Durban: Big 5 Safari - Open Safari Vehicle At Exclusive Reserve

10/10, both the driver from Durban and around the safari were friendly and knowledgeable! Would recommend to all!

Thank you Wild Routes Africa, it was an unforgettable journey, we saw so many different animals, time went so fastly away, so beautiful. It was every penny worth. To this place and away from that we have interesting talks with our driver and the tourguide in the Reserve was incredible. Thank you again. We will strongly recommend you.

We had an absolutely amazing time on this trip. Thabo our driver was so interesting to chat to on our drive to and from the Game Reserve. Our game drive was so good words are not adequate. Kwanele’s knowledge and skills made the whole day truly magical.

We were overwhelmed by a female lion making a kill in the safari, which is well-worth for the booked reserve. The experience is great. We met really nice people as well, Sheldon drove us to and back from the reserve, he also provided the Zulu culture along the way. The ranger Sizo is the star of the reserve drive, he knows the spots well where to find those animals and he shares some knowledge about the animals we saw. And he kept warning the coming branches may get to us.

African safari wirh big 5 is always great. Not much animals but enought for good safari. Beautifull nature. We recimanded.

The partner and I went on this safari trip on the 7th of November and it was one of the best days of our lives! Kyran picked us up from our apartment at 5:30 and the journey was about 3 hours, it was smooth and he stopped many times so we could have breaks and drinks if we needed! He was a great guide and really informative about the areas we were driving through, a great start to the trip. Once we arrived at the reserve we immediately stumbled across two lionesses hunting wildebeest, it was so exciting! We were taken on tour in the morning by our wonderful guide, Wonderboy! He was amazing and we saw 4/5 of the big five, we even saw a rare leopard which no one could believe! The tour is so worth while and after lunch we went out for another 3 hours! I can't recommend this enough, the tour is great, the people are so kind and so knowledgable. I wish we could do it all over again! It exceeded my expectations of something I have dreamt of doing.

Very, very nice and interesting. Driver and Guide very friendly and helpful. We have to see a lot of animals. Thank you very much

Our tour started with a 2.5-3 hour drive to the reserve. Our driver, Thabo, made the ride enjoyable by providing a great historical background of South Africa. The reserve was beautiful and our guides worked very hard to ensure that we saw as many animals as possible during our 7 hour safari.

The guide was wonderful and the animals even better. It was everything we hoped it would be. We give it 5 stars.

We had a great experience at the Manyoni game reserve. Driver who took us from Durban was very nice and provided lots of information on country. Safari guide was excellent providing lots of information about wildlife. The day includes about 6 hours of game drive and 6-7 of driving.

Let me first start off by saying with this being a once in a lifetime activity, I went thru all the tours to make sure I picked the best one. Pickup was right on time, the driver was great, made a stop along the 3 hour route to the reserve, and arrived there at 9am. It was nice that it was just my wife and I along on the ride and not a van full of guests. The driver was very personable and made the trip go by fairly quick. As soon as we arrived, the safari jeep was waiting, and the best part was it was just us two on the tour! The excursion said Ziess binoculars were included, however we never did receive those, however we were able to get so close to the animals they were not even needed. The tour lasted 6 hours, and the guide made sure to get as many interactions in as he could, stopping for as long as we wanted to for pictures. Overall, I am very pleased with our experience, I was a little disappointed that in the listing it didn’t say what the game reserve it was, and we were unaware 6 of the 12 hours were going to be traveling back and forth, but 6 hours time was long enough to be on the safari, and don’t feel shorted. So even though it is a 12 hour excursion, the tour was only six hours..

We had a great time!! Grant was an excellent guide. He arrived early, told us all about the area as we traveled to the safari, and ensured we had everything we needed. The safari guide was very knowledgeable and ensured we had a diversity of encounters and saw a wide variety of animals. It was a once in a lifetime experience that we will carry with us! I would highly recommend Wild Safaris to anyone traveling to this area. From our booking to our drop off back at the shop, they communicated, were extremely knowledgeable, and ensured we had an amazing experience.

The driver, guide and staff were are excellent. We saw many amazing animals including rhino, giraffe and several others. It was an easy and well organized trip we all enjoyed.

