Simbavati River Lodge

Simbavati River Lodge sits on the bank of the Nhlaralumi River inside the Timbavati Private Game Reserve, which shares an unfenced border with Kruger National Park. The lodge holds eleven rooms across three accommodation types: six luxury safari tents with plunge pools and river or bush views, a more secluded tented pool suite, and three two-bedroom family chalets, each with a riverfront deck and a shared bathroom accessible from both bedrooms.

Directly below the open-air dining deck is a waterhole. Elephant drink there regularly, which means game viewing can happen from a chair at the table without going anywhere at all. For more structured time in the bush, guides and trackers — the trackers drawn from the local Shangaan community — go out twice daily, in the early morning and late afternoon. Night drives extend what the day drives start. Guided bush walks cover the same ground on foot, at a pace that takes in smaller details the vehicle passes over.

The Timbavati offers Big Five wildlife, with leopard and wild dog both recorded regularly in the reserve. Back at the lodge, there is a spa, a fitness centre, and a dedicated programme for children, who aged six and over may join the game drives. Dinner alternates between the thatched dining room and an open-air boma around a campfire, serving both African and Western dishes.

The nearest town is Hoedspruit; the lodge offers airport shuttle transfers.