Buffelsdrift Game Lodge

Fabulous tents. Friendly staff. Superb restaurant and stunning location.

Small pool area which was over-run with rather noisy children! Similarly, dinner in the restaurant was diminished a bit by noisy young children. ( I would add I have my own kids and grandkids and love to holiday with them; I’m just not sure this is the place? Maybe an adult only section for dining?)

The staff were incredible, especially the dinner staff. Xavier is an excellent manager and the waiters are friendly and kind. They are very far and few between though, So service takes time. The food was also incredible, but be prepared to wait over an hour for your food to arrive.

No game drives are included in the price. Game drives also don’t give you access to all animals. If you want to see an elephant, you need to pay extra to go on an extra elephant safari. If you want to see lions, you won’t see them on the game drive and you need to pay extra to view them. If you want to see cheetahs, you won’t see them on the game drive, you need to pay to go on a different tour. You pay for a game drive, but won’t see any elephants, lions or cheetahs. If you want to see them you need to book 3 additional tours.

Buffelsdrift is the most amazing place, a totally stunning setting, we had an amazing time! It offers the fantastic safari excursions, but also the pool and spa for a total chill out. The staff were so friendly and the rooms were beautiful, we also regularly had Nyala wandering around the veranda, so lovely! Just sitting in the restaurant we saw hippos, giraffes, elephants ... a wonderful experience from start to finish!!! Would definitely go back, the drive there was beautiful and we flew back to Cape Town from George airport, so the travel options were great too.

The only thing I could possibly say is that the wifi was good for most things, but streaming shows was patchy ... what can you expect in such a remote, natural environment? To be honest the views were enough to keep me entertained!

The set up was exceptional- the design -and layout of the Reserve was well thought out. The care and enthusiasm the guides showed for the animals. The ‘tent’ accommodation was excellent - all mod cons incl aircon; and especially liked the outside shower. Access and availability of game drives. Food and service was good - egg cooker for breakfast and menu choices for dinner excellent. The mission to protect and save from extinction was good; and their efforts to create sustainability e.g. solar panels on car parking canopy etc. We enjoyed 3 game drives - cheetah experience; Bush Drive; Night Safari - all 3 were excellent; but the most memorable had to be the Cheetah Experience - walking the last 100 mtrs to be within 30 mtrs of the female cheetah and her 3 cubs.

None of these were B’drift fault but our stay coincided with one of their hottest days we have experienced - 44degreesC - and this together with load sharing restrictions made that day very uncomfortable. The other was the number of children a lot of whom were noisy and unruly - with parents unable or unwilling to control them. This was prevalent at the pool and the Dining Room. We perhaps made the mistake of staying during Hslf Term. A shower for the swimming pool would be good. And whilst the aircon was good, we’d have liked a ceiling fan too.

The tents are very luxurious with a very comfy bed, airconditioning, bathroom and even a secluded outdoor shower. The terrain itself gives out on a lake where you can spot hippo's! In the park itself you have wild nyala's roaming around which all in all makes it a great experience for staying there. You can do a lot of activities and drives starting from the main camp as well.

Unfortunately we had a rainy day when we planned two safari drives. Though weather can't be controlled, I believe they should not have let the bush drive or other safari continue in this rain (you don't see that much animals then, only the big ones that can't hide). Apart from that the breakfast was quite basic, a plus point that there was someone preparing eggs in many different ways on the spot for you, but apart from that not too much choice.

We had a very pleasant stay in extremely hot conditions! Thank goodness for air conditioning in our tent! The accommodation is of a very high standard. We had tent 5 which was right on the watering hole and beside the swimming pool which was the perfect location. Ear plugs are provided for a very good reason! The bird life and hippos will give you quite the early morning wake up call. We used their laundry service which was a god send. The restaurant is good but not exceptional. The game drive again was good but unless you book the separate activities you aren’t going to see as much as you might hope. All in all a good experience with wonderful staff.

We didn’t like the safari model.

We’ve never stayed in a luxury tent like this before …. Amazing. The bathroom was beautiful, the outside shower was so cool, the bedroom was lovely with zip down mosquito proof windows looking out over the beautiful landscape and if that wasn’t enough your own outside decked area to chill out on. We had a tent set back above the massive water hole. Perfect as it meant we could sit out looking down on the activity in/across the water hole (hippos, giraffes on the far bank and loads of birds), plus across to the other bank where we saw springbok and other animals wandering. Plus the nyala wander right past the tents into Buffelsdrift and are so pretty, plus tortoises munching away on the lawn area together with the nyala. The landscaped areas are beautiful with water features. There is also a swimming pool which we didn’t use, but looked great very inviting positioned right in front of the water hole. The restaurant is set above the waterhole so at breakfast you can look down into the water and see turtles and loads of big fish. In the evening enjoy a drink gazing out over the waterhole watching the sunset and the moon appear enjoying your dinner. It is perfectly located for other activities including the Cango Caves (definitely worth a visit), plus the Swartberg Pass with views that are just wow and wow. Though the pass is a single lane gravel track with a sheer drop and no safety barrier so may not appeal to all! Buffelsdrift Game lodge exceeded our expectations and will always be a memorable stay. Thank you to all the lovely staff for making it such a great stay.

The property is lovely and the animal experiences they have were great too. Definitely do the elephant experience - we enjoyed it a lot more than the one we did at Knysna Elephant park. We really liked our tent - was perfect for our family of 4. The team at the restaurant was very friendly and accommodated our requests / customisations. They had great vegetarian options in their menu too. Special shout out to Tiaan (who helped us a lot before our stay and during it). Also - Russel - who seemed to be doing everything - from experiences to chauffeuring us around. Location was great - 5 mins from Cango Wildlife Ranch and 20 mins from Cango Caves.

The heaters in Tent 26 were not very functional. They kept cutting off and starting up again as a cooler. Didn’t seem well maintained since they were missing blades too. The Wi-Fi didn’t function well in our tent too. All fixable. But we’d definitely visit again.

High standard tents in a very nice setting with beautiful surroundings (nice view towards the lake and the mountains). Great staff that were helpful. Well built tent with beautiful outdoor shower! Many options for excursions. Close to George Airport (1 hour) but it felt "hours" away. We can particularly recommend the Meerkat safari, where we had the chance to see the Meerkat family close to the safari car.

Maybe it goes without saying that the AC didnt manage to keep the tent in a good temperature when we had 40 C in the shadow, ie an extreme heatwave... From looking at the pictures of the resort, we got the impression that the hippos stayed in the lake just by the resort (ie the waterhotel). Upon arriving we learnt that they typically live in a nearby lake where they have closer to the grass. Realizing that the hippos are wild animals, we understand that you cant force them to stay by the hotel but some of the pictures was a bit misleading as you needed to take a tour to see them.

Easy to find and access, All staff were great and very friendly. Waterfront tent was absolutely amazing and just what we wanted for the special stay. So many great activities on offer we didn't have time to do them all. Highly recommend the Meekat safari and night drive. Great location for sightseeing too. Loved Safari Ostrich camp! Food was delicious and we loved our breakfasts and dinners. Felt totally spoilt and will definitely be back with the rest of the family.

It was a little tricky to fit our breakfast and dinner in with the various safaris. Restaurant staff were great and stayed open specially for us when we were late back from night drive so we could have our dessert.