Jabulani Safari | Relais & Châteaux — Hotel in Maruleng Local Municipality

Wow! What a magical, downright perfect place. Many thanks to the entire staff, notably our guide Reece, our butler Isaac, and chefs Alex and Henlu — you gave us a safari experience we will never forget!

It’s hard to describe what sets this place apart, but it’s like… every 5 Star property goes above and beyond, and the team here always found a way to elevate their offering one step beyond that!

✅ The Mission: the way they love and care for the elephants is inspiring, as is the story of how they all came together. We cherished the elephant interaction where we got to feed them!

✅ The Lodge: this lodge is gorgeous! Multiple times our jaws dropped as we turned the corner: when we saw animals walk in front of us, when we saw how they set up the boma for dinner, when we opened up our room… there are delights big and small nestled everywhere!

✅ The Food: Chefs Alex and Henlu are geniuses! They found ways to present totally unique dishes (Crocodile bruschetta! Sous vide kudu!) in ways that were delicious, beautiful, and accessible. They paired them with beautiful wines mainly from South Africa, and came to chat with us before and after every meal to make sure it was to our liking and answer any questions we had. And everyone should try Jabu Gin at least once!

✅ The Game Drives: how lucky were we, to see all of the Big 5 on our first full day! Reece did a phenomenal job tracking animals, explaining the ecosystem, and creating a sense of adventure. It was not nearly as crowded as I heard other lodges are, I believe because it is on a private game reserve (Kapama) and the guides on the reserve all work together to share tracking information. We always felt safe, but we got closer than I ever thought possible to these incredible animals!

Thank you to the whole team for a fantastic safari experience. We...

This was a 5 star experience! The room was exactly what you see when you close your eyes and dream of Africa. It has a canopy bed with romantic netting. So comfortable! The bathroom is a part of the room but feels separate and so African. The entire house has The coolest mud walls! Every design detail is African. We did not use the pool because of a cool spell. The food is amazing! They have a rotating menu so we were not stuck with the same menu each day which was not the case at our 2nd safari location. The service was 5 star! The grounds are beautiful with a pond outside of the dining area that had a hippo visiting! Then there’s the Safari!! Donovan was THE BEST! He was fun, knowledgable, an excellent tracker. I like that’s their safari vehicles do not have a spotter sitting in a chair on the front. Donovan was the driver in the tracker and it works great. We saw the big five and saw the most beautiful leopards! We had many animal sightings Every time we went on Safari which was twice a day. It was great that we had roofs on our Safari vehicle as it did rain a little. But the highlight of Jabalani is the elephant sanctuary! They will take you to the watering hole where the 16 sanctuary elephants will go mid day. On the day we went they wanted to party.! They were playing with logs, Splashing, playing with each other, and got down on their knees and use their task to loosen dirt to throw on their backs. I will never forget it as long as I live. You will also have a meet and greet with the elephants if requested. But the wild elephants on Safari were a huge herd, and we even got to see them mating. Jabulani Is by far the best Safari and lodge of any Safari...

Our stay at Jabulani was exceptional. Truly beyond belief! Between the beautiful lodging, delicious food, personal touches, amazing game drives and of course the elephants, our experience could not be beat. Everyone took such care to make sure our honeymoon trip was the trip of a lifetime - and they certainly succeeded! The elephant interaction experiences were magical. The game drives were plentiful - we saw the big five, a lion pride feasting on a buffalo kill and another pride hunting an impala, a leopard, hippos, rhinos, elephants, giraffe, zebra, plus so much more! Our guide Jason was equal parts expert tracker, human encyclopedia, impressive barista/bartender, compelling storyteller/comedian - we feel so, so lucky to have gotten paired with him. The full staff was absolutely amazing: Ruan, who was so kind and made sure all of our needs were met; the culinary team who prepared our delicious on-and-off-the-menu meals; Songs & Issac, our attentive and personable waitstaff; and everyone who contributed behind the scenes to make our trip so phenomenal and so personal. We definitely saw the benefits of staying at a smaller, more intimate lodge and could not recommend more! Plus, did I mention the elephant interaction? 10/10 recommend!!!!! Whenever we’re lucky enough to make it back to Africa, Jabulani will without a doubt be our first stop. Thank you, Jabulani team, for a trip we will never...