The Motse - Tswalu Kalahari Luxury Private Game Reserve

From start to finish a 5 star resort. From the fire blade lounge before u get there u feel like a rockstar. Arrival and met by your guide and tracker u feel welcome. The accommodation at Motse is unbelievable - family suite I could actually live in forever. Staff can’t do enough for you. Trackers and guides - I thought this would be a bit much and just a way to extract a few more tips. How wrong I was. Without our tracker we would not have seen many animals as they work in pairs - the tracker is dropped and walks miles with the guide covering around till u find the animal in a pincer like movement. We have spent 2 days looking for the painted dogs at the previous resort - without finding. The tracker ran up and down a mountain and then found them and the guide off-roaded till we were sat with them. Also no time pressure - we could spend all day with the animals. Again on leaving a seamless service!

The experience of a life time! Arriving at Tswualu has been like starting a wonderful dream for our family! Terrific structure, attention to detail, customer care, flexibility and unbelievable game drive experience! A particular thanks to Michaela and Thembile, our guide and tracker during the game drive: they simply made this experience magic, taking such a great care of us and of the children! A big thanks to Sanah as well for taking care of the children with great activities! Thank you for a wonderful time! We would definitively love to come back!

TSWALU LOAPI REVIEW The Loapi lodges had not been added at the time of our previous visit, and they are a great improvement on the accommodation compared to The Motse. Whilst they command a premium, which is probably excessive to what is fair value, they certainly are nicer to stay in than The Motse. Each lodge is well spaced to the other lodges and most of them have very good privacy. Whilst The Motse have excellent views of the wildlife, at the watering holehole, The Loapi have good panoramic views and lovely sunrises. The isolated nature of The Loapi means that you have to have a dedicated Cook/Chef and Housekeeper. The lodges are beautiful, with floor to ceiling windows and excellent panoramic views. The outdoor facilities are ideal for the relaxing environment, in which you feel isolated from other properties and almost in the wilderness. The Chef we had was of an excellent standard and catered for every possible need, so I suspect this will be “pot luck” as none of the people concerned, who are hospitality “graduates”, wished to remain in the location for too long, but instead to add it to their CV. Even though there was a dedicated person responsible for the housekeeping and maintenance of the property, it was fair to say that it was not well maintained, and in fact dirty in some areas of the floors. Again as they are hospitality staff they probably feel cleaning is not part of the job description. That being said, the overall experience of Loapi was excellent, albeit overpriced when considering the lack of wildlife in that area. Tswalu is divided in to sections, and due to the location of Loapi it attracts a completely different set of wildlife which, relative to The Motse side, is even more spartan. This may change in time as they re-wild the area, but expectations should be even lower in terms of the sightings unless you go for a long drive initially back in to The Motse area. In short, whilst The Loapi is a lovely property, you would not choose it for a safari experience and, in that context, is very overpriced. If you are considering booking, I would suggest the less attractive and tired Motse, and just one night in Loapi for the experience. In closing, to give you an indication of the real image of Tswalu, both lodges have acrylic blankets.

Thank you to everyone at Tswalu who made our trip so memorable. The attention to detail by the staff was incredible. Thank you to our host Tumi, our chef Sibu, and our incredible guide Matt and tracker T. You could feel that each staff member truly loved the reserve, whether it was through their interactions with guests or their dedication to conservation. The game drives were unbelievable - it is quickly obvious that you are on the largest reserve in South Africa. We went hours without seeing other cars. We saw all of the animals we hoped to see, including a live cheetah kill and newborn lion cubs. We hope to be back!

We didn't know what to expect when we booked our stay at Tswalu. A couple we met in Montana highly recommended it, they wanted to stay at Loapi, but it was not yet available. We booked Loapi at Tswalu and absolutely loved it! Our guide Ivan, tracker DT, butler Mo and chef Ridwaan were the BEST! The wildlife was incredible! Lions, zebras, giraffe, kudu, rhino, warthog and wild dogs! The wild dog puppies that left their den when we were there was amazing to see! Ivan and DT were extremely knowledgeable about the wildlife and so much fun! We really enjoyed the horseback ride, which was a very different adventure. And the Klein Jan restaurant was such an experience! I can't say anything more about Klein Jan because I don't want to spoil the surprise... Our last evening dinner with Ivan, DT, Mo and Ridwaan was a blast! Thank you everyone at Tswalu for such an amazing experience!

This is our third stop on my 28th African Safari. This is my 4th stay at Tswalu and 1st stay at the amazing Loapi camp We love Loapi. Stunning in every aspect. Our butler T was a gracious hostess. We really felt welcome when we returned to our “home”. The layout is amazing. Private residence area. The main area has a living room with stunning views of the Kalahari Our private Chef OB is a rising star. Excellent palette and skill to match. We had 3 memorable braai s near our fire pit. What an experience to cook a meal in the middle of this majestic area. Sticks did a great job managing the food and drinks for the vehicle. I did a couple of all day adventures - amazing to experience the sun rise and set and not spend any time inside. Super Star Freddy came from Motse and conducted an excellent blind tasting of South African wines. Thank you. The game drives were epic. Veteran guide Kalahari and Tracker MC led the journey. 5 complete hunts in 5 days. Including a hunt where a Kudu jumped into the Motse pool for safety. The painted dogs surrounded the pool and an epic stand off ensued. I lost track of the failed chases we watched. Lions setting up on hartebeest getting foiled by a shift in the wind. We tend to see a lot of action because we ask our guides for this experience. Most guest likely saw 1 complete hunt at the most. We were the only truck on 3 of the hunts. The guest have complete say in the direction of their experiences. Then what happens - happens. I will continue to visit Tswalu for as long as I can. Tswalu is a magical place. We