We recently stayed at Madikwe River Lodge and Tau Game lodge in the malaria free Madikwe Game Reserve. We made it family affair with 7 adults and 1 toddler who turned 2 on the trip. We chose Madikwe as it it malaria free and it was a reserve in SA that we had not visited yet. All of our trips are animal based whether it is the ocean or going to game reserves and we are very excited to share these amazing experiences with out daughter, such as the migration in the Serengeti followed by unbelievable snorkeling on Chumbe Island (Zanzibar), Gorilla tracking in Uganda, swimming with dolphins in Zanzibar and Mozambique or even with Whale Sharks and Manta Rays in Maldives.
Madikwe River Lodge was a beautiful lodge set on the Marico River which was perfect for animal sightings and besides the game drives if you sat on your deck for long enough you were bound to see some sort of wildlife. One of the things we enjoyed the most was the high tea visit from the banded mongoose family, a nuisance for the lodge as previous guests obviously fed them but a fabulous chance for us to get up close and personal and take stunning photographs. We were very fortunate that as we were a big enough group to fill a game vehicle we were allowed to take our 2 year old with, thank you to the lodge for this as she thoroughly enjoyed herself and loved seeing these animals that she normally only reads about. There were great elephant sightings and a wild dog den very near the lodge which meant a guaranteed sighting.
Our next stop was Tau Game lodge which was about a 30 minute drive away (leaving the reserve and reentering at another gate), which was great as we got to see a totally different side of the reserve. This lodge is great if you have family members who cannot or don’t want to go on game drives as they have a massive waterhole that all the rooms and eating area overlooks and everything comes to drink there, it was unbelievable. Tau was also nice enough to let our daughter come with on our game drives and we saw the biggest elephant herd ever and a lion eating frenzy (11 lions) that i have never seen before on any of our trips. All in all it was a great trip away and we would definitely reccomend Madikwe Game Reserve.
What will I write about next: Kruger National Park, Phinda Game Reserve, Hluhluwe/Imfolozi, Okavango Delta, Mumbo Island in Malawi, Maldives, Serengeti, Kenya? You will have to wait and see.
Till next time.
