Madikwe Hills Private Game Lodge Review: An Unforgettable Safari Experience

Nov 06, 2025 0

Nestled in the malaria-free Madikwe Game Reserve in South Africa's North West province, Madikwe Hills Private Game Lodge offers a 5-star luxury experience in the heart of an untamed region, home to the Big Five. This all-inclusive retreat promises a superlative stay and memorable wildlife encounters.

Giraffes at Madikwe Game Reserve

Luxurious Accommodations and Amenities

Accommodation is provided in ten glass-fronted suites, each offering fabulous views of the surrounding landscape and stylishly appointed interiors. Suites boast private plunge pools and verandas, allowing guests to relax in privacy while enjoying the African bush. On-site facilities include a gift shop, library, and a stylish gym and health spa.

An internet connection is available for guest use. Children are welcome at this exciting destination and are catered for with specialised activities.

Suite with private plunge pool at Madikwe Hills

Unforgettable Game Drives

Madikwe Hills Private Game Lodge provides thrilling game drives for an unforgettable wildlife experience. This is a prime game viewing destination, and guests can opt for game drives with experienced and professional guides or exhilarating guided bush walks. Visitors rave about their exceptional safari experiences, praising the dedicated trackers and rangers who go above and beyond to ensure an outstanding adventure.

Safaris here are conducted by rangers with radios; if one spots a predator at the waterhole, they notify the other groups.

During one of the game drives, our Range Rover came across a herd of elephants. Alan and I appreciated the respect-and distance-Jaco gave the elephants. Jaco turned off the Range Rover’s engine. Alan and I took photo after photo as we waited for the elephants to walk on by.

Request experienced guides like Megan, Herman, Brian, Labo, Eric, or Benson for an exceptional safari experience.

The pace alternates between sitting patiently waiting for something to happen and a frenzied rush to reach a special sighting radioed in by another ranger.

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During our stay at Madikwe Hills Private Game Lodge, Alan and I enjoyed a suite that literally rambled through the rocks. No. 6 had a living area with fireplace and a large bedroom that looked out onto a private plunge pool. A flight of steps led from the dressing area to a bath with a shower carved into a boulder.

Culinary Delights

Guests can indulge in fine dining experiences. The lodge also provides thrilling game drives for an unforgettable wildlife experience. The quality of the cuisine and accompanying wines is top-class and all-in-all, the destination offers a superlative safari experience. Delicious meals are served with stunning views of the watering hole.

Why Choose Madikwe Hills?

Luxurious accommodations with private plunge pools
Delicious meals served with stunning views of the watering hole
Unforgettable game drives led by knowledgeable guides and trackers

Madikwe Hills Private Game Lodge is a stunning destination where guests are treated to exceptional service, luxurious accommodations with unique layouts and private plunge pools, delicious meals served with breathtaking views of the watering hole, and unforgettable game drives led by knowledgeable guides and trackers. The staff's genuine kindness and attention to detail ensure a memorable stay for visitors who rave about their experiences at this lodge.

Visitor Reviews

Here are some highlights from visitor reviews:

"We had an incredible time at Madikwe Hills. The lodge has a very relaxing atmosphere, all the staff were wonderful and made our stay very special. Our guide and tracker Francois and Jospeh were excellent! We saw so much in just 2 days."
"We stayed at Madikwe Hills Game Lodge for our honeymoon and it was nothing short of incredible. From the moment we arrived, the service was exceptional. We were warmly greeted by the entire team, all of whom were friendly, welcoming, and genuinely personable. The game drives were a true highlight, Brian and Charlie are an outstanding team. Their knowledge, passion, and professionalism made every drive unforgettable. Our room was immaculate. Spacious, private, and cleaned to perfection each day by Lena. Madikwe Hills exceeded all expectations. It was the perfect blend of adventure and indulgence- a once-in-a-lifetime experience we will treasure forever. Highly recommend to anyone looking for a truly magical safari experience. We can’t wait to come back."
"We had a fantastic stay, really special place, with views of all the animals at the waterholes, great atmosphere, fantastic game drives with our ranger Wayne and spotter Charly, who were able to spot multiple leopards. The rooms and food are top notch and we couldn’t have wished for better service. Hannes and team have really outdone themselves! 10/10"
"We were here on our honeymoon and we genuinely couldn’t have picked a better place. It was extremely well organized, relaxing and gorgeous views in all directions. The service went above and beyond, they anticipated our needs before we even knew we needed things! So many thoughtful touches, like on our last night we got back from dinner and they had prepared a bubble bath with rose pedals for us. There was regular visits from elephants everyday who would come right up to the lodge to drink the clean water by the troff off the pool. You could see so much wildlife like zebras, giraffes, impalas, and warthog all day long from the lodge. The safari guides were also incredible and highly experienced, we had Benson as the guide and Charlie as the spotter, and they both knew the jungle and the animals so well and made you feel comfortable as they know how to read and respect the animals behaviours to keep you safe whilst getting you extremely close to the animals. And that’s all before mentioning the food, which was 10/10 nourishing, delicious food for all meals. Some of the best food we’ve had on our entire South Africa trip, and they feed you constantly all day long. A once in a lifetime experience and you can’t do any better than Madikwe Hills for service, rooms, luxury and wildlife."
"Absolutely amazing experience! Very friendly and professional staff, beautiful room and outstanding service. Our guide and tracker were absolutely amazing, very informative."

