Manyeleti Game Reserve, which means "Place of the Stars" in Shangaan, is a 23,000-hectare private wildlife reserve in Mpumalanga, South Africa. It sits between Sabi Sand and Timbavati and shares an unfenced border with Kruger National Park, giving you a proper safari experience without the crowds.

Amenities inside the reserve are minimal, so you’ll need to handle banking, fuel, and shopping in Hazyview or Hoedspruit beforehand.

Accommodation options include tented camps like Khoka Moya and Mantobeni, as well as lodges such as Tintswalo, Pungwe, Ndzhaka, and Shalati, all offering guided game drives, bush walks, and meals.

Once inside, the focus is on wildlife and the bush. You can do day and night game drives, guided bush walks, birdwatching, and photography safaris, or simply enjoy the stars at night.

You’re likely to see the Big Five, giraffes, zebras, and a variety of antelope, along with reptiles, insects, and birds, and you may come across monkeys, baboons, bushbuck, and smaller creatures like bats, scorpions, or spiders.

The reserve has strict rules: stay with guides, follow speed limits, don’t feed or approach animals, and no open fires. Check-in is usually from 2 PM and check-out by 11 AM, so late arrivals should be communicated to the lodge. Manyeleti is in a malaria area, so take precautions, and its mixed woodland and grassland ecosystem is carefully maintained for conservation. It’s a proper bush escape for anyone who wants a quiet, authentic safari without the tourist hustle.

The reserve is about 475 km from Johannesburg, roughly a six to seven-hour drive, mostly via the R40 through Hazyview and Phalaborwa.

You enter Manyeleti through a turn-off near the Orpen Gate of Kruger, and from there it’s about 8 km on an untarred road to reach the lodges.