Get Your Safari on at Gwahumbe Game Lodge and Spa

Our excitement was palpable for our first safari in South Africa.

We had arrived in the country without any safari plans, and it didn’t take long for us to realize the folly in this omission. Sure, we usually prefer that our adventures involve exotic foods and fine wines.

But this was Africa – the continent where Elsa from Born Free and Simba from The Lion King roamed the land. What were we thinking?

As it turns out, we ended up experiencing not one, not two but three safaris during our ten weeks in South Africa. Each safari experience provided us with a unique opportunity to connect with South African nature and was special in its own way.

But we’ll always have a soft spot in our heart for Gwahumbe – our very first safari experience.

Pro Tip
Don’t take a safari without travel insurance!

Wilderness on a Whim

Located on a former sugar farm in the KwaZulu-Natal province, the Gwahumbe game reserve is just a one hour drive from Durban. This prime location makes Gwahumbe easily accessible to residents of Durban, South Africa’s third largest city, as well as to travelers who visit the coastal city of Durban as part of a South Africa dream vacation or business trip.

We felt very connected to nature during our two-day stay at Gwahumbe Game Lodge & Spa. Animals roam freely on the property, and the eco lodge is verdant with green vegetation all around.

As much as we enjoyed connecting with nature, we enjoyed the understated luxury throughout the Gwahumbe complex even more.

Gwahumbe offers a range of accommodations from thatched huts to catered apartments.

For our two-night stay, we slept in a comfortable Serengeti room with typical features like a big bed, modern en-suite bathroom and a coffee maker. The extra details like fresh milk, home-made rusks (South African cookies similar to biscotti) and a bottle of sherry made this room truly special.

Rates for the Serengeti room, as well as the lodge’s other accommodations, vary based on the season and whether the fully inclusive option in selected. This option includes breakfast, lunch, dinner, afternoon tea and a game drive.

There is no need to be bored at Gwahumbe… unless that is your goal. True adventurers can go on a 4×4 or mountain bike outing. Naturalists can enjoy a birding or fishing expedition. Families can play board games by the fireplace in the Gwahumbe lodge.

All guests can and should participate in at a game drive – more about that later.

We have just one regret about our stay at Gwahumbe – we didn’t take a dip in the pool.

The overcast weather was fine for a game drive and perfect for relaxing, but it wasn’t particularly conducive to lounging by an infinity pool. In retrospect, we should have taken a dip in this pool for the magnificent view alone.

Let’s cut to the chase – we loved the food at Gwahumbe.

Trying Durban’s take on Indian food was high on our hit list after we heard about bunny chow, and Gwahumbe’s chicken curry dinner option was our first (but not last) taste of the cuisine. We opted for the curry dish for our second dinner after eating a more refined steak dinner the night before. Though we enjoyed the steak, we preferred the curry for its bright spiciness and fun presentation.

“We are the custodians. We are here to take care of them.”

Manager Derek Grose set the tone for our game drive when he explained the lodge’s approach to the animals on Gwahumbe’s private game reserve. These animals run the gamut with the likes of giraffes, zebras, Egyptian geese, wildebeest, kudu, impala, warthogs and one reclusive rhino.

Ed Balt, one of Gwahumbe’s professional Rangers, took us out on an afternoon Game Drive over the bumpy roads where BBC’s Top Gear previously filmed and into the Gwahumbe Valley in search of animals. Balt had us at the edge of our jeep seats with his tales about the animals who live on the property and the poachers who try to steal them.

He was a man with a mission as he drove us through fields of sugar cane. However, he wasn’t too busy to stop when he saw an ebony porcupine quill on the road.