Needles Lodge ReviewsRead our customers' reviews
The perfect setting - Alta & Gary are the perfect hosts who will do anything to make your stay even more enjoyable. We cant say enough in praise of them both. The perfect holiday. Would recommend to anybody. Many thanks for a wonderful stay. Great hosts, great food, great company in a beautiful setting. Hope that we manage to get back one day... Au Revoir. Many thanks. Wonderful place especially intimate encounters with wild life. From the moment I placed an enquiry with Gary, the service was fantastic! He replied to any queries that we had, & even gave us vital information on the best people to book transfers with to & from the lodge as well as flights. The photographs of the lodge are beautiful, & when you arrive you will not be disappointed by what awaits you! Not only was the welcome warm & friendly but, the service was faultless & the setting perfect! The food (Washington is a great cook!) & & the atmosphere are exactly what you will need after a long day of safari, & what better way to unwind than with a cold beer or glass of wine on the decking. The safari trips were also excellent & Cliff is as knowledgeable as he is affable, making it as an enjoyable an experience as possible! In short I would recommend a stay here to anybody that is thinking of going to the KNP, as it separates itself from all the other accomodation by being a personal yet unintrusive experience...a balance rarely achieved at any guesthouse or hotel! Needles Lodge is situated in the middle of a private game reserve abutting the southern part of Kruger National Park. Its location makes access to the park & neighboring Mozambique & Swaziland, easily accessible. Best of all, there are animals wandering through the reserve & on to the grounds of the lodge. During our stay we saw baboons & were visited a couple of times by friendly zebras. There are only six room available at Needles, so it's quiet & private. The owner, Gary, lives there & is a very amiable & knowledgeable host who will tailor the food & activities too meet your needs. We made it our routine each night before dinner to join him in the lodge's main common room, watch CNN with a glass of wine, & talk about the news. We had meals outside on the deck with the other guests. Breakfast featured lots of good food including eggs made to order. Dinners were excellent, & they even made special dishes for me as a vegetarian, which I so appreciated. The chef, Washington, is a genius. Before we arrived, we booked three day-trips: Kruger Park, Maputo in Mozambique, & Swaziland. We had the same tour guide each day, a young knowledgeable guy named Cliff. He was an excellent guide, & if you're lucky enough to get him before other guests you won't be disappointed. The charm of Needles Lodge is that you really are out in the bush. Its remoteness means not having a TV or phone in the room, but we didn't mind that at all. & it really is a tiny sacrifice when what you gain is being able to pet zebras outside your room. You can't put a price on that! Ciao Gary! We spent 3 wonderful days in your lodge! Everything was great! Starting from the booking with Debbie assistance, the Safari with Cliff, great dinners, wide rooms &, not last, very friendly staff that let us to be as at home! Sincerly speaking, at the moment I'm at home in Milan & maybe I still cannot say to have what is called the "badly of Africa" as your country is perhaps the less African than all the countries of the continent, but if for "badly of Africa" we can mean the curiosity to deepen the human aspect, know the local cultures, waiting for with anxiety the next travel & hoping to see the lion & the sun that comes down & hides between coppers buckets of the acacia then... I think I'm definetively sick! Thanks for all to you, your staff & for sure Cliff also! See you again in 4 years to win another World Cup! Our stay at Needles Lodge was fabulous. Gary was friendly, relaxed with the kids, the food was fantastic, everyone was accommodating & friendly & we really felt at home. We would recommend the Lodge to anyone & had a really great mid year break. Couldn't have had a better time. Gary did an excellent job of putting together all of our activities, & was helpful beyond belief. The accommodation was great, & the food & staff were excellent! Would certainly recommend Needles to anyone preparing for a great South African Safari!! My sister & I stayed at Needles Lodge over Christmas & what an absolutely fantastic time we had. The lodge is extremely comfortable & the staff cannot do enough to help. Gary the owner makes you feel very welcome & will help to make your holiday as enjoyable as possible. The food was fantastic (& loads of it!) Gary loves his wine so we experienced some lovely South Africa wines. Value for money was exceptional. When you go you must request Cliff for your ranger while you are inside Kruger as he is the best spotter & great Company to spend the day's with. Safarinow.com is a great website full of all the information you need & makes bookings extremely easy. Andrea This is an absolutely fantastic & spot on place to stay...you have all the luxury & serenity of the more exclusive lodges but at half the cost. This lodge is highly recommended by me & everything from the team of staff, the food & Gary the owner is extremely friendly & will do anything to help you out. I would go again if possible. We thoroughly enjoyed our stay at Needles lodge, the ease & speed of booking, the special consideration for food, the friendliness of staff & of course Gary. The safari arrangement could not have been with a better guide-Symon was excellent, by far the most knowledgable & friendly guide for the Kruger. We hope to come back,& bring our future Pride with us! Our family had a wonderful time at the lodge. It has the right balance between friendly welcoming service & peace & privacy. Gary was an excellent host & the arranged game drives were fabulous. Our children are 5 & 7 & were very happy with everything. Myself, my wife, & cousin enjoyed an excellent 3 night stay with Gary & his excellent staff. My cousin