Royal Malewane – A passion for excellence
I recently had the good fortune to spend a weekend at the Royal Malewane Lodge in the private Thornybush game reserve adjacent to the Kruger National Park. Royal Malewane Lodge is one of the most luxurious game lodges in the greater Kruger Park area and yet, as the weekend went on, I found that it wasn’t just the elegance of the lodge which was the drawcard. Rather it was the seamless mix of understated luxury, expert guiding, delicious cuisine, state of the art spa facilities and the friendly, personal service of the staff which makes Royal Malewane such a success.
Royal Malewane is clearly aimed at the discerning and well-travelled clientele. However what I particularly liked was that the service was delivered in a friendly and unassuming way so that everyone felt at home here very quickly. Our ranger was Juan Pinto, a level 3 SKS guide, with his tracker, Wilson who has attained the Master Tracker status. They made an excellent team: Juan was a fount of information and imparted this knowledge with quiet calm assurance coupled with a nice line in dry humour. As you’ll read later, our game-viewing experience at Royal Malewane (over four morning and afternoon game drives) was excellent, despite the slightly inhospitable weather.
Something I also really appreciated was Juan’s assistance with photography whilst on our drive. So many people have cameras which they really don’t know how to get the most out of, myself included, and Juan helpfully gave us a few tips on taking backlit shots of animals, how to deal with fading light conditions and sunset shots to name but a few examples.
Royal Malewane is exquisitely decorated, and unlike some recent game lodges, has not gone the ‘Manhattan meets the Bush’ route. This game lodge looks like a game lodge should look with a serene outlook and lots of quiet places to relax and read during the day. The suites offer unashamed luxury with four poster beds, (and a stool to climb into them), fireplaces, decadent bathrooms and wooden decks with a private sala. I can honestly say that I couldn’t think of anything more I would have wanted in my suite. Unique amongst the top lodges in South Africa, the Royal Malewane has two ultra-luxurious suites, the Royal and the Malewane Suites each with two en suite bedrooms and a large private sitting room and dining area. These suites have private entrance so that guests craving complete privacy can come and go as they please. If you take one of these suites, you have your own private chef, butler and ranger so you can really choose your own safari rhythm to suit you.
The food was delicious at Royal Malewane with lots of delicate flavours with options to eat before you left for your morning drive, a full breakfast on your return, lunch (if you could manage it), a plentiful afternoon tea and dinner. One particular feature of the lodge is that dinner is offered in a number of venues. For example, a romantic Bedouin dinner in the bush, with a selection of Cape Malay dishes, or a crystal dinner on the top deck. The Royal Malewane has recently won the Bush Banquet award for their alfresco culinary skills.
Of course I couldn’t resist trying out the Spa at Royal Malewane. This Spa is quite a unique selling point for Royal Malewane, with an extra length pool for swimming off the delicious food, several treatment rooms, an alfresco Jacuzzi as well as double Turkish baths for an indulgent coupley experience. What I also loved were the shaded ‘casetas’ where you can lounge on beds overlooking the pool, either before or after a treatment. I opted for a facial – one and a half hours of sheer bliss.
I was so relaxed afterwards that I half thought I might gently nod off on the game drive. However there was no danger of that as we embarked on one of the most interesting game drives that I’ve experienced. We headed to the far north of the reserve in search of cheetah which had been spotted in that vicinity. En route we came across three white rhino, including one baby, quietly grazing. After some adept tracking by Wilson and Juan, working in tandem with another Royal Malewane game vehicle, the three cheetah were located - camouflaged and resting after a hectic day of seeing off a rival cheetah which had strayed into their territory. We returned south, already feeling satisfied with our drive and stopped for sundowner drinks. I always enjoy learning about the constellations which are usually easily seen in the African sky but Juan went further. Producing a powerful telescope, he proceeded to show us Saturn, Venus, Mercury and various constellations such as Scorpio. Juan was adept at simplifying his extensive knowledge of the planets into easily digestible morsels, which was much appreciated by this novice star-gazer, and such was the interest generated that I’ve vowed to read up on it.
On continuing our drive, we happened on a large termite mound which was being used by hyenas as their hide. After watching the curious hyena youngsters practically sniffing the vehicle, we were continuing towards the lodge when we learnt that a pride of lions (that we’d seen earlier in the morning) had killed a young leopard cub. A female leopard had been escorting her two cubs when the lions had attacked, seeing the leopard as competition for scarce resources. By the time we got to the area, the mother leopard was very very wary. She had escaped from the lions but was guarding her dead cub from the hyenas who were also threatening her. It was a truly pitiful sight to see the tiny lifeless cub. However there was also no sign of the other cub. Had the lions taken him as well?
We would not know until the morning when on our final morning drive, we spotted the mother again and saw the other cub, alive and well, stashed high in a tree by his protective mother whilst she lay mourning her other cub. It provided a ray of hope after the sadness of the previous evening and made for the perfect end to a sublime weekend.