A Big Five Safari
In Makanyi Private Game Lodge
What?
A private audience with the famous Big Five of the African bush
Where?
Hoedspruit, Mpumalanga
Featured in the North-South Epic
The Makanyi Private Game Lodge is a marvel. It occupies 8,000 hectares of land inside the Timbavati Private Nature Reserve, with stunning views of the “African bush”.
The Reserve is directly adjacent to, and unfenced from, the Kruger National Park. In this terrain, you are truly one with nature, a stone’s throw from Africa’s Big Five: the lion, leopard, rhino, elephant and Cape buffalo.
There are no artificial barriers. No ring-fenced areas. No demarcated spots. For the discerning traveller, you have Africa on your doorstep.
You begin by arriving at the Timbavati airstrip. Within minutes, the hum of the aircraft gives way to birdsong. There is no reception desk. No queue. No formal signing-in process. Instead, you are welcomed on the main deck of the Makanyi Lodge with a chilled glass of Méthode Cap Classique, overlooking a dam where hippos surface in the late afternoon light.
There are only seven suites.
Each suite measures 140m²: glass-walled, insulated, climate controlled, with private pools and private decks. Better yet, they’re solar-powered and sustainable.
The Quiet Safari
Makanyi operates electric Land Rovers. No diesel vibration, exhaust fumes or noisy gear shifts. Out in the bush, with your guide behind the wheel of your car, you have the perfect view of the Big Five.
Love photography? It’s the perfect canvas. Crave serenity? Enjoy a calm only the bush can bring.
You see, Timbavati is private. There are no self-drivers and no convoys of vehicles. When you encounter a pride of lions, you are not surrounded by twenty other cars.
Above the Bush
On your third morning, an exciting spectacle awaits. The team at the Mpumalanga Helicopter Company arrive to take you on a Canyon and Champagne flight. Before long, you’re soaring far above the bush.
Enjoy a bird’s eye view of the Blyde River Canyon... one of the largest canyons on earth. Marvel at the Three Rondavels. Gawk at the Berlin Falls.
Next, you’re landing on a mountain plateau, where a private picnic is served alongside premium South African sparkling wine.
You return before lunch with memories that’ll endure for a lifetime.
Conservation in Action
Because the lodge sits within the Timbavati Private Nature Reserve, guests have rare, behind-the-scenes access to the conservation efforts that protect this ecosystem.
You may join the veterinary team during a rhino notching and microchipping operation. Alternatively, you may sponsor and accompany an anti-poaching aerial surveillance patrol, flying reserve boundaries with a Timbavati ranger to understand the military-grade precision required to defend 53,000 hectares of open wilderness.
Or travel -- by road or helicopter -- to the K9 Unit headquarters, where German Shepherds and Belgian Malinois demonstrate the discipline required to track poachers across vast terrain.
For the discerning guest, our African Safari scratches that intellectual itch. It’s not just a sightseeing expedition, but a chance to get to know the land intimately.
This is not to be missed.
Perfect for: Anyone who’s ever wanted to see Africa up close, in its most natural form.
The SannuAfrika difference: Private helicopter tours; exclusive accommodation; and much more.
Remember, the Big Five Safari is one chapter in a wider South African journey with the SannuAfrika family.