Pilanesberg safaris from Johannesburg

6 min read Updated November 2026 Compare all tours

Pilanesberg is the closest place to Johannesburg where the Big Five live in open bushveld rather than in enclosures. Parks North West calls the park the crater of a long extinct volcano and the most perfect example of an alkaline ring complex, and the Pilanesberg Wildlife Trust dates the eruptions to some 1,300 million years ago. Four rings of hills circle the centre of the crater, which is why the drives here climb and drop more than on the flat plains of Kruger.

Most of the animals were brought back. Operation Genesis began in 1979, fenced the park and reintroduced species that had long disappeared from the area. North West Parks describes it as the largest game translocation undertaken in the world at the time, and counts more than 7,000 animals today. Besides lion, leopard, black and white rhino, elephant and buffalo, the park has brown hyena, cheetah, tsessebe, crocodiles and more than 300 bird species.

A day trip or two days

A day safari starts early. The most-booked tour collects you in Johannesburg or Pretoria between 6 and 6:30 am and takes about 12 hours, with a morning drive and an afternoon drive in an open vehicle and a light lunch at the Pilanesberg Centre in between. Another operator leaves at 6 am and allows three hours for the road, past the Magaliesberg and Hartbeespoort Dam, which makes a day of about 14 hours. On the five-hour drive offered by a third operator, the ranger sets off at 9:30 am and stays in radio contact with other vehicles.

With two days you see the park in the late afternoon and again at sunrise, and you spend less of the trip on the road. One two-day tour picks you up between 5:30 and 6:30 am, starts with a three-hour drive in a 10-seat open vehicle and puts you up at Bakubung Bush Lodge, with three game drives in total. A cheaper version uses tents at Tlou Tented Safari Camp, 4 km from the park gate, with a sleeping bag provided. If you have already booked your own room near the park, a shared shuttle leaves Johannesburg or Pretoria at 6 am, reaches Manyane Gate around 8:45 am, adds a three-hour game drive and drops you at your lodge.

Open vehicle or minibus

The vehicle matters more than the length of the tour. In an open safari vehicle you sit higher, without windows, and the guide can stop and turn at a sighting. Several tours use open vehicles for every drive. One lets you choose between an open jeep and a closed minibus, and another combines a three-hour morning drive in an open 4x4 with an afternoon drive in a minibus. Shared open vehicles are the norm on these tours, so you will be with other guests.

The open-jeep option is not for children under 6, pregnant travellers or people with back problems, according to the operator. Bring a jumper for the morning, because, as one operator puts it, it can be chilly in the open vehicle, and dress light for the heat of the day.

You can also drive yourself. The park has about 200 km of tar and gravel roads, and at the hides and picnic sites you are allowed out of the car. The roads need care: in February 2026 BusinessTech found many potholes and some stretches where the surface was missing, and the North West Parks and Tourism Board admitted that maintenance had fallen behind.

Park fees and what the tour covers

Every visitor pays a conservation fee at the gate, and the tours handle it differently. Some include entry and the conservation fee in the tour price, others list it as payable at the gate on the day, and one two-day listing names it both as included and as excluded, so ask the operator before you travel. The comparison table below shows the inclusions for each tour under the format.

North West Parks raised its fees in December 2025, and the published figures for foreign visitors do not agree, so we do not quote an amount here. Since 1 December 2025 the gates in Pilanesberg only accept card payments, so have a card ready if the fee is not in your tour.

What to wear

Early starts and open vehicles mean layers. In Johannesburg, average lows in June and July are about 4 °C, according to South African Weather Service figures, and you leave the city before sunrise. A warm top, a hat and sun cream cover the change from a cold morning to a hot midday. Lunch on the day tours is usually at the Pilanesberg Centre or at a restaurant overlooking a waterhole, so you do not need to bring food, but drinks are often extra.

Children, families and Sun City

Because the park is malaria-free, it suits families better than Kruger, where SANParks treats the whole park as a malaria zone. Check the age rules before you book: the most-booked day trip is not for children under 4, and children up to 5 need a private tour; another operator’s minimum age is 5; the open-jeep option starts at 6.

One tour combines a morning game drive with an afternoon at the Sun City resort, with time for the Valley of Waves, the casino or a walk around the Lost City. Sun International sells day tickets for the Valley of Waves only in advance through TicketPro and in limited numbers, and tickets cannot be bought at the resort. Sun City and other places west of the city are on our day trips page.

Pilanesberg or Kruger

For one day, Pilanesberg is the practical choice. The southern gates of Kruger lie 411 to 490 km from Johannesburg, according to SANParks, so a day trip there means about 15 hours with most of it on the road. If you have three days or more and want a much larger park, see Kruger safaris from Johannesburg. For a few hours with animals close to the city, the enclosed parks and Dinokeng are on wildlife parks near Johannesburg.