Name: Premier Resort Mpongo Private Game Reserve
Address: Macleantown District, N6 National Road, East London, 5201, ZA

10/10

Exceptional

26 Jun 2025

Lorraine

Home away from home, Gem in the making

What an amazing place, Mpongo Premier Game Reserve is the best. The Manager Pieter made sure that our stay is pleasant. From Reception the welcoming was excellent. Johannes the Ranger gave us tutorials about the Game Reserve thank you very much. The food was wonderful Breakfast was exquisite

10/10

Exceptional

24 Dec 2020

Gugulethu

Perfect Tranquility

This is our frequent hideaway spot to detach from the busy life of work and family. It's perfect. Food is great. It's a very peaceful place within a nature reserve.

Partner

10/10

Exceptional

15 Mar 2020

Nqobile

I loved everything about our stay. Friendly staff😊 everything was amaxinh

Partner

10/10

Exceptional

05 Mar 2020

Mrs Timothear Nontuthuzel

A Hide Out Break-Away

Our stay was amazing, only if we were informed prior
to our arrival how the reception of mobile network is...?
We could've rather opted on the rooms that had available
WiFi excess..!
Other than that it was relaxing.
Thanks.

Partner

8/10

Excellent

05 Mar 2020

Verified traveler

Little piece of heaven

beautiful place to stay. Was very Accommodating and comfortable however network is very poor there and the WiFi was down during our stay.

Partner

8/10

Excellent

05 Jan 2020

Verified traveler

Brand new, without much character

The MPongo Private Game Reserve was basically brand new when we stayed there (Jan'20). Very clean, if a bit corporate feel to it. Great big rooms and bathrooms with a view. Sadly no mosquito nets and plenty of mosquitoes. While service, rooms and food was all perfectly fine, it lacked some of the special touch of the other places we stayed at in SA.

Partner

8/10

Excellent

16 Sep 2019

Thabo

The stay was a great one, but its just a few things that I feel can be fixed or adjusted for.

1. Comfort - A TV is a must, we can have guest fighting over one TV.
2. Condition - The road leading to riverside lodge is very bad.

Partner

8/10

Excellent

07 Aug 2019

Shannon

Great stay. Awesome staff, excellent facilities

10/10

Exceptional

15 Jul 2019

Tendai

Mpongo

Amazing place to stay. Perfect place for a family

Family

10/10

Exceptional

03 Mar 2019

ZANELE

Best getaway ever💃💃

It's an amazing refreshing experience and the peace and quietness of the place tops it all. Definitely coming again and will recommend to my friends and colleagues.

Partner

8/10

Excellent

04 Jan 2019

Verified traveler

The room and the environment was amazing. The only criticism I have is that they only offer buffet and you can not order off a normal menu. We went off the resort to obtain food at a near by restaurant for a reasonable price.

Partner

10/10

Exceptional

18 Nov 2018

Mr d

Interesting & different place to stay, recommende

Easy to find as well signposted from main road. quick efficient check in and transfer from main lodge to satellite lodge about 2km in the park by the river where there was lots of tame wildlife- warthog, gazelle, hornbill - wandering around. Room was huge with four poster bed and bath tub in one corner with separate shower and toilet. large terrace with settee and untroubled by bugs, even at dusk. only drawback was need to drive back to main area for dinner which was a reasonably priced buffet overlooking the waterhole area which had lots of wildlife- peacocks, bunnies, gazelle, lions (thankfully caged), thoroughly recommended

6/10

Pleasant

08 Oct 2018

Eric C Mc Gee

Room fot improvement

Lack attention to detail. Cotaage had two baths and not one had a bath plug. Windowas was dirty and person on dutu during day at River cottage was not able to answer out questions refarding dinner arrangements.
Lodge OK but can be so much better.

Family

10/10

Exceptional

01 Oct 2018

Mbalenhle

Overall stay

The staff is friendly and welcoming. Rooms are more than what you expect.. Their service is excellent. I'll definitely come back.

