SANParks.org Forums

You can hire bedding , in fact I was under the impression it was part of the deal , you get a refund at Mopanie upon return , which includes a water can , and electric lanterns and the keys .

Hi there Ndloti & Webb

Thanx Ndloti for confirming the details with regard to bedding. However, you must have nerves of steel ... I am an ardent nature lover, but don't know whether I will have the guts staying alone in the hide. I have been there a few times during daylight on my own and looked at the security (animal intrusion) measures in place and only now, after your posting, I think that maybe I should try it on my own!

Webb. Have you made your booking yet!

Wow, it looks stunning, Freda!

I asked about it at last week and got the following reply from Mopani Camp:


the following is available against a deposit :

- Bedding X 6

- Gas lamp X 1

- Basic picnic basket with plastic crockery and cutlery


I will be staying at the hide on 10 May.

Hi annalie

I haven't made my booking yet i have been a little slack, or rather a bit busy at work. But i am defiately going to stay there! i know, i know, i better get cracking with my booking before it's too late.

We're staying at sable on the 24th

The availability on the web shows Shipandane is not available right through to September ( maybe even beyond then , I did not check beyond September .)
Is this a fault on the system or is it due to renovations ...?

You will see one one of my earlier posts i had the same problem. i think there is something wrong with the site! Rather try and phone to make a booking!

Hi all

I have booked for an evening at Shipandini Hide in December but after reading some forum reports on the hide and the spotting there I'm having some serious doubts. I do realise that at that time of year it will be hot and infested with mosquito's.

Please can anyone tell me some more on their adventures at the hide especially some nice sighting's???

The hide has a view over a small part of the dam , so game viewing is not expected to be good .
You will need plenty of mosquito repellant in summer (true for whole KNP) .
You will enjoy it if you enjoy the total peacefulness that conventional camps cant offer .
It is safe provided you adhere to basic precautions .

The whole point regarding the hide is the peacefullness and the tranquility of knowing it's you and Kruger .. No neighbours (besides the resident hippo's) that come out grazing in the evening and the "thrill" of knowing the only thing between you and the wildlife is a wooden wall ...

Sightings can be the luck of the draw .. We only saw hippo's the evening .. but on our way to Shipandani we found a leopard.

So .. My advise is that your chances to see something spectacular is the same as in a camp .. but you will never get the same "experience" from the camps as you would from the hides.

I spent last Saturday night alone at Shipandane , pure bliss , stayed up till 1 a.m .
Bush showered with the jerry can supplied on the concrete slab in the lapa on which one can make a fire .
Hippos were grunting out of the water at dusk , I now know they need not be in water to grunt .

My sister and I stayed at Shipandani last September and I definitely recommend it.
We signed in at Mopani and were given a huge bag full of bedding etc.
The mattresses were delivered by a couple guys around 5.30PM, when all other visitors had to leave.
At 530, we were on our own.
We made up the beds, which pull down from the wall, then settled in to see what we could see and hear what we could hear. It was a priceless evening.
We had wine and cheese and crackers, and when it got too dark to see anything more, we moved to the fenced in yard, where there was a picnic table.
We sat there in the dark and could hear the hippos moving onto the land and grazing all about us.
Try as we could to peer through the wooden fence, we never did see them.
The moon was full and we sat in the dark listening to all the night calls with only a rickety stick fence between us the bush.

There is a bathroom attached, you have a grill and picnic table.
The inside of the hide is polished wood, and there are shutters that can be pulled up over the windows, but we left them open.
Very comfortable night, and the morning was ours to enjoy.
If you have the chance, I would take it.

Who has overnighted here lately , and any reports ?
If anyone has booked it for 5 Nov , I have Sable , would prefer Shipandane , I am not so keen on the lights at Sable .
Please pm me .

Shipandani's summer mozzies have had me for a midnight snack before, had two differant repellant lotions on, ended up in nelspruit medi clinic with malaria again !
But it is a beautiful place.


Agree with Ndloti on Sable, with the lights, although had a leopard male walk past us , last time i slept there.
was sure i had seen otter one night, with night vision goggles , but could not confirm, only by the way it ran.