Ukutula Lion Lodge

Our experience at the Ukutula Lodge was fantastic! I highly recommend staying here during your time in South Africa! It is about an hour and a half north of Pretoria. The food was delicious and the staff were very friendly and nice. Our lodge was clean and comfortable. The wifi was a little slow, but it did work sometimes. Included in the stay, you get the predator tour, which was amazing! We got to feed an adorable baby lion! She sat on our lap and we were able to pet her and play. My kids were in heaven! We also got to go into the cheetah enclosure and pet the cheetahs. They just sat there and purred- it was such a special experience. They also have a tiger, many large lions, and hyenas. It is a very impressive reserve. You can tell that all of the staff are very passionate about the animals and take very good care of them. I highly recommend this experience!

What an amazing experience!!!!! The staff were friendly and helpful. The entire place is very clean and it's obvious that the staff really care about the animals. I would highly recommend this experience to everyone visiting South Africa

My husband and I had the pleasure of staying at Ukutula Lodge in September 2024 to celebrate our 12th wedding anniversary. We were thoroughly impressed with the beauty and cleanliness of the lodge. We had the unforgettable opportunity to walk with the lions, pet baby lions and cheetahs. We thoroughly enjoyed the Predator Tour, Enrichment Walk with the Lions, Water Hole Experience, and Flora & Fauna Bush Walk. The food was delicious, and the staff were exceptionally kind and respectful very knowledgeable. The owners were absolutely amazing and made our stay truly memorable. We will never forget the thrilling experience of hearing the lions roar at night and throughout the day. We highly recommend Ukutula Lodge and would love to return in the future.

My daughter and I spent six glorious nights at this property. The staff is impeccable in every way. Nothing was lacking in the service quality we experienced. It is abundantly clear that the very special animals here are deeply loved and highly respected. All of our wildlife (flora and fauna) encounters were unique, fulfilling, and informative. The ecosystem here is nothing short of spectacular!

Such an amazing experience for our family. This is our second visit from Australia, last time was 9 years ago. Wonderful and informative owners, guides and staff who went above and beyond to make the experience for our family thoroughly enjoyable. Amazing conservation work. Thank you to all the team.

Words cannot describe how amazing our experience at Ukutula was. Everything and every person we met went above and beyond our expectations making for a stay that we'll never forget. As we rounded out our trip to South Africa in late June, we decided to end it in the best way possible with a visit here, one of the best decisions we have ever made. Our family of 3 stayed at the 4 bed chalet and were blown away with the accommodations. Not only was there a kitchen stocked with everything we need, we were met with a luxurious bathroom and a private loft for sleeping as well as the bedroom. It was a wonderful experience staying here. All the facilities were clean as a whistle and we spent our evenings listening to the lions roar, definitely one of the coolest things ever. The staff always greeted us with a smile and a hello! We started off our stay with the predator tour having Nicole as our tour guide. Nicole was absolutely fantastic, being extremely informative as well as patient and humorous during our tour. The things that they are doing at Ukutula are truly breathtaking in regards to caring for the animals and the research they provide. We left knowing that these animals are extremely well cared for with Nicole answering every question we could muster with a plethora of information. The predator tour was a perfect way for us to be introduced to the dream of a place that Ukutula is. After our tour, we had lunch and dinner, which we all 3 ordered a steak sandwich for the former and a filet mignon for the latter. The food was impeccable, cooked to our exact requests and the best meals we had in South Africa so far. They even accommodated our request to have the dinner service brought to our rooms, brought by our tour guide earlier that day Nicole and the always amazing Anna. Service here truly is second to none, I can not say enough about it. Our 2nd and final day is where we truly were blown away by the service and people that Ukutula has. We started off our morning with the lion walk, which was a once in a lifetime experience that we will never forget. It felt surreal being able to walk beside these amazing creatures. A minor problem occurred during our visit and despite us telling the staff not to worry about it, they insisted that they make it up to us. They provided for us to go on a bush drive to explore the over 260 hectares of space that Ukutula is situated on, seeing zebras, antelopes, turtles, and giraffes! We also went on the lion waterhole experience, which was great to see the lions interact and swim. Perhaps the part that stuck out in our heads the most was the check out experience. Although bittersweet, it was time to say goodbye to the place that we grew so attached to in just a little over 24 hours. On our way to the airport, our driver had a tire pop over the airport. With a flight to catch in a few hours, we were panicked and decided to call the lodge to see if they had any accommodations available to take us to the airport.