Imbali Safari Lodge is in the private Mluwati Concession in the Kruger National Park. Experience magnificent hospitality, exceptional service and gastronomic excellence. Ensuring an unforgettable African Safari experience.
The deck with a sparkling swimming pool at the main lodge area overlooks the waterhole. Enjoy the rich and varied wildlife that comes to the waterhole to drink.
Indulge in High Tea with a delicious selection of cakes and pastries freshly baked at the lodge. Before embarking on your afternoon’s safari. Meals are served in the comfortable dining room where an impressive Jackalberry tree rises through the deck. Dinner may be served under the stars while you listen to the enchanting sounds of the surrounding bush coming alive at night.
Complimentary Wi-Fi in the main lodge area allows you to stay in touch with your loved ones. Spa treatments are available in the privacy of your suite. These are charged separately according to the treatment you choose. In-room gym bags available for use at the lodge.
Why choose a private concession lodge in the Kruger National Park
The Mluwati Concession is one hundred square kilometers of exclusive safari space. Only the camps in this concession are able to traverse this area. Therefore, no overcrowding but excellent sightings. There is an extensive road network to access the concession. And game vehicles are permitted to leave the road to get closer to the wildlife to capture that perfect image. And get closest to the wildlife. The Mluwati Concession is adjacent to some of the most famous safari lodges in the Sabi Sands and Manyeleti Game Reserves. Therefore, they enjoy the some of the most productive game viewing anywhere on the planet. Safari walks are available to guests accompanied by highly qualified guides.
Imbali Safari Lodge Accommodation
Twelve air conditioned suites, subtly decorated in neutral colors with enchanting splashes of African tradition. From the ornate wall lamps. To the comfortable textured pillows.
Large French doors run the length of the room to let the outside wilderness in. An expansive deck overlooks the N’waswitsontso River or the savannah grasslands. With a private plunge pool to complete your leisure bush experience. Relax on the sunbed with a book. The chattering of weavers, thrushes and kingfishers providing a magical bush playlist for your relaxation.
Suite with private pool
Each room comes with a complimentary mini-bar with selected beverages. As well as a tea/coffee facility for your convenience in your suite.
The spacious stone and marble bathroom features a Victorian-style bathtub and walk-in shower with signature bath amenities. Plus a hairdryer and fluffy bathrobes. Soak your stresses away as you soak away the modern-day stresses in natural bath salts. While looking out on to the peace of the Kruger bush.
Bathroom looking out to the deck
Rest for your soul. Into the comfortable king-size bed for a quick siesta or a nights rest after your safari. A mosquito net envelops the entire bed in the evening ensuring you are cocooned in comfort. Expect a bedtime story on your pillow. Or a sweet treat to enjoy before retiring for the night.
Family Safari
Children eight years and older are welcome at Imbali Safari Lodge. Extra camp beds are available for children to share with their parents. Please note that a maximum of two children per suite are permitted. Safaris for children are at Management discretion. Private vehicles are available at a surcharge which allows guests to guarantee safaris for children.
Children older than twelve years of age occupy their own room at full rate. A total of 3 children can be accommodated in camp at any time.
Imbali Safari Lodge Activities
As one of the first private concessions in the Kruger National Park, Mluwati has worked tirelessly to ensure the sustainability of this pristine wilderness. That for over 100 years has been a sanctuary for over 114 reptiles, 34 amphibians and 147 mammal species. Including Africa’s Big Five. Experience some of Kruger’s most spectacular landscapes. And an extraordinary variety of wildlife, bird life and plant life within the concession. Each safari experience is unique.
Mluwati is set over the basalt plains of the Satara Region. On this magnificent basalt range, you find a well-established Mixed Bushwillow Woodlands Eco-Zone. This Eco-Zone features some iconic Trees of Kruger Park, which include the following trees: Baobab, Marula, Leadwood, a variety of Bushwillows, Tree Wisteria, Jackal Berry, Fig Trees, Knob Thorn and a variety of acacia species.
