Waterberg (Welgevonden & Madikwe- Malaria free)

Two guided game drives per day are included in every stay at Ndlovu Safari Lodge, offering guests the chance to explore the malaria-free Welgevonden Game Reserve in search of the Big Five and other incredible wildlife like cheetah, brown hyena, and the rare black rhino.

Led by experienced and knowledgeable rangers, the drives take place in the early morning and late afternoon—prime times for animal activity. Morning drives include a scenic stop for fresh coffee and a light snack in the bush, while afternoon drives pause for sundowners with sweeping views of the landscape.

Since self-driving is not allowed in the reserve, these expertly guided safaris provide a peaceful and exclusive wildlife experience with minimal vehicle traffic and maximum opportunity for memorable sightings.

Game Drive Credit: Sarah De Pina

Game Drive Credit: Ndlovu Safari Lodge

Game Drive Credit: Ndlovu Safari Lodge

Game Drive Credit: Sarah De Pina

Game Drive Credit: Ndlovu Safari Lodge

Game Drive Credit: Ndlovu Safari Lodge

Game Drive Credit: Micheal Radall

Game Drive Credit: Micheal Radall

Game Drive Credit: Ndlovu Safari Lodge

Game Drive Credit: Ndlovu Safari Lodge

Game Drive Credit: Ndlovu Safari Lodge

The tranquil spa at Ndlovu Safari Lodge overlooks the bush, offering a peaceful setting where guests can relax and reconnect with nature. We always have two experienced spa therapists on site, professionally trained by Theranaka, a leading South African wellness brand known for its natural, locally inspired products.

Guests can enjoy a range of treatments, including massages, facials, and body scrubs. Couples massages are also available for those wanting to share the experience.

Spa Credit: Micheal Radall

Spa Credit: Micheal Radall

Spa Credit: Micheal Radall

Our fitness area is equipped with premium Technogym equipment, including an elliptical trainer, stationary bike, rowing machine, treadmill, and a weight bench. The space features padded flooring for comfort and safety during workouts. Large windows open up to views of the surround bush, allowing you to exercise while staying connected to nature.

Fitness Credit: Ndlovu Safari Lodge

For guests looking to explore the finer details of the African wilderness, guided bush walks offer a chance to slow down and truly connect with nature. Accompanied by an experienced ranger, you’ll learn about animal tracks, native plants, and the smaller wonders of the bush that are often missed on game drives. One of the highlights is a visit to ancient Bushman rock paintings found within the reserve — a fascinating window into the lives and stories of Southern Africa’s earliest inhabitants.

Leopard Tortoise Credit: Butti

Bushmen Paintings Credit: Welgevonden Game Reserve

Bush Walk Credit: Ndlovu Safari Lodge

Bush Walk Credit: Ndlovu Safari Lodge

Guests can enjoy a wine pairing experience during their stay at Ndlovu Safari Lodge. Our temperature-controlled wine storage houses a handpicked selection of South Africa’s finest wines. For these special evenings, we invite the expert who sources all our wines to guide guests through each pairing. The multi-course dinner is matched with wines that highlight and complement each dish, creating a memorable culinary journey. The wine pairing experience is available by prior arrangement and at an additional cost.

Wine Storage Credit: Ndlovu Safari Lodge

Ndlovu Safari Lodge offers a luxurious, private, and tranquil setting designed for guests seeking rest, relaxation, and connection with nature. To preserve this calm atmosphere, children under the age of 12 are not permitted. However, when the lodge is booked exclusively by one family or group, children of all ages are welcome.

Game Drive Credit: Micheal Radall

Villa Credit: Micheal Radall

Villa Credit: Micheal Radall

Main Lodge Credit: Micheal Radall

Ndlovu Safari Lodge offers a variety of activities designed to enrich your safari experience. Beyond the above mentioned activities we strive to include a range of unique and memorable experiences tailored to each guest’s interests. Our team is always happy to help customize your stay ensuring your time with us is truly unforgettable.

