South Africa is synonymous with wildlife. There are national parks and wildlife reserves throughout the country, many close to golf courses.
So you can combine a game of golf on the fairways of some of South Africa’s best courses with getting up close and personal with big game icons on a safari – and all in the same day!
Take a dawn safari drive with breakfast in the bush before your round of golf, or tee off in the morning then go for a sunset and dusk safari, both offering amazing experiences. Several reserves offer the chance to see the Big Five: lion, leopard, elephant, rhino and buffalo. Some are malaria-free, too.
Among places where you can play golf and see wildlife in the same day is the spectacular Sun City Resort in North West Province, which offers two Gary Player-designed courses and is just 4km from the entrance to Big Five reserve Pilanesberg National Park.
Legend Golf & Safari Resort, in Limpopo province, not only boasts its 18-hole golf course and the Extreme 19th par 3 hole, where you access the tee by helicopter, but it is also lies within the Entabeni Safari Conservatory, another Big Five reserve.
Still in Limpopo, Zebula Golf Estate & Spa has a Peter Matkovich-designed course and is set on 1,600 hectares of bushveld in the shadow of the Waterberg mountains, with naturally occurring game including kudu, impala, wildebeest, zebra, haartebeest, giraffe, eland, jackal, warthog and ostrich all around. Guests can walk or cycle on the estate for a close-up view of the wildlife or they can take a three-hour safari game drive into the adjacent Mabalingwe Nature Reserve to view the Big Five. Zebula also offers encounters with its resident cheetah and elephants, including going on an elephant-back safari or swimming with them, and has a meerkat enclosure and a snake and reptile park.
Play stunning Leopard Creek, bordering South Africa’s famous Kruger Park, and you could come across hazards including crocodiles, hippo, buffalo and elephant without even needing to go on safari. While on the Hans Merensky Golf Estate course, also alongside Kruger Park, look out for resident giraffe, hippo, zebra and other animals.
Prince’s Grant Lodge, in KwaZuluNatal, is an easy drive from several different safari experiences. View the Big Five and other wildlife in Phinda Private Game Reserve and nearby Hluhluwe–iMfolozi Park, Africa’s oldest nature reserve, or take a boat trip past hippos in iSimangaliso Wetland Park.
Eastern Cape’s Fish River Sun resort is just over an hour from Pumba Private Game Reserve, where its Big Five population includes a rare pride of white lions.
Along the Garden Route, play Plettenberg Bay Country Club’s course then take a safari in Plettenberg Bay Game Reserve, the Southern Cape’s largest wildlife reserve. You can also combine rounds on some of the Garden Route’s other golf courses with a visit to Kwandwe Private Game Reserve, where you can again see the Big Five.
Golfers playing Hermanus Golf Club or at the nearby Arabella Hotel & Spa can have a whale of a time on or off the golf course. Hermanus is one of the world’s best whale-watching destinations thanks to the De Hoop Marine Protected Area just offshore, where you can take boat safaris to see Southern Right Whales, chiefly between July and November.
Even Cape Town offers same-day golf and safari combo options. Fairy Glen Private Game Reserve offers the closest safari experience to the city at just an hour away from the waterfront and golf clubs such as Steenberg or Stellenbosch. At 2.5 hours from Cape Town by road, the Inverdoon Game Reserve has an abundance of wildlife and operates a noted cheetah rehabilitation programme.