There is sweet grass (Low Lying Areas) as well as Mixed grass on the midslope to upper crest areas. This attracts a wide variety of Plains Game (From Duikers to Elephants and everything in between). Which provides the perfect variety of food to the flagship predators of Kruger! Plus, Wild Dogs which are Africa’s most endangered mammal.
Wild Dog
Safaris
Guests can enjoy a morning and afternoon safari in open 4 x 4 vehicles. Accompanied by your private guide. The early morning safaris are very rewarding with light for photography. Lions are still lively and on the move at this time. Antelope are more energetic and an abundance of birds may also be seen. The afternoon safaris provide an opportunity to see nocturnal animals. And, perhaps even the elusive Leopard.
Keen birders will delight in the hundreds of bird species that call Kruger home. There are over 500 species, many of which occur in the Mluwati Concession. Including the Southern Yellow-billed Hornbill, Crested Barbet and Burchell’s Glossy Starling. Witness the excitement of the first rains; the terrapins playing in river pools, the call of the Pied Kingfisher, and the steady chirping of sociable tree frogs.
Savor the rich smells of the bush. Hear the shrill calls of the Magpie Shrike. And see the wind blowing through the feather grass dotting the savannah plains.
Buffalo with ox peckers
Guided Bush Walks
The guided bush walks allows one to get close up and have an intimate experience of the local flora and fauna. Walks are available on request. The safety of guests is top priority. So guided bush walks may be unavailable if the guide deems the conditions to be unsafe for walking.
If you would like the unrivaled experience of discovering the magnificent Kruger National Park on foot. Or would like to spend time focusing on the smaller things out in the bush, the guiding team will be on hand to ensure that you have an unforgettable wildlife experience.
Kruger walking safari
A day on safari at Imbali Safari Lodge
Kick start your day before the sun rises, dunking a homemade rusk into a steamy cup of coffee. Before setting off on your morning safari with your assigned ranger.
Watch as the bush awakens around you. The dew glistens on the webs of the Golden Orb spider. And Lilac Breasted Rollers flash their startling sky-blue bellies as they flit past your vehicle.
See wild dogs laze under the Acacia trees. And elephants leave their distinct trail as they chomp through the bush at a leisurely pace. Steal a glance at the leopard eating its prey high up in an old Tamboti tree. Zebra foraging alongside herds of wildebeest and impala.
Enjoy an extensive cold and hot buffet breakfast in Imbali Safari Lodge’s comfortable dining room. Then retire to your room and relax. Laze at the crystal-clear infinity pool or request a bush walk for an up-close encounter with the Kruger.
Lunch is a relaxed, informal affair on the deck. With beautiful views of the surrounding bushveld and the Nwaswitsontso River. Before retiring to your room for an afternoon siesta or dip in your private plunge pool.
After high tea on the deck, depart for your special evening safari through the Mluwati Concession. Spot a pride of lazy lions lounging casually in the tall grass. And the associated warning call of nature’s tattletales, the Grey Loerie. As they inform the surrounding species of impending danger.
Sip a sundowner G&T as you watch the sky turn from the brilliance of an African sunset to a bright band of stars. The persistent call of frogs, owls and nightjars accompanying you back to the lodge for a romantic dinner on the deck. Or in the boma dining area. A canopy of stars watching over you.
Boma Dinner
Community Projects
The Mluwati lodge have partnered with the Mirantha Youth Development Project. To empower the youth of local communities through life skills programs. The Mirantha Youth Development Project is a registered non-profit organization that cares for, and educates, neglected orphans and vulnerable youth. The “forgotten children”. In the town of Acornhoek. The Project is run by Happiness Lubisi, a champion social worker. Who currently supports more than 80 orphans and vulnerable youth in her community. Offering them food, clothes, and emotional relief.
Left without the guidance, financial support, and protection of their parents, the “forgotten children” are disproportionately vulnerable. To poverty, abuse, crime, and extortion. The large majority of the children have dropped out from school due to a variety of socioeconomic reasons. Which further increases their vulnerability due to poor literacy, the inability to find jobs due to lack of skills. And the inability to integrate well in their community.