I don't know where to start. All in all this safari was the highlight of our trip! From the start, working with Justin the founder of Wild Routes was easy and great with communicating to us about pick up and drop off information, and was very speedy in replying when I had questions. Grant who transported us to the Amyoni reserve was a wealth of info about the region and also had great suggestions for us about other things to do for the rest of our trip. He was super courteous and very personable and started our day off right. Our game driver, Mzamo, who took us out on safari was very knowledgeable about the flora and fauna and very friendly and engaging. We did the one day big five safari and it didn't disappoint! Mzamo got us as close to the animals as he could while respecting safety. At one point we were within 3 meters of a lioness, and at another we were the just as close with a cheetah and her cubs while they were feasting on a freshly caught impala. It was amazing! We saw a wide variety of wildlife in the reserve, Giraffe, cheetah, Impala, wart hog, wilderbeast, zebra, rhino, lion, just to name a few. Just remember there is no guarantee what you'll see as this is not a zooand these are animals in the wild, but know that you will have an unforgettable experience. I highly recommend Wild Routes and it is a very good value for your hard earned money! Thank you Justin, Grant, and Mzamo for an amazing trip! We will be back again for sure.

It was a lovely experience - as a young woman travelling alone I was really worried, but everyone in this company made their best to help me feel safe to take this journey. Everyone was kind, they attended to my needs and the safari was an unique and amazing experience I will never forget. This park might be smaller than others, but this makes the guides know it better and it is truly beautiful. I can't wait to come back.

One of the best tours o have been on. Definitely recommend while in South Africa. Our guide was fantastic and we saw everything we wanted to! Fantastic experience!!!

Amazing day started with the incredible Thabo Mokgape who met us at the hotel and drove the several hours to the reserve. We had great conversations about the flora and fauna, history, politics, life in general and some good laughs. Our guide then took over as we spent the morning an early afternoon driving around the reserve. Sadly I forgot his name, but he was a gentleman and so knowledgeable about the animals and plants. We learned so much. Favourite plants were the yellow fever tree and queen fig tree. Saw lots of animals up close including giraffes, water buffalo, wildebeests, rhino, impala, kudu, ostrich, warthogs, zebra, vultures, birds- to name a few. Also amazing butterflies. Unfortunately for us, the elephants were in an inaccessible part of the reserve and the lion’s & leopards were hiding. But we saw LOADS more animals and loved the entire time in the reserve. Beyond the animals the scenery is breathtakingly beautiful. I fell in love with South Africa. And then, the wonderful Thabo drove us home- and again the good conversations continued. Would love to continue those conversations someday…amazing human being. Just an awesome bucket list kind of day.

Had a great experience, driver and tour guide. Saw allot more animals than expected and had the best time ever, would totally recommend!! Totally worth the money.

Ivor was AWESOME. Knowledgeable, funny, honest, quite amazing. I'm in AWE of what we saw and the patience of our guide. My husband and I came to a mining conference (i was the one that had to attend), and it was always a distant dream to have a safari experience. We didn't want to go too far from Cape Town and Zululand became an easy target for this adventure. WOW! It was everything i had hoped for and more. I guess what made it special was the absolute professionalism of the guide and the driver, but what was even more interesting to a couple of independent Canadians was that it was AUTHENTIC. Not a super luxurious tour, but it was a great day and go about 10 feed from a pride of LIONS! Saw LIONS! Zebras, Giraffes (walked right in front of the land cruiser and didn't even blink), Ostrich, Impala's, White Rhino, African Buffalo, Wildebeest, Warthogs (many), Kudu and many more incredible animals and beautiful and spectacular birds. Thank you for an amazing experience. Next time we'll make it a longer stay. Thank you Thabo and Ivor. Great memories.

I wish we would have gone on an early in the morning drive. I know it was the fault of Oceana Cruises getting into port late, not the fault of our guide.

The drive was long from Durban but the landscape was lovely to look at. Our guide was Ivor who was friendly, great and knowledgable. We have been on many safaris around Africa and we still learnt knew details! We saw lions, and cheetah (my favourite) buffalo, many antelope including many Kudu, giraffe and rhino, We hope to return to Durban with a friend who has never been on safari and this will be a perfect trip for her to do with us.

It was absolutely fantastic. The combination of amazing staff (Jason is fantastic; nice, service minded, talented) and our safari ranger was really competent and taking the extra time to educate us about the animals we saw. It was an absolutely fantastic experience. It would never have been that good without the dedication that was put in to ensure that we had the best possible trip. I can really recommend booking a safari through this organization. If I get the opportunity (I really hope so) to come back again, THIS is the one I will book again! Thanks Jason for making the day a lifetime memory for me and Anna!

