Best Safari Lodge in South Africa? Our Stay at Mohlabetsi Safari Lodge

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Outstanding animal encounters, intimate safari lodging, attentive staff that make you feel like family, Mohlabetsi Safari Lodge has it all right in the heart of Kruger National Park’s Balule Private Game Reserve.

Does the idea of a South African safari seem thrilling, but overwhelming and out of reach? Are you completely lost on where to start? We were too. With so many options out there at many different price-points, it’s truly hard to know where to turn. During the planning process of our trip to South Africa, we knew we wanted to visit Kruger National Park. Elephants in the wild? Say less. Beyond this, we were completely lost.

We prefer to stay in the mid-range price point. Joc is our book-keeper, so she leans more budget. Zach thinks our bank account is much bigger than it actually is and therefore tends to be a little bougie, so mid-range is a good compromise for us. One thing neither of us will compromise on is quality of experience- we would rather spend all our pennies if it means the experience will be memorable. Can’t take it with us, right? While scouring the internet and looking at way too many lodges, we came across Mohlabetsi Safari Lodge. It checked all our boxes:

Mid-rang budget
All-Inclusive meal plan (because where does one get food in the middle of an African Savannah?)
Inside Kruger National Park
Multiple game drives included
Near an airport for ease of transport

✈️ Getting there

To get to Mohlabetsi Safari Lodge you have two options:

Fly into OR Tambo Airport in Johannesburg (JNB) and book a package inclusive of transportation. It is a 5.5hour drive from here.

Fly into Hoedspruit Civil Airfield (HDS) from here it is a 20 minute drive to the reserve.

We highly recommend flying into HDS. Airlink and CemAir PTY both fly into HDS directly and it is about a one hour flight from JNB. We personally used Airlink and were very pleasantly surprised with the service we received, even on this short 1 hour flight. It’s a smaller plane, but not as tiny as a private jet.

Pricing

The cheapest option is staying in a king room, which costs R6800.00 per person (sharing) or R8800.00 (single rate) per day. This equates to approximately $381USD or $493USD respectively.

For a suite with a private plunge pool, the rates are R9900.00 per person (sharing) or R19 800.00 (single rate) per day.

This equates to approximately $555USD or $$1,109USD respectively.

We chose to stay in the king room and felt this was plenty luxurious to us.

What’s included

This was probably the most important booking factor for us. Joc is our trip logistics planner, but this trip had her stumped. How does one get food while in a game reserve in Africa? How do you book game drives? Who do you book them through? Cue Mohlabetsi Safari Lodge saving the day and making sure we had everything we needed.

Included in our stay:

Transportation to and from HDS airport
3 freshly made meals, daily
Tea & coffee
2 game drives per day (morning & afternoon)
Expert knowledgeable guides
Access to the property’s pool

Booking Process

We booked our stay through booking.com. We prefer to use booking.com primarily as our gateway to any great destination. Book with Mohlabetsi Safari Lodge here:

First Impressions & Arrival

Funny story: this trip was our first true travel blunder. Remember how we recommended flying into HDS airport? Well, somehow when booking our flights, we accidentally booked to fly into a different airport (not HDS)… 2ish hours away.

We realized this right before boarding our flight and emailed the lodge to notify them. They didn’t miss a beat and had arranged a driver to pick us up. Sure, it was an added headache, but it really gave us an insight how attentive and accommodating the staff were.

Once we arrived, we were warmly welcomed with a fantastic lunch on the lawn. The kind of home-cooked South African goodness that your body needs after the stress of traveling. The view? It was even better than the lunch. Under the shade to the acacia tree, we observed the watering hole and stunning African savannah. Truly, not sure any meals in our lifetime will op this experience.

Room Tour & Amenities

Our room was a King room, a typical African dwelling complete with a thatched room. Once inside, we were removed from the heat with access to air-condition and slept peacefully with the white noise of a fan (anyone else have a co-dependence with fans for sleeping?).

South Africa does struggle with energy and rolling blackouts are very common, however, Mohlabetsi has backup generators which allowed us to never be without electricity, AC, or most-importantly: WIFI.

The bathroom was complete with an outdoor shower- not the icky kind, the glamorous kind. For some reason, using this shower was the epitome of an African Safari experience to me (Joc).

