KwaZulu Natal has a rich heritage and history, it’s a land steeped in its tradition and the ways of its people. The cultural artifact of a place goes beyond the norms and customs of its people, it is in the way they build and make a home. Africa’s heritage is finding expression in modern architecture, and numerous beautiful lodges are scattered around the continent that borrows liberally from traditional methods of construction. These are the “Scatterlings of Africa” that the band Savuka sang about “African ideas, African ideals, Make the future clear…”. As the music rings through my ears, I am reminded of the stories of our proud heritage including the legend of King Shaka that our grandparents used to narrate to us as kids. Great childhood memories pulse through me when I arrive in the Northern KZN, I am of this land and this land is me, this is home for me, my mother was born not far from here.

We drove passed the beautiful sight of the Jozini dam; you know you have arrived at the Kingdom of the Zulus. The lodge is situated on Road D242 just off the N2 freeway, these directions from the lodge are the best with the least gravel road driving. As we enter the reserve there is a ceremonial cloud cover that does nothing to defuse the sun rays beaming harshly through the clouds. It is still summer and the temperature ranges between 33 and 38 degrees. This makes me happy because this year’s summer has been very temperamental with more rainy days than hot days in Johannesburg.

Bayete Zulu Safari lodge is in Mkuze in KwaZulu Natal province. In the pristine big 5 Manyoni Game Reserve, the grass in most places in the reserve is quite thick, the summer rains have played their part. On arrival, one of the rangers directed us to the lodge. This was probably providence as I look in the car mirror, I can see the rest of our travel party driving behind us. The rolling hills and mountains make a spectacular backdrop all around the lodge, for some reason or the other, I miss my mother, but my heart finds peace. A warm welcome from staff when we arrived makes all the difference, all the indemnity and Covid forms had been emailed in advance so there is not much paperwork, this always helps to speed up the check-in process.

Bayete is the royal Zulu salute for the King, which loosely translated it can be equated to hail the king. Bayete Zulu has three lodges in the Manyoni game reserve, there is Bayete Private, Bayete Homestead, and Little Bayete. We are staying in Little Bayete, the suites are beautiful, they are Zulu thatched hut-inspired. No expenses were spared to create this beautiful cocoon of luxury. The room is dominated by a large, oversized bed, with a large bed stand framing the room cleverly concealing your storage space. Oversized bedside lamps flank the bed on both sides just to add to the drama. The room seamlessly flows through a passage to the bathroom and outside shower. The suite is inviting, especially after an early morning track from Johannesburg, but there is no rest, we are getting ready for our first game drive.

The game drives in Manyoni are the best part of the whole experience, apart from having the big 5 there are a lot of other animals roaming in the reserve and ample birdlife finds residence here. Driving in the reserve you are sure to spot several Impala, zebras’ giraffes, warthogs, and lots of birds. We had amazing sightings during our stay we spotted many rhinos, the rhinos are dehorned because of the cruel rhino poaching that is so brutal. As we are bumbling along our ranger tells us that there is a pride of lions near a watering hole, excitement and anticipation fill the game vehicle. What a spectacle ten lions of various ages just lying in the grass, with the younger ones playing. Just when you thought that the afternoon was made a humongous male rhino that was grazing down the slope decides to come for a drink, unaware of the pride of lion that was sitting by the water hole. He casually continued to have a drink oblivious to the pride, but once he spotted the lions, they had no choice but to run away from this massive animal, rhinos are impressive animals, and we must ensure their survival.

Another interesting sighting was watching a crocodile in the water catching and eating a fish, I have never witnessed such before. We also spotted a beautiful cheetah, what was interesting about this cheetah was how half of his legs were covered in mud. We also had a great moment watching a spotted hyena feeding on an impala. Every game drive was filled with adventure when we were there. We also saw many bark spiders on their huge spider webs, which sometimes covered the whole road.

They say you do not know a place until you have tasted its food, so let us jump into the amazing cuisine. The food in Bayete was delicious every meal was a mouth-watering surprise; the chefs know what they are doing. My breakfast favourite was the pancakes with blueberries which were delicious. On one of the lunches when we were there, we had a salad with a twist it had peanut brittle in it, which was a nice twist to the salad that we normally have. We had hearty personalised potjies for dinner one of the evenings. Sitting by the bonfire and sharing our stories, in the evenings was such a treat. One of the greatest lessons from being a traveller is that “Everyone has a story to tell a lesson to teach and wisdom to share…” The company on any trip makes all the difference, try and find people who share your passion, it turns every trip into one for the books.

The elephant interaction experience is one of the activities you can do when visiting Bayete Zulu. We had the pleasure to meet Rambo and Rachel. They are both huge but Rambo the male elephant is bigger than Rachel. We had a chance to feed and interact with the elephants and learn more about these amazing animals.

We have been through a lot in the past two years, but we are still in one peace that’s a story worth telling, so gather your troops and head down to the Zulu kingdom for a royal treatment in Bayete. Maybe you are just in need of seeing the bush and having great food, whatever your excuse, make this your happy place. For family and group trips I absolutely recommend this place. It is worth a visit. This was not my last visit; I am going to visit this place again in the future

The Bayete Zulu Experience - Manyoni Game Reserve