Marataba Mountain Lodge

Having only 5 rooms, Marataba Mountain lodge is definitely for those seeking a very exclusive, individual experience. At times we felt like it was our own, private game lodge! The location is spectacular and although the drive to the game park area is a 30 min drive, this only adds to the experience. Excellent, plentiful food and lovely staff.

This was the 2nd stop on my 28th safari to Africa. We really enjoyed Marataba Mountain. The views from the property are stunning. The lodge was managed to the highest standards by Floyd. Kebelo took excellent care of the guests The food was excellent. Our guide Kyle is an up and coming young star. We had amazing sightings. The first drive feature two pangolin calls on the radio. Yes - two different pangolins a couple of miles apart. We raced to see the first call but the pangolin had moved on into the bush. In the midst of our disappointment a SECOND call came in and we managed to have an amazing sighting. Only the 2nd wild pangolin I have seen. We watch a number of unsuccessful lion hunts. We saw brown hyena and a leopard on the road. The guides did an excellent job working as a team. A real good spirit amongst this young group. The More Family have created an amazing reserve. Highest professional standards Highly recommended Michael Maloon

We loved this lodge, in just the most beautiful of settings. The guiding from James and Kaitlin was first rate and the hospitality back at the lodge excellent. The variety of excursions and experiences here is fantastic and we enjoyed water/land/walking safaris, trips up the mountains and many different dining locations. We stayed for a week and saw all the big 5 and so many other stunning animals. Thank you to everyone at the lodge for a memorable week.

We stayed here for 4 nights in July from 10th to 14th July 2023. The welcoming from the staff was fantastic when we first arrived. We were taken to Safari lodge first as our driver dropped us off and took all of us who were checked in towards the mountain lodge. This lodge has 5 rooms and can hold a maximum of 10 guests. During our stay we had one other family of 4 with us from Germany with their two teenage kids for the same duration as us which made this intimate and special as these guys it was their first safari also and we had a great time on safari with them 🙂. Firstly the Marataba reserve is stunning with the waterberg mountains and the changing landscape to open plains to thick bush and lovely hills etc all make great game viewing excellent 👌🏼. In total we had 8 game drives, as it’s winter the temperature at night got cold to around 0°C to 4°C and you can feel it when there is wind but warms up lovely during the day to around 20°C plus whilst we were here. So layers are recommended including a woolly hat and gloves are a must for the morning drives. Our game drives in the morning started at 06:30 with a wake up call around 6am however, we recommend getting up 15 mins before wake up time to make sure your fully ready for the day. From the morning game drive we got to the lodge roughly around 10am to 11am each morning. The afternoon game drives were our favourite in the winter setting off at 15:30 sometimes at 15:00 depending on the guide and the groups mood and where you go in the reserve to track animals. From this drive we’d get back to the lodge around 7pm with a night drive using the red light and we got lucky on these night drives to see Lesser bushbaby, porcupine, Civet, African wild cat, nightjar, bat eared fox and some other critters and bumping into some of the bigger animals in the dark like a male bull elephant in Must was scary so we had to take a detour as these bulls can be aggressive during must time. Firstly we’d live to thank all the staff and relief staff at the lodge of our stay and these are; Jennifer - Lodge manager Kabelo & Gosego (Gee) - Butlers Labious - Chef Kedibone- Sculler & makes game drive morning and afternoon tea and snacks Tabo - night porter Philictus- Housekeeper Mbongeni AKA Bongz - Safari Guide Claudia - relief lodge manager All of these staff are truly amazing and made our stay beyond words that we cant describe so if you all read this thank you so much for making our stay and making us feel like part of the family. When we all said bye to you that was truly very hard and bought some tears to our eyes as our stay was the best ever! We’ve stayed at a lot of places around the world and this places truly is above and beyond anything else. Me and my wife are partly pescatarian but more mainly vegetarian and food was very well catered for and we may have put on 7 pounds during our stay as the food was the best we have eaten anywhere we have stayed! No joke the food is to die for so Thank you Labi

Mountain Lodge lived up to all the excellent reviews. The setting was stunning. Service from the team attentive and friendly. The chef produced high quality food every day. Our guide Tim went out of his way to ensure we had a once in a lifetime experience including seeing the hippos which was a must for me. We saw all the Big 5 except the elusive leopard plus lots more. We never anticipated seeing so many elephants, rhino, giraffe every day along with smaller mammals and the most colourful birds. The steps up to the lodges are certainly a challenge especially in the dark but the lodges location and views are breathtaking. We had some very close encounters with the wildlife but felt totally safe in Tim’s hands. We enjoyed the exclusive more remote location and feel privileged to have experienced this safari adventure in our special birthday year. Thank you to everyone who looked after us during our stay

Marataba Mountain Lodge is set in one of the most beautiful reserves I have ever seen. The backdrop makes for the perfect photo, almost to good to be true....no photoshop needed here. The staff were friendly and always willing to go the extra mile to make us comfortable, to the extend of arranging takeaway coffees to enjoy on our morning drive. The walk up to rooms is not for the faint hearted but the views are worth it. If you have a problem walking up stairs, I would suggest requesting a room closer to the main lodge. We did not see the big 5 however, the amazing Rhino sightings and the incredible views made up for it. The food was good, no complains and with no kids around this is a perfect spot for couples.