Imbali Safari Experience
Hello, Kruger National Park, the largest National Park in South Africa. Home to diverse wildlife species. Kruger National Park is on the bucket list of every wildlife enthusiast, and it is well-known worldwide. This is where you will find Imbali Safari lodge “Imbali” means flower in isiZulu language. Indeed, Imbali is a beautiful flower in the wilderness.
The roads in Kruger are well looked after, driving to the lodge is an adventure on its own. The gravel roads seem to have been freshly graded just for us, if that is not bush red carpet, then I don’t know what is. This is our return, so we are more alert, the grass looks like it has been manicured or trimmed compared to the last time we were here in January. This allows you to spot more wildlife, we saw loads of animals, elephants swimming in the dam as it was hot. The magic and great appeal of the Kruger is that your game viewing starts when you enter the park, we also spotted buffaloes, zebras, wildebeest, giraffes, and waterbuck.
The lodge has been constructed in an ecologically sensible manner; very few trees were uprooted or harmed in its establishment. The main Lapa is built around a huge tree that goes through the lodge and emerges above the roof. Sustainability is key to Imbali’s existence, even the main water hole is fed from recycled water that is purified through a reedbed. Now that is my kind of travel sustainability in action.
There is a common sitting area next to reception and a restaurant that opens on a deck. The lodge has been blended into the surroundings on the banks of the Nwaswitsontso river. Yes, that is the name of the river we had to ask more than twice for the rangers to spell the word loosely translated it means to drip or flow occasionally. In Africa names are part of character or behaviour, the river is aptly named to reflect how it flows. Let the name not fool you, the game viewing in this lodge is nothing like the name of the river, the water hole allows you to choose your relationship with the lodge.
Life in Imbali is about balance and taking it easy, you can’t rush a good meal or drink. In this lodge, there are different types of safaris. You can literally have a lazy safari by floating about in the sparkling pool with your drink and enjoy viewing animals as they take turns in the water hole. Some animals like a herd of elephants tend to linger for a longer period. You get front row seats to this live Wild Kruger channel and the ever-helpful lodge staff are permanently at your call. In this lodge, we are hosted by the man who introduces himself as “Juju from the Bush”. He is ever-present and available with special treats like a surprise Mimosa when he can see that you are struggling with your breakfast because of the previous night’s indulgence.
I can tell you tales about this beautiful arrival and restaurant area and the wildlife that visit, before I do let’s head over to the beautiful suite. All suites are very well appointed with a private splash pool tucked away at the back of the suites overlooking the Nwaswitsontso riverbed and the wildlife trail to the waterhole. You can also spot a lot of animals in the comfort of your own suite or the splash pool. Let’s talk about the foldback glass door frontage of this suite, when you peel it back you become one with the wilderness.
This lodge is fenced for your protection, to allow you game viewing or access to the pool at night and during the day when you feel hot and bothered. The suite is tastefully decorated with an extra-large four-poster bed in the middle of the suite. There are scattered cushions with animal print adding to the safari ambiance on the bed and on the two extra-large seats in the room. A draping net covers the bed accentuating the size of the bed. The bathtub is beautiful with a plunge pool view. An indoor shower with a massive glass window that gives you that indoor/outdoor feeling and more game viewing opportunities.
Food can make or break your experience in any place, Imbali knows this very well and makes it a point you know the taste of Imbali. The culinary experience is out of this world. Breakfast is served buffet style allowing you to taste Africa’s harvest through its fruits, appreciate her heat through her confectionery and preserves in the continental serving, and ultimately indulge in the hot breakfast serving to experience her warm welcome. Lunch is served buffet style as well. I opted for creamy chicken pie with salad and vegetables. One of the best pastries I have ever had, it was soft and flaky and melts in your mouth. While I was enjoying my meal the elephants visited the watering hole by the lodge, they spent a lot of time there which is fantastic for guests as we get to sit and marvel at the majestic animals. Waterbucks came to the waterhole but were chased away by the elephants. Dinner is always a three-course meal where you can select your starter, main course, and dessert. For dinner, I had butternut and orange soup, lovely, creamy, sweet, and spicy at the same time. Pork belly with butternut and roasted beetroot was a beautiful combination of flavours, and it was a delectable meal. If there is malva pudding on a menu you know that’s what I am having. It was a lovely dessert to end my meal
As I have mentioned before, safari always starts at the lodge with a spectacular show of elephants in front of the lodge as we were enjoying afternoon tea before we head out to our afternoon Safari, which was nothing short of adventure, we saw more elephants. The baby elephant next to the mother was the cutest thing ever, always following mom wherever she goes. Next was the daka-boys (buffaloes) One of them was wrestling the base of a tree, he was working out and strengthening his neck. It was quite interesting to watch him work out. I have never seen so many giraffes in one area happily grazing.
Guess what in the middle of the road crawling and stocking zebras a leopard. Leopards are special sightings as they are very hard to find since they are solitary animals, and they are always skittish and shy away from people. We came across several animals, we saw a bush baby for the first time on a tree. We also came across a few ground hornbills. The best sighting was two female lions on a hunt. They were flat on their stomach about 50 meters away was a dazzle of zebras and a herd of wildebeest happily grazing and moving towards where the female lions were hiding and waiting for these animals to get closer to them. All of a sudden, a hyena came and walked past the lion, the lion didn’t see the hyena as it was focusing on the direction of the zebras and the hyena didn’t see the lion. One confident Zebra walked so close to the lions, the two lions started charging at the zebras. Zebras started running and everyone was alarmed the wildebeest started running as well. In the midst of this the elephants were moving towards the lions and started trumpeting, there was just a lot of commotion. We had amazing sightings and it was time to head back to the lodge.
Arrived back from the game drive and we were surprised by three buffaloes drinking in the water hole while having dinner. In no time the elephants returned but the buffaloes just stood there and didn’t move. The elephants were uncomfortable and moved away from the waterhole leaving the three buffaloes.
The staff at Imbali mean business, they are there to serve no matter what. Everyone there is about offering you the best experience. Great service from every staff member from our Ranger Moshe he was very patient and is extremely knowledgeable about the animals, the birds, the trees in the Game Reserve. The service staff are always there offering us food and drinks making sure we are well fed and hydrated. All in all, we received the best service in Imbali.
This is a beautiful escape, after our brief but beautiful encounter in January just before Storm Elouise struck and our new extended stay, I can only advise you to make time to linger-longer, so that you leave with no regrets but a full heart and nothing else but the longing to return. As I said this time and the last time, from the famous words of the terminator “I will be back”