Mbombela Villas

This was a pleasant surprise. Located right next to the sabi river the best cabanas to rent are on stilts. The L124 would be ideal three bed with living room sleeper space. The whole area grounds is about 1.5km and there are no hiking trails. Some of the chalets look like they need some TLC. Avoid the ‘flats’ on R that you will see on the right hand side as you enter the facility. Many things inside the chalet were not working, the microwave and the stove, I quick maintenance checklist will fix the problems. The staff are extremely friendly and accommodating. There is a spa but the pricing is more expensive than Dubai ! The restaurant is under construction. A 10 min drive from Hazyview town where there is a shopping center and three petrol stations. 15-20 mins drive from the nearest Kruger gate. If you are South African it’s 83 rand to enter the park and foreigners pay 331 rand to enter.

We visited Sabi River Sun in December 2020, having visited this resort last in 2008! We should never have stayed away for so long, considering this resort is still as lovely as it was back then! On both occasions we stayed in the hotel, as opposed to the self-catering chalets. Check-in was a pleasant, efficient process, with us having made full payment during the booking process online. This naturally sped up the check-in. There are a few Covid-19 related checks that take place, which is now normal for all hospitality establishments. Our room overlooked the kiddies playarea, with a view of the pool area too. The room (#220) was comfortable, but it does appear dated, in need of a slight refurb. We spent more time than we would normally in the room due to the rainy weather during our stay. Breakfast and dinner was equally excellent. We engaged with the chefs on duty at both sessions daily due to our Halaal requirements, which the chefs were aware of, and met! We were most impressed by this!!! Just a note - on our check-out, when settling the dinners for our daughter (dinners are included for adults), we noticed that someone else's receipt was also included in our bill. Upon querying this, we were presented with the receipts and highlighted the 1 that was not ours. I guess this can happen when the writing (room number, etc) is illegible. Not a trainsmash though! During the stay, we met with Malcolm (GM) and his team. This was excellent as we managed to engage on our visit experience, etc. All in all, a wonderful stay! We most certainly intend returning, hopefully, it does not take another 12 years :-)