Jabulani Safari Relais & Chateaux

Everyone working at Jabulani goes above and beyond for their guests. Due to the limited number of rooms, each guest receives personalized attention from dedicated staff. Within a few hours, you're on a first name basis with everybody working to make your stay as comfortable and enjoyable as possible, since its only 3 or 4 people that are dedicated to you during your stay.

The game drives were so much fun, and our guide Joan was exceptional. He immediately built a rapport within minutes of him picking us up at the airport. Not only is he a fantastic tracker, but he has a level of charisma and personality that really made our drives entertaining.

The food was probably the biggest positive surprise for us, as Jabulani's chef Henlu provided an exceptional culinary experience. Each meal was different and delicious, not to mention very generous. We ate until we felt like we would burst, and then tried to keep eating because the food was so good. Do not skip out on his snack platters!
The wine selection was also quite good, with a very broad inventory of local producers.

Other members of the service staff (Shadrick, Chantel) and management provided personalized service that really made our stay feel special. The rooms were beautifully appointed, and we really enjoyed the outdoor plunge pool.

Every aspect of our stay exceeded our expectations, and we will certainly look to come back to Jabulani the next time we are in South Africa.

What could be improved: There really isn't anything I think they could improve on.

Where do I start… most incredible place I’ve ever stayed at. The staff was INCREDIBLE. We had the best Ranger (Ryan) ever, so full of energy and made our experience one never to forget. The Chef (Henlu) was the nicest guy you could ask for, our butler (Obert) also one to make us smile at every turn and would get every single detail perfect without flaw! We had the best time ever and couldn’t have wished for a better way to finish an amazing Honeymoon. Thank you so much

What could be improved: Bed was a bit hard but that’s really just personal preference and noticed most South African hotels are on the ‘hard’ side. This isnt really any complaint

Beautifully furnished and clean room.

What could be improved: Lack of attention to details. I ordered specific breakfast on 2 occasions but got different orders. Although, on the first night i clearly explained my dietary preferences to the Chef. Other than that, the dinners were exceptional. Further, for some reason, they kept on harassing me to make payment to the lodge although the reservation was made through booking.com and confirmation of payment was shown to management!

Property was nice but compared to Pondoro, Jabulani was meh. Food was excellent. Meeting the rehabilitated elephants was great.

What could be improved: Jabulani Safari is a place where incompetent management are staffed. This property should not be a Relais & Chateaux property as it fails to meet basic needs and expectations. We came here to celebrate our honeymoon and they completely forgot. On the day of our arrival we had a random travel reviewer join us in our game drive during our honeymoon. Our ranger was inexperienced and took us on the same exact drives during our stay. Game drives were uneventful, repetitive and lacking excitement. No uniqueness in our game drives. Animals are not able to roam freely between Kruger national park and the greater area. Jabulani Safari is located in an area where animals are fenced in and can not roam to other reserves and the greater Kruger area. We stayed at another luxury property, Pondoro Game Lodge which truly exceeded our expectations and delivered the fundamental values of what a Relais & Chateaux property should entail. Unfortunately, Pondoro is not a R&C property. The staff at Pondoro were exquisite, friendly and were happy to be working there. Whereas the staff at Jabulani were clearly segregated between the races and did not seem happy to be working for such property. However, the true icing on the cake was Barbara, who not only forgot to tell the lodge it was our honeymoon, but she also lacked any competency in technology. We paid in full prior to our arrival and she couldn’t locate it and tried to charge us again. She continuously harassed us to submit another payment via a secure payment link. I did not feel comfortable inputting my cc information to run my card for a second payment when it was already paid in full and charged to my bank. She couldn’t understand the difference between a secure payment link and a confirmation link. Thankfully we contacted the third party Booking and they confirmed that we had paid in full. She did not care to locate the payment but could only “advise” us to run our card again.