Set in the heart of the 11 500 hectare Thornybush Reserve, adjacent to the Greater Kruger National Park, Shumbalala offers the tradition of Africa experienced in luxurious surroundings.

With a maximum of eight guests, you’ll be spoiled for privacy and exclusivity at this exceptional game lodge. The four luxury suites, each equipped with an open fireplace, a picture window bathroom and private viewing deck are set in the shade of trees lining the Monwana River.

AT A GLANCE

• maximum of eight guests
• overhead fans
• air conditioning
• open fireplaces
• glass fronts with private viewing decks

Accommodation: - Lodging in six luxury suites, all of which have overhead fans, air conditioning, open fireplaces and glass fronts with private viewing decks into the magical African bush. Bathrooms (all with in- and outside showers) have their own glass picture windows to watch the wild world go by as you wash off the heat of the day. The double suite Presidential unit includes a
private dining room, lounge, pool and fireside facilities.
With lazy afternoons swimming in the pool, followed by the rush of the evening game drive, a sumptuous dinner follows
and is enjoyed either fire-side from the lodge deck positioned above the river bed or in the candle-lit dining room in winter.
Each day will bring with it the intricate web of nature which, along with the attention to detail provided at SHUMBALALA
SAFARI LODGE, will evoke in the visitor the exquisite and indelible mood of the bush - a sense of peace some would
describe as being awake dreaming. 

The two bed roomed presidential suite, in addition to all of the facilities of the standard suites, boasts a separate dining room, lounge, and a private pool deck and pool – the ultimate in luxury and exclusivity!

In addition to the game viewing decks and swimming pools, there are two lounges, a curio shop, cellar and a library in which to relax between game drives. Come home to the welcome of this luxurious lodge after an uplifting experience in the bush, your senses inspired by all that is nature.

Activities: - Exciting dawn and dusk safaris will give you the opportunity to view the Big Five. Lazy afternoons can be spent by the poolside listening to the sounds of the bush.

SHUMBULALA SAFARI LODGE – ATTENTION TO THE WILDEST DETAIL
It’s a vast, wild place where the lions roam at SHUMBALALA LODGE, deep in the Thornybush Game Reserve, one of
the country’s great tracts of untamed game-viewing.

Set as it is in a dry, singeing savanna of mopane and acacias and umbrella thorns, quartered by easterly-flowing rivers densely
shrouded in giant figs, fever trees and phoenix palms, the land is an ancient tapestry of natural wonder.
Over-head, loeries call their sharp warning while horn-bills swoop in an ungainly ballet between trees and vultures elevate
on thermals portending an electric storm.
As you push on through the bush, it is the serendipity of nature that amazes most, as your vehicle skirts art deco zebra,
dozy giraffe, bright eyed bush babies, wildebeest (made, it is said, by the committee of left-over parts) and the rest Africa
has to offer.

It is even more of an adventure when you stumble upon a leopard lazing in the V of a Jackalberry tree or; a hyaena giving
you a lazy yellow eye in the gathering dusk; a majestic bull elephant crashing its way through the riverine thicket in search
of sweet reeds or; a surprise sunrise encounter with a lion pride on the prowl.

This is the world of SHUMABALALA SAFARI LODGE, where tales of sightings are recounted over crushed ice and the spontaneous head-rush of it all in the wine cellar which has full view of a waterhole out on the edge of the savanna.

East of the hamlets which form a frontier to the glorious untamed bushveld (Hoedspruit to the west has Eastgate Airport; Phalaborwa to the north has its own landmark airport), Thornybush Game Reserve lies in over 11 000ha of splendid
solitude adjacent to the Kruger National Park.

Unspoiled and untainted by the world beyond, stone-clad SHUMBALALA (“Where the lion sleeps”) is a five star journey
for the soul, set beneath shady African trees lining the Monwana River, along the banks of which you will spot myriad
animals from your large cane wing-back chair poised on a teak deck.