Beautiful Bonamanzi!

We had fam­ily out from the USA over Christmas so arranged to spend two nights at Bonamanzi Game Park ... on safari!  I will be the first to admit that I’m not a big fan of the bush; I appre­ci­ate the beauty of it but let’s face it, the bush in mid sum­mer when its 30 degrees at 5 in the morn­ing is just not pleas­ant.  It’s espe­cially not pleas­ant when the camp you are stay­ing at does not have a swim­ming pool or air conditioning!

Bonamanzi how­ever, is a breath of fresh air...

Located in Hluhluwe in the heart of Zululand, Bonamanzi is recog­nised as one of the best bird­ing des­tin­a­tions in Southern Africa and although filled with game, the 4000 ha is not home to any pred­at­ors, which enables guests to explore the bush safely.  There are vari­ous marked walks or you could hire a trained field guide to point out what makes the bush so special.

We stayed at the Tree Lodge – although strictly speak­ing not in the trees the Lodge is built on stilts giv­ing a won­der­ful view over the veld.  The Lodge is made up of three double rooms each with bath­room en suite, a sep­ar­ate lounge / din­ing / kit­chen area with a large deck over­look­ing a small water­hole.  There is also a braai area situ­ated on the ground ‘level’.  Best of all is the air con­di­tion­ing and it doesn’t end there, Tree Lodge is also equipped with DStv!  What more could a girl ask for on vacation?!

We had booked vari­ous activ­it­ies which were all very reas­on­ably priced.  On our first even­ing we went on a night drive but to be com­pletely hon­est I fell asleep after 5 minutes in the Landie (must have been the fresh night air!).  Next on the agenda was the hour long horse­back ride through the bush.  This I loved — my horse, Mr Brown was as calm as could be and just clopped along serenely.  Again, I’m not a big fan of the bush WALKS but I loved the view from Mr Browns back!  We had a guide with us and it really was just so dif­fer­ent see­ing the bush and game from a slightly higher level than normal.

Of course a trip to the bush would not be the same without the sun­set booze cruise.  We were the only group to climb on board with a cooler box full of alco­hol but it was the Silly Season after all!  This was a won­der­ful excur­sion – we star­ted off with an hour long drive in the Landie and our guide, Bernie took her time stop­ping at vari­ous trees and plants to explain any­thing inter­est­ing about them.  The boat trip up the river was just as enjoy­able – there is noth­ing bet­ter than sip­ping on an ice cold V&T while cruis­ing up a river and appre­ci­at­ing how beau­ti­ful Zululand and the bush is!

I would highly recom­mend Bonamanzi – it just seemed to have the few added extras that other parks I’ve been too don’t have.  Although Tree Lodge didn’t have a swim­ming pool there was a lovely large pool nearby, com­plete with a num­ber of pic­nic tables and a shaded area.  So we packed a few sand­wiches and headed down to the pool for lunch – this makes a huge dif­fer­ence when it is so hot dur­ing the sum­mer days and I guess with the park not hav­ing any pred­at­ors and only a hand­ful of ele­phant one is safe to explore and swim in peace!

If its Big 5 view­ing you are after then the fam­ous Hluhluwe Imfolozi National Park is only a short drive away.  We actu­ally spent a few hours driv­ing through this park before we arrived at Bonamanzi and saw a lot of game ... and could then check in to Bonamanzi with its air­con and DStv luxury.

I might just like the bush after all!!

Contact Details:
Bonamanzi Game Park
Address: Bushlands Road, Hluhluwe, KwaZulu Natal
Telephone: +27 (0)35 562‑0181 or +27 (0)82 872‑2174

Useful Hluhluwe Links:
Hluhluwe Attractions
Things to Do in Hluhluwe
Hluhluwe Hotels
Hluhluwe Accommodation