Umkumbe Bush Lodge

WOW! This was my 4th (and most favorite!) safari. Game - So many excellent sightings. Frikke and Lucky are quite the team. We saw the Big 5 on our very first drive and 4 or 5 different leopards (I lost count). Accommodation - The tents are lovely and spacious. Loved the outdoor shower, the veranda and the pool area overlooking the waterhole. Perfect place to spend the hot afternoons between game drives. Food - Insanely tasty and with options to satisfy many palettes. 10/10 recommend.

We enjoyed an utterly delightful three day stay with the marvellous team at Umkumbe. The lodge is serene, relaxing and fenced. The tents are spacious, comfortable and well appointed with hot water and air conditioning. The food is varied and plentiful. Our guide, Elzaan, was enthusiastic and knowledgeable, showing us all the exciting wildlife. Situated in the Sabi Sands private game reserve we heard from other guests that the wildlife sightings were better here than the adjacent main Kruger park, and being privately owned they have more control over how they run things as well as better anti poaching security.

Beautiful lodge with a very intimate feel to it. I go to drop off guests there regularly. Saw plenty game just on the way in and then saw a leopard from the restaurant area. Apparently not an unusual occurrence. Apart from the Nyala that sneaks into the parking area to nibble on the plants there. Excellent staff with very personalized attention to guests. Top class and highly recommended.

My wife and I stayed at Umkumbe Bush Lodge for four nights during our tour of South Africa. Umkumbe was an outstanding lodge in a beautiful area. Before even arriving to the lodge we were greeted by a pride of nine Lions right next to the dirt road. Then when we arrived at the lodge on the way to our room for the very first time there was a Leopard walking past the pool. The rooms and facility were excellent, the food was very good, and the entire staff did an amazing job with every aspect of our stay with attention spent on every little detail of room cleaning and services provided. As perfect as our stay and the services were, I must say the shining star of our trip was our guide Pieter. Pieter is undoubtedly the best guide in the industry and was our favorite part of the entire trip. While on game drives Pieter would hear a slight bark of an Impala, Monkey, or specific chirp of a bird and just like that would tell us there's a Leopard or Lion over there and every single time, no matter how hard we had to search, Pieter would put us within feet of the predator for an amazing viewing. Pieter was extremely professional, intelligent, funny, and patient with every single game drive and bush hike and made it such a great experience. I cannot brag enough on the lodge as a whole, but I can also say that my next trip to the African Safari will start with seeing where Pieter is and planning accordingly.

What an amazing experience! Were here in early September and the camp and rooms were amazing, food was wonderful and the game drives and our guide (Ananja) were GREAT. Overall, I highly recommend and would absolutely return! Thank you to the whole staff for making our first safari experience so memorable.

Our stay at Umkumbe was great. You never know what you will get on game drives but patience is key. Our guide Frikkie was absolutely amazing, very knowledgeable and friendly and truly made our experience. Delicious food and nice tented rooms. The only issues we encountered were with the office with the transfers and bookings, seemed unorganized - thankful to the guides and staff which helped to mitigate those issues.

Wow! Pieter, Phineas, Sharon, Africa, Nnanza, Leita, Abigal and all the others fantastic staff were quite amazing and highly rated in customer service/hospitality. Game drives seeing many leopards on lovers lane, all the big 5, so many elephant and giraffe and more think than we had planned for during our trip. The bushwalks with Pieter and his fellow guides were so cool! The gardens and grounds of the property are beautiful and just seem to make you happy!! Perfect balance between nature, peacefulness and service from a warm, homey and friendly staff. We could go on and on. My family has worked in hospitality and only had compliments!! Can't share all my photos but here is some from our fun, relaxed and super enjoyable time at the umkumbe bush lodge. Bravo peeps!

We weren’t guests here - however we did do a game drive with Frekkie here and I must say this man is a national treasure. He is so passionate about conservation and really geeks out about the wild life in the area. A+ to him for our wonderful sunset game drive.