Simbavati River Lodge

More About Simbavati River Lodge

Simbavati River Lodge is a small and intimate 4-star lodge with a picture perfect setting on the banks of the Nhlaralumi River in the heart of the world famous Timbavati Private Nature Reserve. This lodge is the old Gomo Gomo camp, which has been extensively renovated and upgraded (more about Gomo Gomo here). Shaded by huge age old trees, Simbavati is a warm and welcoming place, with breathtaking river views. The camp has been completely refurbished, and offers a choice of comfortable thatched chalets or luxury safari tents, both with air-conditioning, all comfortably furnished with en-suite facilities (separate bath and shower, with either an outside bath or an outside shower) and private viewing decks.  The luxury tented rooms offer generous contemporary design with ultimate comfort and relaxation in mind.  The main lodge area includes an extensive open deck and dining area from where guests can enjoy views of wildlife visiting the river.  Breakfast is served outside on the wooden deck with hot beverages and an English buffet, whilst high tea is served just before the afternoon game drive. Dinner is a sumptuous feast, served around the campfire in the open-air boma.

The lodge offers excellent Big-5 game viewing, due to its riverbank location. The Timbavati Game Reserve is adjacent to the Kruger National Park, with no fences between the reserve and national park to allow animals to roam freely.  As the land is privately owned, the game viewing vehicles are not restricted to the road network and it is therefore possible for the experienced guides to follow the wildlife through the bush and to get extremely close to the animals. The Timbavati Game Reserve is one of the few places in the world where you have the opportunity (with some luck) to see the unique white lion in their natural environment. 

Two game drives per day are included in the price (please note that bush walks are no longer available at this lodge). At the ranger's discretion, younger children will be allowed to join their parents on game drives and exclusive use of game vehicles can be arranged.  During the summer months from November to March the bush is green and lush, birding is excellent and there are a lot of baby animals around which make for entertaining game viewing. During the dry months from April to October the bush is more open, there is less water available and more animals may come to the waterholes, as well as the river right in front of the lodge which has water for most of the year.

The lodge is popular with families because of their spacious family chalets and exciting kiddies program. There is no rigid pattern of children's safari activities at Simbavati. However after breakfast, a ranger will be on hand to take any children in camp for some bush activities. Depending on the weather, age of children and their inclination, the activities will either be outdoors or in the lodge. Sample activities include treasure hunts, making plaster cast of animal spoor and bird identification.

Overall, we don't have any hesitation at all to recommend this lodge - you can expect a great safari experience at Simbavati. As an affordable tented safari camp, it is one of the best options in the greater Kruger National Park, in our opinion. Simbavati can easily be reached from the Hoedspruit airport, just over an hour away by road (we can arrange transfers from Hoedspruit or Johannesburg).