Birthday Cake Credit: Micheal Radall

Game Drive Credit: Ndlovu Safari Lodge

Helicopter Credit: Ndlovu Safari Lodge

Adjacent to the Main Lodge is the Massage Suite, which offers a quiet and secluded haven for those seeking inner peace. Indulge in the moment and let a dedicated spa therapist treat you to a deep tissue massage, a hot stone massage or an aromatherapy treatment. Two massage beds can be placed inside the building or on the private deck, whichever is your preference. The deck also boasts an outdoor bath, which allows you to immerse your body in milky luxury while enjoying the views overlooking the waterhole. And why not finish your session with a manicure or a pedicure? We proudly use products from Rain Africa who combine indigenous plants and natural ingredients based on recipes used since antiquity by African healers and which are the heart and soul of the Rain range.

If you’d like to take home a piece of Mhondoro Safari Lodge & Villa, our collection of African products offers mementos for yourself or souvenirs as gifts, catering to all ages. The Curio Shop stocks traditional African jewellery, luggage and interior design ornaments. Our collection also includes modern South African design classics like the handcrafted Pichulik jewellery that is a bespoke range of handcrafted necklaces and accessories made in Cape Town. Also for sale is the Rain Africa collection used in our spa treatments and available in the guest bathrooms. Rain products are made from indigenous plants that have been used since antiquity by African healers. Rain Africa creates handmade bath and body products using natural African ingredients. They are responsibly handmade with love and care for their customers, craftspeople and the environment.

For many, just being on safari in Africa is romantic in itself. The opportunity to be in the wild, absorbing the atmosphere and breathing in the pristine natural air is glorious on its own. Adding in our star deck to this experience, as an exceptional vantage point to gaze up at the vast Africa nightsky, will take romance to a whole new level. As your own private viewing deck of the infinite constellations, with very little light pollution in the area, you can look up into the Milky Way from where, on a clear night, you should be able to see about 2,500 stars. You will be able to spot the Southern Cross constellation with its two stars of Alpha and Beta Centauri, often referred to as the ‘pointers’ to help stargazers locate the asterism of the Southern Cross. The elevated wooden star deck has custom-made seating, with seatbacks angled at 45 degrees to allow for comfortable star-spotting. Our high-powered telescope is linked to a sophisticated computer programme that enhances a thrillingly detailed search of the cosmos.

The Main Lodge and the Mhondoro Villa both feature a fully equipped gym where you can stay in shape while enjoying the wildlife activity at the waterhole. Embrace a cardio session on the treadmill, an invigorating cycle on the home trainer, a total body workout on the cross trainer, or improve your strength with the weights. Go wild!

Mhondoro Safari Lodge & Villa is known for its child and family friendliness. Little travellers can enjoy the swimming pool and the safe, secluded playground with its protective elephant fence, or explore the variety the bush has to offer during a Kiddies bush walk. The spacious Family Suite and the exclusive-use Mhondoro Villa are perfectly equipped to accommodate families. Mhondoro Safari Lodge & Villa offers a Kiddie’s programme for the youngest children. The Kiddie’s programme consists of a welcome pack with a children’s work book. We also offer Kiddie’s insect walks, animal track moulding with plaster of paris, track and sign ID, clay animal sculpture making, archery for older children, star gazing and cookie baking & decorating with our pastry chef (R 150 / € 10 * per person). Regret children under 6 years of age may not be accommodated on scheduled game drives when other guests are joining. Bumble game drives may be arranged for families with small children at a rate of R 600 / € 41 * per bumble drive, subject to the availability of a vehicle and a ranger at the time. The drives are tailored to carter to our smaller visitors and can vary in duration and will include child appropriate facts and sightings.

IMPORTANT: Please take note of the NEW South Africa Child Visa Regulations and requirements for all family travellers.

