Honeyguide Tented Safari Camps

Me and my girlfriend visited Honeyguide Mantobeni for 3 nights in May 2024. I highly recommend staying at this camp. The Manyeleti is awesome, we spotted all the animals we could imagine (big 5, cheetah, wild dog). The camp & tents are beautifull and comfortable. They go out with 4 vehicles, our jeep was never fully packed. The pool is very nice and often elephants come to drink from the pool, you do need to keep your distance from them ofcourse! Also the camp is unfenced, this gives you the real experience! Sometimes there is an elephant in front of your tent, so you have to wait to get to your tent. The food was the best we've had in South Africa. Every day you can choose from the menu what you want for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Drinks are affordable. Also no kids at this camp, that's a huge plus for us!

You can't go past your first ever African safari. That being said, Dan was the most passionate & enthusiastic guides on all the safari's we did over the 5 countries visited. Maybe viewing the big 5 helped but we heard many a good comment about Honeyguide Mantobeni while staying here. A good alternative to the big name parks in the Kruger region this camp offers great game viewings, spacious tents with hot running water & electric blankets, filtered water & provided bottles, plentiful food, structured days & lovely staff. You can't go past the unfenced camp to see elephants & other wildlife wandering through. Amazing! Food was from a choice of 3 selections daily & there was a well stocked bar. Boma night was wonderful!

Our most recent six night stay at Mantobeni in early June 2024 was our 4th stay at this camp and once again, we had a wonderful time. There is not too much more to add to what is covered in my previous reviews of this property. Very little in terms of the guest experience had changed from last year which in my opinion was a positive. Unfenced, wild, immersive and as their moniker goes, ‘closer to nature’ which is just how we like it on safari. Our tent was perhaps beginning to show signs of wear and tear (zipper/shower pressure) but the general standard of accommodation, the food, the incredible staff and the reserve itself, were all as good as we remembered. Our guide this year was ‘Twice’, who we got along great with and who looked after us well while also ensuring to get us into position to experience some wonderful sightings during our 12 game drives with him. I would humbly suggest Honeyguide look into supporting their guides further by revisiting their current policy of not employing trackers to assist the guide. This was a feature at their camps pre-COVID, one which is once again commonplace at the majority of Greater Kruger lodges and camps and a feature which makes not only aids the guides but which elevates the overall guest experience. That being said, we still did enjoy some exceptional game viewing in the Manyeleti again, which if pushed, would stand as my favourite reserve ascetically in the Greater Kruger area including Sabi Sands. We managed to spot the ‘magnificent 7’ within only 7 game drives and went on from there to witness multiple other memorable and varied sightings across a multitude of landscapes and different areas of the concession thereafter. A big reason guests stay at Mantobeni, particularly in the dry winter season is for the Elephant interactions at the swimming pool. This aspect or feature certainly did not disappoint as the Ellies arrived frequently, often in numbers, day and night to drink. A more important aspect and reason why we always return to Mantobeni, is because of the staff. In my experience they are all simply wonderful in every aspect and make it so we truly feel like we come home to an extended family each time we visit. This not only adds to the enjoyment of our stays and our experience but it provides an immediate sense of comfort and contentment that we do not experience at many other safari lodges and properties. It was again wonderful to spent time btw game drives with Brilliant, Michael, Mavis, Mumsy, Ranny, and Previous as well as meet some newer members of the Mantobeni family. I truly hope Honeyguide and Albatross are continuing to support and uplift their staff at every opportunity because they are an absolute asset to the company and should always be viewed with that in mind and treated as such. Quite frankly, alongside the beauty and wonder of the Manyeleti reserve itself, the staff are what makes our stays at Mantobeni so special and memorable. If you would like a more lengthy endorsement then look back and read my previous reviews of this property. It is a great value hidden gem in a world class game reserve. The best endorsement I can give is that we have been on 20 something safaris and we will once again return to Mantobeni for a 5th stay when next visiting the Greater Kruger area.

My wife & I visited Kruger in May for 19 days & stayed at 5 lodges starting from the Hoedspruit airport. Of the 5 we loved Honeyguide the most by far and preferred Khoka Moya over Mantoben a bit more, though both were excellent. If you don't want to be with kids, there was only 1 during our 4 day stay & Mantoben had more teenagers. The highlights were elephants visiting the camp many times especially afternoon & drinking from the pool gave me tons of photos. You can get into the pool & get pretty close so it was just as good as a game drive. The buffet food gave lots of choices & ask for sparkling water for lunch or dinner, free. Pool and lounge chairs were nice. The whole area iarge & being unfenced there is often an elepahnt on premises! This was amazing for us. The game drive hours were good for winter: 630am and 3:30pm for 3 hours each. Other lodges had later hours (like 4 or 4:30pm) so you end up in the dark most of the drive which is a waste in my opinion. This is just May with very short days & very freezing mornings. I would not go in May again for these reasons. (It did dreach 80 degrees by afternoon so pool was always an option if you dont mind very cold water.) Tents were nice with king size bed & a heater which felt so good during cold nights. The game drives were excellent with Leighton our guide as we saw the big 5 in 2 days! No exceptions, including rhino & leopard & also cheetah. He is not just good but he knows the animal sounds and prints & will speed off road right to the sighting. Then they radio the other cars so there is that communication. Try to ask for him if possible. We also had a good deal with some promo they were doing. So good price, great guide, food & tent. And for us the amazing elephants visiting the pool to drink out of! 100% recommend this place for 4 days & then go to their sister camp 5 km away, Khoka Moya and spedn 3 days there for similar experince.

What an amazing experience!!! The staff at Mantobeni Camp made our stay so special and Michael was an amazing guide!! We stayed for 5 nights which in hindsight may have been too long but we enjoyed it nonetheless. There is a lot of downtime in between game drives and as the weather was so hot, we were not able to stay in our tents, perhaps have a nap in between drives, because the tents get so hot. So we just lounged by the pool where elephants came to drink on a daily basis. There is also no wifi in the tents but to be honest, the time we did spend in the tents (to sleep mainly) we were not interested in being on our devices and just slept in preparation for the next morning’s game drive. We slept so comfortably in the tents - I was very pleasantly surprised as I normally have trouble sleeping in new places. The bed was huge, the pillows were amazing, the bedding clean and smelled fresh and the mosquito net was set up every night by the staff so when we returned to the tent after dinner everything was all set up. We managed to see all of the big 5 during our stay and other equally amazing and fascinating animals. All thanks to our guide Michael who is so knowledgeable and passionate about what he does. He really did make our experience that much better. I appreciate their way of operating during safari. They do not overcrowd the animals and the different lodges respect each other and take turns to allow their guests to view the animals. So everyone gets equal time. They have a real respect for the place and the animals which I love. The food was also really good. My only “complaint” (if you can call it that) was that the lighting during dinner is so dim that I could hardly see what I was eating. I understand why they do this. It is a natural environment and having bright lights disturbs the environment - and the elephants who still come to drink from the pool even at night. So it’s really such a minor thing that it’s barely worth mentioning but I have in the spirit of honestly. I will definitely be coming back! This was our first proper safari experience and man was it epic!