Mkulumadzi

Rebecca recently stayed here with her family and found it truly peaceful and exciting to be part of such pivotal wildlife conservation. The sense of adventure begins before even reaching camp because you'll do some true off-roading in the dense woodland before crossing the long, Jungle Book style bridge to be picked up by another safari vehicle and driven the final step of the way to be welcomed warmly by some of Africa's best lodge Managers, Dave & Tammy.

Located in the south of Malawi, Majete is an area of 70.000 hectares, part of Africa’s Great Rift Valley. The reserve is made up of mature miombo woodlands and granite topped hills that contrast with picturesque river valleys and lush riverine forest. For connoisseurs of wildlife many exciting encounters lie in store, with the chance to view many species including black rhino, leopard, lion, elephant, buffalo, eland, kudu, sable, suni, klipspringer, Lichtenstein’s hartebeest and zebra. Mkulumadzi is the ideal destination for your family holiday, having no age restriction and plenty of family friendly activities on offer. Easily accessed by road and air, this lodge is open all year-round. Kids and adults alike will enjoy seeing the bushbaby that visits camp most evenings!

Guests arrive by a footbridge suspended over the Mkulumadzi River. The lodge has a restaurant with indoor and outdoor dining, a lounge and terrace, a bar and shop, swimming pool, viewing deck and a lapa for evening campfires. The lodge has eight superb chalets, each with spacious living quarters and private viewing deck. The bush chalets are luxurious with contemporary furnishings, some crafted from locally-sourced materials. They are flooded with natural light, giving you the sense of being in the forest without compromising your comfort and privacy. Each chalet has a sloping vegetated roof planted with indigenous species such as succulents, aloes, shrubs and grasses. This minimises their impact on the environment and keeps them cool in the hot season.

Game drives and walking safaris are offered in the mornings and late afternoons, giving guests plenty of time to relax beside the pool, gaze at the resident bird population or listen to the grunt of hippos wallowing in the river. Afternoon tea is served on the terrace and on most nights dinner is served beneath the stars. From the seclusion of a comfortable hide overlooking a waterhole, guests can experience an excellent photographic opportunity with buffalo, elephant, black rhino, sable antelope and eland all regular visitors to the waterhole. Majete Wildlife Reserve is one of the outstanding success stories of African conservation. Granted protected status in 1955, it became the subject of extensive poaching in the 1980s and 1990s. But a concerted joint effort since 2003 by the African Parks Network and the Malawi government - including the reintroduction of endangered species - has turned it into a model of sustainable development and biodiversity. In 2012 Majete became Malawi’s only Big Five Park.