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Reviews of Safari Lodge - Amakhala Game Reserve

5 out of 5
Safari Lodge - Amakhala Game Reserve
N2 about 70km from Port Elizbaeth, on the way to Grahamstown, Paterson, Eastern Cape

Reviews

9.2

Wonderful

Rating 10 - Excellent. 13 out of 16 reviews" "
Rating 8 - Good. 1 out of 16 reviews" "
Rating 6 - Okay. 1 out of 16 reviews" "
Rating 4 - Poor. 0 out of 16 reviews" "
Rating 2 - Terrible. 1 out of 16 reviews" "

9.4/10

Cleanliness

9.6/10

Staff & service

10/10

Amenities

9.0/10

Property conditions & facilities

9.4/10

Eco-friendliness

Reviews

10/10 Excellent

Shirley van

Travelled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Rustic luxury
Gorgeous rooms with private splash pools, delicious food, fabulous staff. Water hole at the lodge. The game drives are nicely timed and there is a good variety of animals. Easy to reach from PE or EL airport.
Stayed 2 nights in Jan 2020

10/10 Excellent

Graham

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Glad we chose Amakhala
We loved Amakhala, excellent game viewing, very good guides and friendly staff.
Stayed 2 nights in Jan 2019

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveller

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
My husband and I stayed in November and had the most amazing time at this beautiful lodge. The room was well appointed and private. We stayed in room 2 which had a direct view of the watering hole and we had several visitors including Norman the elephant and water buffalo at night. I recommend requesting this room or rooms 1 - 4 if you want to be near the watering hole. Food was excellent and dinner was nice as all of the guests (only 11 rooms at the lodge) dinned together along with the guides, so we got to make friends. You get two drives a day with your stay. Morning drive at 7 am for about 3 hours, followed by breakfast (you get muffins and tea/coffee before the drive to hold you over). After breakfast you get a break for a few hours where you can enjoy your plunge pool, the hotel pool, or get a massage in your room if you like. Then afternoon drive, followed by dinner. After the drives, we were always greeted with drinks like a hot chocolate in the morning or a cocktail in the evening. Afternoon drives also stop at a scenic location for drinks and snacks. Our guide, nicknamed Fish, was great at finding animals and we got to see almost all of the animals we wanted. All in all, we had a wonderful stay and I highly recommend this lodge. The lodge is located about an hour's drive from Port Elizabeth.
Stayed 2 nights in Nov 2018

10/10 Excellent

CORNEL

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Stayed 3 nights in Dec 2018

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveller

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Safari camp well provisioned with lovely staff
Game quite limited but what we saw was good. You have to drive many miles to find them.
Stayed 2 nights in Feb 2018

10/10 Excellent

Jenny, Surrey

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Lovely location in the heart of the reserve.
We really enjoyed our first safari on the Amakhala Game Reserve. The Safari Lodge was extremely well located with good facilities. It was well laid out and comfortable. It was the staff, however, who made the stay so enjoyable. Excellent service and very friendly.
Stayed 3 nights in Jan 2018

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveller

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Personal Safari Lodge
Had an amazing safari experience! Fantastic Ranger, Ngurny and Amazing Host, Cameron! They were both very helpful and a pleasure to be around! The rooms were amazing and all the staff were very friendly. It was a very personal place to stay and very relaxing!
Stayed 3 nights in Dec 2017

10/10 Excellent

Maria, West Palm Beach,Fl

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Excellent Safari experience
Booked this All inclusive Safari by recomendation.Did not go wrong.From the reception from staff members the first day to the wonderful facilities, everything was wonderful.2 game safaris daily,rangers expertise extraordinary.Loved it all.
Stayed 2 nights in Sep 2017

10/10 Excellent

Vicky, London

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Outstanding Safari Experience
Visiting Amakala Safari Lodge was the perfect end to our SA trip. From the moment we arrived, the staff all really looked after us. We went out on 4 game drives which were spectacular, and our driver was both incredibly knowledgeable and friendly, making it a very enjoyable experience. The all inclusive menu was varied, delicious and plentiful and it was great having a selection of drinks included in the room too. The room itself was very spacious and felt quite luxurious whilst keeping its lodge-style charm, such as with the exhilarating outdoor (hot!) shower. This is one of the smaller game lodges, which on the plus side means it's slightly easier to spot the animals on game drives, however for those who have been to larger game drives it may feel a little too easy! However having experienced both, we absolutely loved our time here and would happily return.

10/10 Excellent

Andrew

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Awesome!
We spent nights at Amakhala as part of our South African tour and the place is amazing! Everything about the lodge is great! The perfect private lodges, the amazon food in the restaurant, the brilliant staff. The best part is the game drives. Up close to all the big animals including rhino and even a cheetah kill. The only thing that didn't work was the wifi. However, a couple of days meeting new people and sharing conversations and photos from the game drives make a pleasant change form a life online. Safari lodge makes is a fantastic safari stay.

10/10 Excellent

Christian

Travelled with partner, Travelled with group
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Die Amakhala Lodge lässt keine Wünsche offen, sehr freundliches und engagiertes Team in allen Bereichen. Wir können diese Lodge nur weiter empfehlen. Besonders hat uns die Tiervielfalt auf 10000 ha sehr beeindruck
Stayed 2 nights in Oct 2023

2/10 Terrible

Raquel

Disliked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Worst hotel in our trip.
At first we would like to say that Martin our ranger was awesome and has great knowledge. but and there is a huge but all the other things like food/service/accomandtion was absolutely terrible. It's not even a 2 star hotel. The food was not tasty at all so we moved to salads instead. The waiter as you call him "butler" never rememberd which course we ordered and called us the wrong names which obviously you are trying to remember unscusfully (you rather just don't call us in names it's absurd). We had a leak in our toilet and you talked about how much you suffer from lack of water but no one came to fix it after we told the butler and the woman in the front desk to fix it. The room needs a face lift and some cleaning of most of the sanitary (attached photos). In the day of the check out we came back from the morning safari around 10 a.m and wanted to take a fast nap before we hit the road for a couple of hours but unfortunately there were no sheets on the bed. Do yourself a favor and just go stay in some lodge and book a day safari - you will save lots of money and you will get a much better service. If you got to this point and see all the good reviews and think we are just tallking nonsense we must say this is the only place and obviously the most expensive place that we had suffered in are whole trip.
Besides its dirtiness I'm not sure you can see the leak.
No sheets
Stayed 2 nights in Jan 2020

8/10 Good

Verified traveller

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Sehr schöne Umgebung, ruhig und entspannend. Game drives dauern aber
Response from Guest Relations Manager on 29 Jun 2016
Dear Safari Lodge Guest Thank you for the time taken to post a review on Expedia. It pleases us that you had a relaxing experience and enjoyed your environment as much as you did. We appreciate all your comments and can only hope to exceed expectations in your future travels. Have a superb year further. Warm Regards The Safari Lodge Team

10/10 Excellent

Pia, Fyn

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
pni
Dejligt sted - fantastiske oplevelser på safarien
Response from Guest Relations Manager on 29 Jun 2016
Dear Pia Thank you very much for taking the time to write a review on Expedia. We appreciate your comments and are always so happy to hear that you have had such a wonderful experience. We hope to welcome you back in the near future. Safe Travels. Warm Regards The Safari Lodge Team