Name: Umkumbe Safari Lodge
Address: Sabi Sands, 1260, South Africa, Kruger National Park, Kruger National Park, Kruger National Park, 1380, South Africa
Rating: 9

Air conditioning

Elevator/lift

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Smoke-free property

Garden

Terrace

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Safe-deposit box

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Diet menu (on request)

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Barbecue grill(s)

Billiards

Hiking

Sun Deck

Recreation

Free parking

Parking

Swimming pool

Outdoor pool

Pool and beach

Conference Hall

Business

Playroom

Kids

Pets Not Allowed

Pets

At the hotel

Londolozi Airport

Skukuza Airport

Hazyview Airport

Umkumbe Safari Lodge

Kruger National Park

child-bed

child-bed-fee

external-private-bathroom

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bay-view

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canal-view

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golf-view

harbour-view

inland-view

lake-view

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mountain-view

ocean-front

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park-view

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pool-view

river-view

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with-view

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not-guaranteed

wired-internet-access

smoking

sauna

duplex

safe

mini-bar

breakfast-for-1

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pets-allowed

wi-fi

kitchen

We had the most wonderful time at Umkumbe river lodge. An incredible location by the river and we saw elephants almost immediately we arrived. Great check in by Shannon, wonderful service by everyone. Special mention to Ty our guide and Forward our tracker- both absolutely outstanding. We stayed in the Zebra and Wilddog rooms- both were really beautiful and much bigger and more lovely than photos would suggest from the website. All the game drives were fabulous- we saw four of the big five. Food was also fantastic- good, home cooked food and catered for us as vegetarians. Would wholeheartedly recommend and hope to be back!

Fabulous!

We had a great vacation with Umkumbe Riverside Lodge in Sabi Sands,Kruger. 
The staff was extremely welcoming. They noted our food requirements ( no beef) and made sure we had good amounts of chicken , eggs , pork in our meals .
We stayed in the Giraffe Suit and it was spacious and well decorated .
Food was excellent and had a decent variety. The dinner around the fire (Boma) was an amazing experience.  The desserts were awesome. One night the ,staff members performed a traditional song and dance ,which was outstanding. 
The game drives ( morning and night) were excellent. Jessica , our guide was very knowledgeable and made sure we had ample game viewing . She made us feel extremely safe and deminstrated a great passion for her work.Our trackers Sipoh and Forward were very good at animal spotting during our night safari.Out of the Big 5 we saw Big 4 ( Leopard,Rhino,Elephants ,Wild Buffalo) from very close quarters. We were lucky to see a pride of lions on our way to the Lodge  for check in on Day 1 . On last day , we took a separate tour to Kruger National Park and was lucky to see a lion very close.
Apart from the Big 5 , we saw Hippo, Hyenas finishing off their kill, zebras , giraffes, impalas, kudus, etc.
Also we saw a big herd of Elephants next to the Lodge which was a delightful experience. 
Overall,  I would highly recommend Umkumbe Riverside Lodge for a vacation in Sabi Sands and get a taste of an authentic African Safari Experience. 

Fabulous stay in Umkumbe Riverside Lodge

Fantastic three nights with family.   Jurie, our guide was a true professional.    Great food and rooms.   One room was facing river, which I highly recommend if available. Two game drives per day.  Saw lots of animals, including the rarely seen cheetah.

3 great nights in May

Belinda Carlisle once sang that heaven is a place on earth, well I reckon she must have stayed at Umkumbe Riverside Safari Lodge, in Sabi Sands, a private game reserve which is part of the Kruger National Park.
 From the moment we arrived to the moment we left, everything was absolutely amazing and perfect. 
We were greeted on arrival by the lovely Micaela who was to be our guide during our time there. She was lovely and friendly and showed us to our room and also gave us a tour of the lodge and went through all we needed to know for our time there. We were staying in a superior room. All the rooms are named after various animals and ours was Wild Dog, and had some wild dog pictures in it. The room was clean and spacious. The ensuite bathroom had a double sink and a bath, and a private outdoor shower, which is amazing at 5am when it is still dark and you can see all the stars. The rooms also had a tea and coffee station, and a regularly topped up jug of cold water, and were cleaned and maintained twice each day whilst we were out on the game drives by the wonderful staff.
 