One of our favorite things about Mohlabetsi was the pool. To be honest, having a pool in Africa was not even on my radar. After a beautiful lunch on the lawn, there was nothing more relaxing than spending the afternoon poolside while we waited for our evening game drive.

Safari/Game Drive Experience

Morning game drives:

With a gentle knock on the door, we were woken every morning around 5:30am. Just as the sun was starting to rise, we loaded up in our Landcruiser. We met our guides for the week- Sam & Richard. Sam had the kind of quick dry-witted humor that was absolutely hilarious, while Richard was stoic and more reserved (but equally as lovable). Both grew up in the South African bush and honed their animal guide abilities while protecting their village. It was at a young age that they learned how to pay attention to animal tracks, learn their behaviors and preferences, and developed their fearlessness.

Sam & Richard would take turns with their position on the landcruiser. One would sit up front, observing, looking for tracks, and guiding the other who would be our driver. Together they ensured that we saw the big 5: lion, leopard, elephant, rhinoceros, and African buffalo. Zach and I both realized quickly that we were not expert spotters, but we excelled at finding grass that looked like lions, rocks that looked like elephants, and trees that looked like giraffes. When we asked Sam the secret to being a good spotter, he quickly replied “tabasco sauce”.

Just prior to finishing our game drive, we would find a safe spot, empty of the landcruiser and break for tea in the bush. Talk about a surreal experience. I’m getting misty in my eyes just thinking about it.

Evening Game Drives:

With the heat of the day dissipating, we would set off on our evening game drives. The interesting thing about game drives is that no two are ever the same. Animals are…wild. They are living their lives and we got the honor of catching glimpses of their day.

On one of our evening game drives, we had just arrived at a watering hole where buffalo had stopped for a mud bath . While watching the buffalo, Zach was startled and quietly whispered “look behind us”. A heard of about 20 elephants were sauntering past us. They stopped, looked at us, and the tiniest baby elephant let out a yell before they continued on their journey. I will never forget how quietly these gentle giants appeared and how magical it felt to be in their presence.

Staying safe on safari:

As I said, animals are wild. Of course, there are risks associated with being near wild animals, but Sam and Richard used their expert knowledge to ensure we stayed safe. I mean, if you had to have someone guide you in the wild, wouldn’t you want the person who kept their village safe from lions?

A few ground rules we followed to stay safe:

Don’t make any noises or calls to the animals
Don’t stand up inside the vehicle
Don’t make any sudden movements
Keep voices low

While these are wild animals, they are on a game reserve and therefore they are used to vehicles being in close contact with them. The animals view the safari vehicle as a whole, passangers included. Standing and making large gestures breaks that illusion.

Dining

Going into this experience, we fully expected to starve. Joc packed our bag full of protein bars and we were prepared to live off of them. I am happy to report that we can home with a suitcase full of our protein bars. The food was excellent.

Breakfast:

After our early morning game drive, we headed for our freshly made breakfast. We were welcomed into the breakfast area with a buffet of fresh yogurt and fruit. The entree of the morning was freshly prepared for each person individually and typically consisted of some variation of an English breakfast.

Lunch:

Every morning, the lunch & dinner menu was hosted in the reception area. Lunch was always served on the lawn accompanied by a light breeze in the shade. Lunch was typically lighter fare- salads or sandwiches. All fresh and completely delicious. The best part about lunch was it was finished with a dessert (aka the most important part of the meal).

Dinner:

Dinner was served by candlelight around the Boma with a blazing fire and stars twinkling above. If that sounds dreamy, it’s because it was. A special part about dinner was that we were joined by the staff. Again, the food was nothing short of outstanding, served as a three course meal. Think soups, steak and veggies, creme brûlée dessert… you know, exactly what you would expect in the African bush.

Final Thoughts

When someone asks our favorite place… South Africa is one of the first things out of our mouths. While South Africa as a whole is absolutely amazing, Mohlabetsi Safari Lodge was truly the highlight of our time there. It was a core memory for us and the experiences we had there, we will never forget. The people, the wildlife, the staff, each detail collectively made the experience an a bucket list memory. If you’re considering a trip to South Africa, we 100000000% recommend booking a stay with Mohlabetsi Safari Lodge.

This should tell you something: Joc said she could easily live there… and she loves her modern conveniences like amazon prime, having her own car, and grocery delivery, but she would consider giving it up to live in this slice of paradise.