KUGANHA Tented Camp Safari — Hotel in Witzenberg Local Municipality

What a spectacular way to wake up on Christmas (or any time really!)

When we arrived in Cape Town, we knew we wanted to do a safari, and after calling around a few different retreats, we found Kuganha by chance. We were instantly struck by how helpful the staff were on the phone, offering us a special offer of 70% reduction for booking mid-week. We snapped up the chance, and we did not regret it!

The three of us arrived at Kuganha early afternoon and were greeted by the staff who offered refreshing towels and a cool drink while talking about the retreat. Our guide Vanessa took us through the retreat to the campsite, and MC, Mhari and housekeeping staff met us. The staff were welcoming, offering to help us in any way possible. We were shown to our tents which were beautiful with a lovely welcoming tray of food which we snacked on ravenously. We ordered drinks while sitting beside the pool.

About 7 pm, we were welcomed to the Braai and sat with MC and Mahri with the chat flowing, there was never a dull moment of conversation. We had drinks while the chef prepared for us our meals and desserts outside the comfort of our tents. We had a fantastic laugh and finished the night by jumping in the pool for a night swim.

The following day was spectacular. We woke to have coffee and cake before heading out on safari with Vanessa, we saw so many animals, but the highlights for us were the lions, the giraffe and the elephants who came to the pool to join our morning meal. The animals are wild with as little human contact as possible, they are cared for, and the staff have an intense passion for making sure they are protected.

Our breakfast was delicious, and the chicken sandwich we had for lunch was excellent. We were completely relaxed in our tents during the day and took advantage of relaxing in the comfortable beds and sitting by the pool in the sun. Fresh pastries were brought before our evening drive, where we watched Rhino's and wilder beast, we were then treated to watch the Cheeta run, with a private introduction to the beautiful cats.

Our evening meal was nothing short of spectacular, springbuck carpaccio, rump steak and a vanilla mint pannacotta was to die for! The food was better than you can get in any top-class London/New York restaurant. The staff delighted in exceeding our expectations and giving us an experience we will remember forever.

As a world traveller, this has to be one of the most unforgettable trips of my life. The next time i come to Cape Town, I will book in for another adventure at Kuganha and the Inverdoon...

Before I booked, I had phoned Inverdoorn to enquire whether the luxury camps had aircon, to which I was told that they did. However when I arrived, there was no AC, and it happened to be a very hot weekend and the ceiling fan did nothing in cooling us down. I am disappointed to be given this wrong information as I would not have booked the tents if I had known that there was no aircon.

There was also an inordinate amount of flies and mosquitos, I was literally swatting them every 2 seconds and the buzzing is constant. I am surprised that for a 5 star camp, there are no fly catchers or mosquito repellants made available. It really made my stay extremely uncomfortable. I count in excess of 20 mosquito bites on my body!!! (Also very surprised that none of the reviews mentioned this??? like it was so bad we had to move the table inside the tent... not sure if it is a recent issue)

The social media posts claim that there's a private chef, however, the food had to be brought in from the main lodge, so we often had to wait very long for our meals. The "hot breakfast" was cold by the time it got to me. In general, the food is tasty but not 5-stars. The portion sizes are also quite small. The braai we had the first night did not have enough salads, and they only did 1 lamb chop, 1 chicken breast and maybe 2 sausages pp. You had to bet on some of the guests to not eat the meat if you want seconds.

Lastly the shower had very little pressure. At times half the shower head had no water coming out and the rest had a very feeble drizzle of water, definitely not what I expected from a 5 star accommodation. We did complain about the water pressure, and were told the maintenance people would take a look, but of course, nobody came. Luckily it was a hot weekend so we just had quick showers, but I can imagine it must be freezing cold in winter months.

Whilst the service was excellent, I still feel like for the price that we are paying, albeit discounted, the tents should still reflect what was advertised, or at the very least, be made very clear the shortcomings of staying there. I would not...

Kuganha was one of the most incredible experiences we’ve ever had. Our guide Christian was amazing - incredibly knowledgeable but, accommodating and attentive. The tented rooms were to die for - exactly as pictured on their website, equipped with electricity, running water, amazing bathroom, comfortable bed and beautiful decor.

We had the opportunity to have a visit from the reserves two elephants. The elephants staff (yes, these two animals have three staff members to ensure their safety, health and well-being every single day) showed us how they feed the elephants carrots and taught us about these beautiful animals. We were mere inches away from them on the private deck with a plunge pool.

The food was fantastic and the braai was the perfect way to end our trip.

I have nothing but incredible things to say about the game drives - we went on four total and saw lions, hippos, cheetahs, giraffes, springbok, elephants, ostriches, zebras, buffalos, etc.

It was hands down the most memorable trip and nature experience I’ve ever had. We hope to come back some day to see the animals have babies, for new ones to be added to the reserve, and for the reserve to expand to include additional acreage to allow the animals to keep living in the wild and under the incredible care of the Inverdoorn staff. 10/10 would recommend.

Thank you Kuganha for an absolutely breathtaking holiday that we are sure...