Pondoro Game Lodge — Hotel in Maruleng Local Municipality

For 20+ years, Lize and Robbie Prehn have developed, created and continue to nurture a magical bush hideaway in Balule Private Nature Reserve which is adjacent to with open borders as part of Greater Kruger National Park. We were fortunate to travel all over South Africa for a month and Blessed to spend our final 5 nights at Pondoro Lodge.

Annchen/Reservations is an excellent timely communicator. Keep in mind the response time difference wherever you may be in the world.

Wi-fi is strong and plentiful - well maybe not if you are a gamer or nomad remote worker-hopefully you are on holiday. But please, I implore you to turn wifi off, except in your guest room to maybe to check email or WhatsApp once or twice a day, and by all means turn it off in the common areas and get to know the staff and fellow world travelers. The staff is incredibly vivacious and humorous. Just to name a few in no particular order: Ivonne - girl, you make me laugh and your smile lights up the world - you excel in all that you do Eustance - Tiny and Mighty - excellent server and Beauty/Massage Therapist Lilly - elegant and humorous (um, um, um - with a hip shake - laundry secret; wink wink) She does it all including Beauty/Massage Therapist Patricia - woman - you can dance and SING plus so much more Trinity - my second daughter and twin to our very own Trinity at home Sindile - your kind messages will be missed each day and night JD - your smartness and organization is a plus [Boomie] - I have totally misspelled it but spelled it phonetically. It actually starts with an M. She has the most gentle smile and calm sweetness about her. Sampson - The Monkey Watcher :) - just go and find out with glee what this is all about Anton - Night Walker, nice guy I can't possibly list everyone as Google might possibly redact me. By now, you should gleam that the staff is hands on and aim to please.

If logistics allow for the lodge, we highly recommend that you ask for your game drives with the dynamic duo of Selby-Ranger/Driver (that's correct, Selby, it is not Shelby) and Tracker, Andries. Andries is the Master (I have dubbed him such) and opened Pondoro as Robbie's first tracker. Both gentlemen are highly knowledgeable and more importantly fun and engaging with great senses of humor- take the time to get to know them. Again, it all depends on occupancy and logistics on the lodge but if Selby and Andries are not available perhaps Sully-Ranger/Driver with America/Tracker are available. America is Andries' son. It's a family affair. All the rangers/trackers are great guys! Pondoro is so uniquely situated that although you cannot ever guarantee Mother Nature, we did indeed see not only the Big 5 on more than one occasion but also painted wild dogs.

I've heard my whole life the term "The Spirit of Africa" and simply thought it was a marketing term. It is not. If you only have 3 nights or 5 nights (totally recommend at least 3) experience it at the Spirit of...

Everyday was an unexpected and refreshing experience.

A close-knit team in Pondoro reflects the efficiency of how things are being run at the lodge.

Customer service staff Licia and Raymond’s attentiveness and service to every individual guest is heartwarming. They would welcome us back to the lodge after every game drive and see that all our needs are attended to throughout our 5 days stay.

Dining experience was truly tip-top. Every meal was well planned out by Lize’s team and how they managed to deliver endless surprises from the menu, transporting us to different dining locations and ambience each day. We were fed to the brim every meal both in our stomach and mind.

With every game drive, we depart with excitement not knowing what we would encounter as one can never predict what Mother Nature would present you.

Our guide, Julius, and tracker, Ramson, however, worked with what Mother Nature gave - and very well at that.

With their wealth of knowledge and experience of the bush, apart from tracking the animals, they entertained us with their stories, trivias, safari humour and our trove of questions that we rained on them regarding the safari.

We were lucky to encounter the Big 5 at least twice throughout our 8 game drives. Our advise is to stay more than 2 days to increase your chances to encounter them as the wild is always on the move. With Julius expert handling and manoeuvre of the jeep, we often get within metres of the animal presenting many incredible photo opportunities.

We even got to experience a heart racing chase of a mother leopard; going off the dirt track into the bush, listening to Julius and Ramson coordinating amongst themselves, other jeeps around the vacinity and over the radio regarding the whereabouts of the mother leopard.

During the bush walk, Ramson shared with us essential tracking knowledge. He educated us on types of animals’ footprints and waste left behind and narrated what the animal was last doing or direction it was heading to. Needless to say, he always quizzed us at the later part of the walk to make sure we did learn something!

Overall, we had a more-than-wonderful stay at Pondoro Game Lodge, and left with mixed feelings. Sad that we had to leave the adventure we had, but happy that we got to experience the wildlife like never before. This was truly a trip of a lifetime, and memories to keep.

Thank...

Exceptional! We stayed for 4 nights at Pondoro and it was just fabulous. The lodge itself is gorgeous and the interior design blends in beautifully with the incredible location overlooking the river. The “Tree” suite was everything we could have dreamed of with so much space, beautifully appointed, an outdoor tub, with soaking tub and double shower inside. The food was delicious and the service excellent. Every member of the team went out of their way to make us feel absolutely spoilt especially JD, Joanna, Armand, Ivonne, Mpume, Trinity and Lily to name a few. We treated ourselves to a massage and Lily was amazing. She not only has great technique but also has what I would call “healing hands”. Now onto the game viewing which was sensational. Not only did we see the “Big 5” but we were lucky enough to see a black rhino exhibiting typical behavior. In more than 20 years of doing safaris I have only ever seen a black rhino once before and it was running away into thick bush. We splurged on paying extra for a private vehicle which was fabulous however the lodge has a 6 person maximum limit per vehicle which is prefect as there are 3 rows of seats and couples each get their own row. Some lodges that we have been to overload their vehicles and it is cramped. Not at Pondoro where you get a premium experience from the time you make your reservation until you depart. Annchen, who takes care of reservations is absolutely amazing and went above and beyond for us to take care of all our special requests. Over the years I have been to numerous “And Beyond” properties in southern Africa and I can tell you that Pondoro is right up there. And at much less than you would pay at one of their lodges. The owners Robbie and Lize are “hands on” and this makes a big difference with the attention to detail and service levels you receive. I cannot recommend Pondoro enough and would return in a heartbeat. It really was truly...