There is a particular anticipation that comes with a grande dame closing her doors for surgery. Will she come back looking like herself, or like everyone else? The original lodge at Royal Malewane shut in January for her most significant refresh in more than 25 years, and as of the 1st of July she is open again. Happy to report she still looks like herself, just with heated pools.
I have a bit of history here, so let’s back up for a second.
Last year we stayed at the Malewane properties. We started at Masiya’s Camp, the newest lodge on the reserve, in the days before it opened to the public, then crossed over to Malewane Lodge, the original that started the whole thing back in 1999. Going from the brand-new camp to the founding lodge, you could see where 25 years had lightly left their mark. Nothing haggard about her, to be clear, she had simply hosted a quarter-century of very good times and had the patina to show for it.
So the refurb had exactly one job. Love her back up to standard without losing the plot.
If you know The Royal Portfolio, you know restraint is not the house style. Liz Biden has never met a colour she couldn’t commit to, and her eye is masterful enough to get away with all of them.Crucially, there are elements she chose not to touch.. The dark woods, the thatch, the four-poster beds, all still here, so Malewane Lodge remains the quiet, grown-up one of the family rather than the one trying to out-shout everyone. It still looks like itself, just better.
What actually changed
The suites have been refreshed – both Royal Suites and all six Luxury Suites got new entrances, reworked layouts, and fully updated decks, daybeds and outdoor showers.
And then the important bit. Every private pool has been retiled and heated, so it is no longer a decorative water feature you admire from a distance between May and September. There is underfloor heating in the bedrooms and bathrooms too, plus fireplaces in the suites, all of which anyone who has done a July safari will recognise as less a luxury than a medical necessity.
The main lodge has opened up as well. New bar, new observation lounge with glass doors that fold all the way back to the bush, a repositioned firepit, a coffee and juice bar, a bigger boutique, and a spa that now runs to a sauna and a cold plunge. Guests flying straight into the reserve now land to a proper arrival pavilion at the airstrip, so the welcome starts the second the plane door opens rather than in the car park.
The one to book if you have kids
The part no refurb needs to fix
Since nobody flies eleven hours for cushions, a quick note on the guiding, which is the actual reason to come.
Royal Malewane runs one of the most qualified guiding teams on the continent, and the headline is not marketing. Juan Pinto and Lucas Mathonsi are the only two active Master Trackers in the entire Greater Kruger, and they both work here. Master Tracker is the top qualification there is, and having the only two in the region is a real feat. Royal Malewane’s Masiya’s Camp is named after Wilson Masiya, a tracker who was here from day one in 1999 and helped build the apprenticeship that produced guides like these.
She has reopened just in time for peak winter game viewing. So if you’ve been waiting for a reason to do the Greater Kruger properly, this is a good one, and if this sounds like your kind of place, you know where to find me.
