Honeyguide Ranger Camp

Stayed at this camp for 3 nights in July as part of the 12 day hosted Limpopo Explorer Safari booked with Alexandra’s Africa. The camp has a small number of large upmarket, tented rooms scattered around the bush with all the facilities you need (both 1 and 2 bedroomed) including a large comfy bed, fridge, plenty of storage/hanging space, hairdryer, mosquito net and fan (the last two needed I guess in the warm summer months). The one bed tented rooms have an indoor bathroom with sink and toilet plus outdoor shower with continuous hot water provided by individual gas cylinder. Perfect for the cold winter mornings especially when returning from the morning game drives. There is no heating in the rooms but this is fine as there are electric blankets provided on the beds which are switched on while you are having your evening meal – so really cosy once you are in bed. There’s Wi-Fi in the dining area if you need it but not in the rooms. Great food provided in the communal dining room/bar including eggs cooked fresh to order for breakfast. Plus reasonably priced drinks with wine by the glass. We also had a braai out in the bush on our first night where we kept warm around a roaring fire – a real experience. Lovely friendly, professional staff who can’t do enough for you. We had a game drive morning and evening while there with a fantastic ranger called Julian who was very knowledgeable and told us all about the animals and plants around the Entabeni Reserve showing us the spoors and burrows as we travelled round. The only shame was there didn’t appear to be a huge range of animals in the reserve. Saw lots of wildebeest with a few giraffe, elephants, hippos, warthogs, kudu and impala. Fortunately the reserve does have two cheetah brothers who happily sat and posed for us for ages. We were also lucky to see two lionesses with cubs although they were hidden in the grass. With the lack of animals Justin asked if we liked to take a drive up to the top of Hanglip Mountain overlooking the reserve on our last evening. The steep drive up/down was hair-raising and so credit to Julian’s driving. Brilliant view from the top while we had our sundowner drink and snacks. The other great part of the camp is its unfenced so can have animals wandering through plus if you are at the swimming pool or in one of the rooms on the edge of the camp you can watch animals wandering by. It does mean that you need a guide to take you to and from your room when it's dark but this all adds to the experience. Would recommend staying at the Honeyguide Ranger Camp it if you want somewhere to visit close to Johannesburg or as part of this brilliant hosted safari.

A bit of attention would have made our stay nicer A bit average for the rate per night. Lock to the upstairs viewing patio was broken and we could go outside to see the view. Safe didn’t open. The resort is running on skeleton staff and limited resources. everyone is always busy and the promises could not be met. Food wasn’t the best.