Along the tropical belt of KwaZulu-Natal, nestled amongst the palm and giant milkwood trees lies Teremok Marine, a luxurious five-star boutique lodge which opened in November 2003. Every Inch of Teremok Marine clearly illustrates the meticulous attention to detail that has gone into creating the ultimate experience in luxury accommodation.
A feast for the senses, all eight suites are unique in design, layout and feel with small subtleties such as individual scent, mood-music and evening confectionary, creating an enchanting atmosphere.
Prestigiously positioned on Marine Drive, just 1km from the ever-popular Umhlanga Rocks village, award-winning Teremok Marine provides a serene, home-away-from-home experience for the most discerning of business executives and leisure travellers alike. Teremok also has a gym and Spa facility offering a wide range of Dermalgoica and other treatments.
1 Night
Bed and Breakfast
5 Star
Lodge
The Cavern Hotel is situated in a secluded valley in the northern Drakensberg mountains beneath the towering slopes of Hlolela and Sugarloaf Peaks. It is a natural paradise of indigenous forests and mountains, making this the ideal setting for an enjoyable few days. It lies adjacent to the Royal Natal National Park with its famous Amphiteatre view and the Tugela Gorge walk.
As with a similar hotel, Cathedral Peak Hotel, the Cavern Hotel is a little old-fashioned and very much a mountain resort hotel, but if a stunning location in the Drakensberg mountains is what you are looking for, the Cavern is a perfect choice.
The Cavern Hotel offers standard, superior or suite accommodation and we recommend paying the little extra to take the superior rooms which have a better setting and also TV and minibar. All accommodation at The Cavern is in attractive thatched buildings with en suite bathrooms and magnificent views of the surrounding mountains. Private patios let you soak up the sun, listen to the sounds of forest streams and relax in this mountain wilderness.
The Cavern Hotel is an ideal walking hotel. After breakfast, you can join the hotel guide on one of the morning guided hikes into the hills. Study bushman paintings, view the unspoilt splendour or swim in a ‘berg stream before returning with good appetite for a tasty lunch.
The Cavern Hotel also offers a wide range of sporting activities. There’s horse riding, mountain biking, quad biking, tennis, bowls, volley ball, swimming or trout fishing on offer. Relax and enjoy the view from the front lawn on a summer’s evening, or enjoy the cozy log fire in winter.
Similarly the Cavern is perfect for family holidays with loads on offer for children, including pony rides, a jungle gym, trampoline, kiddies pool and play area, children’s dining room. (Note that traditional family resort hotels in South Africa usually ask younger kids to either eat in the kids’ dining room or for families to eat early.) Family accommodation can be either in one of the family units with children’s rooms or inter-leading rooms. Younger children eat separately in the children’s dining room. At adult meal times a nanny is provided, free of charge, in the playroom to look after the children while parents are enjoying their meal.
3 Nights
Dinner, Bed and Breakfast
Hotel
Spoken Languages: English, Zulu
No. Rooms: 55
Special Interests: Birding, Cycling, Fishing, Flora, Hiking, Indigenous Culture / Art, Leisure, Nature, Relaxation, Wildlife, Wine
Fugitives’ Drift lodge and Guest House are located inside the Fugitives’ Drift game reserve on the lip of the Buffalo River gorge, at an altitude of 3,450 feet.
The Guest House has a commanding view of the peak of Isandlwana, and of the rough country the fugitives from the battle had to traverse in order to get back across the Buffalo River into Natal.
The guest house was once the home of Mr. and Mrs. Potgieter who were immortalized in Gillian Rattray’s award-winning book, 'The Springing of the Year'. This old farmhouse has been altered and now forms the most charming sitting and dining room. The original verandas have been retained and there is a lovely outside eating area. There are are 6 superior twin en-suite rooms, all with views of the garden, which has an abundance of bird life in it. We also have two rooms for guides and drivers. The guest house has a large swimming pool; also hosting spectacular views across the plain.
Guests at the Guest House are able to take part in our world-renowned tours to the Isandlwana and Rorke's Drift battlefields. For more information, please follow the 'Battlefield Tours' tab on the homepage.
2 Nights
Dinner, Bed and Breakfast
4 Star
Lodge
Spoken Languages: Afrikaans, English, Zulu
No. Rooms: 6
Special Interests: Battlefields, Birding, History & Culture, Leisure, Nature
Thanda Tented Camp lies on Thanda Private Game Reserve in northern KwaZulu Natal. This is the bush as nature intended: open, inviting, unconstrained. So if you're the kind of person who values the genuine over the glorified and reality over riches, this is where you want to be.
However Thanda Tented Camp does not compromise on luxury or service - adding rugged refinement to its authentic safari experience. Perched on a hill, it offers 14 spacious and well-appointed tents, decorated in a colonial style with four poster beds, teak furniture and campaign chairs. Each has a private sun deck and canvas en suite bathroom. Generator power allows you to charge camera batteries and phones in the tents. However lighting is consciously kept to a minimum and the safari ambience is enhanced by flickering firelight from the boma and warm paraffin lanterns to guide you to your tent.
Jabula Tent, is very special - a bedroom with king sized bed and separate lounge area, ideal for honeymoons, anniversaries, perhaps a family or those seeking an extra little something...The highlight is the outdoor shower and plunge pool with its view spanning over the whole reserve.
The camp's shared areas include a lounge area, intimate dining tent, long rimflow pool with stunning bushveld views and sun loungers and a new boma - all decorated in rustic natural shades to complement the rich, warm hues of the African sunset. Spa treatments using Africology products are available in the privacy of your tent.
