Andover Nature Reserve, Mpumalanga hotel rooms at the Independent

"Beautiful hotel with stunning rooms and real sense of luxury. The pool and grounds are so tranquil and calm and everything is immaculate The staff are attentive and professional and the setting is beautiful with giraffe and zebra roaming around - so lovely. The restaurant is gorgeous. The only tiny bit of feedback is that the restaurant staff got things a bit confused for us and forgot some of the food and got the courses mixed up so the children got their main courses while the adults were served the starter so then had to wait ages for their pudding while we had the rest of the meal, and the side orders of vegetables never materialised but overall we had a wonderful stay "

"Start with the good things...the setting is beautiful and the receptionist was very kind. The roads were well maintained and parking was easy. The place has a lot of potential. The disappointing issue was that the Expedia listing is not accurate and the owners were completely non-responsive. The restaurant is not open as described in the listing (breakfast is provided, though). Also, the tent I booked said it had a private pool. That was not the case at all. The listing for both tents listed a private pool but it was only available to one of them. That would not have been bad if the owner had given me the courtesy of a response. When I brought it up, they ignored my message. I know they read it from the read receipt. Later, when the power went out, I notified them. No response until morning when they curtly informed me of the time it came on (just maybe 10 minutes later). Coincidentally, I was fully aware of that time and didn't intend my message as a complaint. I felt they were offended by it since they didn't respond until 8 hours later. Finally, the 3 spiders in my sheets were the last straw. It was a tent, so maybe understandable, but I did not feel confident that I found them all. I checked out early and they obviously did not offer a refund. I did notify Expedia of the listing discrepancies and they attempted to contact the owners with no success. Beautiful place, but know what you are getting. As an experienced traveller, this is the first negative review of my life."

"We loved our stay at Mantobeni. The whole experience was very special and unique. Our tent was comfortable and atmospheric and the food excellent. We loved the drives each day and saw some incredible animals and birds. Special shout-out to Brilliant, our guide. He was very knowledge and kind."

"You couldn’t ask for a better safari lodge! The room was spacious and comfortable, the food was good and the game drives were absolutely amazing!"

"The cherry on top of the cake was the leopard resting in the tree after he ate it's prey!!! Magnificent!!! Once in a lifetime experience!!! The lodge fantastic!! The game drives superb, service top! What else can I say, all fabulous!!"

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"Clean room, excellent staffs"

"The first thing to note was that I was not informed that my room would not be near the lodge. As a solo traveler, that would’ve been very important information to know that I am not near any help if I needed it. In addition, One cannot just leave the log their lodging because you’re located in a nature reserve and it isn’t safe so you’re pretty much a prisoner at your room and you are dependent on somebody picking you up in order to get you somewhere the room itself was fine. The airport shuttle worked perfectly. The staff was hit or miss. The person in charge, Musa, was a very odd fellow. He seemed to stare and was very slow to both move and respond to questions. He did not make me feel at ease in any way, and in my opinion, should definitely not be the face of your property. The rest of the staff, while friendly, were not particularly professional. They asked personal questions and their English was not very good."

"If you're looking for a wonderful African experience, Honeyguide Khoka Moya Camp is great. The tent experience with wild animals steps away, the two three hour safaris every day, and the relatively small number of campers makes for a great time."