Marataba Safari Lodge

Marataba, a 21,000-hectare (52,000-acre), privately managed section of the Marakele National Park, is uniquely situated where lush bushveld gives way to the Kalahari sands, in South Africa’s Limpopo Province.

As a contractual National Park, Marataba is one of South Africa’s most innovative conservation models. From the vision of an iconic president to the unique public-private partnership that exists today, we protect the area’s diverse flora and fauna through modern and hands-on conservation practices.

With almost 1,000 acres of wilderness for every guest bed, Marataba offers intimate game viewing experiences from one of four lodges and camps, each with their own character and charm.

Safari Lodge – where families come together – is on a plain at the foot of the mountains, while Mountain Lodge – a remote retreat – is on a hillside overlooking the Waterfall Valley.

Here, luxury is in the experience of life’s great treasures: space, a preserved natural wilderness and enriching human connections. Enjoy game drives with professional Field Guides, specialist hiking trails, sunset water safaris or a night under the stars in your own treehouse.

Glamping in one of Safari Lodge’s 15 luxury Tented Suites brings you closer to nature, without trading comfort for the experience. You might spot a passing elephant or giraffe right from your deck!

The lodge is a simple extension of the natural environment beyond its walls – natural, rich, and bold. If you sit quietly for long enough, you can feel the energy of the countless people who have made this place home for aeons.

And while Safari Lodge’s stone and canvas Suites may look ‘down to earth’, they are anything but basic, with all the modern features included.

Accomodation
The 11 two-sleeper Tented Suites are contemporary chic, but still manage to capture the essence of classic ‘out of Africa’. Each features a king-sized bed, fully-stocked minibar, freestanding bath, en-suite and outdoor showers, along with a shaded deck raised on stilts to make the most of the bush views.

Each of the four Family Tented Suites gives children their own en-suite bedroom. It’s just like home (only better!) with a bunkbed, ample toys and games, fun bath-time amenities, robes and slippers, and a spacious shower.

There’s plenty of room for everyone, and the separate, en-suite main bedroom gives parents more of their own space to feel right at home, too.

Tented Suite
Marataba Safari Lodge is a simple extension of the natural environment beyond its walls – rich, organic and patently magnificent.

Our fifteen stone and canvas luxury tents are anything but basic. Each has a king-sized bed, en-suite bathroom (including an oval bath you can languish in up to your chin), outdoor shower, craft bar and shaded viewing deck.

Family 
Each of the four suites includes a second children’s bunk-bed room kitted out just for them and with its own en-suite (including a shower). This section is separated from the main bedroom, giving parents (and kids) their own space. These suites are not on stilts to ensure the safety of our young guests.

Come Dine With Us
Food is part of the discovery of a new place, and at Marataba we promise it will be a very pleasurable pursuit! Dining, as much a part of your experience as the safari itself, brings you the culinary Big Five: Safari stop. Breakfast. Lunch. Afternoon tea. Dinner.

Our chefs give contemporary dishes a local twist to give you a memorable taste of this place. Paired with premium Cape wines, dining becomes its own discovery.

There’s something to be said for the setting too, with every seat the best in (and out of) the house. No matter your dietary preference or restriction, we’ll design your dishes around YOU.

Bush Breakfast
One of the surprises we love to spring on guests is a bush breakfast. Instead of back to the lodge, your field guide takes you to breakfast out on the reserve. Help yourself from the continental table and glasses of bubbly, while waiting on your order of a hot English breakfast.

Bush Picnic
To celebrate an occasion or as a special treat, Marataba is not shy on remarkable dining experiences to make it memorable. A favourite is our safari-chic picnic, with a basket containing a small feast and blankets and cushions laid out for you in the prettiest spot on the reserve.

Bush Dinner
While out on an evening safari, you might just come across a pop-up dinner… waiting for you. The fire has been lit, the tables have been laid, a barbeque-style three-course meal is being prepared, and the serving tables are filled with breads, salads, and vegetables. Shall we?

Boma Dinner
Sharing in a traditional barbeque-style feast in an African boma open to the sky… dining here transports you miles away from the every day. Gathered around the fire, our boma dinners get guests mingling, which tends to happen easily when you’re bursting with stories from safari.