Several staff members of the team and their families hail from this town just outside of the Kruger National Park. The survival of the surrounding communities of the Park is directly reliant on the business and investment that comes from the presence of ecotourism activities in the area. In order to secure the stability and prosperity of these communities, the empowerment and protection of their youth is a fundamental requisite.
The Mluwati Family and the Mirantha Youth Development Project share the core value of the spirit of Ubuntu. That is in sharing resources and knowledge for the benefit of all.
The aims of the project are to provide life skills such as:
Computer Literacy and Preparations for Interviews for Employment Opportunities
Promotion of Food Security through starting home food gardens and teaching knowledge of permaculture. This is about the concept of utilizing land, resources, people and the environment in a manner that doesn’t produce any waste
HIV awareness campaigns and workshops
Fundraising to build a physical Youth Development Centre for school drop-outs
Getting to Imbali Safari Lodge
Most people fly on scheduled flights from either Johannesburg or Cape Town to Skukuza (SZK) or Hoedspruit (HDS) airports. As they are the shortest transfer time to the lodge. We say short but can be up to a 3 hour drive. If you are coming into Nelspruit Mpumalanga Airport (MQP), it is about a 4 – 4 and a half hour transfer time.
Guests will fly into the Manyeleti airstrip for charter flights adjacent to the concession where you will be collected by the lodge. Driving times from the lodge is approximately an hour.
Driving from Johannesburg will take about 7 hours with a short stop en route.
Imbali Safari Lodge Accommodation Rates
1st January – 31st December 2024: R10 532 per person sharing per night (R14 593 for single tent) 1st January – 31st December 2025: R 11,795 per person sharing per night (R 16,344 for single tent)
Children from 8 – 11 years pay 50% of the per person rate when sharing with two full paying adults. The full adult rate applies if occupying their own room. Or if sharing with one full paying adult. A maximum of two children under 12 years can share with parents. 12 years and older are considered as adults and accommodated in their own rooms. Therefore; pay full adult rates.
Rates are quoted per person per night and include: Accommodation, three meals, selected beverages (soft drinks, water, beer, selected wines & spirits), Two safaris daily and VAT at 15%
In addition, return complimentary transfers from either Skukuza or Hoedspruit Airport. This is subject to availability so it is important to book it early.
Rate Exclusions: Transfers not specified, premium brand beverages and gate entry fees
Imbali Safari Lodge Special Offers and Packages
Imbali Safari Lodge is a part of the Extraordinary Collection of lodges and hotels in Southern Africa. Create combination packages and get discounts or free nights. For example:
Long Stay Offers
Stay 5 nights or more at one or 2 of the below properties and save 5% on the total accommodation cost
Valid until 31st August 2024 and 1st April – 31st August 2025
5 Night Combination Packages
Spend 3 nights at The Cape Milner Hotel in Cape Town and 2 nights at Imbali Safari Lodge in the Kruger National Park. The ideal South Africa holiday package which is so flexible.
At the Cape Milner Hotel, you have a choice of either a Standard Room or a Luxury Room.
Imbali Safari Lodge and Cape Milner Hotel with Standard Room Package
Per Person Sharing
Single
1st April – 31st August 2024
R20 920
R29 413
1st September – 27th December 2024
R25 304
R35 983
3rd January – 31st March 2025
R 27,281
R 38,701
1st April – 31st August 2025
R 23,356
R 32,834
1st September – 27th December 2025
R 28,181
R 40,056
Imbali Safari Lodge and Cape Milner Hotel with Luxury Room Package
Per Person Sharing
Single
1st April – 31st August 2024
R22 000
R31 033
1st September – 27th December 2024
R27 404
R39 171
3rd January – 31st March 2025
R 29,347
R 41,860
1st April – 31st August 2025
R 24,543
R 34,613
1st September – 27th December 2025
R 30,487
R 43,566
Standard child policy is applicable Combination rates for groups available on request Rates include VAT at 15% Rates exclude transfers, conservation levy or gate entry fee for the lodges and other standard exclusions
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