Hlosi Game Lodge - Amakhala Game Reserve

I wasn't sure what to expect on our first safari lodge but all I can say is the team at Hlosi blew our expectations out the window! Made to feel so special, B was an amazing tour guide and the rest of the team were friendly and helpful. Turning 50 never felt so good!

We stayed for one night at the lodge, and had an amazing experience with 2 game drives where we spotted soo many animals. The service was super friendly and our room was

Bukela was a real disappointment – there is a lot of potential, but it needs money spending on it. The tents were lovely and the outlook superb but inside the tents it wasn’t to 5* standards, the showers were dreadful – there were bare wires from a light in the shower exposed, green mould and flaking paint, the floor was so uneven and painful to walk on and looked very dirty. The staff were all very friendly and seemed happy in their work, but the property was woefully understaffed – one night for dinner service there was supposed to be 6 staff on duty – there were 2 including the barman, this was the same the previous day. As a result, mealtimes took a long time. The toilets in the bar / reception area are unisex and as result smelt and the seats and floor surrounds were sprinkled – why do places particularly 5* ones have unisex toilets, I’ve yet to find a female who likes them!! During our 3 nights here, there were no paper towels available. As far as the Game Drives were concerned, we declined 2 of them as having sat on the back row of the vehicle on our first morning, which wasn’t pleasant. This is because the vehicle operates at maximum capacity (3 across), we were less than impressed, we’ve had better at far less expensive lodges. The Guide allocated to us too, Lucky, was one of the worst guides we have ever had. There was no/little communication with the clients, no information as to what we were seeing etc. In addition to which when positioning the vehicle to view animals it was done so that he could see and often we were behind a bush unable to see! It's not a Lodge I would be recommending – of those in Amakhala if you want an authentic experience opt for Quartermain’s 1920’s Camp or for a more traditional one HillsNeck,

Best stay. Staff extremely helpful, wonderful and would do anything for you. Accomodation was of a high standard. Food was really good. We did five safari trips and saw lots of animals roaming around in the wild. Except leopard, we ticked all the boxes. Our guide Brian was good and helpful

Only arrived yesterday but already impressed by what we've seen. Trucks are great and tracks are rough. Our guide 'Evans' has got us up close, so even with just the phone to take the photos we've got great pictures so far of the animals. The tents are great. Nothing like camping I've done before. The lodge only houses 28 so adequate space for all in the dining room and food is great.