Sanbona Dwyka Tented Lodge

I loved my stay at Sanbona Dwyka Tented Lodge. Firstly, the reserve is massive; 58,000 hectares of incredible landscapes. You get a great sense of the sheer size of the reserve on the hour-long drive from the welcome lodge to the camp. Upon arrival at the camp, the staff were waiting to greet us with refreshments and our guide gave us a detailed rundown of our itinerary in the coming days. We were shown to our luxury tent after a beautiful lunch where we chilled for an hour before heading on our afternoon game drive at 4pm. The tents are beautifully appointed and very spacious. You have a huge bed, double vanity, indoor and outdoor showers, free standing bathtub and of course your plunge pool out on your deck.

We saw loads of wildlife on our game drives; elephant, giraffe, hippo, white lion, springbok, hyena etc along with various birdlife, flora and fauna. We were lucky enough to see both white and black rhino up close; incredible! This was thanks again to our incredible guide Ethan who had just moved to the lodge from another reserve in Kruger where he worked for years. A fountain of knowledge.

Overall, I had a great time at Dwyka. The staff were excellent, the food was great, and the safari experience was fabulous. Sanbona has a very different landscape to those in the Eastern Cape or Kruger. It's quite rugged and mountainous and the views over the reserve are stunning, especially at dawn and dusk. I am sitting here in the office on a cold winters day, thinking of our sundowners on our last evening in Sanbona; sun setting while we were perched on the side of a mountain drinking G&T's, nibbling on biltong and watching a herd of elephant enjoying their dinner and wandering along the dry riverbed below. Magic!