Black rhino sanctuary
Free State, South Africa
Mokala National Park is a national park in Free State, South Africa, managed by SANParks. Visitors come for game drives, hiking, camping, bird watching, photography. The best time to visit is Aug-Oct (flowers), Mar-May.
The species most recorded in Free State, drawn from citizen-science observations. Tap any to find stays where you can see it.
Ranked by how often they are recorded in the province, from iNaturalist observations. Tap one to find stays where it lives.
Species birders log most in this province. Numbers are records, not guarantees.
Occurrence data from iNaturalist, aggregated by province. It reflects where a species is seen across Free State, not confirmed sightings inside this reserve.
Aug-Oct (flowers), Mar-May
Why book here
Wild places survive when the communities around them earn more from protecting wildlife than from anything that would replace it. Every stay you book through Spekboom carries a conservation contribution built into the price, never added on top, so choosing where you sleep becomes a way to fund the people and projects keeping this landscape intact.
Inside-park stays and nearby lodges, sorted by distance.
Inside parkMosu Lodge is the main rest camp of Mokala National Park, set in the rolling thornveld and dolerite koppies south west of Kimberley in the Northern Cape. The camp looks out over a waterhole and the open plains beyond, and its name, meaning camel thorn in Setswana, reflects the acacia-studded country that defines this quiet, lesser-known park. Mokala is best known as a sanctuary for rare and endangered game. Roan and sable antelope, tsessebe, black and white rhino, buffalo and Cape mountain zebra are among the species protected here, moving across grassland and broken hill country that rewards slow, unhurried drives. The lodge offers comfortable chalets and a restaurant overlooking the waterhole, making it a relaxed base for a self-drive safari well off the busier tourist routes. The wide skies, gentle landscape and abundance of plains game give Mosu an easy, restorative character.
Manyoni Private Game Reserve is one of the largest privately-owned reserves in Kwazulu-Natal. This 23,000-hectare reserve is the product of 17 dedicated landowners who dropped their fences in 2004 to create one contiguous protected area for our wildlife. The selection of the area as a potential release site for the WWF Black Rhino Range Expansion Project was a major driving factor in the establishment of Manyoni. In 2005, the newly established reserve was confirmed as a release site by the WWF and a founder population of black rhino were released into their new home.
Mokala National Park is in Free State, South Africa.
Yes. Mokala National Park is a Big Five area, home to lion, leopard, elephant, buffalo and rhino.
In Free State, commonly recorded species include mammals such as Black Wildebeest, Blesbok, Common Eland, Bontebok and birds including Blue Korhaan, African Red-eyed Bulbul, Mountain Pipit, based on iNaturalist occurrence data. These reflect the wider province, not confirmed sightings inside the reserve.
The best time to visit Mokala National Park is Aug-Oct (flowers), Mar-May.
Popular activities at Mokala National Park include game drives, hiking, camping, bird watching, photography.
5 places are listed in and near Mokala National Park on Spekboom, from inside-park camps to nearby lodges. Every booking funds conservation.
