singita or Mala Mala Rattrays
 

We are going for our honeymoon can anyone tell me what the difference will be and where we should go?

thanks

Here are a couple of threads that compare the two.

http://fodors.com/forums/threadselec...p;tid=34999999

http://fodors.com/forums/threadselec...p;tid=34952081

Hi obrienenator

I have not been to Singita since Dec 2005, and in my opinion, it was very expensive and in need of an update. I go to Rattray's and MalaMala Main Camp usually a couple of times a year, and I love the rooms at Rattray's - they are very luxurious and certainly my preference over Singita and Ivory Lion Sands, which is also a really nice lodge to stay at.

Kind regards

Kaye

There are two Singitas in Sabi Sands - Ebony and Boulders. One of them was recently renovated, but I forget which one. There's also Singita Lebombo, which is relatively new, located in a private concession in the northern portion of Kruger.

We have a second honeymoon every year at Rattrays and we love it.

Hello,

Singita Ebony and Singita Boulders were both renovated in 2006. Photos of the renovated lodges can be seen in the South Africa section of the Safari Photo Album:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jasher/collections/

Cheers,
Julian

I have not been to MM, but I did stay at Singita Boulders this past August. It was spectacular. It is the pinnacle of luxury from accomadtions to the service. I would stay in room #7 if you go.

Could I jump in here and ask about Ulusaba? Acquainences of mine are set on going here; it looks way over-the-top to me, however. What is the opinion of the experienced SabiSanders here about this place?

Ulasaba - Being owned by Richard Branson, tends to cater to a European (mostly English) clientele. There haven't been many postings here about the camp. It's in/around the same price category as Singita, Londolozi... other high-end lodges. Can't tell you more.

Thanks, Sandi..sorry for breaking in like that...I was curious because I never read about it here, even from posters who seem to know all of the properties in the SSGR.

Well, I wrote all this before I realized the OP was written last June! I will post it anyway for future honeymooners.

We have been to both Singita Boulders and Rattrays and loved both. The game viewing was also superb, dynamic viewings every single drive.

Boulders had more people when we were there so we had more people in our vehicle however we liked the people and still keep in touch with some of them. It may only have been when we were there, but it happened that the crowd was younger (we had some honeymooners in our car) at Boulders than at Rattrays. Kaye has been to Rattrays many times so she could comment on that.

Rattrays's rooms are more private (two bathrooms, one entire side of your suite is for the man with his separate dressing area and closets and toilet and shower -the woman's side has the same but with a tub).

Also, it felt more private in terms of people not looking in. Our room in Boulders was supposed to be private but I realized it wasn't when I saw a vehicle through an opening in the greenery (there are a lot of windows at Boulders).

Rattrays had a laptop w/ internet and I think also a tv in the room.

The cottages were more "African" (a beautiful design) at Singita, with no 90 degree corners anywhere in that suite.

At Rattrays you have dinner in the outside Boma which is romantic and rustic. You sit at little tables set up in a line so your mate is across from you and your guide beside, as well as other people.It is just the light of the fire I believe. After dinner, those who wish to, pull their chairs up to the bonfire and chat over drinks.

The food at dinner is slightly better at Singita. At Singita you are in a small but lovely dining room, sitting with your car mates. We had fun dinners there. One night only, they did a boma outside but it rained out.

At either place you can arrange to have more privacy if you wish.

At both camps you eat dinner with your guide. At Rattrays you eat breakfast also with your guide. In both camps, the guides are fun and smart and enjoy people.

Boulders has a large wine cellar and they will do a special tasting. Rattrays has a wonderful bar where everyone meets before dinner.

Both camps use trackers and radios, so your sightings are great. Rattrays is a nice large (meaning not a tiny 5 seater) SAA plane ride from Joburg, I forget whether it's that easy to get to Singita.

Good luck. You see, my experiences were so good at both places, I would happily send a friend to honeymoon at either one.