Private Dining
Perfect for a birthday or anniversary – but sometimes spoiling your loved one, or yourself for that matter, is the only excuse you need. Seated on your private deck or alongside the pool, savour a delicious dinner and lift glasses of bubbly to life, love, and everything else.

Family Dining
Kids have their own menus of familiar favourites – and exciting dining experiences. Boma dinners include a kiddies’ pizza station, where they can build their own before joining their parents – or watching the outdoor movie next door. To be followed by chocolate sauce and ice cream!

Safari Stops
With all the fresh air and excitement, you’ll also find your appetite. Luckily there’s a safari stop not far off… Stretch your legs and take your pick from the hot beverages, juices, bubbly and gin, served alongside snacks, like quesadillas, tacos and roosterkoeke (grill cakes).

Celebrate With Us
It doesn’t get more ‘big occasion’ than an African safari, promising romance, adventure and an unforgettable time. There’s no better way to mark your occasion than by sharing a once-in-a-lifetime trip that’ll guarantee you and your partner or guests an unforgettable time – and a Marataba safari tops the bucket list.

Private dining, exclusive stays, tailored adventures and relaxation… we’ll make it everything you wish it to be – and more, with a few surprise spoils. All you have to do is send your invites and pack your bags, while we ensure it all comes together.

Your Celebration
Otherworldly magical and infinitely memorable, Marataba is the place to mark any occasion as extra special. Dining experiences, luxurious stays, and exclusive safaris promise you and your guests a complete spoil… and that’s all before our special treats – we love a good surprise!

Your Wedding
This immemorial land sets the scene for another tale as old as time… love. The magic of the game-filled plains and star-studded skies cannot be underestimated when the matters at hand are romance and devotion. A wedding here will be an experience you and your guests long remember.

Your Honeymoon
A honeymoon at Marataba offers the kind of laid-on luxury befitting the most memorable holiday of your life, at once giving you a taste of authentic Africa and indulgent living. Moments of romance and relaxation are a given, and a little more adventure promises excitement, too.

Relax & Unwind
Between the safaris, in-suite TheraNaka spa therapies and outdoor yoga are among the pleasures of a Marataba stay. Our location gives us a head start in the healing stakes: set in peaceful retreat, surrounded by the endless green of the Marakele – the colour of wellbeing.

In-suite spa therapies and yoga mats are on offer and, in complete privacy, you can leave the doors open, allowing the soundtrack of birdsong to stream in. This sense of contentment isn’t limited to massages and sun salutations – wholesome food, luxurious accommodation, and personal service complete the experience.

TheraNaka Spa
Treatments given by our expert therapists use natural and organic TheraNaka products. Between scents of aromatherapy oils, a light breeze and serene view, is a deeply immersive experience. You might like to begin with an hour’s Bespoke Body Experience, created especially for you.

Intuitive Therpists
Our signature massages, exfoliations, reflexology and facials are infused with traditional wisdom and performed by intuitive therapists. Chosen as much for their knowledge as for their personal rapport, they have a calming manner and knack for at once putting you at ease.

Yoga
You’ll find no better place to lay down your mat than on your private deck overlooking the reserve – here is space and time to focus on your practice. Grounded in nature, experience life at its simplest but most fundamental, and in so doing, you’ll rediscover your own true essence.

Nature Walks
To keep up your fitness and clear your head, these are opportunities to get away from the busyness and in step with a more natural pace of life. Our game drives include opportunities for short bush walks, while our specialist Marataba Trails will give you a few hours out in the wilderness.

Marataba Safaris
At Marataba it’s as if the modern world might never have happened; a land where nature’s way is the only one. With only four lodges and camps on this privately-managed conservancy of 21 000ha (51 890ac), guests are assured of a very personal safari experience.

It’s humbling being out here on your own, exploring the vast wilderness of mountains, plains and winding waterways. You’ll get within close range of Africa’s most impressive species. Viewing (and photo) opportunities are extraordinary!

Morning Safari
It’s in the cooler sunrise hours that the reserve’s animals are most active, begging to forage, hunt and make their way to the rivers and waterholes, while others return from a night on the prowl. Being up with them, you are party to a morning ritual that few other’s get to see.