Highly trained and experienced rangers ensure that your safari experience ranks amongst some of the best in Africa.

Sediba Luxury Safari Lodge offers a fantastic close-up experience with Africa's wildlife on every game drive. Be part of Africa’s most impressive wildlife on morning and afternoon/evening game drives in open 4-wheel drive safari vehicles with removable roofs and FGASA level 3 expert guides.

The Welgevonden Reserve is a 38,000-hectare wilderness area and adheres to strict vehicle numbers at game sightings to ensure the exclusivity of your game-viewing experience.

Duration: ±3 hours

Game drives, in open safari vehicles, head out each day at sunrise and again in the late afternoon to find the reserve’s many fascinating animals, both
diurnal and nocturnal. This is a truly personal experience: no more than seven vehicles are in the concession at any one time and, because the animals
are accustomed to them and do not see them as a threat, the field guides are able to take guests within close range of Africa’s most impressive species.
Photographic opportunities are spectacular!

• Includes: a hot beverage or sundowner stop in a scenic spot to purely appreciate being in the bush and in the moment
• Children 6 years and older are welcome on the twice-daily game drives
• The children’s game drive (for young guests 3 to 5 years) goes out after breakfast daily - parents are welcome to go along, subject to availability
of seats

Marataba Game Drive Credit: Marataba Game Lodge

Marataba Game Drive Credit: Marataba Game Lodge

Marataba Game Drive Credit: Marataba Game Lodge

Take an unhurried cruise along the Matlabas River on Miss Mara. Nothing tops watching the sun shimmy into a liquid horizon in vivid colour, as you sip on a G ‘n T to the splash of a grunting hippo.

The perspective of the bush is quite different when experienced from the water. An excursion on Miss Mara is highly recommended as a unique and highly enjoyable way to immerse yourself in the magnificence of the reserve.

Morning and afternoon cruises are conducted on the Matlabas River, just 20 minutes drive from the Lodge. Delicious refreshments and snacks are provided; from pastries and hot chocolate, to G ‘n Ts and Canapés.

One of Marataba’s experienced Field Guides will conduct the slow cruise along the river. You can expect to see birdlife a-plenty, hippos in the water, and the many creatures that walk the plains of Marataba along the water’s edge.

A Night in a Treehouse*

Thabametsi is our newest and most impressive Treehouse yet! It is solar powered and built on two levels – with a main bedroom, shower room and
furnished decks offering views of the Waterberg and across the verdant expanse of the Marakele. Guests, delivered by safari vehicle in the late
afternoon, spend the sunset hours enjoying a sundowner and sharing a gourmet picnic whilst spotting animals out on the plains, before falling asleep
counting shooting stars. This is the ideal hideout for a family of four (including two children, 6 to 15 years) who want to experience an authentic night
out in Africa – in complete luxury.

• A Treehouse Experience is booked in conjunction with lodge accommodation
• A Treehouse stay is charged at a per person sharing per night rate, over and above the lodge accommodation rate
• Guests pack an overnight bag with their essentials, leaving the rest of their belongings back in their room

Thabametsi Treehouse Credit: Marataba Game Lodge

Thabametsi Treehouse Credit: Marataba Game Lodge

Duration: 1.5 to 2 hours, depending on guests’ fitness levels

These are our after-breakfast walks on the wild side. Guests are immersed in the bush, rather than just observing it. All five senses are engaged, as
they feel scrub crunch beneath their feet, touch the velvety acacia seed pod, hear the crack of a branch indicating they are not alone, and spot big
game at eye level – exhilarating! Our expert guides will tailor walks to each of our guest’s area/s of interest, focusing on mammals, birds, insects, plants,
geology, etc.

