Mkuze Game Reserve is a mecca for bird lovers with over 420 bird species on record | Rare species in the reserve are cheetah, hyaena and leopard.

Mkuze Game Reserve is renowned as a mecca for bird lovers with more than 420 bird species on record. The Mkuze River curves along the reserve's northern and eastern borders with a fine stretch of fig forest along its banks. Fish eagles swoop over the pans, snatching prey spotted from their perches in the fever trees.

The reserve has an astonishing diversity of natural habitats, from the eastern slopes of the Lebombo mountains along its eastern boundary, to broad stretches of acacia savannah, swamps and a variety of woodlands and riverine forest. A rare type of sand forest also occurs in the reserve. This diversity of habitats means a wide variety of animal species including black and white rhinoceros, elephant, giraffe, nyala, blue wildebeest, warthog, eland, hippo, impala, kudu and other smaller antelope. Rare species occurring in the reserve are cheetah, hyaena, suni and leopard.

Three game viewing hides have been constructed next to the Kubube, Kamasinga, Kwamalibala pans. Visitors park their cars and enter the hides on foot. Depending on the surface water in the reserve, but normally during the drier winter months,large concentrations of game may be seen at the waterholes. Visitors are therefore offered excellent views of most of the reserve’s larger mammals. These hides offer unique opportunities to photographers.