For a lot of visitors to South Africa, a very popular safari destination is to spend a couple of nights in one of the lodges of the Eastern Cape, as this can easily be combined with a visit to Cape Town and a trip along the Garden Route - and the area is also malaria-free, which especially for families is an important consideration

But which lodge or reserve do you select? There are so many to choose from – Shamwari, Kwandwe, Pumba, Amakhala, Lalibela, Kariega … so what are the main differences ?

This may, I hope, shed some light for potential visitors to this area !

The reserves of the Eastern Cape range in size – anything from 5,000 hectares to 25,000 hectares. They are all privately owned, which means that the rangers have the freedom to drive off-road if there is a particular sighting that they want their guests to get close to – a pride of lions snoozing under a tree, for example !

The reserves all operate independently from each other, and each therefore have their own wildlife stock - the larger reserves such as Shamwari and Kwandwe can obviously sustain more wildlife in terms of actual physical numbers, and can also sustain species such as wild dog, who need an incredibly large home territory to hunt over - but the privilege of this is reflected in the rates.

The smaller reserves such as Amakhala, Lalibela, Pumba and Kariega, which tend to be around the 5,000 - 8,000 hectare size, do have to limit the number of predators - for example, a small reserve can only sustain a few lion, or else they would find their entire buffalo population is wiped out very quickly by hungry lions !

If Shamwari or Kwandwe fall within your budget, then in all honesty a 2 or 3 night safari in one of these lodges would give you a more rounded safari experience by dint purely of the size. 

Staying in either of these reserves means you will generally not see the road / reserve perimeter fence line at all during your stay, whereas in the smaller reserves you may well come across the fence line during a game drive - especially in Amakhala, as the lions are kept in a separate 1,000 hectares on one side of the road, so to get between this and the main part of the reserve you do cross under the main N2 road via an underpass - which can detract from the overall feeling of being totally immersed in your bush / safari experience.

However, to be forewarned is to be prepared - we had some wonderful sightings when we stayed at Amakhala, which included a cheetah mum and 3 cubs on an impala kill just a few meters from the N2 – which more than compensated for the highway encounter !

Kariega is also a ’split’ reserve, with the lions and elephants being kept separate in one part of the reserve, but you don’t go near the N2 at all - however you do cross over a minor road between the 2 parts of the reserve.

Whichever lodge you choose, you will still come away with memories of a wildlife encounter that will last a lifetime.

Kariega is making a new special offer available this year in addition to the 3 nights for the price of 2 offer that they have run for the last few years.  

Guests booking a stay between 12 January and 30 April 2009 can stay 4 nights for the price of 3 at selected Kariega lodges, giving clients 33% more safari for their money.

 The 5,000 hectare malaria-free Kariega Reserve is home to all of Africa’s big 5 as well as hippo, giraffe, zebra, eland, wildebeest, waterbuck and a variety of antelope a myriad of bird species.

A host of activities are offered, including game drives, hiking trails, fishing, bird watching, canoeing, mountain biking, horse riding, and the ever famous river cruises on the Kariega Queen.

Guest travelling in the low season can get even more for their money with 3 nights for the price of 2 at Kariega from 1 May to 30 September 2009.

We are delighted to offer the following Special Offer at Kariega Game Reserve:

3 nights for the price of 2 for stays at Main Lodge, River Lodge, or Ukhosi when you travel between May and September 2008.

The 3 lodges all offer a fully inclusive African safari including accommodation, all meals and 2 activities per day.  Activities include game drives, river cruises, hiking trails, fishing, bird watching, canoeing, mountain biking, and horse riding.

The three lodges each have their own distinctive style, with Main Lodge’s family accommodation in 2,3,and 4 bedroom chalets, and River Lodges’ stunning setting being particularly popular with guests.

You can read more about the three lodges and the special offer online here.

With the school half-term holidays only a few weeks away, and Easter following on shortly afterwards, we thought this would be a good time to look at the most popular safari lodges for families visiting South Africa’s malaria-free regions.

A quick glance at the listing below show that the game reserves in the Eastern Cape (Kariega, Kwandwe, Lalibela, Shamwari, and Amakhala) are particularly popular with families, and safari lodges in this area take the first 7 spots. This highlights the great appeal of South Africa’s most popular family holiday route  which is a few days in Cape Town, followed by some time exploring the Garden Route Coastline and a safari in one of these malaria free reserves.

The remainder of the top 10 is made up with lodges in the Madikwe reserve up in the far north of the country on the border with South Africa, and somewhat surprisingly no lodges from The Waterberg area feature at all despite it’s convenient location just a couple of hours outside Johannesburg.

The Kruger area and KwaZulu-Natal are both considered low-risk malaria areas and are therefore excluded from this listing.

The full listing is:

1 ) Kariega Lodge
2 ) Kwandwe Ecca Lodge
3 ) Mark’s Camp
4 ) Long Lee Manor
5 ) Woodbury Lodge
6 ) Amakhala Safari Lodge
7 ) Leeuwenbosch
8 ) Little Madikwe
9 ) Jaci’s Tree Lodge
10 ) Madikwe River Lodge

This listing is ranked on the number of nights children under 12 have spent at each lodge based on recent bookings made by Travel Butlers.