Part Royal Malewane, Part Phinda Forest...my new favorite Madikwe lodge...
Sep 8th, 2004, 08:56 PM
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Part Royal Malewane, Part Phinda Forest...my new favorite Madikwe lodge...
http://www.makanyane.com/
Had to dig deep to find this one, but it looks great. Where else in South Africa can you sleep under the stars in a treetop hide?
Just recently on this forum we have seen where somebody's father treated them to an all-expense paid two week trip to anywhere in the world. Well, the owner of Makanyane was able to do a little better...her father built her a top-notch game lodge in Madikwe!
The prices are very reasonable for what is on offer at this lodge. While it is not quite as upscale as Madikwe Hills (no plunge pools for one thing) it is not too far behind. I do like the fact that they have internet access, telephones in the suites, only eight chalets/suites, seem to be very near the Marico River, features satellite television in the business center, features a wellness center and has a couple hides to get closeup interaction with the wildlife.
Besides all that, it probably has the most comprehensive website I have ever seen in a game lodge. Just one example...here is a list of the likelihood of seeing certain game on their game drives, as tracked by the lodge:
Elephant - 100%
Black Rhino 5% (guess I had better stay 10 nights and get in 20 game drives!)
White Rhino - 42%
Buffalo - 7% (wow, that is really low, somebody order Madikwe some Buffalo!)
Lion - 57% (no wonder why there are so few Buffalo!)
Leopard - 5% (another 10 night stay for leopards, but they will be crawling all over Simbambili, so I don't mind)
Brown Hyena - 12% (I have never seen a Brown Hyena before, so that would be a treat)
Spotted Hyena - 10%
Cheetah - 17% (rougly on 1 out of 6 drives, so in four nights the average would favor seeing Cheetah)
Wild Dog - 33% (once every three game drives, so hopefully three times, or 37.5% during a four night stay)
Rack rates are only 3,200 ZAR in high season, which has me thinking about waiting until it warms up a little in late September/early October, instead of late August, which will probably offer a little better game viewing, as well. Low season rates are 2,800 ZAR per night so they don't really gouge their guests like so many other lodges do once high season rolls around.
It would stand to reason that there would be few, if any, children once the school year starts, another reason to wait until late September/early October. Plus, who wants to sleep in a tree when it is 45 degrees farenheit??? Much nicer when it is 60 degrees farenheit!
Had to dig deep to find this one, but it looks great. Where else in South Africa can you sleep under the stars in a treetop hide?
Just recently on this forum we have seen where somebody's father treated them to an all-expense paid two week trip to anywhere in the world. Well, the owner of Makanyane was able to do a little better...her father built her a top-notch game lodge in Madikwe!
The prices are very reasonable for what is on offer at this lodge. While it is not quite as upscale as Madikwe Hills (no plunge pools for one thing) it is not too far behind. I do like the fact that they have internet access, telephones in the suites, only eight chalets/suites, seem to be very near the Marico River, features satellite television in the business center, features a wellness center and has a couple hides to get closeup interaction with the wildlife.
Besides all that, it probably has the most comprehensive website I have ever seen in a game lodge. Just one example...here is a list of the likelihood of seeing certain game on their game drives, as tracked by the lodge:
Elephant - 100%
Black Rhino 5% (guess I had better stay 10 nights and get in 20 game drives!)
White Rhino - 42%
Buffalo - 7% (wow, that is really low, somebody order Madikwe some Buffalo!)
Lion - 57% (no wonder why there are so few Buffalo!)
Leopard - 5% (another 10 night stay for leopards, but they will be crawling all over Simbambili, so I don't mind)
Brown Hyena - 12% (I have never seen a Brown Hyena before, so that would be a treat)
Spotted Hyena - 10%
Cheetah - 17% (rougly on 1 out of 6 drives, so in four nights the average would favor seeing Cheetah)
Wild Dog - 33% (once every three game drives, so hopefully three times, or 37.5% during a four night stay)
Rack rates are only 3,200 ZAR in high season, which has me thinking about waiting until it warms up a little in late September/early October, instead of late August, which will probably offer a little better game viewing, as well. Low season rates are 2,800 ZAR per night so they don't really gouge their guests like so many other lodges do once high season rolls around.
It would stand to reason that there would be few, if any, children once the school year starts, another reason to wait until late September/early October. Plus, who wants to sleep in a tree when it is 45 degrees farenheit??? Much nicer when it is 60 degrees farenheit!
Sep 9th, 2004, 05:54 AM
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Roccco, don't let them suck you in with their statistics, which may be very simplistic. For example, even though they claim a 33% wild dog success rate, that may mean that they saw the same den of wild dogs on every day in January, February, March and April (when the dogs were denning), and none over the rest of the year, which would still yield a 33% annual rate, but would be ZERO for anyone visiting during the 8 unsuccessful months. My point is that I'd dig a little deeper to find out what period they are using for their statistical analysis before concluding that you'll see wild dogs at least once every three drives.
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