Ulusaba Rock Lodge

Incredible game viewing, fantastic service and team! Our guide Brandon was just phenomenal as was our tracker Eric! Knowledgeable, fun and interactive with us and the kids each drive was full of fabulous sightings of all the big 5 multiple time and extras! Lodge staff were amazing, helpful and made our stay very special - hope to go back! Loved it and highly recommend! Read less

Another wonderful visit to Ulusaba Rock Lodge. From the “meet and greet” at the airstrip to the wonderful send-off at the end of our stay we were treated like royalty. Everything is designed to make our stay as perfect as possible. The Lodge managers, Anel, Godfrey, Danielle, and Patience are always making sure that everything is perfect, and it always is! Each evening the rangers are on “bar duty” after the evening drive, then the chefs (Ian and Thembeka while we were there) and the hostess read out the menu and the wine they suggest for each course selection. Sometimes they struggle to make themselves heard over the guests’ excited exchange of sighting experiences, but they always persevere and succeed eventually. The meals are wonderful of course, that never changes, and the waiting staff are efficient, caring, and unobtrusive, thank you all. In Karl’s temporary absence, Vickus assumed overall control and in spite of all his administrative duties still found time to circulate amongst the guests to make sure everyone was happy…. they were! Our room was always spotless, and every time we returned from game drives Thembi had made our room look like we’d never been in it. Laundry was returned, clean and perfectly ironed, usually within 24 hours. Brilliant. Our ranger Henry and his friend and tracker David were amazing, seeing sightings long before any of the guests were aware of anything, and always anticipating exactly when and where the sightings would appear or reappear. The humour and banter even exceeded those of our previous nine visits. Sightings included the beautiful leopards almost every day including two young cubs playing in, and falling out of a tree, and a very persistent mating couple being caught unawares by some hyena and being chased up a nearby tree. Lion sightings included one pride with a couple of youngsters wrestling over a piece of hessian sacking, another pride being harassed by a herd of elephants, and of course several sightings of prides sleeping off the previous night’s kill. Coupled with sightings of all the stunning game animals, impala, kudu, nyala (at the Lodge pool and “car park”), water buck, bushbuck, klipspringer, steenbok, and duiker etc., the camera was never idle for more than a few minutes. All the Big Five were spotted on many occasions of course, the aforementioned lions and elephants, also rhino, hippo, and buffalo, along with the elegant giraffe, crocodile, warthogs, baboons, monkeys, civets, cervals, dwarf mongoose, squirrels and too many beautiful birds to mention. On several days we followed a pack of wild dogs with ten pups who seemed completely oblivious of our vehicle as indeed did all the animals including one leopard that actually passed under the Landrover while stalking her prey. One day the dogs were sizing up a small herd of zebra but were being kept a bay by the adults with bared teeth and threatening kicks when a herd of elephants turned up and with much trumpeting and charging made the dogs finally decide that they would be better off somewhere else. All in all, it wasn’t a great day for the dogs as we saw them chased off a kill by a pack of hyena. Behind the scenes there have been a least a couple of changes. Shelbeigh has taken over the booking enquiries for both Lodges and we can confidently predict that any communication will now be acted upon very quickly, something that has been a problem in the preceding couple of years. The communication is quick, concise, and friendly; well done Shelbeigh. Returning guests and followers of Ulusaba on social media will have noticed a huge increase in ‘photos and videos from the Lodge, and this is down to Lauren who has taken over the social media and marketing side of things to excellent effect. Like all of the staff at Ulusaba she is a passionate advocate of conservation and protecting the wildlife and environment. If you would like advice on how you can help with the conservation effort and give something back to the environment, just speak to Lauren. Keep up the great work Ulusaba family, we’ll be back in May. Read less

Wow, where do I even begin? Ulusaba Rock Lodge was easily the highlight of our South Africa trip! The scenery is absolutely one of a kind, offering a breathtaking and unique view of the Savannah. We have never experienced such incredible personal hospitality—this was truly a luxury experience while still feeling down-to-earth and welcoming. The food was delicious, fresh, and memorable, and the rooms were beautiful, with accommodations that exceeded all expectations. The spa treatments were unbelievable, especially with the stunning view you wake up to each day. It was such a serene and rejuvenating experience. The game drives were truly rewarding—we got to see the Big 5! Orange and James were fantastic, sharing their deep knowledge of the animals and the landscape, making every moment exciting and educational. We felt so lucky to have them as our guide and tracker, constantly going above and beyond our expectations. A special shoutout to Danielle, the manager, who was so kind, hospitable, and helpful at every moment. She, along with Orange and James, made our stay absolutely unforgettable. We cannot wait to come back! Read less

