So lots of people think that a safari is set being within the bush seeing as many large animals as you’re able to.  Yet there are such a lot of stunning little places which don’t into that mould. White Elephant Safari Lodge in northern KwaZulu Natal is one such place.

i latterly visited the lodge with my family after spending time in Cape Vidal (see recent post below).  It’s quite your time since I had visited White Elephant and that i was keen to determine what had changed.

In a nutshell, all that I had initially loved concerning the lodge remains: the glorious friendly staff, the stunning settler homestead carefully restored to its colonial glory, a number of historical mementos and old photographs, great food and naturally the attractive panoramic vistas over Lake Jozini (which isn’t actually a lake because it was damed within the mid 20th century).

But as I said, this was not a ‘tick off the large Five’ kind of safari experience, which such a lot of everyone is searching for, or think that they’re searching for…So where does a lodge like White Elephant Safari Lodge slot in? If you’re planning your first safari in Africa, then i’d definitely combine  somewhere like White Elephant with a another safari lodge, both of the non-public game lodges of the Greater Kruger Park and even some of the ‘Big Five’ KwaZulu Natal lodges.

So why would do have two safari experiences in a single trip? Because then you definately get a more holistic bush experience and at White Elephant Lodge,  you can even relax and feel that you’re on a vacation and never only a safari.

Yes, it has elephant (in good quantities), white rhino in addition to plentiful general game reminiscent of giraffe, zebra, impala, warthog, waterbuck, however doesn’t have predators akin to lion or cheetah. (It does have leopard but then leopard are notoriously elusive to identify…) So your game drives are relaxed experiences enjoying being out within the bush, the beautiful scenery, the good birding and the overall game. It won’t be the adrenalin rush of witnessing a lion kill or wild dogs at the hunt (see a number of my other posts for that!)

But when you have time to spend 3 or 4 nights here (and their year-round special of four nights for the cost of 3 makes this easier to do), then you definitely will really enjoy an intimate bush experience, and feel like you’ve had a vacation.

What White Elephant might lack in predators, it greater than makes up for in its varied activities. In addition to morning and afternoon game drives, you can too prefer to take a game walk, to trace rhino taking walks , to head ‘elephanting’ – more on that later – canoeing on Lake Jozini or enjoy a languorous sunset cruise at the lake. In between, you may relax on your beautifully appointed tented suite or round the rimflow pool with its views over the lake below. You may also take a picnic lunch to their hide and spend a number of hours reading your book and sorting out what involves drink from the waterhole. So there’s good enough to maintain you happily occupied for several days.

My suggested itinerary could be to begin with a safari inside the Kruger for say 3 nights after which head south through Swaziland (staying overnight) to White Elephant Lodge for three-4 nights. From there you may head to the beach either to Thonga Beach Lodge or to St Lucia/Cape Vidal before heading south to Durban and maybe onto Cape Town?   

Elephanting & the distance for Elephants Project

We much enjoyed spending the morning doing their ‘elephanting’ activity with their resident elephant researcher. It was fascinating to get the research perspective on elephants – to be told how they do their research and to hitch them on a monitoring drive. We also visited their research centre and watched an extraordinarily inspiring film in regards to the translocation of the elephants to White Elephant Lodge from the Kruger National Park back inside the late 1990’s. It was immensely interesting to determine how much work this sort of translocation involved. It was also gratifying to peer that from the initial 17 elephants that have been relocated back in 1997, there at the moment are about 50+ elephants within the 14,000ha Pongola Game Reserve. Elephanting just isn’t a game activity for everybody because it is pretty in-depth but my family of teenagers and one 10 year old certainly enjoyed it.

In Summary: Who would prefer White Elephant Lodge?

•    People wanting yet another variety of wildlife experience after the relative rush of game drives within the Kruger – here the emphasis is on slowing down, assimilating the entire new information and gaining a broad appreciation of the bush.
•    People desirous to combine “bush” and “beach” as from White Elephant Lodge, it’s only 2-3 hours and you’ll be at a beach lodge at the Indian Ocean
•    Keen birders because the birding on this far northern portion of sub-tropical KwaZulu Natal is superb
•    People that enjoy learning about hands-on conservation
•    Finally those who wish to enjoy a vacation inside the bush, and never only a safari. At White Elephant Lodge you’ll be able to combine game drives with sunset boat cruises. You are able to do as much or as low as you adore without feeling the pressure to head on every game drive.

Check out a number of my other related posts on KwaZulu Natal
Thonga Beach Lodge
Turtle Tracking
Cape Vidal – Bush & Beach in a single day

Contact us if you want us to devise a safari with you…