Madikwe River Lodge

Location:

Madikwe River Lodge is situated in the North Eastern part of Madikwe Game Reserve overlooking the scenic Groot Marico River.

About the Lodge: 

This 3-star lodge is ideally positioned on the banks of the Groot Marico River and surrounded by lush riverine forest.  

crossing the bridge to the main dining area

A wooden bridge connects the car park to the main lodge building, which houses a small curio shop, two seating areas, steps leads up to the TV and games room. The large fireplace that heats both the lounge and dining area, and the tea and coffee station. 

Early morning coffee at the coffee and tea station

The split level wooden deck leads to an outside seating area with views of the river and another wooden bridge takes you over the river to the boma. There is a swimming pool next to the wooden deck....

stunning view from the wooden bridge leading from main lodge to boma

Just off the main building along a gravelled pathway is a lovely rock pool.

Wi-Fi is free and available in all the rooms and the restaurant. 

The relaxing Rock pool

Food & Drinks:

Meals at Madikwe River Lodge, are served in a number of venues; the cosy dining room, the larger dining room or in the boma. 

Breakfast with Charles in the cosy dining room with a warm fireplace going

Picture of the large dining area taken from the TV lounge

Meals are served either buffet style or off a set menu with two choices as a main meal. All our meals were tasty and well-presented, you will never go hungry.

All drinks are for your own account except for the ones on game drives.

lunch in the large dining room over looking the river

creme brulee

High tea snacks served before afternoon game drive

Our best was a lovely boma dinner of eland steak, wors, pap, a good variety of salads and vegetables then a delicious cheese cake to top it off.

Boma dinner with a wide choice to choose from

Jen getting warm by the boma fire

Happy faces- the staff are always smiling and happy to help

Everyone in our group enjoyed the boma dinner and had a great time.

soup being dished up during our boma dinner

Madikwe River Lodge has a lovely bush venue where we had a wonderful bush breakfast. They also do bush dinners... 

Our Bush Breakfast at Madikwe River Lodge

Accommodation at Madikwe River Lodge:

Perched on the river bank are 16 thatched chalets; they are nicely spaced on either side of the main building. 1-9 on the left and 10 to 17 on the right…there is no number 13.

Chalet number 1 at Madikwe River Lodge

All the chalets are split level with a separate lounge with a bar fridge/ tea and coffee station which leads onto a private balcony with views over the Groot Marico River.

Inside view of chalet

The bedroom has either twin beds or king size beds, en-suite bathroom, with bath and shower overlooking the river, ceiling fan and hairdryer. 

Inside one of the chalets

chalet bathroom

We had some fruit and a complementary bottle of water in our room on arrival, which was a very nice touch.

The honeymoon chalet is on the far end of the pathway, it has everything that the other chalets have plus an outdoor shower.

The out -door shower at chalet 17

Activities:

There is always something to photograph in and around the lodge.

Green Wood Hoopoe-feeding its young in the nest-image taken at River Lodge

Vervet Monkeys-image taken from the bridge at Madikwe River Lodge

Lions lying on the bank opposite our chalet 17 at Madikwe River Lodge

African Finfoot- image taken at Madikwe River Lodge just past our chalet

Game drives.......

Caroline and Julian at the back with Sandra & Wolfam in front of them

Young Giraffe behind its mom-image taken while on game drive at Madikwe River Lodge

There are two game drives per day - an early morning and a late afternoon, both drives will stop for either a coffee or sun-downer break in the bush.  

Our winter coffee stop with Charles

Jen and Gabarone at a coffee stop with an elephant in the back ground

Some of the viewpoints will provide excellent opportunities for sunset or sunrise photographs...

Another stunning viewpoint-Guys View

Sightings on our 3-night stay:

We had some good game drives with our guide Jerry and we met some very nice people from Germany, England and Scotland at the lodge.

The other Madikwe River Lodge vehicle in the background watching the lion

Chris and Mandy with the cheetah

Lion eating on his kill

We saw lions with a kill and lions with cubs on another kill, brown hyena, a pack of wild dogs, white rhinos, elephant, spotted hyena and most plains game.

Our second safari to River Lodge

the cheetah looking right at us in perfect lighting

On our second trip we had Charles as our field guide and you can read more about our experience with him here.  

We have stayed at 12 of the Madikwe lodges and Madikwe River Lodge is one of our favorites. In order for your safari to be enjoyable a few things need to come together such as:

• Food
• Property layout
• Staff member's attitudes, such as chef, GM, owner.   
• Comfort on the game viewing vehicle
• Safari field guides (this is the big one!) and you can read more about our good, bad and ugly field guide experiences at Madikwe. 

Just because a lodge is 5-star does not mean that everything will be 5-star! Some of the 5-star lodges did not provide tasty food and some of them had terrible field guides.

We enjoy lodgeswhere there are efficient, humble people who go out of their way to please their guests, especially wildlife photographers who have special requests.

Our third safari to River Lodge

Lioness on a buffalo kill

After our third safari to the lodge we wrote an article in our newsletter about our experiences at the lodge, which you can download here. 

Our fourth safari to Madikwe River Lodge

always carry your camera with you- this mom kept bring food to her baby

On our fourth visit we were interviewed by Gaborone, the person who does the marketing for the lodge, and you can read our interview here.  

Our fifth safari to Madikwe River Lodge

On our fifth safari to the lodge (yes we love visiting this fantastic lodge!) we spent time at an elephant carcass and saw both lions and hyenas feeding on it.

Lioness on elephant carcass

The next day the spotted hyenas where on the carcass

You can read our fifth-visit trip report here.

Thank you to Cynthia (the acting GM) and her team - we look forward to seeing you all soon!

For more information on Madikwe River Lodge or to make your reservation please contact the lodge as follows:

Telephone: +27 (0)14 778 9000

Fax: +27 (0)14 778 9020

Email: lodge@madikweriverlodge.com 

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