• Children under 16 years are not permitted on the bush walks
• Guests should wear: neutral-coloured clothing, comfortable walking shoes, a hat, sunglasses, and sunscreen
• Guests should bring along: a lightweight dry mac jacket, camera/smartphone, and binoculars

Bush Walk Credit: Marataba Game Lodges

Guests staying at Marataba Luxury Lodges will meet the team, receive a pre-operational briefing, and depart at the predetermined time.

Once the rhino has been located and darted, guests will actively participate in the activity, involving tasks that may include: fitting tracking collars, ear-notching, collecting blood and tissue samples, and micro-chipping of horns. This experience does not include dehorning interventions.

Each intervention offers a unique and singular experience with one animal. It's important to note that, with smooth operations, the duration can vary from approximately 30 minutes to 2 hours.

Once the intervention is complete, the blindfold and earplugs are removed, and the reversal drug are given to the rhino.

Opportunities are provided for guests to take photos, and if safe to do so, take photos with the animal and field team. The guide will also photograph the guests experience and these images will be made available upon return.

After the intervention, the conservation team provides a debriefing and a 'behind the scenes' tour of their operations room, for a comprehensive understanding of how the intervention aligns with conservation efforts and how the collected data contributes to the cause.

Please note that interventions are limited to the months between April and September, due to more favourable weather conditions, ensuring the safety of the animals, and there are approximately 60 activities that take place place throughout the year.

Cost:
R95 000.00
For a group of 15 guests

Availability:
April to September

The hours between safaris are an ideal time to spend being pampered. A selection of indulgent therapies is offered by expert therapists in the quiet

retreat of guests’ own rooms or private decks – a luxury unique to Africa. Guests choose from massages, exfoliations, reflexology, and facials with

TheraNaka herbal-infused spa therapy products – all ethically formulated with the finest natural and organic healing ingredients – as well as manicures

and pedicures. Yogis will find no better place to stretch out any leftover tension than on their private decks overlooking the serene reserve. Guests

need not pack their mats with these available to borrow from the lodge reception.

Duration: ±3 hours

Game drives, in open safari vehicles, head out each day at sunrise and again in the late afternoon to find the reserve’s many fascinating animals, both
diurnal and nocturnal. This is a truly personal experience: no more than seven vehicles are in the concession at any one time and, because the animals
are accustomed to them and do not see them as a threat, the field guides are able to take guests within close range of Africa’s most impressive species.
Photographic opportunities are spectacular!

• Includes: a hot beverage or sundowner stop in a scenic spot to purely appreciate being in the bush and in the moment
• Children 6 years and older are welcome on the twice-daily game drives
• The children’s game drive (for young guests 3 to 5 years) goes out after breakfast daily - parents are welcome to go along, subject to availability
of seats

Marataba Game Drive Credit: Marataba Game lodges

Marataba Game Drive Credit: Marataba Game lodges

Marataba Game Drive Credit: Marataba Game lodges

This offering is inspired by Rob and Britt More’s first-hand experience of travelling with their twins, Mack and Madi. Along with the options and
flexibility around accommodations and meals at Safari Lodges, we offer tailor-made activities for children (5 to 11 years) that provide a little extra
freedom to explore and just be kids – and make family travel child’s play. Our pledge is to show your children the wonders of our beautiful world and
to introduce them to fascinating people – encouraging them to discover and learn through having FUN!

Our Safari Club Eco Garden is a dedicated children’s entertainment and education space that keeps young guests occupied with the wonders of
the natural world, as well as sporting and creative activities, during their stay. Just some of the fun includes family morning game drives, ‘spoor’
identification and mould making, pool games, rock painting, cookie baking in the kitchen, kids’ picnic, toasting marshmallows, stargazing, and kids’
outdoor cinema. Parents are welcome to join in or sneak a few hours for themselves.