We spent 5 nights at Ulusaba Rock lodge as part of 3 generations of our family celebrating a 70th birthday milestone. It was just perfect in every respect. The location is stunning and the trip up to the lodge in the safari Land Rover is an experience in itself. We were met at reception by our ranger and tracker Brogan and Sipho and they quickly became firm friends and gave us a fantastic experience on the game drives where we saw much more than expected entirely due to their knowledge and experience. We even learnt some new vocabulary to bring back to UK!! Brogan was there at every turn from getting us a drink after the evening game drive prior to dinner to discussing our sitings over breakfast. The quality of our accommodation was first class. Very clean and comfortable with views that were just stunning. We had 1 family lodge for 4 and 1 double lodge both equally first rate. Laundry was completed promptly without even asking. Food and drink was off the scale and the communal dinners were a great way to share experiences with fellow guests. On our last night we were offered private dining in the wine store. Another highlight of our visit. The introduction of each nights dinner and wine by Ian and Sidney was a great touch and the comment of our stay from our Grandson was telling when we were watching a pride of Lions consuming their kill: ‘ I can understand why the lions like that because I loved it when Ian cooked us a Kudu steak last night!!!’ Overall a fantastic experience for the 3 generations of our family made better by every member of the team. We all would recommend Ulusaba without reservation. Read less

