Name: Best of South Africa and Botswana
Brand: Discover Africa
SKU: south-africa-and-botswana-safari
Price: 10450 USD
Availability: InStock

Is the Big Five Safari in Mala Mala Trip for Me?

This fly-in package includes 3 nights at one of South Africa’s largest private Big Five Game Reserves and offers one of the best chances to view the Big Five. Mala Mala is world-renowned for offering one of the finest and most consistent Big Five game viewings in Southern Africa. It shares a 19km (12 miles) unfenced boundary with the world-renowned Kruger National Park and lies strategically sandwiched between the Kruger and the Sabi Sand Reserve.

Conservation and community lie at the heart of Mala Mala’s ethos, reflecting over 60 years of environmental stewardship. This thoughtfully designed safari experience offers not just spectacular wildlife viewing but participation in a sustainable tourism model that balances conservation imperatives with meaningful community development, creating lasting positive impact beyond the visitor experience.

Your 4-Day Itinerary

Entrance to MalaMala Camp | Photo credit: MalaMala Camp

MalaMala Game Reserve offers a comfortable base for an African safari for seniors

Depart Johannesburg Airport on a scheduled flight to Skukuza airport, located in the Kruger National Park. On arrival you will be met by a representative from Mala Mala and transferred to the lodge - the transfer is approximately 1 hour.

On arrival and after settling in you can start your game viewing experience with your sunset game drive. Mala Mala Camp is a haven of understated luxury combining warm comfort and superb service with unrivalled views of the Sand River and surrounding bushveld. It is truly a place of legends where rare photographs, old maps and extraordinary mementos rub shoulders with the works of renowned contemporary wildlife artists.

Includes & excludes

Meals: Breakfast, lunch and dinner included

Drinks: Local brands included

Activities: Included

Transport: Included

Two full days to enjoy the wildlife experience that Mala Mala has to offer. There is no shared traversing on 70% of the Mala Mala property allowing you to enjoy exclusive, uninterrupted game drives. There is no time limit on sightings and no “queue-to-view” on this enormous tract of land. Your knowledgeable ranger will guide you during your safari adventure and you can tick off the animals on game drive, or back at the lodge on the expansive wooden safari deck, in the shade of a Jackalberry tree, overlooking the Sand River. When not on exploration in the bush, you can relax at the swimming pool and enjoy the delicious meals prepared with the freshest products, and accompanied by world class wines.

Includes & excludes

Meals: Breakfast, lunch and dinner included

Drinks: Local brands included

Activities: Included

Transport: Included

This morning enjoy your final game drive at Mala Mala followed by breakfast and then a transfer to the Skukuza airport for your return flight back to Johannesburg OR Tambo Airport. Time at leisure at the airport until your onward flight or contact us to extend your safari.

Every itinerary can be crafted to your needs, from adjusting the length of your stay to including different accommodation and refining the route. Your safari is yours, shaped around your idea of a dream experience.

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This trip was booked 3 times before it finally happened thanks to the pandemic and border closures etc. Alice from Discover Africa was with us for the entire 3 years – from planning, cancelling, and rebooking. She stayed in touch and communicated with us regularly during the entire 3 years. Her insights and suggestions helped make this trip one that will be very difficult to top.

In terms of the actual holiday … Words fail me! Someone was watching out for us because we had multiple sightings of the Big 5, Magnificent 7 and Super 8 plus all of the other animals – small (mouse) to big (elephant). Pretty special when you consider that includes two sightings of Wild Dogs when there are only circa 400 in total in Kruger! I appreciate that’s completely outside of anyone’s control but worth mentioning. Going in September meant that the bush wasn’t at full height, so we were able to see the animals.

The lodges were great – Thornybush and Jock’s Safari Lodge They were luxurious without being pretentious. We were well taken care of and well fed! Gallo Manor Lodge in Johannesburg was very comfortable, and we were well taken care of again – the Director, Angel, chauffeured us to and from the golf course which was unexpected and very kind.

This holiday combined golf with safaris. The golf was good too. Hans Merensky course is well laid out and an interesting course to play. It does need some investment (as well as the hotel). Leopard Creek was an experience! Old world golf club and an interesting course (unfortunately we didn’t see any wildlife like we did at Han Merensky). We really enjoyed the Rocklands Course at the Johannesburg Country Club and had a lovely meal afterwards looking over the course.

Thanks to Alice at Discover Africa for putting this holiday together for us.

"This was our first experience using an online booking agent and it was outstanding. Justin went through our requirements even though we were pretty sure we knew what we wanted (we really didn't!) and came up with a plan that..."

John Colao, United States · 13 Apr 2026 ·

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"I recently had the pleasure of planning an African safari and beach resort getaway with the incredible help of Adelle Bell from Discover Africa and I can't recommend her highly enough! From start to finish, Adelle demonstrated an extraordinary level..."

MACD, United States · 29 Jun 2025 ·

"It was an amazing holiday! First time in SA, and we had 8 days to visit Kruger Park and Cape Town. Matthys was our travel expert, and he arranged our tour in a smart and super convenient way, advising the..."

Antonina, United Arab Emirates · 10 Mar 2025 ·

"This trip was booked 3 times before it finally happened thanks to the pandemic and border closures etc. Alice from Discover Africa was with us for the entire 3 years - from planning, cancelling, and rebooking. She stayed in touch..."

Michelle, United Kingdom · 4 Oct 2022 ·

"Everything was as expected. Our vacation was amazing from transfers to lodging to activities. We had one small hiccup with a transfer; I contacted Discover Africa via email and Alice was immediately digging into the problem and guaranteeing no more..."

Erica, United States · 7 Jan 2020 ·

"Matthys was our agent and he was wonderful about communicating with us. We had never done a trip like this before and we're nervous about traveling so far from home. Also my wife had major mobility issues that had to..."

Ron, United States · 27 Sep 2017 ·