Aerial view of a dark timber deck with a round pool, striped loungers and a green-roofed pavilion set among coastal trees, the flats and open water of Lake St Lucia stretching to the horizon

South Africa  ·  iSimangaliso Wetland Park

Makakatana Bay Lodge

A lodge on the banks of Lake St Lucia in the iSimangaliso Wetland Park: beaches, wetlands, a game reserve and a boat cruise on Africa's largest marine estuary.

Most safari lodges look out onto bush. Makakatana Bay Lodge looks out onto water. It sits on the banks of Lake St Lucia, inside the iSimangaliso Wetland Park, a World Heritage Site and one of the few places that still earns the phrase natural wonder without anyone rolling their eyes.

The appeal is the sheer range of it. In a single stay you can have beaches that have not been improved by anyone, wetlands that stretch further than seems reasonable, and a game reserve with wildlife on the move through it. Then, having done the land, you take to the water: a boat cruise on Africa's largest marine estuary, where the pace slows to whatever the lake decides.

The lodge's green roofs half-hidden under a dense coastal canopy, with the wide grey expanse of Lake St Lucia and its reed-fringed shore behind
The lodge under the canopy, the lake beyond
You come home slightly salted and not entirely sure which part of the day was the highlight.

It is an unusual combination and it changes the rhythm of a safari. Mornings might be about the bush; afternoons are about the light on the estuary and whatever surfaces beside the boat. You come home slightly salted and not entirely sure which part of the day was the highlight.

For anyone who has done the classic bushveld circuit, Makakatana is a reminder that Africa has coastlines too, and that they are worth the detour.

01

The lodge

Bedroom with a grey upholstered headboard, brass pendant lamps, a water-lily painting above the bed and a rattan chair in the foreground
Brass, rattan and water lilies
Suite under high timber trusses: a slatted wooden headboard wall, magenta and botanical-print cushions, a teal rug on polished floorboards
Under the trusses
Looking straight down on a round pool set into a timber deck, a swimmer floating at its edge, potted aloes on the coping
The pool, from above

02

On the water

Timber deck with a rustic pole railing beside the pool, potted plants, coastal forest and a glimpse of the lake
Deck, pool, lake
A guide in a cap stands at the bow of a boat, looking out across wind-ruffled water and reed beds to forested hills
Guide at the bow
A Goliath heron in flight low over reeds and shallow water, wings spread wide, forest on the far shore
Goliath heron over the reedsLake St Lucia

Makakatana Bay Lodge

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