We spent two nights at Rock Lodge as part of our four day visit to Ulusaba. We once again booked the Makwela Dawn Suite for its spacious layout, comfortable with everything one could ask for, great pool and deck which offer excellent views over the surrounding bush. Perched on the side of the koppie it gives you a different perspective on the area. Anel and her team at the lodge were nothing short of superb and we are always made to feel at home when we are at this lodge. As always the dinning is excellent from breakfast snacks before the drive to your five star evening meal with the bottle of wine. You want for nothing. Having been paired with Peter at Safari, we continued with him and John for our next installment in the bush. Again we saw all the Big Five along with Hippo, Hyenas, Giraffe, Crocodile and the various buck species that are in the area. Our afternoon drive saw us meet up with one of our old favorites The Ravenscourt Male, we have had the opportunity of seeing him as a young male on a previous visit and now he is an establish mature male and strolls around the bush as if he owns it (probably does!!!). Anyway we spent quite a time following him on his wanderings to eventually rest up and survey his domain. It was then off to find some White Rhinos hich had been quite elusive until now. We eventually caught up with a mother Rhino and her calf in some thick bush. There was also a bonus as close by we also saw a young female Leopard who was waiting for her mother to return with news of a kill. She as usual with young Leopards entertained us for a good while. Just for good measure on the way back to the lodge we met up with a couple of Lioness. Then to cap a great drive there was a Chameleon in a bush. The following morning we woke to the sound of Lions roaring not far from the lodge, so could not wait to get out on the drive. Breakfast coffee and rusks along with a chat to Peter on what to expect. As the other guests on the veheicle were not joining us we had the morning to ourselves so what would we like to do. Well lets get out and find the Lions. We must have spent a good hour traversing the bush listening to them, but not finding them. Eventually we came across another Rhino mother with the calf which are always nice to see. We could still hear the Rangers looking for the Lions on the radio, so Peter suggested we head off in another direction to see what we could find. It was one of those mornings, where things in the bush are slow. Peter suggested we try the Leopard Den, but we could only stay if the mother was with the cub. So off we set for which would be the most exceptional sighting we have ever had. Although we had seen them before this was something special being on our own with these amazing cats. When we came close we could see the mother Leopard lying down, but no cub. Then this little head popped up and looked at us. This was obviously the que it had been waiting for, there was an audience at last and its time to entertain. We then treated to 45 minutes of the most awesome interaction between the mother and cub playing and mock hunting the little star went through his complete routine. Not even interrupted when a noisy herd of Elephants passed by, although the mother kept a close eye on them. Words cannot describe how we felt when we left them at last, but there was silence on the vehicle and n in the faces at what we had experienced. The afternoon drive also provided us with a rare sighting of a Pearl-spotted Owlet near the Hippo Dam. along with some more Hyena pups. It was then off to spend some time with the young male Leopard we had seen near Rock Lodge on a previous drive he had killed an Impala and was lying below the tree digesting his meal. Our final sundowners were at one of our favorite spots on the Sand River near a large Fig Tree. Often we have had the odd Bull Elephant cross the river near us. On this occasion on came close to us as we were drinking our Sundowners, so close we had to take shelter behind the vehicle as a precaution, but it made for some close up pictures. Once he had sauntered off in his own time. We set off again back to the lodgethinking the day was over. However we finally caught up with the male Lions from the morning, now sleeping as Lions do. Our final drive saw us back at the Leopard den as we had a new group with us on the vehicle. As wonderful as this sighting is at anytime. This morning it was cooler and overcast and clearly mother and cub were not in the mood for play. It just made us relaise how lucky we were the previous day to see such great interaction between the two. at the end of our safari we were left with one over-riding thought, even though you know how solitude the life of a Leopard is. The sights we saw really brought it home. The little Leopard cub had only it's mother as companion and she devoted so much time to ensure the cub learnt the skills it would need . Compare this to the Lion Cubs who had numerous buddies to play, mock hunt and generally have a good time with. A big thank you must go to Peter and John for the amazing time we had on the drives. Peters impersonation of the Pearl-spotted Owlet allowed for some great close ups of White-crested Helmet Shrikes and it eventually led to us actually seeing the owlet. His positioning of the game vehicle made getting the great pictures easy he has a sixth sensce to get into the right place at the right time for some perfect angles. While I was compiling this review I could not find my previous review of our visit to Rock Lodge. I'm not sure what happened to it as it was at the end of COVID. Special people for a special visit. Following my retirement we decided to have a family holiday at Ulusaba, which was duly booked for Easter 2020. Unfortunately by then the world was in Lockdown from COVID so we had to cancel and re-book a further time, before finally arriving at Ulusaba in December 2021. While the game drives were again awesome thanks to Brandon, this visit was made special by Anel, Corrie and the staff at Rock Lodge. One of my daughters suffers from a number of allergies which presents a challenge to most places we visit, so we were not sure how the team at Ulusaba would manage being out in the bush. No worries for them as we found out, once they new what the allergies were they set about creating a menu for us that met all the various allergies, no gluten, no soya and the many others. In fact my daughter discovered that the kitchen staff had been practicing the week before we arrived. If this is not world class and professional service i'm not sure what is. This even went down to Safari Lodge where we went for tea before our drive. There she was met with a member of staff with her own plate of eats. So Special!!!!! As I mentioned this visit was towards the end of COVID and little did we know before arriving that thanks to the latest lockdown brought in by the UK the lodge was practically deserted. In fact there were two guest there the first night. After that we had the whole of Rock Lodge to ourselves, not something that happens very often. As I said Brandon took us on some awesome drives. He also manged to arrange a Bush Breakfast for us in one of the dry river beds. Big Five, Giraffe, Hyenas, Hippos, Zebra to name a few. In all we saw 11 different Leopards, from a mating pair with our old fried the Ravenscourt male. To three generations of Leopardesses, Grandmother, Her daughters with twin cubs, which were really special to see. Along with a number of young nomadic males in the area. A complete pride of Lions, with big Males, 3 females and a number of cubs. We spent a great time driving along with the Lionesses and Cubs as the moved around. It was amazing to see the antics of the cubs at play as they moved. We also saw them a second time, unfortunately it was raining and they were not the happiest bunch of felines. Rhinos were difficult to find and we only saw three while we were there. As always there is one sighting that will be the highlight of your safari this time it was the pack of Wild Dogs on the last morning. Something I had always wanted to see. Thanks Brandon it was special. This is a real special place to be and be seen as part of the family. So much so that our "old friends" Wikus and Chris came to see us off at the Reception. They even offered us to come back for Christmas as due to COVID all their bookings had been cancelled. It was a generous offer, but we'd already make arrangements for Christmas. No doubt it would have been an exceptionally great festive time with them. Read less