Ruben

Plan to go to SA this September. We are planning to do a 3 days safari at either Madikwe or Pilanesberg Game Reserve. Is anyone familiar with both or any of these two reserves?

divine54

we have spent almost 2 weeks in the madikwe game reserve in march 08.
visited makanyane, impodimo and mateya lodge.
the reserve has got the big 5 plus cheetah and wild dogs.
during one game drive we saw the wild dogs with a fresh kill, hyenas stealing that particular kill, a leopardess in a tree waiting for a lioness to leave which she did in order to chase the hyenas away from the wild dog kill. all within 30 min.
so we were quite busy following all these actions.
also the landscape is fantastic.
AND - it's malaria free and easily reachable by car within 4 hours from joburg.

pilanesberg as such doesn't mean anything to me. haven't visited yet.

mkhonzo

Tough question as both parks occupy similar geography and habitat.

Both have a good variety of accommodation to suit varied budgets.

Game concentrations and species diversity is pretty much equitable too.

The one factor that might influence your trip is the option to drive around the park in your own vehicle, which as far as I can recollect is only an option in the Pilanesburg.

Ruben

Do you know if there is transfer or ground transportation from JB airport?

divine54

you can arrange transportation with waterberg transfers or do it thru the lodge you are going to stay at.
another transfer company is kwatlano in joburg.
rates should be around 1800-2000ZAR per way.
be aware that the lodges have certain pick up time at the gate! so you have to comply with these times or pay a surcharge for extran transfer/pick up which is not that much - but anyway...
the transfers booked directly with the transfer company are not more favourable than booked via the lodge; that means the lodges book the transfers/pick up in order to match with the transfer times from gate to lodge.

div