Know Before You Go

Visit during the dry season (May-September) for optimal wildlife viewing as animals gather around water sources.
Pack warm clothing for early morning game drives as temperatures can be chilly.
Take advantage of the boma dinner experience for an enjoyable evening under the stars.

Location and Directions

Madikwe Hills Private Game Lodge is located in Madikwe Game Reserve, part of South Africa’s North West Province near the Botswana border. Directions from Johannesburg International Airport via Zeerust:

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From the airport, take the R24. Continue with the interchange where it joins the N3. Follow the Pretoria signs. Keep straight on this highway. Do not turn right onto the N1 to Pretoria.
From the N1 South Roodepoort (concrete highway), or Western Bypass heading South, take the M8 exit signposted Forteenth Avenue and then follow M47 / N14 signs.
At Tarlton, where the N14 intersects with the R24 at a crossroad, turn right taking the R24 signposted Rustenburg (which goes to Magaliesburg).
On the way out of Magaliesburg, fork left and take the R509 signposted Derby / Koster and follow the R509 all the way to Swartruggens. Please note that it is necessary to turn right in Koster, the signpost R509 Swartruggens is on the right hand side of the road in the middle of Koster.
At the T-junction just before Swartruggens, turn left onto the N4 signposted Swartruggens and then Zeerust.
In Zeerust, turn right at the third stop street into President Street, following the signpost R47 Gaborone / Madikwe Game Reserve. The First National Bank is on the corner where the signpost is. Follow the R49. This used to be the R505 north towards Gaborone for 85 km and look out for the Abjaterskop Gate into Madikwe which is on your right hand side. It is clearly signposted.
Allow at least three to four hours traveling time from Johannesburg to the gate. From Abjaterskop Gate to the lodge it is about 45 minutes. Please note that the speed limit within the reserve is 40 km per hour.
Once through the gate, follow the signs towards Derdepoort Gate. After 10.8 km the road splits, keep left. After another 15.8 km, turn left towards Madikwe Hills. After 2.4 km the road will split, keep left. From here it is 1.9 km to the lodge.

Check-in Details:

Normal Check-in: 15:00
Normal Check-out: 11:00

Madikwe Game Reserve: A Conservation Success Story

It’s strange to think Madikwe Game Reserve was once an expanse of degraded cattle ranches. In the early 1990s, Madikwe became one of the world’s greatest conservation successes when it was transformed into a wildlife reserve.

Back in the 1980s Madikwe was nothing but a vast stretch of clapped-out cattle country lying up against the Botswana border. Then it was found that wildlife-based tourism would generate 20 times more revenue than ranching, and so in 1991 it became a game park the size of the Isle of Wight.

The first step was to ring-fence it. The second was to stock it with wildlife, and Operation Phoenix, as it was called, brought in 8,000 animals of 28 species, including elephant, rhino, buffalo, lion, wild dog, giraffe, zebra and numerous antelopes - the world’s biggest-ever game translocation exercise.

Other animals, including leopard, were already there, so Madikwe became a genuine Big Five destination, and it is one of only two places in Africa where I have seen a caracal. Today there is nothing to remind you of Madikwe’s ranching past. blond grassland and rolling blue hills give the reserve a sense of enormous space and freedom.

Wildlife Highlights in Madikwe

The 750-sq-km Madikwe Game Reserve is quite simply one of South Africa’s most alluring destinations for those who want to see a good range of iconic wildlife in a short space of time.

Despite this, the wildlife viewing is absolutely superb. On our most recent visit, we saw countless elephant, white rhino, zebra and giraffe, along with half a dozen antelope species. saw cheetah and African wild dog on three occasions each, and were lucky enough to catch a mother and young leopard sunning on the rocks. Other carnivores we stumbled upon included spotted hyena, brown hyena, black-backed jackal, serval and African wild cat.

Here's a summary of the wildlife you can expect to see:

Species	Frequency
Elephant	Countless
White Rhino	Countless
Black Rhino	Easy to see
Zebra	Countless
Giraffe	Countless
Antelope	Multiple species
Cheetah	Frequently seen
African Wild Dog	Reliable pack
Leopard	Hit and miss
Lion	Near guaranteed sightings
Spotted Hyena	Common
Brown Hyena	Occasional
Black-backed Jackal	Common
Caracal	Rare
Serval	Occasional
African Wild Cat	Occasional

Madikwe is also gaining a reputation as a lion hot spot, with sightings near guaranteed these days, and it has an increasingly staggering number of elephants too.

