I always get excited when planning any type of travel. Planning a group trip is exciting and a lot of work. There are challenges as well when planning group travel. Group travel can open you up to different experiences. You get to meet new people and make new friends. It is cheaper as you get to share some of the cost.

Booking accommodation for the trip was easy and pain free. The activities on the other hand it was a different story. Miscommunication with the lodge resulted in my activities being booked on a different month from my accommodation.

We stayed at Dunkeld Equestrian Estate in Dullstrom. Dullstroon is a beautiful small town in Mpumalanga which is about two hours thirty minutes drive from Johannesburg. The Resort has different types of accommodation you get the lodge rooms, they have cottages by the lake, and they have chalets and then there is the Equestrian Estate, which is where we staying. Our villa had a beautiful view. The resort is beautiful when you enter the resort there are these tall trees towering over the resort.

Dinner at 1883 restaurant had mixed reviews, I didn’t enjoy the chicken curry but the lady that had lamb curry said it was quite nice. The restaurant is nice and cosy and it has that homey feel to it. That was the only meal we had at the restaurant. The villa is self catering so we had breakfast at the villa. We had a picnic for lunch. For dinner I had organized a private chef to do a braai for us in the villa.

The next day, the runners within the group woke us up to go for a run. It was quite refreshing. It was a scenic morning run. Well some of us were jogging we don’t run.

There are a lot of activities that you can do in the resort. We started with horse riding. Horse riding can be quite intimidating especially for first time riders. Sitting on this majestic animal can be quite daunting but the guys at the stables made sure that everyone was comfortable. They demonstrated how to control the horse before we started riding the horses. Again beautiful scenery while riding on the horses, we pass the lakes and the tall trees it was quite a phenomenal experience.

Some of the activities that you can do in the resort are

Quad Biking

Hiking

Paintballing

Fly fishing

Ziplining

The lodge has quite a number of activities that you can do on site.

I am yet to meet a person who doesn’t like picnics. I love, love picnics. We had a picnic lunch by the dam.

They say you can plan a beautiful picnic but you can’t predict the weather, the weather was perfect. We chose a spot by the dam under a tree.

Despite the hassle I had with the spa booking, the spa treatment was quite good and relaxing . We had an amazing relaxing weekend filled with laughter and just sharing our life experiences. Looking forward to many of these group trips.

Mpumalanga - Dullstroom Group Travel