Black Rhino Game Lodge

You know a game drive isn't going too well when the ranger stops to talk about impala.

Usually you drive straight by, dismissing them as too common to care about. But so far our 5am safari has yielded nothing but trees and empty clearings, and ranger Danie Fourie doesn’t want unhappy guests. So we park for a moment while he chats about the inquisitive animals staring back at us.

I’m beginning to wonder whether Pilanesberg National Park was a bad choice when Danie abandons the impala and picks up speed. We’re on the trail of lion, and suddenly the anticipation is electric.

First we’re squinting at seven white dots on a hillside, with Danie passing around binoculars so we can see they’re actual lions, not just cunningly positioned rocks. Then one stretches and stands, and soon the whole pride is on the move. We’re on the move too, heading them off and parking on the road exactly where they’re going to cross. Our cameras work overtime as the lions swagger nonchalantly right in front of our Land Cruiser.

Before we stop for breakfast we’ve pulled up beside a crush of five snoozing rhino and witnessed the rare sight of a pregnant giraffe. Two spindly legs are beginning to emerge in a painstaking process that takes three hours and ends with the baby plunging two meters to the ground. The drop clears the baby’s lungs and gets its heart beating, Danie explains. The giraffe, poor lady, waddles off as elegantly as she can with a baby protruding and seeks some privacy behind the trees.

I’d always dismissed Pilanesberg as a second-rate affair. The place to go if you don’t have time for a ‘proper’ safari in the Kruger.

I’d chosen it for a trip with my octogenarian English mum only because the shorter journey from Joburg would shake her old bones less than a schlep to a more remote game reserve.

Yet it’s actually the compact size of Pilanesberg that makes it such a winner, as well as the spectacular backdrop of volcanic mountains surrounding this natural crater. The big five are here, and it’s large enough to offer a real safari experience yet small enough to almost guarantee good sightings.

I’d also wrongly dismissed it as a bit down market in the accommodation stakes too, filled with massive lodges where you queue for the game drives, the meals and the bar service.

But Black Rhino Game Lodge dispels those ideas just as easily as Danie makes impalas sound exciting. It’s an upmarket place in the Black Rhino Game Reserve, a private annex in the Pilanesberg’s north-west corner. As a 4-star lodge it has ample facilities to be comfortable, but it’s not so over the top that you forget you’re in the bush, and with only 23 thatched suites you’re soon on first name terms with the friendly staff. Each suite has a private patio, indoor and outdoor showers, a bath, air conditioning, and a lounge area with a coffee station, TV and minibar.

The main building has a three small swimming pools, a dining area on the terrace, lounges and spacious decks with soft settees, and free Wi-Fi if you need to work. But switch off and stroll over to the hide by the waterhole instead to see what’s strolling in for a drink.

I hadn’t planned to join every game drive during our stay, but all that fresh air carrying the whiff of adventure in the breeze filled my mum with enthusiasm, and she let the rangers carefully help her into the vehicle ahead of me every time.

One evening as we drove along with a pack of wild dogs trotting around us, the sun cast its spectacular light across the mountains. The beam on my mother’s face was almost as bright.

Black Rhino Lodge is good for younger families too, with kids of all ages welcome. For details, see: http://blackrhinogamelodge.com or email Cindy Sheedy Walker, CEO of Extraordinary Sales and Marketing on cindy@extraordinary.co.za