Shumbalala Game Lodge

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Welcome to Shumbalala Game Lodge - a journey for the soul and a feast for the senses!
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It’s a vast, wild place where the lions roam at Shumbalala Game Lodge, deep in the Thornybush Nature Reserve, one of the country’s great tracts of untamed game-viewing. Thornybush Nature Reserve lies in over 14 000ha of splendid solitude forming part of the Greater Kruger National Park. Shumbalala has as a sense of peace some would describe as being awake dreaming.

01/11/2026

Not everyone at this dinner party is getting along! 🦁🐾

Lions and spotted hyenas aren’t exactly the best of friends. They often compete for the same food, and neither is particularly keen on sharing.
But as Marcel’s footage shows, sometimes they end up feeding on the same carcass anyway.
Make sure you listen towards the end of the video, when the hyenas become especially vocal! 🔊

Those whoops, growls and other calls are part of how hyenas communicate with one another, particularly when there’s a lot happening around them.🌿

🎥 Filmed by Shumbalala Game Lodge guide Marcel Scholtz.

📍 Shumbalala Game Lodge, Thornybush Nature Reserve 🇿🇦

31/10/2026

They notice what most of us would drive straight past. 👀🐾

A footprint softened by the wind. A branch bent where it wasn’t yesterday. A mark in the sand. The distant call of a bird that suddenly means something.

Spend time on a game drive with one of our trackers and you quickly realise just how much there is to see when you know what to look for.

Often seated out front, they’re constantly reading the bush — picking up clues, following tracks and quietly piecing together the story of what may have passed through before us.

But ask our guests what they remember and it’s rarely only their tracking skills.

It’s the stories shared along the way, the laughs between sightings, the conversations and the personalities that become such a big part of a game drive at Shumbalala Game Lodge.

They help us find some wonderful things out there. But they’re also a big part of what makes the journey so enjoyable. 🤎

If you’ve been on safari with one of our trackers, what do you remember most?

📍 Shumbalala Game Lodge, Thornybush Nature Reserve, South Africa 🇿🇦

30/10/2026

Some stays seem to have a little bit of everything. 🤎

Three nights at Shumbalala Game Lodge, private game drives, long meals together, and the rare feeling of having an exceptionally quiet lodge almost to themselves.

But we’ll let our guests tell the story:

“It truly felt like a dream. We were lucky enough to see the Big Five, and we saw leopards every single day. The food was fantastic — everything we tried was absolutely delicious!”

And perhaps our favourite part:

“We would love to come back again next year.”

We’d love that too. 🤎

Guest review and photographs shared by Super Machan via Google Reviews, with thanks.

📍 Shumbalala Game Lodge, Thornybush Nature Reserve, South Africa 🇿🇦

27/10/2026

A quiet place to come back to. 🤎

After a few hours out in the bush, there’s something lovely about coming back to your own space.

Shoes come off. The doors open to let the bush air in. Perhaps there’s time for a bath, an afternoon nap, or simply a few quiet minutes before the next game drive.
Our Superior Suites were made for these in-between moments too.

Because a safari isn’t only about the hours spent out looking for wildlife. Sometimes it’s the slower parts of the day — when there’s nowhere you need to be just yet — that feel every bit as good.

And with the bush just beyond your door, you never feel very far from it. 🌿

📍 Shumbalala Game Lodge, Thornybush Nature Reserve, South Africa 🇿🇦

25/10/2026

How do they make it look so easy? 🐆🌳

There’s something quite incredible about watching a leopard climb.

One moment, four paws are on the ground. The next, it’s several metres up a tree, moving through the branches as though this is the most ordinary thing in the world.

Of course, for a leopard, it is.

Strong legs, sharp claws and that long tail for balance all help, but knowing how they do it doesn’t make watching it any less impressive.

Phillip captured this leopard heading right up into the canopy, and we could happily watch that effortless climb again and again. 🤎

🎥 A special moment shared by assistant manager Philip Harmsen.

