Safari Adventure at Makhasa Private Game Lodge

Last week, we travelled from Durban, South Africa to Munyawana Reserve in the KwaZulu-Natal region of South Africa. We went there to start our safari at the Makhasa Private Game Lodge. When we first arrived the staff welcomed us with cold drinks, cool towels, and then took our lunch orders while the staff put our suitcases away in our rooms. Our lunch was definitely a bit underwhelming because it was only a  small Cesar Salad and loaded with dressing. After we finished our lunch, my dad and I decided to play our favorite game, Rummikub,  before our first game drive. Of course, I destroyed him and won 5-ish games in a row. Finally, after destroying my dad in Rummikub, it was time for our first game drive. We met our driver/ranger, Chris, and he was the best. Chris was very enthusiastic and knowledgeable about showing us all the different types of animals in the reserve. On the first game drive we were super lucky and saw a leopard which is one of the most challenging animal to spot. The leopard was beautiful and powerful while we watched it roam, drinking water, and resting. After seeing the leopard we didn’t see much else that evening but the leopard was definitely the coolest animal I saw. Over the next few days, we woke up at 6 am for our morning game drives and went back out at 3 pm for our evening game drives. Over the 8 game drives we had we saw and tracked cheetahs, white rhinos, elephants, hyenas, impalas, kudus, nyalas, zebras, baboons, giraffes, hippos, crocodiles, wildebeest, warthogs, African buffalo, many different types of birds, and our pal, Gary the chameleon. Every day Gary would sit on a tree camouflaged amongst the leaves and wait for us each time. In addition to seeing all the animals we also had breaks each time we went out. Chris, our ranger/driver, brought all the drinks you could ask for and set up a mini bar with snacks and beverages in nice spots near the river. My second favorite part of our game drives was definitely the snacks and drinks. It was nice being in a private game reserve because you can go off path unlike the national parks. When we saw white rhinos we were able to go off the normal trail to go see them up close. Chris even had to clear the path a few times with his machete so we wouldn’t get pricked with the massive thorns by the plants surrounding us. What made things even better, was that we had a private tour for 6 of the 8 game drives.

The four safari days included all of our meals in addition to our game drives. Our first meals at the lodge were not the best. Not bad, but just ok. For dinner we had a braai which is what South Africans call a BBQ. I didn’t really enjoy it because I don’t like BBQ very much but my parents liked it. After the braai we were informed we were not allowed to walk by ourselves at night due to insure our safety since predators have been seen in our lodge. It was a good idea because the last night we spent there we saw a hyena walking inside our lodge which was a bit cool but also very frightening.  The meals improved after the first day and the last dinner we had was the best! I had roasted lamb shank and an apple crumble for desert. It was amazing!

Overall, I really enjoyed the Makhasa Lodge. I would probably go on a few more safaris but for now i am safari-ed out.