The allure of KwaZulu-Natal: How to have a South African holiday in one province
When daydreaming about an all-encompassing South African holiday,
The Rhino Sands story is one of family. Created as the culmination of one family’s passion for conservation and love of safari, the camp is a reflection of the values we hold dear. Built with minimal disruption to the environment and nestled within riverine forest, the canvas tents and classic design immerse guests in the safari experience. Set in big five Manyoni Private Game Reserve we offer intimate access to world class game-viewing.
The Rhino Sands ethos is one of connection. With a maximum of 8 guests, we invite our team to get to know each guest, enabling us to create a personalized and memorable safari. We welcome each guest into our family, hoping they form a bond with our team, our reserve and our beautiful country.
Features of our all-inclusive safari package.
Rhino Sands’ core values provide the reason why we do what we do. These are the keys to what sets Rhino Sands apart as a safari destination and what motivates us daily.
Explore the exciting Zululand wilderness in Manyoni Private Game Reserve, a reserve well known for its world class game viewing and birding. The private nature of the reserve means guest safari experience and sightings will always be intimate and respectful, creating an unforgettable opportunity to experience Africa’s iconic wildlife.
Our blog is updated with news, conservation and other interesting articles about Rhino Sands.
When daydreaming about an all-encompassing South African holiday,
A practical and fashion-forward guide to curating your
Game reserves, like Manyoni, are not just patches
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Thank you to all the staff at Rhino Sands for making our visit so spectacular! From Nick’s warm welcome greeting, the delicious and creative menu options from Chef, the magnificent “tent” accommodations and Jonno, our safari guide, finding the one of a kind moments on each and every safari drive, Rhino Sands is without compare. What an amazing experience! A special thank you to Nick for the surprise evening you prepared for my wife and I to celebrate our anniversary. We will absolutely be back.
The most amazing place we have ever visited. Every single thing from the wonderful welcome by Spha, the amazing food cooked by Zanele and team, the fantastic service provided by Chris, welcome back from Safari from Nico and Storm and of course the best Safari guide ever in Anton who went out of his way to track the lions calls, find the leopard we so desperately wanted to see, and much more, this place was perfect in every way.
The ‘tents’ were stunning, your every need met. Beautifully decorated and very comfortable beds. We loved the electric blankets at night and hot water bottles on morning game drives to ward off the chill. The food was exquisite, and plentiful. The ice cream has to be given a special mention!
I honestly don’t have the words to describe just how special this place is. In the words of Oscar ‘the best 3 days I have ever had’.
Thank you so much to you all, we loved our time so much. We’ve already recommended you to lots of people and we’ll definitely definitely be back!!!
This is my 2nd stay at Rhino Sands, and I am just as impressed as the first time.
Upon arrival, the hot sandal wood-infused towels and warm greetings by the staff are a welcome respite from the long travel. The rooms are premium and comfortable, airy and spacious. The bathrooms suit a queen, with an indoor and outdoor shower and clawfoot tub for wind-downs after early morning or afternoon drives.
There are so many highlights to write about. Still, the elegant campfires, bespoke gin cocktails, incredible three-course dinners, beautiful pinotage, warmed beds in the evening, and top-level service and attention make you feel really special and relaxed.
The staff is the best. Each person brings their own unique personality, education, and love of their job to the experience.
We stayed five nights, and each touch blew away my entire group. I recommend Rhino Sands to anyone who wants a thoughtful, luxurious, and delicious getaway.
The most incredible place I have ever stayed. I chose Rhino Sands because it felt like an intimate place with only four tents available. The tents are so luxurious! It was pretty cold in the mornings and nights but the heated blankets helped. The staff was amazing! They took such great care of my husband and I on our honeymoon. Storm always made sure we were doing great and kept us filled up with drinks. Chris was always checking in on us as well. The food was absolutely delicious and felt like a five star restaurant. Our ranger, Jonno was amazing! We loved hearing how passionate he is about the bush. And it was nice to have regular life conversations with him getting to know each other and our lives. He tracked animals so effortlessly even in the dark. I don’t know how he does it. The first 2 nights we only had one family on the camp with us and then the last night two other couples came in. It was so fun to hang out with the staff and guests around the campfire. The lions got so close to camp the last night that we fell asleep to lion roars which is so cool. We were so sad to leave and cannot wait to come back one day. HIGHLY HIGHLY RECOMMEND!