In wildlife terms, the Big Five are relatively easy to see - I saw rhino, buffalo and elephant all drinking from the same waterhole at the same time on one wonderful late afternoon.

Malaria-Free Destination

Much is made of the fact that there’s practically no risk of catching malaria in Madikwe, a Big Five reserve just south of Gaborone. It’s malaria-free so it’s great for families with young children.

Madikwe is a malaria-free reserve about five hours’ drive from Johannesburg.

Lodges in Madikwe

Madikwe very much caters to an exclusive market. Most lodges are very luxurious and priced accordingly, though generally better value than equivalent accommodation in Sabi Sand and other private reserves bordering Kruger National Park.

I have stayed at several top-end lodges here over the years, including Madikwe Safari Lodge and Madikwe River Lodge, and they were all wonderful. For those on a tighter budget, however, the one notable standout is no-frills Mosetlha Bush Camp.

The only way to visit this 750-sq-km wilderness is to stay in one of the 31 all-inclusive luxury lodges, which are dotted around the reserve. is the sumptuous Madikwe Safari Lodge, which offers a real bush experience without compromising on luxury mod cons such as air conditioning and plunge pools. The large swimming pool next to the busy waterhole is the place to be in the middle of the day. Another favorite of mine is the well-priced Mosetlha Bush Camp.

There is an excellent range of top-notch luxury lodges here, and they won’t set you back as much as some of Sabi Sands’ finest. My personal favourite is the colourful Jaci’s Tree Lodge.

I spent a wonderful night at the eco-lodge Mosetlha Bush Camp, which is more basic and earthy than the other lodges, but highly atmospheric.

Conveniently located between Sun City and the Botswana border, exclusive lodges scatter the reserve’s 750 sq km of bushveld. The five-star lodges are expensive, but well worth it if this is your only opportunity to experience an African safari. Most operate on an all-inclusive basis, offering a day or two of dawn and dusk wildlife drives and dinner under the stars.

Address: Madikwe Game Reserve, Abjaterskop GateMadikwe Game ReserveSouth Africa

To meet the Big Five and experience the wilderness in luxury, there’s nowhere quite like Madikwe.

is relatively little visited, despite being so accessible. It has an appealing, frontier feel.

There’s inspiration all around: the scenery includes some dramatic escarpments, the wooded savannahs are great for watching elephants, lions and, with luck, wild dogs (the reserve was painstakingly stocked in the 1990s) and there are some excellent, ethically designed and managed lodges. It’s not possible to drop in for the day - you have to stay overnight - but this is no hardship, since the lodges provide a fantastic safari experience for a good deal less money than the places in the luxury safari belt.

This popular private reserve on the edge of the Kalahari is home to large concentrations of animals, including all of the Big Five.

Madikwe Game Reserve is an incredible place. Although provincially managed, Madikwe operates like the prestigious Sabi Sand Game Reserve and wildlife viewing is as good, if not better. Visitors are taken on twice-daily game drives in open safari vehicles in search of the Big Five and much more. The reserve is located at the Botswana border and it tends to be hot and dusty. The sparse vegetation makes for great unobstructed wildlife viewing and off-road driving brings you up close to all the usual iconic animals. On our last visit, we managed to have good sightings of all of the Big Five as well as cheetah and wild dog within 24 hours of arrival. It really doesn’t get much better than that.

Main Lodge Exterior at Madikwe Hills

When Alan and I arrived at Madikwe Hills Private Game Lodge, we had to look twice. Perched on a hillside among boulders and Tamoti trees, the South African luxury lodge seems to melt into its surroundings. Wooden walkways that weave around boulders and through the trees connect ten suites to the main lodge where dinner is served on a dining table set with china and crystal.

Although game drives dominated the day, food was a close second with meals rivaling any fine restaurant. And the final touch? On the last night, we returned from the game drive to find flickering candles lining the staircase to the claw-foot tub where a hot bubble bath waited. I like ending my day’s adventure with soothing luxury.

While at Madikwe, we watched a female lion stalk a wildebeest, followed an elephant herd, listened to the roar of a lion claiming his territory and learned the importance of dung beetles from our ranger, Jaco.

On another morning game drive, Jaco, stopped at a hillside to point out an elderly male elephant with a bedraggled ear and one broken tusk roaming in solitude. Was this grassy hillside near the Botswana border the equivalent of an elephant retirement home? Did this prove that elephants really do separate themselves from the herd when it’s time to pass on?

A safari is an opportunity to observe wild animals in their environment.

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I only stopped over briefly at Madikwe en route from Jo’burg to Botswana and did not really have immensely high expectations for sightings on what would be our first day in the bush. However, we set off on the game drive the next morning and almost immediately I spotted rhino spoor. Seems that this is almost a guarantee at Madikwe and we spent some time watching the rhinos grazing around a waterhole.

On the way back we had several other good sightings but the unforgettable highlight (especially for my father who had never seen wild leopard before) was surely our sighting of a female leopard and her adolescent cub high on a rock kopje above us. Not bad for day 1 before breakfast!