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Where to see

Where to see the Giraffe in South Africa

Giraffe are the easiest large animal to spot and the most pleasant to watch, because they are visible above the bush from a long way off and they are active through the day. They browse acacia and combretum in the bushveld and savanna, which puts them across the Lowveld, the Waterberg, Madikwe and Pilanesberg, the Zululand reserves and the private reserves on the Kruger boundary. They do not occur naturally in the fynbos or the Karoo.

Giraffa camelopardalis

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Giraffe
Photo: (c) Tom Heijnen, some rights reserved (CC BY)

Planning a trip

When and where to find the Giraffe

Giraffe are the easiest large animal to spot and the most pleasant to watch, because they are visible above the bush from a long way off and they are active through the day.

When to go, park by park

Here all yearEasiest viewing
Best months to visit each park where hosts record the Giraffe
Park
Kruger
Here
Here
Here
Easiest viewing
Easiest viewing
Easiest viewing
Easiest viewing
Easiest viewing
Easiest viewing
Here
Here
Here
Sabi Sand
Here
Here
Here
Here
Easiest viewing

Darker months are each park's own best season, when thinner bush or scarce water makes viewing easier. A sighting is never guaranteed.

Best hours of the day

  • Early morning and late afternoon. The Giraffe is out through the day, and easiest to watch before the heat.
  • Midday heat. Often resting in shade or near water.

Where to base yourself

  • Limpopo

    Limpopo

    Kruger · Marakele · Timbavati

    Big FiveSelf-driveGuided drives
    Stays in Limpopo
    Limpopo
  • Mpumalanga

    Mpumalanga

    Sabi Sand

    Big FiveGuided drives
    Stays in Mpumalanga
    Mpumalanga
  • KwaZulu-Natal

    KwaZulu-Natal

    Phinda · Hluhluwe-Imfolozi

    Big FiveGuided drives
    Stays in KwaZulu-Natal
    KwaZulu-Natal
  • Eastern Cape

    Eastern Cape

    Kwandwe · Amakhala

    Big FiveGuided drivesMalaria-free
    Stays in Eastern Cape
    Eastern Cape

Ways to look

Drive yourself

Your own vehicle and pace, on the park's roads.

Where hosts record it

KrugerKgalagadiMarakele

Guided drives from a lodge

A guide who knows where to look, with off-road and night drives in the private reserves.

Where hosts record it

Sabi SandGondwanaKwandwePhindaTimbavati

Species

Giraffa camelopardalis

Records

7,512

iNaturalist observations

Every booking on Spekboom supports conservation.

Questions travellers ask

A record means a host has seen the Giraffe on the property or nearby. It is never a guarantee of a sighting.

More about the Giraffe

Giraffe are the easiest large animal to spot and the most pleasant to watch, because they are visible above the bush from a long way off and they are active through the day. They browse acacia and combretum in the bushveld and savanna, which puts them across the Lowveld, the Waterberg, Madikwe and Pilanesberg, the Zululand reserves and the private reserves on the Kruger boundary. They do not occur naturally in the fynbos or the Karoo.

There is no real season. Winter thins the bush and makes them easier to see at a distance, summer brings green leaf and calves. Early morning is the best light for photographs, because a giraffe at a waterhole with its legs splayed is one of the great sights of the bushveld and it happens most often in the first hours of the day.

Watch for the necking of young bulls, a slow swinging contest that looks gentle until it is not. Pair giraffe with the rest of the plains game in the same reserve, a Lowveld birding trip in summer, or the Waterberg for a malaria-free bushveld alternative within easy reach of Johannesburg and Pretoria.

When is the best time to see giraffe?

Any season. Winter thins the bush and makes them easier to see at a distance, and early morning is the best time for drinking behaviour and photographs. Giraffe are active through the day, so they do not need dawn and dusk the way the cats do.

Where can you see giraffe in South Africa?

Across the bushveld and savanna: Kruger and the reserves beside it, the Waterberg, Madikwe and Pilanesberg, and the Zululand reserves including Hluhluwe-iMfolozi and Phinda. They do not occur in the Cape fynbos or the Karoo.

Why do giraffe splay their legs to drink?

Their necks are shorter than their legs, so reaching ground level takes a wide stance or a deep bend at the knees. It also leaves them slow to stand up, which is why they drink in turns with others watching, and why a waterhole is the place a giraffe is most alert.

What is the Giraffe?

The South African giraffe or Cape giraffe (Giraffa giraffa or Giraffa camelopardalis giraffa) is a species or subspecies of giraffe found in South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Eswatini and Mozambique. It has rounded or blotched spots, some with star-like extensions on a light tan background, running down to the hooves.

Stays that give back

Where to stay for a chance to see the Giraffe

Every stay on the Giraffe page lists the species its host has recorded on or near the property. A record is a sighting, never a promise.

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