Name: African Elegance Tented Lodge
Address: R565 Pilanesberg 0301,, Pilanesberg, Pilanesberg, Pilanesberg, 0301, South Africa
Rating: 8

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Smoke-free property

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Parking

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Outdoor pool

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African Elegance Tented Lodge

Pilanesberg

We had a fantastic visit at the lodge. Our tent was exceptionally clean.  The staff was friendly and care giving to our stay.  Our night time safari was beyond fantastic.  We highly recommend this location for your safari visit!! 

Excellent visit!

We recently stayed at the African Elegance tented lodge for one night after a safari. What an amazing place. The tented accommodation is perfect for the a relaxing night, its far from living in a tent, more like clamping. 

The food changes every evening and is of a very very high standard, served outside around the camp fire. Breakfast is the full spread and very tasty.

Although the pool is on the small side it is ideal for a cooling dip with a beer after a days safari.

Would defo go back if in the area again.

Many thanks to all the staff.

Amazing place

Spend a few perfect days in this well kept lodge in the lovely middle of nowhere. It's a 20 minute drive to Pilanesberg, a 10 minute drive from the mainroad. Signposting from the mainroad could use an upgrade, and google maps shows you the wrong sideroad. If driving in the direction of Pilanesberg, go left opposite the large mine entrance - at night very well lit. Here you will find the first of a few signs showing you to the lodge, following a dirt road (doable in a normal car). 
Our tent was way more spacious and luxury than we've expected, with fan, a kettle and a lovely bathroom - 'normal' toilet, perfect shower and sink. Plenty of storage space, comfortable bed and lovely veranda. Lovely poolside too where breakfast was served, and great dinner at night with plenty of very tasty food (including lots of veggies next to the delicious meet) and cold wine and beer. Anton has great knowlodge of wildlife and stargazing and we really enjoyed our morning safari in Pilanesberg with him.
We were so happy we chose to stay here; close to Pilanesberg but not nearly as expensive as in the park itself and far away from the Sun City crowds.

perfect luxury tented lodge near Pilanesberg

A very dissapointing experience! I would not reccommend this venue to anybody seeking a comfortable stay with great service. The marketing does this venue more justice than it deserves. No lamp on our veranda, a battle to get to the shower through the curtain of moths in the bathroom, a massive, very noisy, almost industrial fan in the tent, no active and present service on site and poor management. 

No value for money. Should be rated lower than 3 star. 

I feel bad about posting a poor review as the owners and staff were really friendly. The location was wonderful but the accommodation was, in our view, horrendous.

I read numerous reviews and checked out the publicity before booking and expected high quality, picturesque accommodation. Instead we had a very old, quite tatty tent with a ‘bathroom’ at the side open to all sorts of creatures that meant us checking the place out before venturing in.

Our ‘room’ had mouse droppings on the floor and lizards running around it. It was so bad that we only stayed for one night despite booking and paying for four.

If you want to be close to nature then this is for you but for us it turned out to be a very miserable and expensive experience. As I said, the owners Anton and his wife were wonderful but still feel that the place is misrepresented and I was slightly surprised that we weren’t offered any kind of rebate when I told him that we couldn’t stay more than one night.

Not at all as expected

We spent two nights here last week, and couldn't recommend it more.  It's on the more rustic side of luxury, but that's what we wanted - the canvas palaces aren't our style.

The tents are very spacious and super comfortable; our one needed a few repairs here and there, but overall they're high quality units, with plenty of storage, a kettle and a much-appreciated fan. The shower is excellent, with very hot water and, to be honest, better pressure than I have in my bricks-and-mortar house at home. A fridge would be the icing on the cake, but it may be part of their future plans. There is bugger-all phone reception, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. 

The camp is run by Anton and his family, who couldn't have been more gracious hosts.  The safari drive to Pilansberg with CF was fantastic - informative, moving, and even a little adrenaline-pumping!  I'm still in awe of the fact he can name thousands of species in Afrikaans, English and even Latin.  However, it was the walking safari with Anton at 5:30am that was a serious highlight of our overall trip.  We learned so much from him, from the vital role of the tiny dung-beetle in the ecosystem, to the problem of rhino-poaching in SA. We were also able to walk up close to the giraffes, which was very special.  It was a fascinating couple of hours, and I would highly, highly recommend booking both safaris if you're staying at the lodge.   

We took a transfer to the camp, so were a little under prepared - I'd recommend future visitors bring water, or even just glasses (the camp's water is spring-sourced, and delicious, but it would help to have your own receptacle), and if you're fussy about your alcohol, perhaps pack a cooler.  They have an honesty bar, but after one warm G&T with no ice or lemon, I stuck to the water ;)  

The pool is a godsend during the hottest hours of the day, and it was lovely to just relax on the deck with a book in between the drives, or play with the resident puppy, Rex.  

The best part of this camp is the brai at night: each evening we gathered around a fire with Anton, his lovely family, and the workers, chatting, shooting the breeze, and enjoying authentic SA food.  The portions were generous, the flavours immense, and the conversation flowing.  

Our only regret was not booking a third night.

A Fabulous Family-Run Lodge

Anton, the owner, came to pick us up at Johannesburg airport. He is a nature enthusiast who grew up in the South African bush and has given us a ton of interesting information about the country and its wildlife.We slept 2 nights in a very well-designed tent. A small swimming pool allows you to relax between 2 game drives organized by the hotel. She took a look at the property, which allowed us to see 2 cafes and a lot of birds barbatting.

Out of Africa

In November 2017, we stayed at the African Elegante Tented Lodge, which can only be booked online. The way to this lodge is not very easy to find, as the sign on the main street was very invisible. The tents are luxuriously decorated, making you feel even more connected to nature than staying at a hotel. In the evening there was barbecue at the campfire - very romantic with excellent food. Price per night: R1,750. Absolutely fine. Very friendly and helpful owner.

Staying in a luxury tent

We stayed one night and the experience was unforgettable! The lodge is made up of five tents with individual bathroom, carefully decorated and a large tent with a large living room, which is also beautiful. The view from the overflowing pool is breathtaking, all in a charming setting! I can only encourage you to go and discover this unusual and outlandish place! Special mention for Retha's breakfast!

African Elegance Tented Lodge

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