Boomhuis, Mabalingwe Nature Reserve

The breakfast (included) was exceptional and the friendly staff need special mention. The property is very private and quiet with beautiful views of the sunrise.

limited storage space for clothes in the rooms. No storage space for groceries in the kitchen

Secluded, peaceful house with all the necessary facilities. Well-maintained, clean, comfortable. Very good, delicious breakfast prepared by a very friendly cook (Emma). The house provides adequate wifi for all needs.

Nothing to mention.

The location itself is beautiful, but after what happened, we do not feel the accommodation is safe in its current condition.

We had a traumatic experience at Boomhuis Mabalingwe when an intruder broke into the house at around 23:40 on Saturday and was caught standing in the living room. The property has several, negligent security flaws. The intruder entered easily through a kitchen window, and multiple other doors either cannot lock properly or lack keys entirely. When raised, we were dismissively told the locks are "more to keep wildlife out". The situation was worsened by a lack of emergency information in the house. The owner was completely unreachable during the incident (ignoring both normal and WhatsApp calls) and showed zero proactive concern or empathy the following morning after we had to reach out again to try and get a response, handling the entire crisis with a very nonchalant attitude. Conversely, the Mabalingwe operations emergency team was amazing. Once we found their number online, they dispatched a team immediately and arrived within minutes. Their response was professional, fast, and highly efficient. We are very thankful for them. We have been to Mabalingwe before and will continue to visit Mabalingwe on secure premises, it is a beautiful place and the love they have for the animals is really special. We strongly advise future guests to avoid staying here as we believe the owner has no intention of addressing these security and safety concerns. Another guest wrote in April in her review that a door was broken and nothing was done. Note: We checked every single door and window before we went to bed and know for a fact that the kitchen window was closed before we went to bed. I cannot believe you are making it sound like it was our fault.

The house really felt like you stayed in a tree. Beds were good. We spent most of our time at the area outside

I really struggled to figure out where we need to go inside the reserve. Better and more detail directions are a must. Communication with host can be better. Same message over and over does not help.

Open windows on trees

No hot water, no internet, air con doesn't work, broken doors and no daily cleaning, DB board has a short, bathroom door does not close - very neglected. Home owner not contactable.

The owner was not friendly

We did not enjoy our stay, and we were very disappointed. We will never ever stay there again, nor recommend it.

First off, the host Lynette was not very helpful and quite rude. Which will be elaborated below. Prior to arrival, we did not receive the access QR code to access Mabalingwe. We requested this, that we can enter to have lunch at the restaurant prior to check in time. We had difficulty to get hold of her. We sent our vehicle registration via email, a week in advance, but she didn't look at the email, which lead to this delay. Not once during our conversation did she mention that they currently had no electricity or water since the day before our arrival. We arrive at the unit, 15h00 (Check in is from 14h00), to find the beds haven't been made, no electricity, no water. No network. We eventually get a call through to her, where I am told, well it's an Eskom problem, big parts of the park is off and had been off since the day before. It's out of her control, and we simply have to wait for Eskom to fix the problem. But, she can give me the control room number that I can phone and follow up myself. (Now trying to make it my problem) They couldn't wash bedding because of no power, so they will start making the beds soon. At this point, our meat is defrosting, no fridge that is working to put our stuff. And they can't say how much longer the power will be off. So technically we must stay in the dark, for as long as it takes, and suck it up. When I told her, we can't flush the toilets and there is no water, she said well, go toilet in the bush. If we were informed prior to arrival, we could have brought backup lights etc. The house had none. No apologies, not can we refund you for a night because of this, nope, just that its not her problem. Not even, sorry for the inconvenience and the frustration. It was the way she handled it and her tone of voice, no care, rude. We were unable to stay there, so we left and checked in to another Reserve closeby, for the night where we can at least have facilities that work.