Sun City Things to Do

At different times of the day, visibility changes, at dusk visibility is poor, but this is often a good time to view animals as it is cooler and they are out and about, popping down to the water hole etc., not sitting under a tree, out of sight.

First thing in the morning is also a good time to view animals. We try and get a good spot at a waterhole before 5am, so we can see which animals come.

We are never disappointed :)

We then continue on our self-drive (with lunch imbetween, either at the restaurant, or have a picnic or braai (BBQ) at a picnic area), till dusk and then sit at a waterhole again to watch the animals gather at the end of their day.

The best time to view buffalo is actually at night. We have seen two huge herds alongside the road in the Kruger National Park at dusk which was splendid!!!

They are best viewed at waterholes at nght though.

1 more image

A bird hide is a nice change from the car.

One can *legally* get out here without fear of being munched, and sit in the shade, and view at ones leisure.

There are naturally many species of birds in the area around a bird hide, but that is not all. You might see crocodiles (we saw a baby croc sunning itself, with its mouth wiiiiide open, facing the suns rays, it was great!), monkeys, insects of all kinds etc. You will see birds in the water, on the water, on the banks, and in the trees. Quite a variety.

Take care to walk softly inside the hide so that animals aren’t frightened away, and the hides are wooden, so creak a lot.

Dont forget your binoculars and South African bird book too!

Giraffes can stand as tall as 5.4 metres high, and usually sleep in this position too, because if she is on the ground when sleeping, if danger comes, she would probably not be able to get up and away in time. Of course, her hunters know this too.

It would be quite dangerous for her!

She is a vegetarian and can go for a few weeks sans water, getting the much-needed water from the vegetable shoots she eats.

Pilansberg is a perfect outing for a family.

One can come on a day visit from Johannesburg (2 hour drive away), or come for the weekend. One can come and camp or live it up more luxuriously. It is quite convenient in location, and has a lot to offer.

When one is in really big parks, with facilities quite far from one another, it isn’t very pleasant travelling with children often. When they need to go, they need to go! They also might get grumpy in the car after a while, understandably.

Pilansberg is a good size park, but isn’t massive, so this s good from this aspect. It has a restaurant that serves good food, and service was fine.

My immediate family live on 3 continents, the UK, South Africa, and the United States. So when we DO manage to get together, it s a special time indeed!!!

Pilansberg was a good choice to go to so we could spend time together on African soil, plus introduce my new American sister-in-law to this beautiful country and her wild animals. She had never seen an elephant before, sans from books and postcards (not even in a zoo!), so she was gob smacked when she saw the size of the lumbering beast for the first time.

I have been to this park a few times, but this time it was extra special, as I was viewing it through her experiencing it for the first time :)

Well, this was quite something.

We were 5 minutes too late to see two lionesses make a kill here! On the side of the road you could see what had happened (ugh), and they dragged the buck to the tree in the photo and proceeded to eat lunch!

We sat here for a while, HOPING they would venture out, but it was very hot, and after a full meal, they decided to stay in the shade and nap, so we took off again.

It's not often one is fortunate to see a hunt and/or kill in the wild... I wish we had been 5 minutes earlier!!! :)

The most elusive of the Big Five are the leopards. They are mostly solitary creatures, and live near rocky outcrops.

We were driving along and a ranger stopped next to us in his khaki-green landy and told us that there had been a spotting of a leopard around the next bend! So off we went, very excited and full of anticipation I might add!

As we rounded the bend, there it was.

A sole leopard, calmly walking alongside the road (!!!!!) Now I have been to game parks plenty of times, and have NEVER viewed a leopard yet, so we were all so excited. The leopard didn’t seem at all worried about our presence. We turned the air conditioning off so there was less noise, and slowly (very slowly) followed the leopard on its walk.

This I think is one of my most poignant moments when game viewing, and I relive the excitement I felt whilst writing this even!

Then, out of the bally blue, we heard a thump thump of music, and then there, careering around the corner (going far too fast for the park!!!!!), was a silly and inconsiderate driver, driving too fast, with music that was far too loud for a game park.

Of course, the leopard took fright and within a minute, he was lost in the tall grass.

Drat! I could have gladly clouted the fool.

Anyway, we got to spend about 5 minutes silently following the trail of the most elusive animal, and we were delighted!

The photo was taken just after he dashed into the grass, and if you look very carefully (as he is quite camouflaged), you can spot him :)

In the heat of summer (and it gets VERY hot here), animals tend to seek out the shade and so visibility is poorer than other cooler months of the year during the day.

In summer the trees and bush are also more lush and thick, which is beautiful to see, but this does impede ones visability.

In winter, visibility is good as the animals roam a lot more as it isn’t hot, plus the fauna and flora don’t have leaves and such, so its easier to see through the bush and trees.

This is also the time that controlled bush fires are done in the parks, as there are generally less tourists and visitors about, plus it is safer to do this then due to the weather.

Best times I think are spring and autumn months, where you will get warm weather, but not boiling, and the chances of seeing animals are higher.

Photographing the animals is pretty easy, as they are used to vehicles and people, so don’t run away when they hear a car engine idling close by.

They will run if you are going over the speed limit and scare them of course, but if you are keeping to the speed limit and are being considerate they are fine.