Shakila Safari Bush Camp — Hotel in Modimolle Local Municipality

February 2009 If you can’t even drive with your Pajero or Fortuner on a game reserve’s roads – then you know it’s BAD! ---000--- FEBRUARY 2009 review: A few weeks ago, I requested a special Sunday breakfast – chocolate croissants and the Afrikaans Sunday newspaper, Rapport. With chocolate crumbs all over the duvet, both cats stretched out lazily, I paged through the mostly gossip-and-terror news, until I grabbed the Travel section. An article on a tented camp in the Waterberge, Limpopo – Zyndrandt, caught my attention. Saving the contact and website details on my computer, we decided to try it out. There are different accommodation options - and then our choice, the 4x4 Luxury Tents – only 3 of them, sleeping 2 in each tent. Hein Pretorius and I decided to start our weekend a day earlier, on the Thursday, 26th February. Everything packed and ready, we left after 12. Biltong slices and Chilli biltong sticks our lunch. Traffic was a breeze and we stopped in Bela-Bela to refuel. A very jovial black man with deep dimples asked if he could wash our windscreen. It wasn’t that dirty, so we said no. The guy looked through Hein’s open window through the windscreen and his words were: “I’m dubious about that statement.” Well, who can resist such an offer? After thoroughly cleaning the windscreen, he looked again through Hein’s window to the windscreen and said: “It has now been rejuvenated!” We just laughed and gave him a tip. Arriving at Zyndrandt’s gates, Lilly was waiting for us. Friendly and chatty, she looked at our Pajero in complete approval and led us to the camp on her quad bike. The roads were in a bad state – apparently, they had quite a few cloudbursts and the sand has been swept away. She advised us strongly against trying any of the 4x4 trails. Tent no 1 was ours for the weekend. Tent no 2 & 3 seems less private, although they are quite a few meters apart. A neat gravel path leads to the tent through rocks and succulents. The sleeping tent is big enough for the 2 ¾ beds, 2 bedside tables with 1 lamp, a metal clothes frame to hang our clothes and a metal shelf for your bags. The en-suite bathroom is adjacent to the sleeping tent, the walls built with sandbags covered with concrete. Shower, toilet, basin, mirror and bath mats made it more than sufficient. A lovely biggish sundeck overlooks the valley. Well-stocked but tiny kitchen with canvas walls and roof completed the picture. Weirdly, the ‘fireplace’ is a drum right next...

Lovely place! I visited this weekend and really enjoyed my stay. The self catering safari tents are well appointed with beautiful views. I stayed in "Stamvrug", the very last tent. It is private and secluded with all the things you need - double bed, bathroom with shower at the back of the tent, little kitchenette with fridge and microwave, as well as a deck to enjoy the view.There is also a nice braai area where you can gather around at night to make that ultimate bushveld dinner. Oh, and did I mention the jacuzzi? This was the brightest idea ever! And it was clean and well kept too - I could jump right in and spent most of my time there.||There are a variety of other options and tent lay outs, sleeping from 2 - 10 people, each one unique and widely spread out so you are not on top of neighbor.||The host Theunis was friendly and helpful, making sure all his guest were happy and comfortable and he even let me check out a bit later.||There are 4x4 trails for those wanting to do something, as well as game watching and hiking. I preferred to just sit on the deck and enjoy the bushveld from there.||I will definitely return as it is a quick 2 hour drive from Johannesburg and an ideal city escape. I do recommend spring (Aug/Sept) or Autumn (April/May) for the ideal time to visit as summers in this area can get really hot! There is cellphone reception but it is kind off...

What a devastating experience! We used to love going there but the crime has gotten out of control and the owner has not been honest or done much about it! We had tourists there on the 26th November 2021 and we were reassured that the owner has upped the security and we would even have a "personal security" for that weekend. We'll, we arrived on Friday and had to leave by midnight as there was a shooting happening at the bottom and we saw people running frantically with flashlights. Nonetheless, our security was fast asleep as he was actually an elderly man whom was definitely not professionally equipped to deal with this situation. We packed up in minutes and left the premises. The owner was there to open the main gate for us and simply brushed off the situation as some kind of patrol. Needless to say, we never even got a call or an appolgy the next day, never mind the refund for the entire weekend we did not spend there. We still wanted a refund before even going on the 26th as our friends had been robbed of their belongings there the weekend prior, and we entrusted that the owner had got the crime under control. Furthermore, we got there and the jacuzzi was ice cold even though it was running from before we got there up until we left. TOTAL disappointment and...