The Rhino Sands team have made our first visit to the South African bush a very special experience; it was a magical adventure from start to finish. It is hard to write the words that will do it justice and describe just what a unique place it is.
We stayed for three nights and from the moment we were greeted at the entry of the lodge, we knew we would have a lovely stay. The hospitality from the entire team was warm, welcoming, kind, personalized and attentive but more importantly it was genuinely caring. They took extra care of us and went out of their way to make things very special. The team really puts in all the extra effort possible to make your stay as comfortable as possible.
The food was phenomenal; from the treats on game drives to the fine dining meals in the restaurant – all to die for. The Head Chefs were charming and they always made extra effort to always say hi and introduce themselves. Every day, before the afternoon game drive, they personally presented the dinner menu and took our orders. As a vegetarian, they made sure there we more than enough option for me to choose from.
The lodge is beautifully appointed, and the rooms are out of this world. We stayed in the last tent and the view over the bush was spectacular! There is something intoxicating and enchanting about listening to the bush “wake”. I will dream of it and long for it, until I return again.
Now to the game drives, we had the most brilliant time and we saw so much! We had some very amazing sightings; spectacular elephant sightings and witnessed some quite intimate animal behavior involving monkeys. Jonathan was our ranger and his hospitality was courteous, caring and diligent; he had a very engaging nature and a great sense of humor. We were pretty much laughing the whole time during our drives because of Jonno. He went out of his way to show us things that would interest us most and pick the spots for sunsets and morning coffee that he knew we would love. We felt in the safest and best of hands with him. He was brilliant.
I hope that we will be fortunate enough to return to Rhino Sands, until then we will hold the memories very dear. Thank you to the entire team for the most wonderful time; it was truly magical in every way.
There truly are not enough stars. Rhino sands is the perfect combination beauty, luxury and simplicity. Thank you to Nico and his team for our unforgettable experience. The friendliness, kindness and professional nature of the team was exceptional and is a true reflection of Nico’s leadership. From the second we arrived until our departure Obi, Thandeka, Spa and Jean were incredibly warm and attentive and made us feel very special. They went the extra mile everyday to make our experience unique. The head chefs Zanele and Deon kept our bellies full with the most exquisite African style cuisines. The food was simply incredible. As for our ranger Josh, what can I say he is gentleman and a scholar and was like a magnet to all the beauty of the African wild. It was clear from the start that is passion for the bush has no boundaries. Every drive with him was informative, entertaining and exciting, to the extend that we were awake before his 5 am wake up call every morning. The team of rangers on the reserve communicated exceptionally well with each other to give all guests the best possible experience. And who can forget Patric, our ever watchful, ever vigilant night watchman. Who kept our minds at ease by patrolling the camp at night, keeping the perils of the bush off the walkways and out of our tents so that we could all sleep in peace.
Once again, thank you to each and everyone at Rhino Sands. We are looking forward to seeing you all again.
We visited Rhino Sands as part of our honeymoon trip to South Africa. This was our first ever Safari experience and this absolutely did not disappoint.
Lodge – The lodges are expansive and very private, you really feel like you have your own little bubble of heaven in the middle of the bush! The outdoor bathroom was brilliant along with the pool & relaxation areas to relax in between game drives.
Food & Drink – the team surprised us with their attentiveness and the variety of food and drink on offer. They took an interest in getting to know what we wanted to experience & try and tailored the menu accordingly. The team took every opportunity to do something different to make our trip even more special, whether this was the beautiful sunset drinks set up in the bush, private candle lit dinners, camp fire drinks… the list is endless!
