Mkuze Falls Game Lodge

Capacity

Style

On-site stay

Catering

A hidden gem near Pongola, northern Natal, offering the big 5. This is a real deal game reserve operated by locals who are amazing hosts, knowledgeable, lived in the area for many years and have extensive local knowledge. Game drives are super informative, going off-road is exciting and rewarding as they explore and find lion, buffalo, rhino, elephant and more. You will get up close and personal to the big 5. The accomn is superb, food is 5 star wonderful range and quality. This is a hidden gem, and the community are invested so they really keep it real. Wonderful game park.

There was good and bad. The rooms are very dated but are spacious and 2 nicely laid out mattresses for a family of 4 without it being cramped. Lovely balcony overlooking the falls and stunning view. The bathroom was very dirty with residue of dirt lying on the toilet, bath, basins, handwash dispenser and a decorative cup with the same dead bugs in it throughout our stay. On our first morning, my daughter forgot her toothbrush in the bathroom. The cleaner put her toothbrush head down into the cup full of dead bugs. The same dirt on the basins from previous guests was visible throughout our stay. Nothing was done either after complaining. The bathroom has a very old bath, toilet and basins inside, offering a lovely shower and plunge pool outside. Lots of fun during the day, however not ideal in the wilderness for everyone if you prefer to take a night shower, rather than bath, after your game drive as you might not know what encounter you might have especially without a light by the shower itself. They need to at least consider an addition of a shower to the bathtub inside. The ice bucket was also very dirty in the room. The breakfast was fair but you feel very rushed to finish as the waitress is impatient if you take your time. She gave me the impression that she wants you done within 40 min. They don't cater with enough food for all the guests at breakfast so if you choose to shower after your game drive before breakfast, I'm afraid you won't find the entire spread. The game ranger was quite rude and arrogant on arrival but warmed up a bit thereafter. The game tracker was extremely pleasant. The game drives are outstanding in that you get very close unbelievable encounters with the animals - very worth it. The ranger's knowledge was reasonable but nothing out of the ordinary without attention to details of smaller insects and animals, which we experienced on other game drives elsewhere. The ranger and tracker seem to enjoy more social time on the drives rather than attention to guests. The high teas and dinners were very good. However, service for dinner is slow with only 2 waiters for all the guests, sometimes forgetting to bring some items. I noticed a lot of chipped and mismatched crockery as well despite it being a 5 star lodge. The biggest disappointment was the non compliance with mandatory Government Covid 19 Regulations. The receptionist and cleaning/porter staff greet you with a mask and sanitiser on arrival and that was it. They don't wear their masks at other times. Only one waiter had his mask on and that too, not always. The rest of the staff do not wear masks and do not enforce mask wearing by guests either in public areas and on game drives. Use of sanitiser is also not mandatory although available outside the bar and restaurant should you require. Excellent in that they change towels twice a day and supply more than sufficient toiletries. Poor catering for vegetarians on game drives even where they know you're the only ones viewing despite information about dietary requirements! Overall a fair experience.

The lodge is badly managed but staff did their best and was friendly. The following problems was raised during our stay - Our private splash pool pump was broken (they did not fix this) and the pool was not cleaned or refilled with water daily, the geyser made a noise (they did not fix this), their ice machine was broken so on various occasions there was no ice, the public pool was green, they did not cater to my dietary needs which was specified and only started accommodating me when I complained. We were there end December and the day after the president announced the no alcohol in public areas we were the only two people at the lodge, we asked the manager if we can bring our own wine (their bar was closed obviously) and have our dinner on their deck seeing as were the only people at the lodge and the manager said no (just another unaccommodating example of the manager which was ridiculous!!) There was some good - the dinner sizes was generous & delicious even though we had to have dinners in our room each night because we weren't allowed to take our own wine to their restaurant.

What a truly wonderful experience. The staff and accommodation were fantastic and catered to our every need. Game drives were awesome and we were fortunate to tick off the Big 5 over our 3 night stay. It was a wonderful family getaway and we will all be back.