Friends

8/10

Excellent

19 May 2018

sandra

Good food andvLovely room. Sunken bathtub with garden view just lacks a TV in the room but have been told they will be installed shortly.

Partner

8/10

Excellent

29 Aug 2016

Neli

Friendliest staff ever

i had a great stay bHut would much prefer Riverside lodge next time am around.Huberta is not so pleasant

8/10

Excellent

27 Feb 2016

Verified traveler

Good value

Luxurious room with private veranda to watch antelope, ostrich and monkeys wandering through grounds. Plentiful game in reserve. Note no TV, fridge or air con in room. Lunchtime food in main restaurant very disappointing but excellent entertainment from hippo pool. Great evening braai and set menu at separate lodge.

Partner

10/10

Exceptional

23 Jan 2016

Kyle

Must stay

This place was amazing!! The food is delicious!!

Partner

2/10

Poor

07 Jan 2016

DEBRA

Smelly bedding with very slow service at meals

We stayed in the lodge, which was several kilometres from reception, in the bush. Only one other couple were staying there. No security was provided for us overnight and we felt very unsafe and vulnerable. The swimming pool was dirty and full of particles and mould. Our bed stunk strongly of body odour and the smell was so bad that it kept us awake. We don't think the bedding was clean or fresh. The toilet smelled of stale urine. At breakfast and dinner the service was extremely slow between courses. The sausage served at breakfast was undercooked inside. We couldn't wait to leave.

Partner

8/10

Excellent

13 Dec 2015

Jim

A pleasant 2 days break on a long drive

I chose Mpongo for a break whilst driving south from Durban to Cape Town. An excellent choice for me - moreover because there were few other guests and I could please myself. Still seemed to be quite a lot of work going on around the cpmplex.

8/10

Excellent

13 Dec 2015

Rodrick

Great getaway for the family.

Arrived and at checkin I didn't quite like the room they had prepared for us at and the Huberta Lodge. After a lengthy discussion with management we finally reached an agreement, I paid a little extra and was upgraded to the nicer River Lodge.

Room Tip: River Lodge is the one you see in most of the picture gallery and was worth the extra charge.

Thomas our fantastic host and guide drove us to our new rooms were Portia settled us in and made us feel at home. Our new room was what I had initially expected, it had plenty of room and was very comfortable.
We had a little tour of River Lodge which sits in a valley with luscious surroundings and wildlife. We had some Nyala grazing outside by our patio.
The swimming pool did need some attention it took two days for them to get it into a condition that we could swim.

All in all we had a memorable great stay. The highlight was dinning at the waterhole, the food was always delicious thanks to our chef Aubrey.

Will certainly pay another visit.

Family

10/10

Exceptional

08 Dec 2015

Verified traveler

animals outside your window

Our stay was only one night but was still fantastic. On Arrival we arrived at our room to find hippos outside the living room window as well as a few other animals throughout the day. As we were in the house we were picked up and driven down to the lodge for our evening meal. We would highly recommend the early morning bush walk the guides were fantastic and very knowledgeable we were even able to get quite close to a family of giraffes. This is definitely somewhere we would recommend.

Partner

6/10

Pleasant

11 Oct 2015

Verified traveler

stay was not good

Not good due to condition of bathroom

Family

4/10

Poor

07 Oct 2015

Verified traveler

Our not so nice stay at Mpongo Game Reserve

We received a very warm welcome from Mr Vermuelen and he provide exceptional concierge services. Mr Vermeulen went out of his way to ensure that we were well taken care of on arrival. stones. The guest rooms are comfortable but the bathroom need renovation. The bathroom gadgets are rusted. The shower should be changed. The wardrobes are damp. Maybe the owner should invest in a proper ply room to keep the kids occupied taking into account the Mpongo is about 35km from East London. The owner to invest in another swimming pool that can be located closer to the Hubert Lodge. The family had to travel to the five star lodge (as it is called) for the kids to swim. I must say that we did not feel welcome at the swimming pool that is located at the five star lodge considering the attitude of the gentleman that was there. One could actually sense subtle racism especially from Justin who was at the restaurant. The Hubert restaurant is well located and allows you to view the hippo whilst enjoying you breakfast. However the breakfast menu is very limited and lacks variety. On the day of departure, breakfast was not ready at 8am and yet we had been told that breakfast starts at 7am. I would not advise any of our black family or friends to visit Mpongo because of our experience, but otherwise change of attitude from the white employees will go a long way in ensuring that people enjoy their stay at Mpongo.

