7 Best Sights in Mpumalanga and Kruger National Park, South Africa

Each of the five camps offers unprecedented access to 34,000 acres of Africa's best Big Five game-viewing, led by renowned rangers and trackers. The camp is most famous for its leopards, with which its rangers and trackers have forged an intimate relationship over the decades. Leopard sightings are frequent.

MalaMala's animal-viewing statistics are unbelievable: the Big Five are spotted almost every day, along with plenty of other amazing viewings. At one moment your ranger will fascinate you with the description of the sex life of a dung beetle, as you watch the sturdy male battling his way along the road pushing his perfectly round ball of dung with wife-to-be perched perilously on top; at another, your adrenaline will flow as you follow a leopard stalking impala in the gathering gloom. The rangers are top-class and will ensure that your game experience is unforgettable.

Daily game drives take place in the early morning and late afternoon. There's a strong emphasis on ecology at Sabi Sabi: guests are encouraged to look beyond the Big Five and to become aware of the birds and smaller mammals of the bush. You can also take a walking safari or a specialist birding or photo safari. There's also the Amani Spa, as well as stargazing in the evenings.

This is among the crème de la crème of the Sabi Sands (although you pay for it) lodges. At Singita, you'll head out during the day on your choice of game drives, then prepare to be pampered. Whether you fancy a starlit private supper or just chilling alone in your mega-suite, you've only to ask. Forget the usual lodge curio shop and take a ride to the on-site boutique and art gallery where objets d'art, handmade jewelry, classy bush gear, and artifacts from all over Africa are clustered together in a series of adjoining rooms that seem more like a curator's home than a shop.

This center, which cares for, breeds, and protects endangered species, is in the Kapama Private Game Reserve, outside the little Limpopo town of Hoedspruit. It started in a small way, when South African Lente Roode, who owns the reserve, decided to dedicate herself to saving cheetahs—a highly endangered species. The center quickly gained credibility and fame when other animals and birds were brought to her, nursed back to health, and returned to the wild (when possible). It now has a state-of-the-art veterinary center, a highly respected research program, outreach programs for schools, international volunteer programs, a restaurant, and a shop, and is a great day destination. You’ll meet Little G, a white rhino found in 2014 beside his mother, who had been brutally slaughtered for her horn. You can also watch wild vultures feast at a vulture restaurant or see wild dogs being fed. You can take a standard tour, or join a dawn or dusk tour; a cheetah-focused tour is also available. The center also rents out two three-bedroom, self-catering cottages on the grounds, and the staff can help you arrange guided game drives; alternatively, you can visit and do things on your own.

The park's grassy plains and mixed woodland attract good-size herds of general game and their attendant predators. This is a provincial reserve (as opposed to a national park) and comprises two sections. The government-operated side is open to self-drivers and offers rustic self-catering camps and the Manyeleti Private Game Reserve operates as a concession with more comfortable and upmarket private lodges. You have a strong chance of seeing the Big Five, but the Manyeleti lodges and tented camps, which are owned and operated by two separate companies (one for the lodge, one for the tented camps), focus more on providing an overall bush experience than simply rushing after big game. You'll learn about trees, birds, and bushveld ecosystems as you go on guided bush walks. 

Regardless of which lodge you're staying at, you'll be treated to wildlife-rich game drives with wall-to-wall game. You'll most certainly see the King of Beasts, as well as leopards, elephants, buffalo, and spotted hyenas. Rhinos are scarcer, but you might be lucky and see wild dogs, as they migrate regularly to this region from Kruger. The most amazing sighting, however, for which this reserve is famous, is the exceptionally rare white lion.