Very friendly staff and awesome for nature lovers. The Lenong Viewpoint road was in a good condition considering recent rainfall. I highly recommend it for a day trip and just to pass time with family and friends. The picnic spots in the lower reserve area are also neat and tidy. Thumbs up from me 😊👍🏻👍🏻

The Marakele National Park was a real surprise. It is an amazing place! The landscapes are just breath-taking with the added bonus of being in a Big 5 game reserve. We visited the National Park two days ago. It rained a lot and the roads were quite muddy and slippery. You definetely need a high clearance vehicle if you visit during the rainy season. Before entering the reception office you are being asked to go through the screening for Covid-19 at the desk located outside the entrance. The lady at the reception was friendly and we paid R120 for 2 people. Only cards are accepted. A very basic map was given to us without unfortunately pointing out that the Picnic site on the map is closed and a new one has been opened on the Tsessebe loop which we didn't see as we almost got stuck driving there. The Park is divided in 2 sections. The Big 5 are in the furtherest part of the park. You need to drive to a gate, inside the park, press a button for it to open and go through an overpass to enter big 5 territory. There aren't a lot of roads in the park. The most scenic one is the Lenong Drive that takes you up to 2000m to the Lenong View Point. Views are spectacular and you can also admire the endangered Cape Volture colonies. You are allowed to walk to the view point, but always be careful as you are in an area where wild animals live. The road to arrive at the top is quite narrow and steep but paved and tarred. The Tlopi Tended Camp is also located on this side of the reserve, on a dam. What we though it is missing is a picnic site on the Big 5 part of the park. It would have been nice to stop and have a break and have lunch or a coffee not in the car. We didn't see a lot of game. But definetely a must to visit.

Great getaway in the bush. Big variety of game to view at Marakele. Campsites were well covered with trees, ablution facilities were clean and well maintained daily. Would recommend to visit in the winter when the bush is less dense to view more animals. Unfortunately no restaurant or shop in the Park. Currently there is a swimming pool under construction that would be great on summer days.

Feb 2022. CAUTION - Never take the Rankin or Jan Trichardt Passes to Marakele Nature Reserve if you don’t have a 4x4 vehicle with max ground clearance and the best off-road tires money can buy. The road is in a very bad treacherous condition, especially the Jan Trichardt pass with massive dongas, rocky unmaintained roads with sharp rocks. Overall, we will give the Marakele experience an average of 3 out of 5 stars. Comments: ROADS - worth maybe 1 star You need a 4x4 vehicle with great road clearance and the best tires to drive on the gravel roads inside the park, especially in or after the rainy season. It seems as if road maintenance does not take place. There is 1 tar road to the top of mountain which is good. ACCOMMODATION at Tlopi tented camp - 3 stars Each unit has a bedroom/bathroom tent and a kitchen tent. Its scenically very beautiful at the camp overlooking a dam with a view of the most beautiful mountains, but if you stay longer than 1 day the cleaning services are below par at the high rates charged. The units only get cleaned at 12, lunchtime, if you are lucky. No tables/chairs or shade on the decks to. The 2 chairs they have are rickety and very low hardly anyone can sit on it. Take with a fold up table and comfy camping chairs for outside use on the deck if you stay at Tlopi Camp more than 1 night. The separate kitchen with a lockable door, to keep out scavenging animals, was well stocked including a microwave, fridge/freezer, crockery, cutlery, pots & pans. The only negative here was a broken chair which was not replaced. I believe the CAMPING area is a very good with good ablutions. The road SIGNS are mostly in a terrible state with grass growing over it and unreadable with no distances indicated or the wrong distances. Most roads didn’t have any signs. The MAP is a disaster, no proper distances and not all roads are indicated on the map which makes trip planning difficult and one can get very lost. After the rains the dongas in the road are soooooo massive that the best 4x4 will not be able to get through, turning around is then the only answer. The topography, SCENERY and sunsets are the best we have ever seen, the Kransberg Mountains are magical. Unfortunately, after the rains with all the grass and Sekelbos growth next to the roads, one can hardly spot the GAME if it’s not walking in the road. We were lucky and saw lots of Rhino's in the road or right next to the road. Our friends saw a leopard, elephant, inyala, kudu, zebra, wildebeest and other small animals. The leopard was feasting on an impala ram hanging in a tree. BE CAREFUL, a female rhino charged out a bush right next to the road and slammed into our friend’s vehicle leaving a big hole and smashed bumper area. Fortunately nobody was hurt. They did not see it coming. The roads are very narrow and there was hardly room to get away. The Lenong DRIVE up the beautiful scenic mountain road to the VULTURE viewpoint was an experience of a lifetime but also scary on the very narrow road. But the driver has no joy having to keep eyes on the road all the time. According to available info there are apparently approximately 800 breading pairs of vultures in those mountains, BUT we saw NO vultures. Suggestion: Lenong viewpoint - Marakele (Sanparks) should consider building a nice safe mountain lookout area, with railings, where anybody can get out their vehicles and have incredible views for miles in all directions. Only the fit and healthy people can currently walk over the huge rocks to see the great view. There are no toilets available or an area to sit, relax and maybe see the vultures and enjoy the surroundings.

I have no doubt that Marakele is a beautiful National Park and that Tlopi Tented Camp units are very nice in good weather. Unfortunately we visited in the middle of a stormy weekend, so the wind and rain made our stay very unpleasant and we left a day early. Unit needs a bit of maintenance, tent needs to be tightened up to avoid bashing against the indoor furniture and kitchen needs patching (we had to move the table & chairs into the bedroom section to keep dry). Units are nicely laid out, overlooking a dam, with nice braai setup. Keep all doors closed even when you are there to avoid any monkey issues. Wildlife still amazing and well worth spending time here. Mud roads in first half of park are very interesting in a normal vehicle.