Game Drive – Anton is the best!! His knowledge and experience was second to none. He went above and beyond to give us the best Safari experience we could ask for. Again, as newbies to Safari we didn’t know what to expect & how likely animal spottings were or weren’t. We were blown away! We have too many memories to share but the main highlights we’re seeing a herd of over 30 elephants emerge out of the bushes to the watering hole and also seeing 2 cheetah cubs and their mother having dinner & playing together.
Service – As mentioned, the team stopped at nothing to make this experience extra special for us. We felt like nothing was too much for them and they were happy to help us in anyway. Even helping us with recommendations for our onwards travel around South Africa. If I could rate them higher than 5* then I absolutely would! Everyone was so kind and the collaborative working approach made for a wonderful environment for us to be in. The attention to detail does not go unnoticed and made this a trip we will never forget.
It was a privilege to spend time in the care of the staff at Rhino Sands. You know you are about to embark on an extraordinary experience from the moment you arrive. The thoughtful amenities, the considerate staff, exquisitely prepared meals and tented accommodations were exceptional. We felt very well taken care of during our stay.
Our ranger Josh was knowledgeable, and his enthusiasm for wildlife conservation was infectious. We were always eager to head out on our game ride to see what he might help us discover–not only the big five but small creatures too, which added so much to the context and understanding of the Reserve biodiversity. He delivered the most amazing wildlife memories, including our foray around the park to ensure we could have our highly prized hippo sighting. (Thank you!) We are dreaming of the day when we can return.
We were already staying in the reserve trying out the different lodges that we had not visited in the past and were very lucky to get a last-minute booking at Rhino Sands as it was one of the lodges, we had been desperate to visit. And how glad we were that we did!
The bush is our haven, and so believing we are fairly seasoned and quite fussy guests, as we appreciated and notice every tiny attention to detail, we are delighted to rate Rhino Sands as our most favorite Safari experience yet, not only in KZN but in S.A.
Being in the interior business, the style and choice of finishes and amenities is world class.
The food was out of this world and was prepped minutes before serving so everything was fresh and delicious.
Nothing was too much trouble, and our guide Josh was just delightful. As we were his only guests, and were not chasing to see the big five, we were happy to sit for hours tracking a hunting cheetah and so had very special and unusual sightings on all four drives. His knowledge of both Flora and Fauna is incredible and we learned so much more than we had ever been told on all the many game drives we have been on.
We are already planning our return visit during the year, and can highly recommend this camp, which would be lovely to book out with a group as it accommodates 4 couples in four designer tents. I would highly recommend Tent 2, with its own pool under the shady trees looking at the riverbed, but all 4 are identical and beautifully appointed with swimming pools.
This was not my first time and most definitely will not be my last.
If you are looking for an authentic African bush experience then look no further. In the heart of Manyoni Private game reserve, a very environmentally conscious family awaits to welcome you with wide open arms, the most mouthwatering food you’re yet to experience and a land scape you’ve only seen in your dreams comes to life as you set out, chasing the African sun, immersed deep in nature and embraced by the wondrous and wild friends you are lucky to encounter.
With just 4 tented suites that will absolutely blow your mind,( feeling like you’re entering into a magical tent just like the Harry Potter series) , you are signing up for an experience like no other.
Quiet, small and intimate , a true African bush escape, a moment to breathe outside the chaos of the busy every day life. Everyone is involved in creating an atmosphere that leaves you feeling cared for.
An epic adventure ready for you to grab, with guides that will blow you away with their passion and knowledge of the gem that is, the African bush.
Whenever Mama Africa calls , this is the place I go to answer.
Thank you for creating a place so special to my heart , a place of connection, love and inspiration, a place I can truly rest and for all the good you do for the beautiful environment you’re in.
Your Safari
Safari Camp | Experience | Reserve Activities
About Us
Our Family | Our Reserve | Our Purpose
Plan Your Trip
Book Your Safari