📍 Shumbalala Game Lodge, Thornybush Nature Reserve, South Africa 🇿🇦

23/10/2026

One we’re always very happy to see. 🐆🤎

There are some sightings that feel that little bit more special simply because they don’t come around as often.

Cheetahs tend to favour more open country, so we don’t see them quite as often around Shumbalala Game Lodge. That makes an encounter like this one an especially lovely surprise.

And what a beautiful animal to find looking back at you.

📷 Our guide Calvin York Davie captured this portrait during a recent sighting, and we think those amber eyes deserve a moment on their own.

📍 Shumbalala Game Lodge, Thornybush Nature Reserve, South Africa 🇿🇦

20/10/2026

Well, look who decided to show up. 👀

Honey badgers are one of those animals we’re always particularly happy to see.

They can be wonderfully elusive, and with much of their activity happening after dark, catching sight of not one but two of them out in daylight made this encounter all the more special.

There wasn’t any great commotion. They were simply going about their day while we had the unexpected pleasure of watching them for a while.

And that’s one of the things we love about a game drive. You never quite know who might be around the next corner.

Sometimes, a sighting doesn’t need to do very much to make your day. 🤎

🎥 A lovely find by our guide Marcel Scholtz, who shared this footage with us.

📍 Shumbalala Game Lodge, Thornybush Nature Reserve, South Africa 🇿🇦

18/10/2026

Someone’s been watching the leopards… 👀🦁

A little while ago, we shared just how effortlessly a leopard can make its way up a tree.

And then Calvin found these two.

Lions can climb trees, of course, but seeing them perched among the branches like this is always a little unexpected — and somehow they never look quite as at home up there as a leopard does. 😄

Why they decided to head up on this particular day, we can only wonder. A cooler spot? A different view? Or perhaps they simply could.

Whatever the reason, two lions in a tree certainly made us look twice.

🎥 This wonderful sighting was captured by our guide Calvin York Davie. 🌳🦁

📍 Shumbalala Game Lodge, Thornybush Nature Reserve, South Africa 🇿🇦

17/10/2026

The bush never really clocks off. The shift just changes. ☀️🌙

Head out in the morning, return in the afternoon or stay out as darkness settles, and you begin to notice that different animals keep different hours.

Some are diurnal, doing much of their moving, feeding and socialising during daylight.

Others are nocturnal, becoming more active once the sun has disappeared.

And then there are the crepuscular species, favouring those cooler hours around dawn and dusk — just when many of our game drives are heading out or making their way home.

Of course, nature doesn’t work to a strict timetable. Weather, temperature, food, water and opportunity can all influence when an animal is active. And that’s part of what makes every drive different.

Morning, golden hour or after dark — each reveals another side of the bush.

Which shift would you most like to join? ☀️🌅🌙

📍 Shumbalala Game Lodge, Thornybush Nature Reserve, South Africa 🇿🇦

16/10/2026

From the Winelands to the wild 🍷🌿

There’s a little bit of Franschhoek at the table at Shumbalala Game Lodge.

You may not know that Shumbalala Game Lodge and Franschhoek Country House & Villas are owned by the same family. Two very different corners of South Africa, but with something important in common — a love of good food, good South African w**e and bringing people together around the table.

Here in the bush, that takes on a character of its own.

Dinner comes after an afternoon game drive. The light fades, the sounds of the evening begin, a bottle of South African w**e is opened and there is nowhere else you need to be.

From the Winelands to the wild, the scenery may change, but the pleasure of sharing a good meal never does. 🤎

As we mark World Food Day this October, we’re celebrating not only what is on the plate, but everything that happens around it.

Where would you choose your next long lunch — the Winelands or the wild? 🌿🍷

Or simply experience both! 🌿
🍇 Cape to Bush combination https://www.shumbalala.co.za/offers/combination-special/

📍 Shumbalala Game Lodge, Thornybush Nature Reserve, South Africa 🇿🇦

Address

Thornybush Game Reserve
Hoedspruit
1380

Telephone

+27795453140

Website

http://www.shumbalala.co.za/

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