First off, I rarely write reviews so that fact that I am writing this one, is a statement all in itself. This tour was a 10/10 before we even began the journey. Within 24 hours of the trip I received an email from the owner of the company, Justin with details of how the day would flow. When and who would be picking us up, options for lunch, and just the flow of how the day would go. What to wear, what to bring, etc. We went down to meet Thabo, our driver to the safari promptly at 5. He was already waiting for us and we left something in the room and he had no issues waiting for us to get our life together this early in the morning. Once on the road he shared knowledge of things we were passing, and answered any questions we had. After a bit he offered to let us nap since the drive was going to be long but was available for question we had. A few minutes before entering the reserve we stopped at a station to grab snacks and drinks for the day (water is provided but no food). Once we entered the reserve, we met up with Mzamo, who would be our safari driver for the day, said goodbye for now to Thabo and hoped in the safari jeep for the day. He gave us a brief talk what to expect but advised us to leave our hearts open because it is nature and there is no guarantee what we may see. Throughout the entire 7ish hours of the tour Mzamo was SO knowledgeable about not only the animals, but their mannerism, facts that I had no idea about, the plants, birds, and even specifics on the animal poop. we became experts in sighting, tracking and spotting certain animal poop. :-). He was stuck with us for a long time and we had a great time! There was never a dull moment, he stopped for us to have coffee and take a little nature break and just take in the beauty of our surroundings. His personality and knowledgeable insights into everything we saw was phenomenal. Our our tour we kept our hearts open, like he asked us to do and saw more animals than we ever expected, lions, hippo, crocodile, rhino, giraffe, impala, Nyala, warthogs, wildebeast and so many birds. We tried tracking an elephant but he was just too good for us. Maybe next time! Upon return to the end point, we met up again with Thabo who was waiting to take us back on the long journey to our resort. He was upbeat, friendly and was interested in knowing all about our day. We even saw more animals leaving the reserve. One the way back we stopped at a two little markets and bought a few local items. At both places no one was pressuring to buy anything and everyone was friendly. We bought a few items and headed back on the long drive. It was pouring most of the drive, I slept most of the time and we were safe in Thabo's hands. We returned safe and sound and haven't stopped talking about it since. I would go on this tour over and over again and experience all of the other tours this company has to offer if we had the time. I will be back int he near future and will definitely book again through this company. Thank you so much for the fantastic experience! Jenn and Cheryl (Mom/Daughter) - Florida USA

Justin gave us an awesome experience. He has been very honest and true to his word. Best person and company to work with

I can’t thank Justin enough for arranging this tour for me last minute. He did not disappoint from his friendly service and over all knowledge, to working with the amazing safari guides, allowing me to have the full Safari experience. I would recommend getting in touch with Justin for anything you want to know, see, do, experience, taste, drink and much more around Durban!

With so many safari day tours, I had no idea which one to book. The only thing I knew was that Manyoni Game Reserve is one of the best near Durban and Wild Routes is the ONLY tour company going there. I booked the full day safari at Manyoni and I was not disappointed!! Thabo drove us from Durban and also let us use his wildlife guide books and impressive binoculars — both came in handy. We had good fun and lots of laughs driving there and back. At the game reserve, Ivor took us on a full day game drive in a proper safari vehicle. We were the only ones in the vehicle which meant we had a private safari. The game viewing was amazing, we saw lions just a few meters away, white rhino and baby, cheetah and elephant + smaller animals. It was really exceptional! Ivor’s knowledge about the animals and nature as well as the conservation work was really impressive. I can’t imagine a better safari day tour from Durban. Highly recommended!!!

What an experience, well priced and delivered on promise to see the big 5 and so much more. The lunch was amazing and the information about African fauna and flora was so insightful. I will leave with more than just memories but a better understanding of Africa and also it's wonderful people. Thanks again guys, full marks and will definitely recommend this tour👍👍👍❤️

Excellent day tour from the first contact with Justin until the last drop off. We got to do the Big 5 Bucket List Safari in the Manyoni Game Reserve. Our driver David was great and the van really confortable. Mzamo, the Ranger of the reserve was also interesting, we learned a lot and he made all the effort for us to see as much as possible (which we did 😊) ! Thanks a lot, we had a great adventure. I definitely recommend Wild Routes Africa!

Everything was superb. The game sightings, knowledge of our guide (thank you, Ivor!), et al. Being able to go off road ensured that we got up close to lions (both relaxing and at a kill) and white rhino. Nyala roaming by casually while we stopped for our picnic lunch (complete with cocktails, served by our trusty David). Elephant, buffalo, giraffe, warthog, impala, zebra, and great bird life too. A fantastic experience! The only thing missing was binoculars, so remember to take your own!

It was an unforgettable experience. Our tour guide (founder) Mr. JUSTIN is very humorous, sharing the knowledge of many animals along the way, the local culture and delicious restaurants to make the trip more fun. And our guide in the park Mr. Mzamo is also very professional, he is familiar with the environment in the park, leading us to see many animals. The most fortunate thing is to see a large crowd of elephants moving for water, playing mud, and also to see cute elephants, it is really difficult. The whole trip was very pleasant and safe, it was more interesting to see in person than on TV or in books, and it was very worth participating.