The lodge has a lovely little infinity pool which overlooks the river which runs behind the lodge. Great for chilling during the day between meals and game drives. 
You get 3 meals a day at the lodge, all cooked freshly by the lovely resident chef. Breakfast is after the morning game drive, buffet lunch at 2pm, and hot buffet dinner after the evening game drive. There were plenty of choices for all of them, and we were asked about allergies and foods we don't eat on arrival, so there was always something we liked. Breakfast and lunch were served and eaten at tables around the deck area overlooking the river, whilst dinner was at tables under the stars around a lovely fire (boma). It really was perfect. There was also an honesty bar, where you write down any drinks you have from it.
There were 2 game drives each day, 1st thing in the morning, and at sunset, and are in open sided vehicles so everyone had a great view. There were blankets and ponchos for everyone incase it was cold or wet. The staff came round and gave us a wake up call at 5.30am, not that we needed that, as we were so excited that we were already up. 

I cannot speak highly enough about Micaela who was our driver. She was so knowledgeable and informative, not only about the animals/birds we saw, but also about the trees and plants, and even the stars and planets which we could see so clearly on the night drives. Obviously you need a bit of luck with what you see on a safari drive, but the skill of Micaela both as a guide and a driver was absolutely amazing, and along with our brilliant tracker, Machaba, definitely helped us see all we did. From what I could see, all the guides were just as good, but I can only comment on Micaela as she was our guide. We shall be forever grateful for the effort she put in to find so many brilliant animal sightings throughout our drives. None more so than on the 1st night when Machaba spotted leopard tracks just after we left the lodge. After an hour of driving into places it looked impossible to get into, and with her knowledge of the warning calls of a couple of nearby impala, we eventually found 2 young leopard sisters hidden in an overgrown drainage channel near the lodge, with an impala kill that they were eating. A truly magical thing to see, and it was all down to the skill of Micaela and Machaba. At sunset you stop for sundowner drinks and snacks. Such a wonderful thing in the beautiful bush. On the morning drive you stop for tea/coffee/hot chocolate and snacks. 
Being on safari and seeing wild animals in the wild is absolutely the most amazing thing, and because you don't know what you'll see or even if you will see anything it is truly magical each time you do see something. We were so lucky and privileged to see all of the African Big 5 during our 3 days, but also so much more besides - giraffe, impala, kudu, eagle owl, wildebeest, zebra, a serval, mongoose, hyena, warthog, and a rare pangolin. Micaela also manoeuvred the vehicle to make sure that everyone had a good chance to see and photograph the animals that we found. Invariably we were always late back for our meals as Micaela went out of her way to make sure we all saw as much as possible on the drives, and we all really appreciated her efforts. Also, as much as Micaela went above and beyond to make sure we all had the best views of the animals, it was also clear that she and the other guides cared about the animals that we were watching as they always made sure that the animals were never uncomfortable with our presence, which was great.
A safari trip is one of the most amazing things you can do, and for us, this was a truly magical, amazing and memorable 3 days. 
You could be sad at the end, but as the saying goes, don't be sad that it's over, be happy that it happened. Hopefully we will be back again one day.
Thank you so much to Micaela and everyone at Umkumbe Lodge for making our dreams come true.

WOW. Best 3 Days Ever.

