Makweti Safari Lodge

Second visit to this amazing place. The welcome, hospitality and safari drives were excellent. Special mention to Joseph, for introducing us to the beauty of African birds!

For the 5 star price charged - a complete waste and a disappointing experience. Makweti Safari Lodge - is a great property in Welgovenden game reserve. Well-appointed rooms, unique collection of art pieces and fabulous attention to table settings. A lodge of 5 rooms only with very courteous staff on the property. Unfortunately not the same can be said about game drive experience. A Big Five park experience marred by many disappointments. 1. In any safari / game drive, the ranger has the strongest hold on the experience of the passengers. After having experienced 10+game drives in South Africa, this was the first time when we felt awfully let down by our ranger. Bare minimum communication, non-engaging and with an air of complete disinterest and lack of passion in sightings. Responses were dismissive and careless. 2. On the second evening, as is common practice for sundowners, we were expecting to have our drinks but the ranger had not bothered to carry our choices and literally carried 2 cans of soda and the gin as requested by another couple and completely ignored our choices ( group of 4 ). The ranger did not check with us before departing for the drive. The least he could have done is remembered our choices of the previous evening drive. The finger food served was very sad mix of dry fruits and prunes! No Biltong, no chips, not even Coke Zero! Again no regret expressed or apologies offered for ruining the only sundowner experience for our visiting guest as we had missed the sundowner on the previous evening too because much time was wasted in waiting to get our turn to drive up to a leopard. Some exceptional Rhino sightings were thanks to accompanying passengers, not the ranger. 3. Back at the lodge, although the staff was very courteous and polite the food was very poor. In terms of serving sizes. there was barely enough food in the mains. We had to wait for nearly one hour for our dinner after returning from the drive. Food was served cold 3 out of 4 meals. The desert of orange crepes were served without mascarpone cheese, apparently because they didn’t have it! Why put things on the menu that didn’t exist in the kitchen ? 4. On the last day the delay in breakfast service was obviously attributed to the fact that we requested( at 5am) breakfast to be served earlier at 8am instead of 9am (as we changed our mind about enduring another boring morning drive with the ranger and wanted to depart before 9am). 5. Please also note that all drinks served during meals and sundowners are charged extra over and above the accommodation charges which are quite hefty. That is usually not the case. In stark contrast in a much smaller lodge nearby Joburg, with no Big Five to boast of we had a super enthusiastic ranger who took more care to make the drive entertaining by offering info on trees and plants (as there were hardly any animals to talk about ). He even went the extra mile offering free flow o

Where to start... we were completely blown away by Makweti Safari Lodge from start to finish! All of the staff were extremely attentive, professional and made us feel like part of the family! Riaan was incredibly knowledgeable, passionate and went above and beyond to make sure our time on the game drives and at the lodge was perfect. He had such respect and care for the wildlife and ensured the tranquility of the Bush was unspoilt. The food well and truly took our breath away; a wide array of delicious South African cuisine was a treat for the tastebuds! The staff's (special mention to Jacqui and Zabiwe) attention to detail made our visit so special, especially the beautifully decorated room for our Honeymoon. We could not recommend Makweti Safari Lodge more highly to anyone wishing for the perfect, authentic Safari experience!