Family

8/10

Excellent

10 Sep 2015

Sinovuyo

Beautiful weekend

We had a great stay but the weekend was very short and we must come again! I loved the fact that there is no tv in the rooms because it gives you time to bond with your partner. The view from the room was just beautiful and the surroundings are just peaceful and you can just sit and appreciate nature

Partner

10/10

Exceptional

22 Jun 2015

Lance

Mpongo Private Game Review

The staff was excellent in all aspects. They went out of the way to accommodate our travel and make sure we were happy, which we were. We were sad we could not stay longer due to other travel requirements.

10/10

Exceptional

08 Jun 2015

Lance

Wonderful experience

The staff was fantastic. They bent over backwards for us. Family of 7 traveling for the first time in South Africa.

6/10

Pleasant

30 Mar 2015

Verified traveler

The staff was friendly, and assisted us with om service. overalll this is false advertising, the bed was hard.

8/10

Excellent

25 Feb 2015

Dion & Georgina

Peace and quiet

Thank you to the entire staff, especially our host Clive, for the great experience at Mpongo Park. We thoroughly enjoyed the peace and quiet. The game viewing, especially the buck grazing on the lawns in the early morning and the hippos in the restaurant dam, were an added bonus to the stay that we enjoyed. The game stories around the pub were great as well Clive. All the best.

10/10

Exceptional

29 Jan 2015

Brian

Great experience

Astounded at what this game park had to offer. After a morning game tour we sadly left this amazing hotel.

10/10

Exceptional

05 Jan 2015

Liliana

excellent place :)

very nice game reserve; lots of animals; excellent rooms

10/10

Exceptional

23 Dec 2014

Albert

Stunning game farm close to East London

A warm welcome, outstanding facilities and world class game drive. Will definitely visit again.

10/10

Exceptional

06 Nov 2014

NICHOLAS

Heaven in Africa

Hotel a little hard to find just take note how far out of city it is - but a great safari venue.

Partner

10/10

Exceptional

16 Oct 2014

KB

Quiet location and full of wildlife.

Good locaion down a dirt track.
Pleabty of wildlife in the grounds and more to see on the game drives.
Nice restaurant for breakfast and evening meals and able able to wath Hippos in the lake.

10/10

Exceptional

18 Jul 2014

Mic

Wildlife

It was lovely to come back from business and still be able to view wild animals.

4/10

Poor

14 Jul 2014

Linkie-lu

Um, not to knock it too bad as $$ workout well

They had a baby Giraffe you could feed, you are able to get very close to big cats and they have hippos. So that sums up the positive stuff I have to say…..

Self-drive game drive seemed to be the only option.

Our pillows did not have pillow covers. They locked us out of the reserve after asking us what we would be doing that night.

Considering its location I felt security was a little lax (I am and ex-South African).

The food was ok, the hospitality ok, but we checked out early and they did not even ask why???????

Not one for the princessy like me….

10/10

Exceptional

21 Dec 2013

snoreman

Gorgeous

What a fabulous reserve run by lovely people. First and only petting zoo with a baby giraffe! Comfy rooms, lots of space, good value and location. They could do with some more direction signs to help people find it as it's quite tucked away and the roads are difficult to navigate especially at night. You may not want to bother with breakfast, it's small and quite expensive but don't let this put you off. Mpongo game reserve is well worth a visit.

Family

10/10

Exceptional

17 Dec 2013

Verified traveler

Good fun for overnight stop

On route from Durban to cape town. Perfect for one night stop. High quality and comfortable accommodation. Good evening meal and breakfast. To wet for game drive but nice to see animals on site - springbok, kudu, monkeys wandering loose - and the hippo!

