SafariRoamer
Hilltop Camp sits on a hillock overlooking Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park, Africa's oldest proclaimed game reserve (established 1895) and the site of Ian Player's "Operation Rhino" conservation programme, which rescued the southern white rhino from fewer than 50 animals in the 1950s to a healthy population today. This is a budget, self-catering public camp rather than a private lodge.
What sets it apart
A budget-tier, self-drive base inside the specific reserve where the southern white rhino was saved from near-extinction.
Who it suits
Self-drive, budget-conscious visitors wanting rhino-conservation history alongside general Big Five viewing.
The essentials
| Country | South Africa |
| Where | Inside Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park, Hluhluwe section, ~30 minutes from Memorial Gate |
| Property type | Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife self-catering rest camp |
| Rooms | 70 units for up to 190 guests: 22 four-bed self-catering chalets, 7 two-bed self-catering, 20 two-bed non-self-catering, and 20 two-bed rondavels |
| Malaria | Stated by the operator as a "low malaria zone." A different property in the same broader area, Rhino Ridge Safari Lodge, describes its own location as "malaria-free" — the two statements conflict and we have not resolved which is correct; check current official guidance (CDC/NaTHNaC list uMkhanyakude district, which contains this park, on South Africa's risk-area list) before travelling. |
What it costs
Official 2026 per-night rates published directly by Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife: 4-bed self-catering chalet R4,360; 2-bed self-catering R2,160; 2-bed non-self-catering R2,160; rondavel R1,160 — plus a R240/adult conservation levy for international visitors.
About the photographs
The pictures on this page are stock photographs chosen to suggest the kind of setting this property is in. They are not photographs of this property, and we cannot verify exactly where any of them was taken — a stock library records the photographer, not the place. We use them rather than borrow the property's own marketing images, which would imply we had stayed there. For pictures of the actual rooms, see the property's own site.