We visited recently on the 24 March as a team of 8pax. We were booked at Bontle Safari lodge. Cheking in was easy and swift. We arrived, parked the vehicle and head to the covid-19 screening area. We sanitized and temperatures were checked at the point. We then proceeded to complete the check in forms and indemnity forms for the game drive. We had a lovely game drive experience, spotted some animals such as Giraffe, Lion and Rhinos. Our accommodation was also perfect for the bush environment. We had two bedrooms (single beds / double beds) and one bedroom Safari tents (single beds) . We thank you for the Hospitality.

Great park very scenic, we stayed at the camp by the main gate, staff are super friendly and professional the lookout on the mountain is amazing and so is the drive up! The park doesn’t have many roads for its size but we did see good numbers of game of various species. Accommodations was perfect!

Always a treat to visit Marakele National Park. Stayed at both Tlopi and Bontle Tented Camps. Tlopi has a beautiful view of the dam and mountains whereas Bontle Camp has a view of trees. Each tent is designed in such a manner that your privacy is still taken into consideration.

* * * * * review for SanParks Marakele - Tlopi tented camp * * * * * Stayed in unit ST2/3 (Dabchick) Camp subject to loadshedding, however a generator was started perfectly on time with minimal interruption to electricity supply. Unit very well maintained. Warm water. Warm bedding (including electric blanket). Adequately equipped kitchenette for all your needs during your stay. Daily housekeeping service wonderful. Good cellphone/internet signal (MTN). Perfect view of the whole dam. Wind wept through the mountains and shook the tent all night long, but made the whole “tented”experience even more unforgettable. Suggested additional activity: go and visit the Marakele Animal Sanctuary (on the main road towards Thabazimbi), especially the Lion Mobile. To all guests overnighting in a nature reserve - a gentle remember: * switch cellphone to silent mode * no music/videos * lower your voice to a whisper Enjoy and make lots of memories!

Lenong viewpoint is spectacular! Don’t expect to see many ( if any) animals in this park. Use the map for a fire starter.. The staff are very friendly😁 Campsites rather barren at this time of year with lots of monkeys around.

The drive up to Marakele Towers is amazing. Altitude at the Park gate is about 1040m and you climb to 2065m at the Towers with amazing views. Bush was too thick to see much game.

We stayed at Tlopi Tented Camp. Our unit was Sunbird. Lovely view of the dam and mountain side. Kitchenette was equipped with a fridge, microwave and a two plate stove top. There is a braai with a light above. Room was well kept and lovely shower with hot water. The views where stunning We did not have cell phone reception (Vodacom) but that was ok. The last night we were there, the wind was very strong and did damage the tent poles. Overall we will go again but I think it will be in early winter months

I would highly recommend Marakele National Park. The staff are efficient,friendly and helpful. The accommodation was clean and well maintained. The views are spectacular, wild life plentyful and we managed to identify 80+ bird species in our short visit. In my humble opinion totally worth it. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Motswere Guest Cottage is a must for a party of six. It is spacious and well equiped. The secludedness of this cottage gives you this Africa bush feeling. Wild animals roam around just outside the fenced in area. Great!!

It's a beautiful landscape. There are many animals incl the Big 5. I was silently looking forward to see rhinoceros unicornis (yes - a unicorn is a rhino with 1 horn, not the rubbish we've been taught), but I only saw rhinoceros dicornis.

Stunning place, way underrated. The images should speak for themselves. The area now constituting Marakele was home to several iron-age settlements which are not yet open to public viewing. Prior to its foundation as a National Park, it was home to naturalist Eugene Marais. Marakele was founded as Kransberg National Park in 1994 with the purchase of 150 square kilometres (58 sq mi), and was shortly after renamed to its current name. By 1999, the park had expanded to 670 square kilometres (260 sq mi). Wiki

Amazing nature. A pity we didn’t see so much wildlife. But I guess that just bad luck. But we had a lovely few days in Topli Tented Camp

This SANPARKS is a three and a bit hour drive from Johannesburg. The park is small with a few routes to explore. The main attraction is the view point at the top of the mountain. Spectacular! The road getting up there is narrow and there isn't the option of two cars passing up and down simultaneously, so be weary of cars travelling opposite to you. The roads in the park are all gravel and I would suggest a high clearance vehicle, although there were a few sedans in the park. The sand get quite tricky to navigate in the rain and some stretches are very very rocky. We stayed at the Bontle tented camp, which has tented accommodation with a kitchenette, utensils, a bathroom (simple but clean), and beds. It was a lovely break from the city. The conservation fee per day is R63 per SA adult (Jan 2023 rate) and the staff at the park are super friendly. The park offers game drives at 5am and 15:30pm for around R400 pp but because it is a small park, book early!

Although big cats in this area is a slight bit more scarce than other national parks it makes up for it with its Scenic beauty

Beautiful views. The look out is absolutely amazing.

Amazing scenery, roads manageable in sedan, heavy rains made for some tricky driving. Map & signage or lack thereof makes for quite the adventure. Not much game, definitely not the 'safari' experience compared to Pilansberg. For a nature & picture perfect scenery and being in the open - a must.

Great park for birding with chance to see the big 5 too. Be warned that the roads can be quite bad at places.

Great park, the camping facilities were nice and clean. The road up to viewpoint is insane. Recommend.

I love Marakele. The game rangers are very knowledgable and the Tlope camp is well worth staying at. Excellent routes and amazing small animals and birds.

Absolutely stunning! Best food and all round safari experience ever!