Needles Lodge

Excellent food, wildlife visits and close to Kruger.

Charming lodge, rooms and host. Excellent breakfast and wine selection. Zebra visits to the lodge was a nice touch. Location in Marloth park is interesting - this is a very unique project to combine human neighborhood with a quasi safari. Dinner was just OK and the idea of a shared table to all guests and hosts is not to everyone's taste, but this shouldn't affect the high rating. We stopped there after our Kruger visit, but the guests who used the lodge for the Kruger safaris seemed happy with the lodge as their basis.

Needles was a great place to stay. We were afraid it was going to be in a developed town but it's in a protected area with wildlife coming through the area as well. We saw Kudu, giraffe, a genet, and a bushbaby just on the grounds. Dennis and Gail were gracious hosts and as Dennis is a guide, he knew everything about birds, wildllife, and the park. Whatever you want is really the order of the day. Needles can arrange morning walks, game drives, nearby tours, or you can use it as a jumping off point to Crocodile Bridge (about 30 minutes by car) into Kruger National Park. It's an easy drive up to Lower Sabie camp for lunch but the location of Needles is convenient. On departure, we went from Crocodile Bridge to Malelane in the park and then it was about four hours to Pretoria by car. We had a great time and would love to return. We're talking to friends about making it a group visit.

Stayed there for 3 nights at the start of our South Africa holiday, and before spending 4 nights at SANPark lodges in the park. Had we known just how good it was, think we may have spent our entire 7 nights in Kruger there. It more than lives up to the great reviews it gets (which is why we chose Needles), the place is beautiful, the staff amazing, the visiting animals a daily treat, and the proximity to Crocodile River entrance gate does actually mean you could easily stay here, and go into the park for the day (which means you get the 5* benefit of the lodge, with all the animal viewing you could wish for). We had dinner, bed and breakfast, the cooked breakfast was fantastic (best mushrooms I have ever tasted), the dinners a delight sat outside with a glass of Pinotage. Within 30 minutes of arriving we had visits from a huge rock monitor, a family of mongoose and a Kudu. Lots of birds to watch and identify in the nearby trees, Zebra wandering over, the Bushbabies at night, amazing. We did a full day safari by way of introduction to the park, and I would recommend it. Patrick our guide and driver was just brilliant, spotting things well before we did (without binocs and while driving), he promised my wife 30 giraffe and he delivered, as well as lions, buffalo, white rhino, elephants, eagles, hippos (25 species we saw on that one day, plus it gave us great ideas of where to go when we were in the park, like Mpondo Dam). Perfect place to stay in every respect.

+ Ein sehr leckeres Abendessen war inklusive. Tiere kamen bis zur Terrasse. Ein super Schönes Erlebnis. Die Zimmer waren schön eingerichtet, unser mit Blick auf Pool. WiFi war vorhanden. Entfernung zum Crocodile Bridge Gate nur ca 50 Minuten Diese Lodge kann ich absolut empfehlen. - nichts

Perfetto per soggiorno vicino al Kruger Park. Personale molto cortese e professionale.....la gita in jeep nel parco con Patrick esperienza imperdibile!

What a stay we had at Needles Lodge! Outstanding service team, great room and the food...ah food...one of the best we`ve ever had! Thanks to everyone...Dennis, Colin, Gail, Manny, Willem, Patrick and all the girls who serves incredibly well and keep the fantastic atmosphere!

Unvergesslicher Aufenthalt! Super nette Besitzer, die Abends bei dem gemeinsamen Abendessen stets dabei waren. Sehr nette Atmosphäre mit interessanten Gesprächen, tollem Essen und leckeren Weinen! Das Preis-Leistungsverhältnis stimmte! Wir würden definitiv wiederkommen.

Tolle Lodge mit ganz viel familiären Flair. Guter Ausgangspunkt um in den KNP zu fahren.

Tolle Wohlfühloase mit sehr herzlichem und liebevollem Team. Sonderwünsche wie beispielsweise vegetarische und veganes Essen werden erfüllt. Wirklich ein toller Ort, um das Safarileben hautnah zu erleben.