Marataba Mack & Madi Eco Garden Credit: Marataba Game Lodges

Marataba Mack & Mad Credit: Marataba Game Lodges

Marataba Mack & Madi Eco Garden Credit: Marataba Game Lodges

Marataba Mack & Madi Credit: Marataba Game Lodges

A Night in a Treehouse*

Thabametsi is our newest and most impressive Treehouse yet! It is solar powered and built on two levels – with a main bedroom, shower room and

furnished decks offering views of the Waterberg and across the verdant expanse of the Marakele. Guests, delivered by safari vehicle in the late

afternoon, spend the sunset hours enjoying a sundowner and sharing a gourmet picnic whilst spotting animals out on the plains, before falling asleep

counting shooting stars. This is the ideal hideout for a family of four (including two children, 6 to 15 years) who want to experience an authentic night

out in Africa – in complete luxury.

• A Treehouse Experience is booked in conjunction with lodge accommodation

• A Treehouse stay is charged at a per person sharing per night rate, over and above the lodge accommodation rate

• Guests pack an overnight bag with their essentials, leaving the rest of their belongings back in their room

Thabametsi Treehouse Credit: Marataba Game Lodges

Thabametsi Treehouse Credit: Marataba Game Lodges

Duration: 1.5 to 2 hours, depending on guests’ fitness levels

These are our after-breakfast walks on the wild side. Guests are immersed in the bush, rather than just observing it. All five senses are engaged, as
they feel scrub crunch beneath their feet, touch the velvety acacia seed pod, hear the crack of a branch indicating they are not alone, and spot big
game at eye level – exhilarating! Our expert guides will tailor walks to each of our guest’s area/s of interest, focusing on mammals, birds, insects, plants,
geology, etc.

• Children under 16 years are not permitted on the bush walks
• Guests should wear: neutral-coloured clothing, comfortable walking shoes, a hat, sunglasses, and sunscreen
• Guests should bring along: a lightweight dry mac jacket, camera/smartphone, and binoculars

Marataba Bush Walk Credit: Marataba Game Lodges

The hours between safaris are an ideal time to spend being pampered. A selection of indulgent therapies is offered by expert therapists in the quiet

retreat of guests’ own rooms or private decks – a luxury unique to Africa. Guests choose from massages, exfoliations, reflexology, and facials with

TheraNaka herbal-infused spa therapy products – all ethically formulated with the finest natural and organic healing ingredients – as well as manicures

and pedicures. Yogis will find no better place to stretch out any leftover tension than on their private decks overlooking the serene reserve. Guests

need not pack their mats with these available to borrow from the lodge reception.

Wellness Treatment Credit: Marataba Game Lodges

Take an unhurried cruise along the Matlabas River on Miss Mara. Nothing tops watching the sun shimmy into a liquid horizon in vivid colour, as you sip on a G ‘n T to the splash of a grunting hippo.

The perspective of the bush is quite different when experienced from the water. An excursion on Miss Mara is highly recommended as a unique and highly enjoyable way to immerse yourself in the magnificence of the reserve.

Morning and afternoon cruises are conducted on the Matlabas River, just 20 minutes drive from the Lodge. Delicious refreshments and snacks are provided; from pastries and hot chocolate, to G ‘n Ts and Canapés.

One of Marataba’s experienced Field Guides will conduct the slow cruise along the river. You can expect to see birdlife a-plenty, hippos in the water, and the many creatures that walk the plains of Marataba along the water’s edge.

Guests staying at Marataba Luxury Lodges will meet the team, receive a pre-operational briefing, and depart at the predetermined time.

Once the rhino has been located and darted, guests will actively participate in the activity, involving tasks that may include: fitting tracking collars, ear-notching, collecting blood and tissue samples, and micro-chipping of horns. This experience does not include dehorning interventions.

Each intervention offers a unique and singular experience with one animal. It's important to note that, with smooth operations, the duration can vary from approximately 30 minutes to 2 hours.

Once the intervention is complete, the blindfold and earplugs are removed, and the reversal drug are given to the rhino.

Opportunities are provided for guests to take photos, and if safe to do so, take photos with the animal and field team. The guide will also photograph the guests experience and these images will be made available upon return.

