Every traveller has a special place, somewhere he or she keeps going back to and can never get enough of. For me that place has always been the Kruger National Park. And although I’ve stayed in a number of camps, and loved most of them, I have finally found my ”home” in the Kruger, where I could happily spend eternity.
It’s a large, thatched game-viewing deck, perched on stilts a few metres inside the southern boundary of the park, on a peaceful stretch of the Crocodile river.
Technically the deck is in the park, in reality it is part of the Malelane Sun Intercontinental hotel.
For me, the hotel is a handy bonus to the deck, but I’m pretty sure that amiable ex-Zimbabwean manager Andrew Hosking would take issue with this. I don’t mean it disrespectfully, and I know I’m the exception to the rule, because the Malelane Sun Intercontinental is a marvellous establishment and, in my view, an unsung hero that puts a lot of its more publicised Kruger competitors to shame.
It’s a small hotel with a big heart. It’s part of the Southern Sun group and, as its name suggests, a member of the international Intercontinental brand that guarantees guests around the world quality and value for money. The Malelane Sun is located on the luxurious Leopard Creek Golf Estate, home to the rich and famous and to one of Gary Player’s true master strokes — the Leopard Creek Country Club.
It’s an easy four-hour drive from Johannesburg, straight down the newly improved N4 that links Gauteng with Mpumalanga and, ultimately, the Mozambican capital, Maputo.
The drive takes you through some of the most fantastic scenery this country has to offer, from the gentle green hills of the escarpment, which begin to materialise at Belfast, through Machadodorp, the Watervals Boven and Onder and on downwards to the jewel of the Lowveld — Nelspruit — and the fertile citrus plantations of the Crocodile Valley.
Yes, there are toll gates. It seems we are doomed to shell out our readies no matter where we choose to travel on South Africa’s roads, but at the end of the day on this particular stretch of highway there is at least evidence that money has been spent to improve the route, and there are more than enough alternative routes through the beautiful countryside.
The Leopard Creek estate is situated just outside the Malelane gate to the Kruger National Park, on the southern banks of the Crocodile river. The hotel is a short distance downstream, on one of the many bends the river takes in its last few hundred kilometres seaward.
Its traditional African thatch blends in beautifully with the thorn trees and baobabs that surround it and offers shelter to a welcome committee of giant kingfishers that stalk the smallfry inhabiting the water feature at reception.
Inside it’s cool and, well, African. It’s a theme you can’t get away from in hotels in this country, and love it or loathe it the African look is here to stay. Personally, I love it, and the Africana at the Malelane Sun is thankfully authentic, and not the kind of ostentatious mass-produced type of thing so favoured by some.
Actually it’s more bush lodge than hotel, with rooms spread out on either side of the pool and restaurant along the river bank.
The rooms, though not overly large, are comfortable and more than functional, with en-suite facilities, air-conditioning/heating, televisions, mini-bars, hairdryers and tea-/coffee-making facilities.
But anyone who wants to spend time in the rooms is mad, because at the Malelane Sun the action is all outside, and most of it happens on that heavenly deck.
The gardens are lovely, and lead away from the pool on either side, offering riverside rambles and paths through the bushveld that lead down to the Kruger fence.
The deck is elevated over the river. It’s a short walk from the pool bar, down the river bank and up a timber staircase over the fence, into Kruger territory.
Comfortable sleeper-wood chairs and tables face the river and a bar serves refreshments from 6am to late. Entertainment is provided by an unending stream of Kruger inhabitants who I swear are on the hotel’s payroll.
I’ve seen the Big Five in one day from the deck, starting in the wee small hours with leopard, and buffaloes at breakfast, then moving on to elephants for elevenses, lions at lunchtime, and rhino at dusk.
But I have to say that the most spectacular scene I have ever witnessed from my comfy chair is a two-hour aquatic sparring match between three young bull elephants that took place in front of a rapt audience of hotel guests and staff.
Away from the deck, loungers line the raised river bank next to the large pool, which is served by an open-air bar and restaurant area where a range of snacks and light meals can be taken. This extends into the excellent Kingfisher Restaurant, where sumptuous buffet breakfasts and dinners are served each day.
