Madikwe Hills Private Game Lodge — Hotel in Ramotshere Moiloa Local Municipality

I would give this review more than 5 stars if I could. Words cannot begin to even describe the kindness of the people, the property, room, food, and attention to detail. Nearly all of the staff has been working there for more than 5 years and that always says a lot about the quality of the business and customer experience

The most important part of the safari is the game drive. They have top notch vehicles with roofs, each drive has a driver and an animal tracker. Our two guides had a combined 30 plus years of experience between them and they put us on every animal in the park other than a leopard and the impossible ones nobody sees.

We saw lions, wild dogs, cheetahs, black and white rhino, hippos, so much more

The viewings often were so close that you could almost touch the animal. However, I never felt that they harassed the animals. The approach was slow and always appropriate for the situation

The room was more like a house and was both comfortable and air conditioned. The food was world class. Michelin bush stars. I should deduct a star because I am coming home 5 pounds heavier

If you pick this place you will not regret it. As a first time safari traveler I did make some observations that I would recommend you consider when booking with any of the safari lodges

Make sure the game vehicles have a roof. It is blazing hot and rains quite often. We noticed about half the other lodges vehicles did not have roofs. Honestly a stupid decision not to have a roof on a game vehicle Go with a lodge that has both a driver/guide and a tracker. It makes an enormous difference. Maybe 1/3 of the vehicles seemed to have this. Also ask ahead of time about the years of experience for guide and request a guide that has many years experience Try and book your stay mid week. You can likely get a lower rate and it’s quite possible you will be the only ones on the game drives. Weekends seem to be busy and week days seem to be much slower Book with a company that is located somewhere towards the center of the park. It’s an enormous park and some of the animals are very difficult to find. Not being centrally located will put you at a disadvantage Some of the resorts have great watering holes located central to the main lodge where you eat. You literally never know what is going to show up in the middle of your meal. It’s hard for me to comment on the quality of Madikwe Hills watering hole because it had only just begun to rain. I suspect this is the one area where there may be some better alternatives. That being said we did see lots of animals during dinner and the deck and dining area was exceptional

Hope all this helps my fellow travelers. Many thanks to the team at Madikwe Hills for giving my family the trip of a...

What an amazing Safari experience! |Madikwe Hills must be the top lodge in Madikwe Game Reserve!|Hannes, the general manager met us on our arrival - after 24 hours of travel, and he could not have been friendlier. You could tell that he is very proud of his staff and lodge - and with good reason. He was also there to greet us after every game drive to ensure everything was going smoothly.||Our room had a perfect location with our decking overlooking the water-hole.|When I say “room”, a better description would be “bungalow” - as the living space was massive! ||Food & Drink|The waiters, safari guides, trackers, chef and room staff were all brilliant. |Our waiter, KG, quickly got to know our names, favourite drinks, food preferences and always managed to seat us at our favourite table - which had a great view over the water hole and savannah plains.||The “fine dining” experience started at breakfast and the quality was maintained throughout the day with the inevitable “high point” of the evening dinner when the chef would always come out to check that everyone was happy with their meal.|The “house wine” is all included, and there was a wide selection of reds and whites to pick from, as well as rosé or sparkling wine. Beers and local spirits were also all included.||Game Drives|The Game Drive experience was also 5 star. |Our guide, Wayne, and tracker, Charlie, were both brilliant. We had seen all of the “Big Five” within 2 days - but there is so much more to see than that. |Cheetah, giraffes, jackels, hyenas, vultures, eagles, owls and buzzards to mention just a few. The “coffee stops” with a splash of Amarula and freshly cooked barbecue skewers were a real treat.|Always remember there are no stupid questions on a game drive! No mater what we asked, we got an informed and accurate answer. |Madikwe Hills does not “overfill” their vehicles with guests. |We never had more than 6 people in our Land Cruiser - meaning that every passenger had an outside seat, whereas we met vehicles from some of the other lodges with up to 10 guests.||Boma Night|Our first night was the traditional “Boma”, where all the staff put on traditional South African entertainment followed by an “all you can eat barbecue” around a camp fire under the stars. The food was lovely, and the atmosphere was really relaxing.||Recommendations|We took the scheduled Federal Air transfer to the Madikwe airstrip. This took approx 1 hour from Johannesburg Tampo airport and is definitely the best way to get to Madikwe.|If possible, ask for a room overlooking the water hole, but I imagine all the rooms are fabulous!|Book early! Madikwe Hills has a high percentage of return clients - which is not a surprise. ||Thank you to all the staff for such an...

Our 4 day stay at Madikwe Hills was both relaxing and exciting. We saw a wide variety of animals including the expected giraffe, elephant and zebra along with wild dog, lion and cheetah. We knew we were in for excitement when our small plane landed amidst giraffe and zebra on the runway. Our guide stopped to chase zebra off the runway while our plane was flying out.

Our guide, Francois and our tracker, Ronnie were both fabulous. Francois kept up with our family's non-stop questions about flora, fauna and geology. Ronnie would be able to spot tracks and prey from the front of the truck to get us on the right path. Francois could identify just about anything by sight or sound and would always have a book readily available to provide us more detail on a given bird or rock. We stopped to take everything in from small flowers, birds and reptiles to big game. We always felt safe even though we were arms length away from lions and elephants that towered over us.

Our day would start with a 4:30am wake up call where I groggily spoke to Francois (I don't ever remember what I said), we would have a quick tea and off to see the animals. We would then stop at "Starbucks" for a morning snack and reflection. Each location was even more breathtaking than the last. Heading back to the lodge you could have a light breakfast or order off a set menu. Then back to the room for rest and relaxation. Lunch would change each day and you would have a choice of three great options, one always being vegetarian. Then some more relaxation before heading out on the evening drive. The evening drive was always exciting and stopping for snacks and cocktails in the bush was something I will remember forever. We traversed all of the park and we were in unique spots everyday even though we went out on a total of 8 very long drives.

Dinner was always great, house wines and liquor are included and the staff were so nice and attentive. The food choice for dinner would include at least three options, again with one vegetarian option. They were also very accommodating with gluten allergy.

Many members of our group tried the spa and reported that the service was great there as well.

Francois and Kenneth (another great guide) also scheduled an impromptu walking guide for the more adventurous members of our group.

Overall, a fantastic trip and we have already recommended the lodge to others along with telling them to specifically request...