We stayed at Tshukudu for 12 nights and we loved every single minute of it. Words can’t explain how much the experience meant to us; in fact, now we are home again it almost feels like it was a dream!
There were many aspects to our stay that made it so special, but the first to mention has to be our guide JR. From the first drive we knew we had got very lucky; his passion for his job, Pilanesberg and all of the animals in the park was immediately clear. Every drive we learnt something new about the animals, plants and park itself, and the extent of JR's knowledge was seriously impressive. We had a mix of drives, covering different areas of the park and seeing new sights all the time, with up to 4 other guests with us (a few drives were just us two). JR did a fantastic job meeting everyone’s expectations which is no easy job when you have some guests that have already been on many drives and others who are completely new. We can’t thank him enough – if you are reading this JR, you know how much we appreciated everything.
We stayed in one of the standard rooms and it was lovely: everything was clean, the bed was comfortable, there was a fireplace we used on a few of the colder days which always had plenty of wood, the toiletries, water and snacks were restocked regularly, and the view onto the watering hole was amazing!! We had intended to use the communal pool most days in the break between the drives, but we instead ended up just sitting on our balcony watching whatever would come by – it was always something different each day and so special to watch.
The schedule is tiring (morning drive was at 5.30am, dinner finished around 9.30pm) but it was 100% worth it. We did every one of our 24 game drives and despite being exhausted by the end of our stay, it was never a question of missing one to catch up on sleep – you can always nap between the two drives (we did every day). You just can’t miss a drive because each one is unique!
Other things to mention are: the food (regular meals, plenty of food, the quality is excellent and every single thing we ate was delicious), the staff (particularly want to mention Simon at the bar, and the chefs Elvis, Sam and Jonny – they were all so friendly, conscientious, and always a pleasure to chat to, and also the housekeeping staff who were so thorough every day).
The last thing we want to mention is the other guests we met during our stay. Both of us are quite introverted so were a bit apprehensive about spending so much time around lots of new people, but this ended up being one of our favourite things about Tshukudu. You are grouped with the same people for each drive, and have your meals with all the guests at the lodge every day, so you very quickly get to know everyone really well. We made quite a few new friends and meaningful connections at Tshukudu who we’ve fortunately kept in touch with since leaving the lodge.
When it came to the last day, we were SO sad to be leaving and could happily have stayed longer. We have no doubt that we will be back to Tshukudu before long (we’ve spent the week since returning home wondering how soon is reasonable to book our next stay??). What a special place; please don’t change it too much!
