Ivory Tree Lodge

A comfortable and well-run lodge. We stayed 4 nights as part of our tour through South Africa. The game drives were excellent as were the guides. The drivers communicated with each other, so when one spotted interesting wildlife, the rest of us could get to see it as well. The morning drives were a bit early, leaving at about 5:00 AM, but that's the best time to see the animals. We were not disappointed. Rooms a individual cabins, very comfortable. BUT - listen to the instructions about not leaving windows open. Monkeys can and WILL get in. Also, all showers are outdoors. Privacy is well taken care of, so no worries. All the meals we had were done very well. Read less

The staff is very friendly, goes out of their way to give you exceptional service. They had a special birthday cake made for my husband which was unexpected and created a wonderful ambiance for our wedding anniversary celebration. Our stay was beyond our expectations, the experience with the boma, the food, the friendly staff and the safari was pure bliss :) . Jabu the cat was a hit with my little one. We will definitely visit the again. Read less

Ivory tree lodge When we got given a few weeks off between jobs, we decided to book a holiday, We were incredibly lucky to have booked our week’s stay just three days out from our arrival here at Ivory Tree Lodge. Upon arrival we were greeted so warmly, the reception team made a brilliant first impression after a long journey from U.K. we enjoyed the little touches like cool towels and signature welcome drinks. We loved our welcome from Boitumelo (I hope i spelt that right? Sorry if I didn’t!) who covered both the gift shop and reception and was such a light of sunshine every time we talked with her! Our luggage was taken to our room with us and we enjoyed a stay in one of the ‘standard’ rooms but don’t let the name misleading you, there is nothing standard about this beautiful room. Well decorated with the African bush colours, features an enormous bed with mosquito canopy, a large patio with furniture to sit on and watch the beautiful view and even animals walk right past the gates that enclose the lodge. (We had a majestic male Kudu one afternoon pass by!) The bathroom features an enormous tub, his and hers sinks and an outdoor shower, all of which we were very happy with during our stay. We also enjoyed how close we were to the main lodge to walk to and from as we liked. We slept so well at our little lodge and enjoyed peace and quiet in our room most afternoons where we sat and played cards or napped in the best bed! Inside the main lodge we enjoyed the seating areas in and around the bar and pool, it was an ideal spot to spend afternoons between game drives, the staff were so attentive and ready to assist at a moments notice and always with a smile. The restaurant was great, we enjoyed a varied menu over our whole week’s stay (which in an all inclusive can be hard to achieve so we really appreciated the team’s efforts in the kitchen!) special shout out to the following team members in the waitstaff who were integral in making our experience here so special; Aaron, Portia, Peter and Peleng all of these team member were so welcoming and kind and had great jokes and smiles to offer. We certainly didn’t go hungry! There was full menu to choose from on each meal, plus early morning snacks before our morning game drive then afternoon tea snacks before our later game drive and snacks and drinks during both game drives each day! Our favourite meals of the week were the Bomba Braai’s that featured local ingredients and meats like ostrich and springbok, we also greatly enjoyed the local youth dancers that came to perform for the lodge- all fantastic dancers! As far as activities: we enjoyed twice daily game drives with Gold and Eunivers both of whom were knowledgeable and made our stay at the lodge even more special with the amazing variety of animals we were able to spot in the week (we spotted all of the big five in two days!) we then spent the rest of the week looking for the harder to find animals like the black rhinoceros (we saw 3x!) and even unusual animals like the Rock Hyrax, river crocodiles and the steenbok’s Of course some of the best experiences of the week was spotting the elusive cheetahs and leopards in the park and seeing a mother lioness with her three cubs walking right in front of our vehicle. Other highlights were the white rhino ‘traffic jam’ we had one morning and sat and watched a mother and baby white rhino having some breakfast on a road with the dad rhino standing nearby And having a herd of elephants (mothers and young) surround our vehicle one evening as they made their way up the road we were on. The drivers are fantastic and a true credit to the team, Gold’s knowledge of birds and the trees also added to our drives when we maybe didn’t spot an animal for a while (which was rare) he would fill the time with local knowledge and stories and facts. We organised a couples spa appointment for ourselves towards the end of our stay and we are so glad we did! The ladies in the spa were so talented and made us feel so relaxed and zen we didn’t want to leave! (My fiancé said it was the best massage he’s ever received!) the products they used were wonderful and our skin was wonderful afterwards! Another activity we enjoyed was the quad bike tour of the local area and stop at the local crafts shop, it was very interesting and our guide was knowledgable of the history and people of the local area. We can’t thank the lodge enough for their service and care during our stay, Rosemary was truly amazing and organised for us a special trip to their sister lodge for a visit over lunch, as we were staying for a while, it was great to see the alternative and more modern style accommodation and we would definitely book this in the future for our parents who like this style of accommodation! We thought their food was also wonderful and we enjoyed their team’s hospitality and friendly attitudes at the Shepard’s Bush lodge too. We would highly recommend anyone looking to book at Ivory Tree to go ahead and do it! You will not regret it! If you are torn between there and Shepard’s, please know you’ll get consistent and quality service at both properties, so it’s really more a matter of what style of property you want to stay at, I would highly recommend anyone to stay at Ivory Tree Lodge, the service and food and comfort of our stay was outstanding! We are already trying to plan a when we can return and cannot wait to enjoy our stay there again! Thank you to Rosemary and the entire team once again! Read less