10/10

Exceptional

15 Oct 2013

Verified traveler

GOOD FOOD

THE HOTEL WAS JUST WHAT WE NEEDED FOR A PEACFUL QUITE RELAXING STAY FOR A FEW DAYS, GOOD TO SEE THE WILDLIFE FROM YOUR ROOM

6/10

Pleasant

28 Mar 2013

Neville

Mpongo Game Reserve

Room allocated not according to description on booking confirmation form. Very small bathroom. Breakfast service non-existent and food below par for a 4 star establishment. Dinner service excellent. Long walk from parking to lodge.

10/10

Exceptional

14 Mar 2013

anny

a wonderful stay

Perfect value for money, beautiful reserve, unfortunately no fridge in the room.

8/10

Excellent

17 Jan 2019

Katrin

Tolle Lage sehr ruhig. Keine Klima.

Direkt in einem Wildreservat mit vielen Tieren. Wenn man von unten zum Hotel Fährt ist die Straße der Horror. Den Weg zur Riverlodge darf man auch nur mit dem Auto fahren wegen der Tiere und man sollte besser nüchtern sein ;)

Family

8/10

Excellent

20 Feb 2016

Not Provided

Very relaxing

Excellent lodge with very comfortable rooms and a great place to relax.

Partner

10/10

Exceptional

08 Oct 2015

Michael

sehr schöne Ünterkunft in der Natur vor allem für

- sehr schöne Ünterkunft in der Natur
- wir hatten ein Eckzimmer, welches sehr groß war und 2 Terassen hatte
- der Service war sehr gut
- uns wurde extra wegen unserer kleinen Tochter ein extra Game drive organisiert
- sehr schön für Kinder

Family

10/10

Exceptional

12 Jan 2015

Verified traveler

Hippoviewing from breakfast table

a very nice lodge in a private game park. Guests are welcome for free game drives.
Animals can come almost to the Restaurant. A pleasant stay.

10/10

Exceptional

22 Feb 2014

Curly

Schöne Zimmer in toller Umgebung

Die Zimmer sind im afrikanischen Design gestaltet. Leider gab es keine Klimaanlage. Eine super Umgebung mit einigen Tieren. Bspw. Eine Giraffe, Nilpferde...

10/10

Exceptional

08 Jan 2014

Verified traveler

Wundervolle Oase der Ruhe!

Wundervoll, wunderschön und ohne Worte. Einfach unbeschreiblich. Tiere, direkt vor der Terrasse. Einfach hin. Unbedingt erleben!

10/10

Exceptional

07 Nov 2013

clas

fantastisk känsla

Det här lodget har allt, genuint, akfrikansk, bekvämt, spännande

10/10

Exceptional

02 Nov 2013

Michel

Private Game Reserve

Private Game Reserve mit großer Nähe zum Deutschsprachigen Reisenden. Die Dame an der Rezeption spricht besser Deutsch als ich selbst....;-) Besonders gut hat mir König Ramses (Ranger) imponiert. Leider kein Föhn auf dem Zimmer und etwas Schimmel, dafür nur 4 Punkte bei Sauberkeit des Zimmers. Game Reserve hat mir gute gefallen - als Hotelgast darf man umsonst Selfdrive machen....also super Preis/Leistung.....wirklich super! Ist aber natürlich kein Krüger - auch \"nur\" big Four. Aber Frühstück mit Blick auf die Hippos ist spitze! Zimmer 1 im Unterkunftsbereich ist laut wegen der Eingangstür daneben - besser Zimmer nach hinten nehmen. Bin zum Pizza holen (das geht im Krüger nicht) nach Mdantsane (neben Potsdam) gefahren. Beim Pick and Pay habe ich mich das erste Mal in Südafrika extrem unsicher gefühlt. Mdantsane ist eine Gefährliche Ecke - unbedingt vermeiden! Mpongo absolute Empfehlung!

10/10

Exceptional

29 Aug 2013

jorge

excelente

Todo perfecto