Things to do near
Mkhaya Game Reserve
*Distances are shown as the crow flies and not necessarily the actual travelling
distance.
Farms
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Siteki (38.8 km from Mkhaya Game Reserve) Mabuda Farm is a historic working farm on the Swaziland Lebombo plateau. The dairy has been in operation since 1940 and some dwellings on the farm are close to 100 years old.
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Malkerns (46 km from Mkhaya Game Reserve) From humble beginnings in an old dairy cowshed, Swazi Candles has gained a reputation for producing amazing candles, attracting visitors from far and wide.
Today the industry employs over 200 local people and exports candles all over the world. The principles of Fair Trade are strongly upheld and Swazi Candles are members of World Fair Trade Organization. Their candles have been accepted into the ‘Wereld Winkel’ Fair Trade group of stores in The Netherlands.
Visit the workshop to see an astonishing array of patterns, shapes and designs that are all unique.
Nature Reserves
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Malolotja Nature Reserve (64.5 km from Mkhaya Game Reserve) Glide through the forest canopy in one of Swaziland’s mountain wildernesses. Close to the famous Malolotja Falls and set within the forested Sihlotswane gorge, the Malolotja Canopy Tour offers a three-hour thrilling adventure.
The tour takes guests zipping across ten slides and a 50m long suspension bridge that crosses the Majolomba River. Eleven elevated forest platforms provide stopping points to enjoy the view and spot birds and forest animals.
The Malolotja Nature Reserve is home to a numerous mammals and birdlife including the rare Forest Canary and Ground Woodpecker. The tour starts with a long drive in an open game vehicle blesbuck, eland, impala and zebra can frequently be seen. Don’t forget to bring your camera!
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Jeppes Reef (74.4 km from Mkhaya Game Reserve) Visit Matsamo Cultural Village for the day or spend the night in a traditional Swazi custom-built 'hive'. In this traditional Swazi village the colourful Matsamo people tend their cattle, cultivate their crops and produce beautiful crafts. You'll be entertained to rousing dance and song performances and traditional cuisine, and allowed to wander where you will.
Matsamo is named after Chief Matsamo, a prominent Shongwe chief and contemporary of King Mswati II. He was the first Swazi Chief to reside permanently in the area, and as a reward for his loyalty in defending the territory against invaders from the north, Mswati II allowed Chief Matsamo to remain in charge of the region as an eminent member of Swazi royalty. Today the region is still under the control of the Matsamo Tribal Authority.
Visitors to Matsamo Cultural Village are treated to age-old folk songs, rhythmic dance performances, including the famous ‘Rain Dance', and music using authentic African instruments, as well as traditional Swazi cuisine. They can also wander on a tour through the village with its many huts and seclusions, interacting with the villagers as they go about their daily activities, cultivating their crops, preparing traditional food and fashioning beautiful craft works. Also at Matsamo is a well stocked curio shop with local crafts, and a spacious restaurant with a stunning panoramic view.
Matsamo cultural village near Kruger Park first opened its doors in 2001 and enjoys great support from the broader community. Each staffer has shares in the owning company and it provides an income to more than 100 people, making it an award-winning responsible tourism project (Imvelo Responsible Tourism Award).
Nature Reserves
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Ndumo Game Reserve (85.3 km from Mkhaya Game Reserve) Situated near Tembe Elephant Park on the Mozambique border, Ndumo Game Reserve is celebrated for its magnificent bird life and is home to a staggering 430 bird species.
Not only does Ndumo boast the highest bird count in South Africa, the reserve has a variety of habitats with many beautiful pans fringed by yellow fever trees, vast wetlands, acacia savannah and unique sand forest. The Pongola River flows through it to the confluence with the Usuthu River on the park’s northern boundary.
Birders should keep a keen lookout for Pell's fishing owl, the broadbill, southern banded snake eagle and a variety of tropical East African birds at the southernmost limit of their range. The wetlands are home to an astonishing range of waterbirds including pelicans, black egrets and pygmy geese.
Suni antelope, nyala, bushbuck, impala, red duiker, black and white rhino, hippo and crocodile are regularly spotted. Entomologists find Ndumo particularly exciting with a fascinating array of insects including 66 recorded species of mosquito!
Guided day walks or morning and afternoon drive tours can be arranged at the reception office. Certain areas of the reserve can be explored by visitors in their own vehicles.
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Barberton (98.5 km from Mkhaya Game Reserve) The Makhonjwa Mountains around Barberton are renowned for their ancient green rocks with their unique scientific record of the pre-history of the earth and for the human stories in pursuit of hidden gold.Also referred to as the ‘Genesis of Life’, its geology includes the best preserved truly ancient rocks on earth. Despite the rocks being 3.5 billion years old they are so well preserved that their fossils faithfully record the earliest life forms on the planet as well as evidence of the first recorded massive meteorite impact.Come to Barberton for the most spectacular sceneries, over the mountain for picnic, and if the beauty does not hold you back too long, a trip to Songimvelo Nature Reserve."The oldest well preserved sedimentary and volcanic rocks on Earth. ... These rock layers are like the pages of a book that we can read and translate in terms of early Earth's history. Here in Barberton is the Rosetta Stone for this period of time." Prof Don Lowe, Stanford University"The rocks of the Barberton region represent the best-preserved example of the Earth's ancient oceanic and continental crust." Profs Terence McCarthy and Bruce Rubidge, University of the Witwatersrand
Nature Reserves
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Phongolo Game Reserve (99.3 km from Mkhaya Game Reserve) Stretching from the Lebombo Mountains down across the Phongolopoort Dam, Phongolo Game Reserve has much to offer visitors.
From a conservation perspective, the reserve contains a large number of special ecosystems and habitats with the unique Golela veld providing an important breeding habitat for rare Suni antelope. Other habitats are the species-rich Lobombo Mountain forests and the Themeda grassveld scattered with knobthorn and maroela trees.
Phongolo Game Reserve is home to over 300 bird species and a range of plains game including white rhino, giraffe, blue wildebeest, kudu, impala, nyala, warthog, waterbuck, common and mountain reedbuck and zebra.
The dam has large families of hippos, crocodiles as well as numerous fish species. One of these is the tiger fish, a highly desirable catch at fishing competitions taking place here throughout the year. Facilities offer two boat launch sites, a campsite with cold showers, flush toilets and an adjacent picnic site for day trippers.
Phongolo Game Reserve lies within a malaria area and visitors are advised to take precautions. Swimming is prohibited in the dam because of crocodiles and hippos.
+27 (0) 34 435 1012
Gate Entry Times:
Summer 05:00 – 19:00
Winter 06:00 – 18:00.
Galleries and Museums
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Barberton (99.4 km from Mkhaya Game Reserve) Get bunged up with local knowledge at the Barberton Museum where the geology, mining, Swazi history and general history of Barberton are displayed, as well as Belhaven and Stopforth House Museums, Fernlea Museum and the Block House.Find out about the history of the area dating back 3,500 million yeas before man was able to survive on earth. The Barberton Mountainland is internationally acclaimed as the best developed and exposed remnant of primitive crust. The oldest form of life on earth developed in this hostile environment. The earliest inhabitats of the area were the Stone Age people. Barberton is also known for it's earliest mining activities and prospectors found remains of Iron Age mining in this area.