Game Drives at Monate Lodge
Our experienced Rangers will guide your enthusiasm towards our diverse ecology during the length of your stay.
The pulse of Africa will drive your ancient instincts to flush out the buzz of the city while your soul connects once more with your ancestral claim to your rightful place in the wild.
You can enjoy a warm cup of Coffee and Tea, when we stop for a break on the morning game drive. The bushveld mornings are quite special if you are a keen birdwatcher. While we track down Cheetah, Rhino, Buffalo and other wonderful animals, you can enjoy the diverse populations of birds that occur on our reserve. We are situated close to Nylsvley, which is a world heritage site for birding.
Nylsvley hosts the biggest floodplain in Southern Africa and attracts hundreds of bird species to our area. If you are lucky you can spot birds ranging from Verreaux eagles, little bitterns to White back vultures. Our diverse bird life will surely quench any birders enthusiasm.
Every evening closes down with a relaxing sundowner somewhere on our beautiful reserve. The evenings are best known for game viewing as most of the animals start making their way to a water source to quench their thirst after a warm African day. The animal activity during this time of day, increases your chances of spotting animals interacting with each other.
We strive to bring our visitors closer to nature, as nature intended. We look forward to sharing our wonderful piece of heaven with you.
What you should look out for on your drive:
Animals |
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Aardvark |
African wild cat |
Banded Mongoose |
Black back jackal |
Blesbok |
Blue Wildebeest |
Brown Hyena |
Buffalo |
Bushbuck |
Bush pig |
Burchells Zebra |
Chacma Baboon |
Caracal |
Civet |
Cheetah |
Eland |
Common Duiker |
Giraffe |
Gemsbok |
Honey Badger |
Hippopotamus |
Klipspringer |
Impala |
Large spotted Mongoose |
Kudu |
Leopard |
Lesser bush baby |
Pangolin |
Nyala |
Red Hartebeest |
Porcupine |
Scrub hare |
Rock dassie |
Small spotted Genet |
Slender Mongoose |
Steenbok |
Spring hare |
Vervet Monkey |
Tree squirrel |
Warthog |
Water buck |
White Rhino |
Water Mongoose |
Ostrich |
White tailed Mongoose |
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Spiders |
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Banded Garden spider |
Bark spider |
Black widow |
Brown spider |
Community nest spider |
Daddy long leg spider |
Golden orb web spider |
Funnel web spider |
Jumping spider |
Kite spider |
Rain spider |
Sac spider |
Solifuge / Baboon spider |
Tropical tent spider |
Violin spider |
Wall spider |
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Flowers |
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Mountain aloe |
Bladder hibiscus |
Butterfly monopis |
Devils claws |
Macowen's river lily |
Pink lady’s slipper |
Wild sesama |
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Frogs |
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African bullfrog |
Banded rubber frog |
Bubbling Kassina |
Bushveld rain frog |
Common caco |
Common platanna |
Common river frog |
Foam nest frog |
Guttural toad |
Raucous toad |
Red toad |
Snoring puddle frog |
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Insects |
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Acacia katydid |
Ant lions |
Bees |
Carrion beetles |
Cicadas |
CMR beetles |
Common green Mantid |
Stick Grasshopper |
Dung beetle |
Elegant Grasshopper |
Fire flies |
Flower Mantid |
Fruit chafer |
Giant stick insect |
Ground beetles |
Hook-net winged beetle |
King cricket |
Lady bird bug |
Leaf Katydid |
long horn beetle |
Monster tiger beetle |
Mosquito |
Rhinoceros beetle |
Shield bug |
Stick mantid |
Toktokkies |
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Butterflies and Moths |
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African monarch |
Blue pansy |
Citrus swallowtail |
Common dotted border |
Diadem |
Emerald moth |
Emperor moth |
False dotted moth |
