Makutsi Conservancy, Valley of the Olifants

The Makutsi Conservancy, in the heart of the Limpopo, lies adjacent to the Greater Makalali Private Game Reserve just 40 minutes' due east of the Kruger National Park. It lies on route 36 that links Tzaneen to the N4 from Pretoria, making it easily accessible and one of the easiest escapes for visitors to Johannesburg and Pretoria.

This is the land of combretum and acacia thornveld, a land where bushveld reigns supreme and the city skyline is a thing only of the imagination; where sightings of major mammals such as giraffe, wildebeest, rhino and zebra are regular, and night visits by aardvark, bushbabies, genets and porcupines a reality. The night skies are dark, peppered by a myriad stars, the milky way, and the calls of nocturnal birds. This is the wild as portrayed in postcards.

Makutsi Conservancy lies in the heart of the bushveld, given over to the conservation of what is left of South Africa's wild animals. Witness dramatic sunsets - a time in the bush where the wild begin to stir, where drama is doubtless brewing, and where sightings of game is guaranteed, whilst glorious views of the Drakensberg and Murchison Mountains litter the horizon with gentle undulations and create gorgeous backdrops to your experience.

Within the Makutsi Conservancy are numerous nature reserves, lodges, safaris and trails that include Namela Horse Trails stables that take riders through the conservancy on horseback, including moonlight rides. You can look forward to an encounter with over twenty different plains game species and three of the Big Five (buffalo, leopard and rhino).