Authentic, friendly, relaxed with great service.  Very good food & top location on the banks of the Sands River.  We stayed 3 nights in a standard room.  It was a bit cramped & had we known we would have gone for the bigger rooms with outside decks overlooking the river.  They were full so we couldn’t move but made the most of the lounge area around the pool, under the tees overlooking the river, watching the wildlife.  Magical.  The morning & afternoon/evening game drives produced the goods.  We saw every animal other than Leopard, including some very close encounters with Elephants, Lion & Spotted Hyena finishing off an Impala kill.  Umkumbe Safari Riverside Lodge is highly recommended.

What a terrific all round experience

Our room was very comfortable with a good view of the Sand River and the animals that would pass by. The animal sightings during the safari drives were close and personal and we had a number of really memorable sightings including a rare cheetah sighting. Moses our tracker almost jumped out of his seat when he spotted the cheetah lying under a tree and Micaela our guide did a great job following the cheetah and positioning the vehicle to allow us to photograph it as it jumped on to a dead tree. Moments like these take the safari experience to really awesome levels! Big thanks to Micaela and Moses for these sightings.

Pleasant safari stay with some great animal sightings

An amazing experience here. I just wish we had stayed for longer. Stayed in 2 rooms with our family (children 18,16 and 13). Exquisite setting with elephants and giraffe walking past the bungalows to the river. Staff were incredibly friendly, knowledgeable and respectful of their environment and setting. Game drives with Michaela were spectacular….big 5 in 90 minutes on one drive and very close up on all the animals. This is a very special and intimate place which I would recommend to anyone as something to do once in their lives. Thanks to all.

Amazing intimate safari experience in an exquisite setting with fantastic team

I go on Safari often and this has to be the worst Safari experience of my life! I feel as though I have been scammed, what a waste of money. The sightings were shocking for a so called 5 star lodge. Shower unacceptable, Wi-Fi weak, air con weak. I can understand why it appeals to foreigners as they don’t know any better but as a South African stay away, we certainly didn’t pay peanuts for this trip, yes we got to see two leopards, the one sighting will forever live in my memory for the wrong reasons, 6 vehicles surrounding the leopard , guides shouting at each other (although the two women guides were very professional), guests standing in vehicles, an absolute circus! Three vehicle line up for a giraffe sighting, that should tell you all you need to know about the sightings. Sabi Sands is renowned for guaranteed lion and leopard sightings, don’t visit here if that is what you are after. We couldn’t wait to leave and get back into the Kruger. I was dreading the drives instead of being excited. After the first drive I joked with my wife that on the positive side of things the drives can’t get worse, I was wrong! 

Extremely disappointed

Exceeded our expectations in every way.  Great accommodations, terrific food and atmosphere.  The staff are all amazing and gave us all such an inclusive feeling.  The fireside dinners are awesome!  Jessica is the greatest game drive guide ever!!  She was beyond informative and was so into our own stories and experiences on our trip. She made us all feel so welcomed. Moshava was our tracker and terrific as well.  An absolutely amazing time!

Great lodges, great food, great atmosphere, amazing guide Jessica!

My husband and I had the most wonderful experience at Umkumbe Safari Lodge. We stayed in the Zebra Room which was beautifully decorated and had an outdoor shower and a beautiful deck with a view of the river with many animals grazing along the river. The beds were very comfortable. 
The safaris were absolutely amazing and breathtaking . 
Our guide Tyron was excellent, we saw so many animals and Ty took the time to share his knowledge of the different animals and their behaviour. It was very fascinating. Our tracker Sipho was fantastic, spotting a chameleon in the dark and other wild life in the far distance. Tyron and Sipho made a really great team making our safari experience unforgettable. 
The infinity pool was so beautiful.  When we went swimming there was an elephant at the river in the background behind us. What a view.
The food was excellent and they fed us well. 
Last but not least the staff, I can’t say enough about the staff. Everyone was so friendly and welcoming making everyone feel right at home.
I will highly recommend Umkumbe to all my friends that are thinking about going on a safari.
Thank you to the staff at Umkumbe for making our trip above and beyond what we expected. Creating fond memories for a lifetime.
Janice & Kevin


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