Hawk moth |
Lunar moth |
Owl moth |
Yellow pansy |
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Reptiles |
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Leopard tortoise |
March terrapins |
African python |
Brown House snake |
Spotted bush snake |
Boom slang |
Vine snake |
Mfesie |
Black mamba |
Puff adder |
Twig snake |
Yellow throated lizard |
Striped skink |
Water monitor |
Rock monitor |
Flap necked Chameleon |
Southern tree agama |
Nile crocodile |
Tropical house gecko |
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Trees |
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Black monkey thorn acacia |
Common hook thorn |
Sweet thorn acacia |
False umbrella thorn |
Scented thorn acacia |
Ankle thorn acacia |
Umbrella thorn |
Shepherds tree |
Wild syringe |
Tinder wood |
Red bush willow |
Russet bush willow |
Velvet bush willow |
Large fruited bush willow |
Lavender fever berry |
Common wild pear |
Transvaal beech |
Large leaved rock fig |
Red leaf fig |
Mountain fig |
Common wild fig |
Lavender tree |
Life long lannea |
Red milk wood |
Wild olive |
Common raisin tree |
Jacked plum |
Weeping wattle |
Karee |
Mountain karee |
Common wild currant |
Marula tree |
Tamboti Spiny leaved monkey orange |
Black monkey orange |
Buffalo thorn |
Silver cluster leaf |
Tamboti |
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Birds |
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White breasted cormorant |
Reed comorant |
African darter |
Purple heron |
Grey heron |
Black headed heron |
Yellow billed egret |
Great white egret |
Little egret |
Cattle egret |
Common squacco heron |
Black egret |
Black crowned night heron |
Green backed heron |
Little bittern |
Black stork |
Abdim's stork |
White stork |
Yellow billed stork |
African spoonbill |
Hamerkop |
Hadida ibis |
Glossy ibis |
Sacred ibis |
Spurwinged goose |
Egyptian goose |
Knob billed duck |
White faced duck |
Fulvous duck |
White backed duck |
Shouthern pochard |
Yellow billed duck |
African black duck |
Red billed teal |
White backed vulture |
African fish eagle |
Osprey |
Brown snake eagle |
Black breasted snake eagle |
Tawny eagle |
Wahlberg's eagle |
Martial eagle |
Booted eagle |
Honey buzzard |
Jackal buzzard |
Steppe buzzard |
Gymnogene |
Black kite |
Yellow billed kite |
Black shouldered kite |
Black sparrow hawk |
African goshawk |
Lanner valcon |
Peregrine falcon |
European hobby |
Redfooted falcon |
Rock kestrel |
Swainson's francolin |
Natal francolin |
Crested francolin |
Coqui francolin |
Helmeted guinea fowl |
Gaint eagle owl |
spotted eagle owl |
Barn owl |
Marsh owl |
Pearl spotted owl |
African scops owl |
European nightjar |
Fierynecked nightjar |
Rufous cheeked nightjar |
European swift |
African palm swift |
Redfaced mousebird |
Speckled mouse bird |
Gaint kingfisher |
Pied kingfisher |
Malachite kingfisher |
Woodland kingfisher |
European bee eater |
Little bee eater |
Lilacbreasted roller |
European roller |
Grey hornbill |
Yellow billed hornbill |
Redbilled hornbill |
Red billed woodhoopoe |
African hoopoe |
Crested barbet |
Bennett's woodpecker |
Rufous naped lark |
European swallow |
Forktailed drongo |
Ostrich |
African finfood |
Redknobbed coot |
Common moorhen |
Secretary bird |
Red creasted korhaan |
Common ringed plover |
Three banded plover |
Crowned plover |
Black smith plover |
Little stint |
Painted snipe |
Spotted dikkop |
Red eyed dove |
Cape turtle dove |
Laughing dove |
Grey Louie |
Diederik's cuckoo |
Klaas's cuckoo |
Burchell's coucal |
Fiscal flycatsher |
Paradise flycatcher |
Cape white eye |
Chinspot batis |
Grassveld pipit |
Orange throated longclaw |
Crimson breasted shrike |
Brubru |
Glossy starling |
Black sunbird |
Arrow marked babbler |
Kurrichane thrush |
Natal robin |
Longbilled crombec |
Rattling cisticola |
House sparrow |
Masked weaver |
Red billed quelea |
Pintailed weaver |
Common waxbill |
Blue waxbill |
Bronze manikin |
Yellow eyed canary |
Rock bunting |
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