Ivory Wilderness River Rock Lodge

Unforgettable Greater Kruger Safari experience. We spent four amazing days at Ivory Wilderness Lodge - a beautiful, well-maintained and with passion operated lodge in the bush. Our rondawel was great as well as the food, the service was extraordinary, and the lodge itself invited to relaxe between game drives. The presence of the big 5 made every game drive special and our guide shared this extensive knowledge with us. In addition, we enjoyed a bush walk and a river safari (both highly recommended). All in all we would love to come back and can highly recommend the lodge to those who look for a unique safari experience.

My husband and I had the most incredible stay at Ivory Wilderness - it's worth the drive to get there because you are staying in the middle of the action. We had multiple leopard and lion sightings, wild dogs, hyena dens, and so many memories for a lifetime. The guides are so knowledgeable and went above and beyond to give us a great experience. The private reserve is well cared for and open to Kruger and you can tell the difference. All the guides coordinate so well with each other which meant we had no lines of cars and a max of 2 vehicles at each sighting. The service was impeccable (thank you to Danelle, Prudence, Malume, Andrew!), food was delicious and we were never hungry! And again, thank you to our guides Wienland, Ian, and Warren - you opened our eyes to the beauty and awe of the bush and we will be back!

Amazing place, and a once in a life time place to spend time. Nestled in the pristine wilderness of the Klaserie reserve and with views over a river where animals love to gather, Ivory wilderness is a gem. The lodge facilities are excellent with everything you could want. The food is good and varies each day. The safari guiding is some of the best I’ve had - we saw all the big eight, and animals frequently came up close to the dining area of the lodge! The night safari and walking safari were also very good. I would return here in a heart beat and can whole heartedly recommend this place.

We had the most amazing experience with my husband. It was our first safari and we would repeat in the same place. It was real wild life. We had 4 games drive with Warren, and it was amazing, we saw lots of animals and at the same time you learn so much about them and the nature! It was really fantastic. I would recommend it 100%!

We had the most amazing time at ivory wilderness for our honeymoon! Rooms are beautiful and the property is so lovely and peaceful when you are relaxing between game drives. The food was perfect, lovely selection of wines too! As for the game drives, words can’t describe how much fun we had and the guides absolutely made it. We had a lovely couple of drives with Elvis who is awesome and super knowledgable about all the wildlife and local area. We spent most of our trip though with Craig who really is the most charismatic, passionate person I think I’ve ever met. We learned so much about the wildlife from him and he was always so happy to educate us and was amazing at getting us all involved in searching for animals! Couldn’t have asked for more from the trip was perfect!

We visited Ivory lodge in July. Shout out to our guide Shane, our chef Lebo and our waiter/ butler Andrew. Shane is the most amazing guide ever. He would just explain everything to us - from the trees to the tracks to the animals. He is such a great teacher that you don’t need a tracker and a ranger anymore. You just need your guide Shane. I’ve been to another lodge and they can’t compare to Shane. Andrew is also just as amazing. A little shy at first but he does his job very well. He will always make sure that you have everything you need. He will always be around whenever you need anything, in fact he would just ask you every now and then if you need something. Our chef Lebo also prepared wonderful meals for us. She made sure to incorporate our dietary requirements and let us try local and western food. As for the location, it is a bit far from the gate about 1.5 hours drive. The cottages are a little small but very cozy. They also need more water jugs but the 3 available that they have at the moment would suffice. You can see most of the animals around that area they also have an exclusive place that they can drive to cause they own the land. Pros: the people, service, all inclusive (even alcoholic drinks) Cons: a little far from the gate so add extra time to transfers. Needs more water jugs and better towels.

My family spent 4 days at Ivory Wilderness. And it was absolutely the highlight of our trip to SA. Heading into the bush with our guide Shane was what we looked forward to everyday. It isn’t so much about taking a photo of an animal and checking off a bucket-list item. Rather, it was the entire experience of following Shane (and his fellow guides communicating over radio) as they tracked the creatures in their natural habitats. Shane, is (for the lack of a better word), a living breathing animal whisperer. His knowledge of animal behaviour allowed us to witness some of the most extraordinary animal activity close-up. On our last drive, following two lions deep into the bush brought us to a rhino (an animal that eluded us), thus bringing our safari adventure to a satisfying close, having seen all the Big 5. The lodge is nice. We spotted animals walking by as we had our meals at times. Food is very tasty. The staff are friendly too. But our room was a little cold. Perhaps a portable heater would be good during winter. All in all, highly recommended!

It was my first lodge to visit in the Klaserie, but I loved it, it’s homey and cozy, lovely staff, excellent guides. I highly recommend this lodge!