There’s certainly no faulting the food, which is marvellous, or the service, which is excellent.
On chilly days and winter nights, the lounge adjacent to the restaurant is transformed into a warm and welcoming haven, with a roaring log fire, comfy wingbacks and pots of piping hot Milo helping to spread cheer.
Guests can also take advantage of a range of organised game drives run from the hotel by Lowveld Environmental Services. Or there’s the option of self-drive game viewing, with the Malelane Gate a four-minute drive from the hotel. This is where a Wild Card — the South African National Parks’s new loyalty card that offers South African residents free entry to a park, or parks, for a pre-paid annual fee — comes in handy. Without it entrance into the Kruger each day costs a small fortune.
For groups and corporate guests, the Malelane Sun represents a great opportunity to combine an event with the thrill of being part of the Kruger experience.
The facilities are top rate and can be tailored to provide anything from weddings to conferences and business breakaways.
The hotel has two bomas for dining outside under the stars, one is fully enclosed and can accommodate large groups and functions, the other is set on the banks of the river, right next to the Kruger fence, a short walk through the riverine bush from the main hotel complex.
This is a true African dining experience, with oil lanterns and the open fire providing the lighting, and those marvelous Kruger ”employees” regularly joining in the fun. Diners have been witness to leopard kills, marauding lions and inquisitive elephants.
And then, of course, there’s golf. Guests at the hotel can avail themselves of the hallowed Leopard Creek course, arguably one of Gary Player’s finest.
It’s a very exclusive place and not for the faint-hearted or empty-walleted — a round costs R1 300 and almost as much in lost balls! Booking is made through the hotel.
But if, like me, you fall in love with the deck, it will be hard to leave it. I’ve often considered sleeping on it, with one of the two spotlights for night game viewing in one hand and night-vision binoculars in the other. I wonder if they’d let me move in?
The low down
The Malelane Sun Intercontinental is officially graded as a four-star establishment. Its current room rate is R1 500 a room, a night, which includes a full buffet breakfast in the Kingfisher Restaurant.
This rate is valid until January 1 2004. The current rates for dinner in the Kingfisher Restaurant are R149 a person for South African residents and ”locals” and R152 a person for international visitors.
Thompsons Tours is currently offering special fly/drive packages to the hotel as part of its South African Summer Holidays brochure. A weekend break (Friday to Sunday) flying return from Johannesburg to Kruger Mpumalanga International airport can be had for R1 872 a person, sharing, including flights, car hire, accommodation and breakfast each day.
A four-night midweek fly/drive package is available at a price of R2 936 a person, sharing, or seven nights for R4 365 a person, sharing.
Packages are also available from Durban and Cape Town.
Self-drive options are two nights over a weekend at R744 a person, sharing, or a five-night stay at R1 854 a person, sharing.
The Thompsons Tours prices are valid from October 1 this year to April 30 next year.
What is there to do?
Game viewing is great, but it’s not the only thing you can do while staying at the Malelane Sun Intercontinental.
Besides being perfectly positioned for the Kruger National Park, the hotel is an ideal base from which to explore the Lowveld and escarpment. Nelspruit is a 20-minute drive away, with historic Sabie, White River and Hazyview all within an hour’s drive. The Blyde River Canyon and places of interest such as Bourke’s Luck Potholes, God’s Window and the towns of Graskop and Pilgrim’s Rest are slightly further afield, at around an hour-and-a-half’s drive, but the fantastic scenery makes it more than worth it.
Arts and crafts are plentiful. A definite must for African art, decor and odds and ends is the Delagoa craft shop in Graskop, where you can find some great bargains.
Golfers don’t have to take the expensive Leopard Creek option either. A two-minute drive away from the estate is the lovely Malelane Country Club. The nine-hole Skukuza course inside the Kruger National Park is an hour away. This course is challenging in its own right as there are no fences to keep the wildlife off the course, and players must sign an indemnity before teeing off. Further afield are the excellent White River Country Club and Nelspruit Country Club courses.