After the intervention, the conservation team provides a debriefing and a 'behind the scenes' tour of their operations room, for a comprehensive understanding of how the intervention aligns with conservation efforts and how the collected data contributes to the cause.

Please note that interventions are limited to the months between April and September, due to more favourable weather conditions, ensuring the safety of the animals, and there are approximately 60 activities that take place place throughout the year.

Cost:
R95 000.00
For a group of 15 guests

Availability:
April to September

Madikwe has the most beautiful Winter skies and whether from your villa patio, the lodge entertainment deck or on a night drive, our knowledgeable rangers can point out astronomical delights!

Get up close and personal with the animals in our beautiful, exclusive underground hide!

Built right next to the Rockfig watering hole, you can experience the thrill of seeing the animals so close, you could almost touch them. Elephants, zebra, Impala and even the odd cat are regular visitors. This is a favourite spot with the children as they watch the animals playing in the water and drinking here.

The underground hide is a photographer's dream as you are eye level with the animals — you will be so close you won’t even need your zoom lens.

We offer a Bar and snack service to the hide, please contact our wonderful staff.

Enjoy two wonderful game drives in the park each day with a dedicated professional ranger. The first leaves early in the morning as the African sun rises over the bush, and the second in the late afternoon when it is cooler and the sun is setting. Relax in our open-top game vehicle whilst your ranger takes you on a leisurely drive to unearth the treasures in the wilderness, at the very best game viewing times.

Half way through your drive, your ranger will select a special site to stop for either morning snacks and a coffee or afternoon sundowners. Get out, stretch your legs and feel the thrill of being out in the bush!

Set out in the fresh air on a bush walk and learn how your guide tracks the animals. This is where you also get to learn about the small animals, insects and plants. You might just get to see the "Small 5". To ensure your safety and a relaxed walking experience, a professional, specially trained and armed ranger is your guide. Duration of the walks varies depending on the weather, number of guests, and their fitness level.

Please note there is an additional charge for this and walks need to be pre-arranged when you book.

Kids Bumble drives are designed especially for your little bush adventurers. They are offered to our younger children, from about 6 and under. The drives leave the lodge after breakfast and are a little shorter than the normal drives.

The rangers focus on all the things kids find fascinating…like toothbrush plants, beetles, snakes (at a distance of course), Golden Orb Spiders in their webs …accompanied by exciting bush stories from our rangers. If the ranger can find a good, clear animal footprint, he will stop and make a clay or plaster of paris impression for the children to take home.

We have a really great pizza oven and our guests love the idea of a pizza evening on our deck, in the middle of the wild African bush!

Choose from a variety of toppings and have your pizza made and cooked in front of you.

You will hear and see an abundance of birdlife around your villa, on game drives and in our underground hide. Over 350 bird species have already been spotted in Madikwe! It really is a bird lover's paradise and offers the opportunity to tick off some rare and unusual birds from your list!

Our photographic safaris are carefully planned according to the photographers specific interests, from all levels of expertise, who want to capture their once in a lifetime images.

To run these specialised safaris, we call on experienced guides who are both incredibly knowledgeable about the birds, animals and bush and accomplished photographers themselves.

Treat yourself to a relaxing massage in the bush, and in the convenience of your own villa. We proudly support the local spa therapists, who run their own businesses.

Kindly note that pre-booking is essential and subject to availability.

A perfect spot to watch the sunset over the magnificent Madikwe plains, punctuated by several inselbergs which are unique “island-mountains”.

Complete the picture with a glass of Chardonnay or a Gin and Tonic and a tray of delicious snacks!

And for the very romantic guests, say “yes” in one of the most beautiful and romantic spots in Madikwe. We have already successfully done several surprise proposals here! Discuss your dream proposal and budget with our lodge manager and team, and they will turn it into the romantic and beautiful occasion memories are made of!