Woodbury Lodge – Amakhala Game Reserve

A lovely lodge with welcoming hosts. The game drives at 5 am and 4 pm are very good and our guides Nico and Greg were excellent. We got to see all the animals and the reserve is very nice. This being our first safari (with 2 kids we didn’t want to go to a place with malaria or travel to Johannesburg) I couldn’t help but feel like this wasn’t the real deal in terms of safari experience. The guides constantly talked about controlling the environment and only allowing certain number of animals at given times due to the limited size of the reserve. The vision of boundary fences and driving across highways also gave it a less genuine experience for me (Again I reiterate I have nothing to compare this with other safari experiences). The food in the lodge is very good and we were looked after extremely well.

There are just not enough words to say how fabulous Woodbury Lodge is from the minute you arrive. A warm welcome with fruit juices and got to meet our guide Rob who immediately took us out for a drive even thought it was 4pm. We were a group of three adults staying in a family lodge which was beautiful. The electric blankets and underfloor heating in the bathroom was very appreciated as it was chilly at night. Rob was our guide who went above and beyond to make sure we saw everything on our wish list. We saw lions, porcupine, caracal, elephants, cheetah, giraffes, hippos, rhino, warthogs, zebras and many varieties of deers. The reserve is ethical - you will never see large numbers of trucks surrounding the animals - I believe its a maximum of two at any one time. The staff wake you 30 minutes before your drive in the morning, you then have tea/coffee and a biscuit (whilst ordering your cooked breakfast for later) before your early morning drive. There is a high end coffee machine which was just amazing! mid morning you stop and have a hot drink and a breakfast snack. I highly recommend the hot chocolate its just sublime! You return to the lodge for breakfast; the cheese bread is very special! There is around 3 -4 hrs before lunch and the afternoon drive. Halfway through the drive you stop for snacks and a drink - alcoholic or non alcoholic your Rop always took our order before we left for the afternoon drive. Then it's back to the lodge to freshen up and dinner. There was always a choice of two meals at dinner. Dinner is communal with all lodge guests together and a member of the team always eats with you which is also nice. All the meals were delicious and cooked to order, there was some repetition of desserts in our 4 night stay but we were at the end of season so I understand the need to minimise waste. The bar room also has a small collection of games and reading material with good wifi access. There is a self-serve bar - which is an honesty bar if you are not all inclusive. The rooms are well furnished, with a viewing platform. The bathroom has a good shower and a bath that looks out over the plains. There is a fridge with a kettle and the team will bring you milk for your cuppa if you ask for it. If you are staying in June like we did bring plenty of layers, a hat and gloves as its chilly in the mornings. The pool area is beautiful but is was just too cold to use whilst we were there. One thing that struck me at Woodbury is how all the staff mingle with each other and genuinely seem to love their work. There was always laughter and smiles all around the Lodge. I was incredibly nervous about spiders as a huge arachnophobe but it was all good. There is a little gift shop at the lodge and they also sell hats/ gloves and sweatshirts in case you need them. If you go at this time I would suggest taking a rain poncho of some description, they do provide but in heavy rain they leaked quite a lot. If you are not self driving I would recommen

We stayed for two nights which included 4 Game drives and we stayed in Giraffe which was comfortable with a separate private viewing platform. The food was good - the staff very friendly - the Game drives excellent with Nico as our guide who was very knowledgable - we saw so many amazing animals. It isn't often that you are dissatisfied with an experience that is advertised as lasting 3 hours but in fact lasts 4 to 41/2 hours but a morning Game drive leaving the Lodge at around 7am after a small biscuit and hot drink and having nothing else available until returning to the Lodge for Breakfast well after 10am was extremely uncomfortable. It was a similar experience for the afternoon Game drive although of course this time we had the benefit of lunch before leaving the Lodge. Arriving well after everyone else had returned meant a very quick change but still arriving last for Dinner. There was basically no down time - something that other guests travelling with Nico commented on. Nico seemed to be focussed on being the last driver back to the Lodge every time - perhaps he thought this offered good value for money - it was just very uncomfortable and we only took advantage of 2 of the 4 Game drives because of the very long durations