3 Nights
Full Board Plus - Dinner, Bed, Breakfast, Lunch and Activities
Tented Camp
Thonga Beach Lodge, in Kwazulu Natal, is a stylish and relaxed beach lodge on the shores of the secluded Mabibi bay in northern KwaZulu Natal. It lies within the iSimangaliso Wetland Park, a World Heritage Site, with no other lodges within 50 km.
Mabibi Beach is a magical place with a long sandy beach, snorkelling reefs, coastal forest and shimmering lakes behind. Thonga Beach Lodge, nestling in the canopy of the dune forest, offers panoramic ocean views. It has a spacious, relaxed beach feel with a stylish outdoor eating area, a secluded upstairs seating area with a DVD player for children, a chic open air bar and wooden walkways leading to the rooms.
However, Thonga Beach Lodge is in no way a resort – it doesn’t have extensive watersports or a kid’s club for example. Rather the emphasis is on relaxed coastal living with a variety of activities which you can sign up for on the board, if you want to…
The thatched en-suite rooms have been carefully constructed in the coastal dune forest to ensure minimum impact on the environment. Five have sea views and seven have forest views and perhaps greater privacy. Built within an extremely sensitive milkwood forest, no trees were allowed to be cut down. This means that even the sea view rooms do not have completely un-obscured ocean views. Luxuriously decorated, the rooms exude a romantic ambiance. Bleached wood, glass and natural materials have been used to create an open, airy feel. Each has a double vanity unit, bath, indoor/outdoor shower, separate toilet, minibar, ceiling fan, air-conditioning, mosquito net and private balcony.
There are also two Ocean View Suites with a private plunge pool on the deck. These have the best views and are also ideal for families as they have a separate living room which can be used as a second bedroom. Other facilities at Thonga Beach Lodge include a new swimming pool, curio shop, spa & wellness centre with various spa treatments on offer and a dive centre for all water sports activities.
This part of South Africa, in Kwazulu Natal is one of my favourite areas with its lush vegetation, unspoilt setting and friendly people. Activities at Thonga Beach Lodge revolve around the ocean and nearby Lake Sibaya. Complimentary activities include snorkelling direct from the beach, bird-watching and sundowner cruises or guided canoe trips on Lake Sibaya and turtle tracking walks in season (November to mid February). The white sandy beach is about 25 metres away via a board walk with an extended deck with sun loungers overlooking the beach. You can also dine here overlooking the ocean.
Various additional activities are on offer such as scuba diving, dive courses, cultural village visits and boat-based turtle tracking as optional extras.
Scuba diving at Mabibi is phenomenal, with reefs located only a short distance from Thonga Beach Lodge. Shoals of game fish, sharks and schools of bottlenose dolphins are often seen. 1,250 fish species can be found on these reefs (Great Barrier Reef has 1500). The Ocean Experience is great for seeing whales and dolphins with an exciting boat launch in the surf. You can sometimes swim with dolphins or whale sharks or snorkel with manta rays and giant turtles if you are lucky.
Birding is excellent and the variety of habitats attracts a great diversity of species. Typical coastal species include Livingstone’s and purple-crested lourie, green twinspot, grey waxbill and green coucal. Waders are common along the shoreline, and pink throated longclaw and rufous-bellied heron frequent the marshy areas. Lake Sibaya has recorded 279 bird species including the palmnut vulture, the only fruit-eating vulture in the world, Pel’s fishing owl and the pygmy goose.
Children are very welcome at Thonga Beach Lodge. Two small children (or one teenager) can share with parents or you can take the Ocean View suite for more space.
3 Nights
Full Board - Dinner, Bed, Breakfast and Lunch
Lodge
Spoken Languages: Afrikaans, English, Zulu
No. Rooms: 12
Special Interests: Adventure, Beach / Coastal, Birding, Fishing, Flora, History & Culture, Leisure, Nature, Relaxation, Star Gazing, Watersports, Wildlife
Serene Estate guest house is a contemporary retreat within the sleepy village of St Lucia. St Lucia lies on the border of the famous iSimangaliso Wetland Park with its excellent game-viewing, superb beaches at Cape Vidal and boat cruises on the lake. From here, it is also easy to visit the Hluhluwe-Umfolozi Game Reserve for a day on safari (only 40 minutes drive away.)
Serene Estate is ideal for lovers of modern architecture and they have strived to achieve the perfect balance between architecture and natural landscape. Serene Estate has a so-called Dutch design which is a mixture of minimalistic architecture and Nouvelles Formes with its characteristic bent lines.
The tranqul open layout of Serene Estate gives you direct access on three different levels to the rooms, lounge, breakfast room / big terrace with roof garden and fish pond. In the garden, there's a good-sized rimflow swimming pool and martini deck. From the rooftop garden you can even see the ocean beyond the sand dunes.
Luxurious Park View rooms have big windows with a view to the gardens and the Wetland park beyond. From the comfort of your room or private terrace you can see some of the wildlife like bushbuck, red duiker, monkeys, mongoose, and a variety of birds. After sunset you hear the loud call of the bush baby. Hippos can be spotted from a short distance and very occasionally, even a leopard.
Each spacious park-view suite has a comfortable sitting area and air-conditioning, ceiling fan, minibar, flat screen satellite TV, king size bed with Auping mattresses, complimentary wifi, hair dryer and coffee/tea facilities. There's also a slightly smaller Garden Room with no park view but its own large private garden. All bathrooms are luxurious, with double basins, separate toilet, bath, shower and towel heater.
Each room at Serene Estate has its own coloured Zulu accent as a decor flair. You can also enjoy the serene atmosphere of the garden and pool from the lounge, the sundecks or the martini deck in the pool. Read a book, go for a swim or just listen to the birds or watch the bushbucks in the garden and park.
2 Nights
Bed and Breakfast
Guest House