Hey, I just noticed that also, OP June 2007. Wonder, have they been on honeymoon? If so, wish they'd report back.

regards - tom

We have been to both Rattray's and Singita. Both are luxurious. Singita is more interior designed spectacular and they have a spa which I enjoyed. OH not interested in spa but I had the most wonderful full body massage treatment. Rattrays is more focused on the Game viewing, there was no spa but they did have a gym. Having been to Mala Mala and Rattrays the years before I was quite disappointed the first night at dinner at Singita. We were seated alone at a table for 2 with no guides to be seen anywhere. It was just like sitting down to dinner at any 5 star restaurant. The food at Singita is better, 5 star chef, but we missed the social part of meeting the guide and other guests for a welcome drink and to sit down to dinner and wondered where everyone one was. The next night at Singita we ate in the Boma with all of the guests from our vehicle and the night after we were treated to the most amazing surprise dinner at the airstrip. They had transported the chef and 100's of fairy lights to the airstrip and cooked us a 7 course a la carte dinner never to be forgotten. `i don't think they do this often, it was mine and another guests birthday. Rob our guide was fantastic and great fun.
Back to Rattray's, the rooms are just as luxurious as Singita and I think we preferred the warm Colonial decoration. This is just personal taste. They also have his and hers bathrooms on each side of the accomodation but we liked to share the double shower with two shower heads. Also, the plunge pools are heated at Rattray's, when we were at SIngita we had a cold spell and I was extremely disappointed that the plunge pool on our deck was not heated. What else, Rob our guide at Rattray's was fantastic as was Charles, we had a great time with them. Rob ate all of his meals with us and was at our beck and call and we enjoyed his company. I suppose a lot of these trips depend on the kind of people you are seated with in the vehicle and at dinner and if you have anything in common. We quite like to socialize and have a chat in the evenings so eating dinner alone in our room or at our own table is not really on our agenda for a safari. I would say the game viewing was equally good at both places. This was very important to us. Luxurious surroundings are great but we are going to Africa for a proper safari not spa treatments. We are both into photography. I think after doing several safaris it is important to let the manager know before you arrive what it is you want to see. We have been frustrated with bird watchers as we are more interested in the larger animals and get bored sitting there looking at a bird for ages. The luxury at these two places is equal. If you are a foodie Singita has more cheffy restaurant food but we haven't been back to Rattray's for 2 years so they may have changed that since then.
Thats all for now.

This thread must be haunted 8-X :[
Original date Jun 07. Got pulled back up in Mar 08, now back for a haunting in Nov 09 ((O))

Which only goes to prove my theorem that many people are more interested in replying to the thread than reading the thread!!! (Guess that includes me :D ).

regards - tom

LOL!

Surely the haunted threads only come out on Halloween.

Question - where did the obrienator actually honeymoon?

Obrienenator still has a Fodors profile and in it their email address. I sent them an email referencing this thread and asking where they honeymooned. May be a good email address because I have not yet (in 20min) received a delivery failure notice.

Perhaps we can then give this thread a proper burial and it will no longer haunt, wandering forever, grasping at replies. Or, perhaps we will still ignore the original and hastily jump down to the bottom to add our valuable and indispensable input!!!

regards - tom
ps - rather slow day for safaris here on the forum, huh???

Visited Rattray's January 2010. Massively disappointed. Nothing like our first visit 2 years ago. First and most important for us, they no longer have their native trackers on the safari drives.
Filomen, an amazing talented tracker is reduced to washing cars, very sad. Our guide never drove off the road into the bush to follow anything, we hardly saw any animals compared to the first two times we were there.

The 2 greatest characters (staff) have left, Charles and Rob. (big mistake not hanging on to them!) The staff that are there now are polite and that's all. At meal times they are looking at their watches the entire time which makes things uncomfortable. You can tell they don't want to be there. This was our 3rd visit but so disappointing we won't be going back.

That is very disappointing news. We are off to Rattrays for our third visit at the end of March. Why did they not go off road? Was it just your ranger or was the weather too rainy? I have always enjoyed the company of the rangers and have always felt they had time for us.

regards Barb

Jenna123 what dates in January were you there and who was your ranger? I am also very surprised that you did not go off road as we were there in January and had fabulous gameviewing, so barbroy do not be disappointed because I have also always enjoyed the company of the rangers so I am most interested to find out who this ranger was.

Kind regards
Kaye