread out and there was definitely a drive or two we didn’t see much, but the bush walk was amazing.

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A quiet, more remote park.

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Combined with a cruise on the Pongola River, it was especially a relaxing moment to enjoy the scenery rather than a discovery of species. The visit of the animals in the encampments, zebras for example, remains a pleasant moment.

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