Matatiele Holidays from £1,717

A luxury all- inclusive game lodge experience. The 8km drive from the main road is dirt and gravel so a little challenging for our tiny hire car. A warm welcome on arrival and our room was very spacious and comfortable ( the bed was quite hard but perhaps the mattress was new). An indoor and outdoor shower meant you could wash under the incredible stars in the night sky if so inclined. Lodge was comfortable and well decorated if slightly lacking in atmosphere. Not sure if the pools were for swimming in but they looked attractive. Meals were all delicious with generous portions. The highlight of course was the game drives - you are assigned one ranger for your stay and get two drives per night stay. Our driver Edisonnwas completely brilliant and made sure we saw Lions, Elephant, Giraffe and Rhino as well as numerous species of antelope, baboons and birds. We managed three drives but opted on our last morning to relax at the lodge instead. There are more luxurious lodges out there but this is at the high end of the less expensive lodges on Amakhala.

The highlight of our holiday to South Africa! A beautiful lodge with comfortable air con and tranquility (and yes a few necessary spiders) but providing the most incredible authentic experience of the wildlife, animals, birds, flora and fauna of this game reserve. Food and wine were excellent and plentiful, the service was superb, including gin and tonics during our afternoon game drive! We had an excellent guide, Greg, with such a knowledge and passion for his work as a guide, and he led us to observe over 60 species over the course of 2 days and 4 game drives, starting with a wake up call at 5.30am for the pre-dawn game drive til 9.30am, then a second at 4pm lasting til nearly 8pm. He drove us through a fantastic storm, thunder and lightning and an impressive downpour which had us soaked but we saw so much! Listening to him explaining the habits of turtles, giraffes, buffalo and rhinos was an education, and will stay with us for life.The memories of elephants, cheetahs, giraffes, lions, ostriches fighting a jackal, a spotted eagle owl capturing a frog at night, secretary birds stalking their prey, a brown hyena and a family of bat-eared foxes… and the white rhinos and hippo, it was all simply wonderful! Many many thanks for the best experience ever. We hope very much to return one day.