Direct Booking

Have a hands-on approach to conservation and help play a role in preserving habitats and protecting endangered species, while embarking on some of the most thrilling wildlife experiences in the bush. These activities are subject to availability and require booking in advance.

Make an Enquiry

Rhino Dehorning

Dehorning rhinos is one of the ways we are working to deter poaching in the Greater Kruger. Without their horns, rhinos are not valuable to poachers, and the incentive to poach rapidly decreases.

We invite our guests to participate in a dehorning operation with reserve management, wildlife vets, and pilots to have a helping hand in this crucial activity. It is an ongoing project and is incredibly resource-heavy, requiring the expertise of trained professionals, necessary drugs, equipment, fuel, and coordination to make just one dehorning possible.

APNR Ground-Hornbill Project

The large, iconic Southern ground-hornbill is an endangered bird in South Africa, with numbers rapidly declining outside of protected areas. The successful breeding and increasing population in the Greater Kruger is due to the conservation and research carried out by the APNR Ground-Hornbill Project run by the FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology for over 20 years.

Our guests have the opportunity to join the experts in the field to monitor and assess the active nest site, and listen to an informative talk in the comfort of the lodge to learn about the complex existence of the world’s largest cooperative breeding bird.

Elephants Alive

Despite the seemingly booming elephant population in the reserve, elephants are in fact fighting for space, and it is of vital conservation importance to properly manage elephant distribution. Elephants Alive has been monitoring, researching, and conserving elephants in the Greater Kruger for almost 30 years.

At Royal Malewane, our guests can join the team as they track down elephant bulls and work with vets and pilots to carefully dart and sedate the animal in order to capture vital data and/or fit a collar funded through this programme.

Make an Enquiry

EWT Wild Dog Project

African wild dogs – or painted wolves – are highly endangered with only an estimated 5,500 free-ranging dogs remaining on the continent, according to The Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT).

EWT’s wild dog conservation project leader Grant Beverley monitors, studies, and protects the local wild dog packs using telemetry collars to capture vital information and help keep them safe from threats resulting from human-wildlife conflict. Our guests are offered the unique opportunity to join Grant in the field to locate the pack and get involved in fitting a new collar, or gather data from a monitored individual.

Make an Enquiry

K9 Unit Dog Demonstration

Our counter-poaching dog unit is known as Tango K9; a team of Field Rangers and highly-trained detection and tracker dogs, who, working together, have added a crucial dimension to the counter-poaching activity on the reserve.

Our guests are invited to visit Tango K9 during their stay, where they can meet the Rangers and watch a demonstration put on by these incredible working dogs and handlers. Observing them in a training exercise allows you to see how this unique relationship is proving to be a force in the counter-poaching tool box. Seeing the dogs and Rangers work together is an amazing display of communication and trust.

Make an Enquiry

Helicopter Patrol Flight

Seeing the expanse of the reserve from above shows you a whole new perspective on our location, our landscape, and what it takes to keep wildlife safe. It shows how human homes, cultivated farmland, and wilderness exist in such close proximity, and how much space really is running out as our human footprint grows.

Take a flight through the airspace over the reserve where you can spot herds of elephants and some of the larger animals from above, over the dramatic mountain landscape, and through the exquisite green canyon of the Blyde River nearby.

Make an Enquiry