Honeyguide Tented Safari Camps

We stayed at Mantobeni Camp in the Manyeleti Game Reserve which is owned and managed as a private reserve by the local Mnisi tribe. It borders on Kruger and the animals roam freely within Manyeleti - so, the benefits of Kruger without the density of tourists and with the freedom of private concessions and their small limit of jeep numbers at sightings. The camp is run by local people and seems to be quite large and the 10-seater jeeps were mostly full to capacity but game drives,on the whole, felt quiet as there are fewer jeeps and fewer camps in the Manyeleti area. Our guide, Twice, was excellent and we had some great sightings of a large pride of lions, their cubs left behind alone, cheetah sightings, rhinos, leopard and many more. The jeep experience, however, is largely dependent on who’s on the jeep with you. Most of our game drives were wonderful and we shared with like-minded people but we were unlucky with two game drives when we shared with a loud and obnoxious large family group who repeatedly disrespected the rules that had been explained by the excellent guide at the outset. We’ve been on three other safaris in Kenya, Tanzania and Botswana and have never experienced anything like this! It is no fault of the camp whatsoever but we would urge the camp to consider allowing temporary transfer to another jeep in special circumstances. The camp is high end, comfortable and unfenced. It is visited daily by a large herd of elephants once or twice a day. Lovely to watch the antics of the babies. Our last morning had the added excitement as we finished breakfast in camp, of impala alarm calls and a lioness approaching the waterhole close by. The tents are huge and are well sited and private. The dining area, lounge, bar etc were well-maintained and pleasant. Staff were excellent - efficient, charming, friendly and very good-humoured, especially Mumcy! Thank you to the team for the surprise, magical bbq and delicious dinner by the fire in the Boma.

This is an exceptional property in the Manyeleti Game Reserve adjacent to the Kruger National Park. It is a magical place where Impala's roam the property and the elephants come to drink water from the pool. The "tents" are very nice with toilet facilities and showers and comfortable beds. The food was good, but the staff are the best! They do everything they can to meet your needs and wants. Everyday there are two game drives into the reserve where you can get very close to amazing game animals. The guides on these drives are very good at their jobs. Ours was named Brilliant and he truly was brilliant. He can find animals, birds and snakes at distance and at night in places I can barely see. He is amazing! We want to thank the staff for making our stay very special-Dan, Mavis, Trevor, Previous, Noa and others…and especially Brilliant!

We were extremely disappointed with this establishment. We are South African and have been to many private lodges in the Kruger area and sadly this was our worst experience. Firstly, the central booking didn’t inform us that as a couple (telling her we were celebrating an anniversary and a birthday) that we were placed in the kid friendly camp and would have to endure noisy, squealing foreign kids on every game drive and at every meal (we had to share tables for meals with our vehicle occupants). We were there for a long weekend and they needed to employ a freelance ranger to accommodate all the guests. He was beyond pathetic and cost us multiple exciting cat sightings because he was too afraid to go off road without the head ranger’s permission. Once he had communicated with the head ranger, the cat was obviously out of view already and the sighting lost. He also didn’t feel confident asking for a standby at sightings and had no light for night game drives which isn’t very helpful! Worst of all, when we complained, we felt management was pretty disinterested. It was, ‘Ooops, sorry’ attitude. There is no managerial presence at the lodge. We are used to friendly front of house interacting with guests and DEALING with issues raised. There is no personalised service or attention to deal in accommodation, food serving etc. no value for money at all.

Honeyguide Mantobeni is a very beautiful lodge with wonderful views to a picturesque waterhole under trees where animals come to drink. On top of that, different elephant families come to drink to the pool, so one can experience these amazing creatures up close personal. We stayed 3 days and they came every day, on one day 40 ellies. That is an absolute highlight. The tents are quite big and very beautiful too. On cold nights, they have even a heating matress. All 3 meals per day were excellent. The only thing, not everyone might like is, that it is a very big lodge with a lot of safari cars. Add to that the ones of the "sister camp " Khoka Moya. They are all connected through walkie talkies and if one guide discovers a special animal (lion, leopard, rhino f.ex.) many of the other cars rush there. Often there were 4-5 cars chasing the same animal which made me feel a bit unconfortable, like hunting...

Me and my girlfriend visited Honeyguide Mantobeni for 3 nights in May 2024. I highly recommend staying at this camp. The Manyeleti is awesome, we spotted all the animals we could imagine (big 5, cheetah, wild dog). The camp & tents are beautifull and comfortable. They go out with 4 vehicles, our jeep was never fully packed. The pool is very nice and often elephants come to drink from the pool, you do need to keep your distance from them ofcourse! Also the camp is unfenced, this gives you the real experience! Sometimes there is an elephant in front of your tent, so you have to wait to get to your tent. The food was the best we've had in South Africa. Every day you can choose from the menu what you want for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Drinks are affordable. Also no kids at this camp, that's a huge plus for us!