Evening Safari
More than an opportunity to try and spot the animals that didn’t show themselves on the morning drive, this time of day brings out a whole other group of nocturnal creatures. As the light dims, it’ll be their gleaming eyes that give away their positions as your guide takes you closer to investigate.

Bush Walk
Part of the Morning Safari, our bush walks are a special chance to get off the vehicle and in touch with nature. Your expert guide will position you downwind of bigger game, who remain unaware of your presence, and call your attention to the smaller creatures often missed on drives.

Marataba Trails
Our trails put you in the thick of things, with routes that lead past watering holes, into forested gorges, to historical interest areas, and over mountain crests presenting Africa in all its Magnificence. Our expert guides will advise on routes based on your fitness and interests.

Miss Mara
Our morning and afternoon Miss Mara Water Safaris along the Matlabas offer a different perspective and change of pace. From your seat on the deck, enjoy drinks and snacks as the land and animals go by. And if you’re going to sail into an African sunset, this is the way to do it.

Under The Stars
Romantics and adventurers can discover the magic of a night out in Africa – in complete luxury.

Thabametsi is the newest (and most impressive) addition to the MORE Treehouses collection. Solar-powered and built over two levels, Thabametsi features an enclosed shower room, and bedroom, lounge and viewing decks – presenting the Waterberg and Marakele plains in all their wild expanse.

From here, relax assured that the animals remain at a safe distance and your field guide is on call should you feel you need them.

A Family Adventure
We’ll show your children the wonders of our beautiful world, encouraging them to discover and learn by having fun! As family people, we know that each child is unique, and shy or outgoing, creative, sporty or adventurous, we promise them the time of their lives!

With our Mack & Madi Kids’ Adventure experience, we have all bases covered – from family-friendly accommodations and dining, to specially organised kids’ activities and excursions – allowing your children to play, explore and just be kids, while you come together to share in some of life’s greatest adventures.

Our Eco Garden
Our Eco Garden is at the centre of the action as the kids’ base from which to explore and clubhouse taking fun up another gear. There’s a jungle gym; paddling pond; haybale archery; toys and games; arts and crafts; movie projector; beanbags and blankets; and a yard to run wild in.

Safari Club
Kids discover, create and express themselves, while being kept entertained (i.e. out of mischief). There’s everything from Miss Mara sailing to dress-up plays (with much more in between) to get excited about, before settling down for evenings of pizza making and starlight cinema.

M&M Crew
Mack & Madi experiences are led by our dedicated crew of field guides and childminders, while you relax assured they’ll take care of your kids like they were their own. They’ve been chosen as much for their nurturing nature as well as for their credentials, including first-aid training.

Family Stay
Family Suites at Safari Lodge include a children’s bunk bedroom, giving the kids (and you) your own space. It’s en-suite and thoughtfully kitted out for them, with toys and games, their own gown and slipper sets, bedside hot chocolate mugs, and storybooks to leave them dreaming of Africa.

Family Dining
Along with sleeping well, eating well makes for an enjoyable family safari. Meal times are something else to look forward to, with (healthy) dishes the whole family will find delicious; surprise location feasts; and treats…? Of course! Like build-your-own burgers and milkshakes – mm!

Giving Back
Experiences that not only educate, but also inspire and enrich – both our guests and our local communities. At the heart of what we do is creating opportunities and experiences to enrich lives – both yours, our guests’ and those of our local people.

The idea that a lodge can uplift a community isn’t new, but it is changing how we travel and many of the guests who come through our doors have a strong will to get involved. Take a Community Tour or Get Your Hands Dirty helping out with our development projects for a life-changing experience.

Get Involved
Get Your Hands Dirty to help us help Heuningvley Primary School. This rural school, just outside our conservancy, is the only one for miles and struggles with a serious lack of infrastructure. Build, paint, dig, plant, clean… Any small task you take on will make a difference here.

Community Tour
Drive through the rural areas to one of our most in-need projects, Heuningvley Primary School. You’ll meet some of the teachers and children (always excited to show visitors around), see the work we’re doing here, and gain more insight into the daily life of our local communities.

Purposeful Packing
When you Pack For A Purpose, you are giving others the experience of hope. The space you save in your luggage to bring with you a donation of much-needed supplies for our community school project goes a long way in helping us to secure a better future for the children here.

Rooms: 15

Price: from 968 EUR per night

Source: www.more.co.za