was on her first visit to Africa & I was especially pleased with the positive impression given by our stay at Needles. The atmosphere was relaxed & friendly. We were treated to great food excellently prepared by Washington & served by 'Bousey' (probably incorrect spelling). Cliff was our game guide who also brought us to Mozambique for a visit. Cliff was exemplory in his manner & both knowledgeable & obliging as a guide. All in all I would highly recommend Needles for any visitors but especially foreign visitors as an hospitable African experience. We have just come back from a wonderful trip in South Africa. We must praise the quick service of Safari Now & the easy access of the website. We were extremely happy with the lodge that we chose. & we would like to formally congratulate Gary & his staff for their great service at Needles Lodge. Although we were there for only 4 days & 3 nights, we had the most exciting, eye-opening, relaxing, romantic holiday. Not to mention the mouth-watering delicious meals that Gary & his staff prepared for us. The most memorable meal was the South African BBQ eaten out on the porch surrounded by the calmness of the night. The room was immaculate & very clean. The bed was actually more comfortable then our one at home! The extra large bath was a sanctuary for relaxation. Gary gave us helpful advice with our itinerary to Kruger Park. He arranged very experienced rangers to take us & we had the luxury of have them all to ourselves! We were told that we are very lucky to have seen 5 lions, 4 cheetahs, & herds of elephants, a family of rhinos, hippos, giraffes, zebras & different types of antelopes. The most exciting for me was confronting an elephant walking towards us on our road; seeing the honeymoon of lions doing their thing; & feeling helpless for the injured young cheetah with its mother. All in all, we have learnt so much in these few days that we would like to thank Gary, Chris, Pat & others for making this trip really worthwhile. & finally, I would like to recommend the Needles Lodge for anyone who would like to adventure during the day & relax in the evening. Keep up the good work! Needles Lodge, Gary & his staff compliment really looked after us & made us feel at home. Very professionally run but with a family feel to. Both myself & Dean thoroughly enjoyed our stay. We have already recommended the lodge to friends who are planning a trip in September. We will definately re-visit. Thank you for Needles Lodge & SafariNow both. We stayed 3 nights at the Needles Lodge & enjoyed every single minute of it! Gary's hospitality, the cuisine & the overall atmosphere was marvellous. We had fantastic trips to Kruger park, Maputo & Swaziland with Cliff - an outstanding ranger! Hopefully we will return soon! Gary was very helpful & made us very welcome. The staff were excellent & attentive. Food excellent. Arranged game drives with Heinrich were excellent - very knowledgeable & friendly guide. Room facilities very good, clean & spacious. No complaints at all. We recommend needles lodge to anybody who like friendly atmosphere, personal attention & good food. We had a very good time. Gary is the best host & Cliff took very good care of us during the Kruger Park safari that we highly recommend to do. Great food, great wines, great value for the money. Excellent - well situated, good hospitality, building style was just right to get us in the mood for seeing the animals. Great facilities & warm hospitality. Zebra at the waterhole were an added bonus. Great food, welcoming hospitality, comfortable rooms & cosy beds which are needed after long days on safari. The guides (Simon & Cliff) provided comprehensive information & a great sense of fun & enjoyment. The communal dining & lounge areas are great for sharing experiences of safari & day trips but may not suit those who are hoping for their own 'space'. The evening visits of local Zebra to the lodge made this a stay to remember ! Needles Lodge has a great location & offers excellent accommodation, personal service & great meals. Our stay at the lodge,coupled with our two days in Kruger Park, was the highlight of our two week trip to South Africa. Before we even got to the Lodge, our host Gary suggested we drive thru the park for a few hours in the afternoon. We took a self guided tour, & we were richly reward. We saw up close every large & small animal we only hoped we might see when we decided to make the trip. By the time we left the park around five thirty, we could hardly wait to return the next mourning for our guided tour. When we arrived at the lodge we were warmly greeted by our host. Gary could not believe our good fortune that afternoon especially when he learned we saw wild dogs, the rarest animal sighting in the park. After our tales were told, we were escorted to our rooms. They were comfortable & well appointed. Everything was new. We were very pleased to say the least. After we settled in, we returned to the main room in the lodge. While a spacious room, this area is warm & comfortable . You can set around a large coffee table,sip some marvelous South African wine, & talk with fellow guests about your day in the park ,the uniqueness & natural beauty of South Africa,or the upcoming rugby match. Dinner that night was prepared by the best chef in South Africa. I can say without worry of contradiction that his onion soup is the best in the world. We eat dinner on the deck immediately outside the main room. That night at dinner we were joined by fellow guests including members of Gary's family who were spending that night at the lodge . Our food & dinner conversation made us feel as if we had been invited to a family dinner. What a wonderful time we had. We went to bed right afterward so that we could arise in time to meet our guide at five thirty the next morning. |
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Absolutely fantastic, we had two great days here at Needles Lodge. Superb food & wines, friendly people thanks to Patrcia, Vusi & all others for the delicious food. Thanks to Gary & Alta for an interesting day in Swaziland & their hospitality.