Hoyo Hoyo Safari Lodge

What a place! Superbly situated, with excellent game drives, and fantastic food and service. Thanks to all the staff, especially Lazarus, out fantastic ranger, and Precious and the team for the excellent food, drink and service. The river BBQs were excellent, and a great experience. We saw all we wanted to see and more. These Rangers have eagle eyes! Cannot recommend enough!

Untidy rooms, disgusting old pool mattrasses, musty smell in room, algae pool, unprofessional service (taking plates while eating), sour coffee (at a 5 star hotel i expect to get portafilter coffee with vegan milk options and good foam quality), they always brought the old/used butter from someone elses breakfast to the table, unorganised check out, every seating cushion on every chair in the main area is dirty, breakfast options seems to be fallen out if time, and they lack all the small bits and pieces that usually make you happy in a 5 star hotel. Our Ranger Ike was worth a five star hotel. He made us see the big 5.

We have just got back from An amazing four night stay and was absolutely the best experience we have ever had . We had our outdoor bath set up with candles we had two fantastic evenings eating on the riverbed followed by a night sleeping outside .We have been so spoilt by wonderful breakfast and fantastic evening and lunch by the amazing chef .All the staff were amazing and Precious really is a beautiful lady that made sure we were always looked after . The safaris were out of this world and Mayneth was so good we had seen four of the big five just on our first night . We loved our drives we saw the big five and many other animals including Cheetahs on our last drive we enjoyed the drives so much as they were simply magical . We loved our outdoor drinks on the drives too and had different things each drive to nibble on and drink . I simply cannot thank you all for the amazing stay we had here and hope one day we come back and see our little Jock safari family again xx

Where do I even start....what a spectacular lodge and incredible sightings of the big 5. Everything about this experience was so far better than what we imagined. The lodge compound itself is very beautiful with the 12 suites nestled within a canopy of beautiful trees and shrubs. Being situated on 6000 hectares (or 15,000 acres) affords the opportunity to explore a large area within Kruger with just a maximum of 24 guests traveling in 4 Land Cruisers. The value of that itself can not be overstated. With most of our sightings, we were the only vehicle in that location. Our ranger, Lazarus, was exceptional and his sighting and tracking skills were remarkable. At a great distance, he spotted a leopard camouflaged in a tree! Lazarus is very knowledgeable about animal behavior and characteristics which he readily shared and thus we learned a lot! It is difficult to describe how incredible our animal sightings were. As an example, one evening we drove around a corner and came upon a pride of 11 lions – 4 lioness and 7 cubs. They casually paraded right by our vehicle (literally just a few feet away). Lazarus then turned the vehicle around and we slowly followed this pride for several minutes. It was one of many goose bump moments. We also saw 3 of the big 5 together (elephant, buffalo, lion) which was very exciting. We valued the opportunity to just sit and observe the animals up close for extended periods of time and “live in the moment” as Lazarus would say. Our suite was very comfortable and we enjoyed using the plunge pool, outdoor shower and bathtub and lounging on the day bed. We had a special visit one afternoon by an elephant who ate vegetation right by our day bed! The food served at the lodge was exceptional and the different dinner venues were beautiful and charming. All of the staff were very friendly, helpful, and accommodating. We very much appreciated all of staff's efforts to make the experience so special like offering wet hand towels upon return to the lodge after a safari trip and providing snacks and drinks during the safari trip itself. We are already planning our return to Jock Safari Lodge! I can not imagine staying anywhere else in Kruger.