Malachite Manor — Hotel in Kwa Sani Local Municipality

This summer, 2019, I was very fortunate to have had an amazing holiday at the Manor. I Stayed for just under a week and I had one of the best holidays ever. The staff here were absolutely amazing and took very good care of me. Incredibly professional yet very welcoming and warm. The owner of the manor actually built it himself And the design and the quality of products used in the build was of a very high standard especially the wood work. They have recently opened up a separate dining come barbecue area that boosts a natural swimming pool. The use of plants and rocks to filter the pool water. Very eco friendly and that theme of being eco friendly flows through out. There is a wonderful restaurant offering delicious dishes at night and a stomach filling breakfast in the morning. If you prefer something a little more laid back and chilled. Then the Boma Speakeasy is the place to go. Serving delicious traditional bbq meals and there is also veggie options. Just be sure you are hungry as the dishes are huge. In the early evenings they light fires a round the seating by the Boma and the little dam which was perfect for sun downers. They definitely cater, not only to the national market but the international one too. There are hiking and cycling routes in the area as well as horse riding nearby and quaint traditional stores and markets in the nearby Underberg town. A real taste of the true unspoilt South Africa. I couldn't recommend Malachite Manor more and my pictures truly don't do the Manor justice. Mike, Gail and Rudi, thank you so much for fantastic memories and hopefully I'm see you...

“Rock-Hard Beds and Hippy Hype: A Painful Flop at Malachite Manor”

Picture this: My wife and I check into Malachite Manor’s Sapphire Room for a serene Drakensberg escape. Instead, we’re greeted by a main bed so rock-hard it could double as a chiropractor’s nightmare, leaving us with throbbing backs and hips after a zero-sleep night. The second bed? A pint-sized, squishy afterthought clearly meant for a toddler, not a tired adult. And oh, the room’s weird hippy flair—walls touting sapphire crystals’ “healing properties” like mind-calming magic and emotional balance. Hilarious, really, because those crystals did zilch for our bed-inflicted agony!

We flagged it to the manager, but their “solutions” were a joke: swap to another identically firm bed or toss a duvet on top like a budget Band-Aid. No real help, zero compensation, and their “no prior complaints” line left us chuckling bitterly, feeling like we were the picky ones. The lodge’s pretty views and decor? Wasted on insomniacs.

We bailed three days early at 7pm, still out of pocket for three nights’ worth of “luxury.” Travelers, if you fancy sleeping on a slab while crystals mock your pain, book here. Otherwise, steer clear—check reviews for more firmness fails and quirky vibes...

We rolled into Malachite Manor hyped for 4-star bliss in the Sapphire Room, but boy, were we in for a comedic tragedy. The main queen-size bed was so unforgivingly firm it turned our night into a back-and-hip ache festival—think sleeping on a boulder disguised as hospitality-grade comfort. The secondary bed? A comically small, marshmallow-soft setup screaming “kids only,” useless for grown-ups. Adding insult to injury, the room’s hippy-dippy descriptions of sapphire crystals promising “serenity and depression relief” had us laughing through the pain—those gems sure didn’t heal our mattress misery!||Complaining got us nowhere: the manager’s polite but pointless offers—a room swap to more of the same firmness or a duvet “softener”—felt like a bad punchline. No compensation in sight, and their claim of zero past gripes made us feel like fault-finding oddballs. The scenic gardens and cozy bar? Nice, but irrelevant when you’re too sore to enjoy them. We escaped at 7pm, wallet lighter by three nights’ fees. ||Tripadvisor tip: If you crave actual rest over pseudo-spiritual gimmicks and dismissive service, skip this. Dive into other reviews for bed horror stories and odd themes that...