Rio Vista Lodge

Location of Rio Vista Lodge:

Rio Vista Lodge is situated in the town Malelane – right on the banks of the Crocodile River looking into the Southern Kruger National Park.

The lodge is only 9km from the Kruger’s Malelane Gate, which makes it a great place to stay outside the park and will also make a convenient stop over to and from Swaziland and Mozambique.

About the Lodge

We don't think you can get a better view than this; the Crocodile River runs in front of the lodge giving you stunning views into the Kruger and its wildlife that come to the river to drink and bath, by day and night. 

This elephant was about 20 meters away from us!

The main lodge has a large reception area, cocktail deck overlooking the Crocodile River, swimming pool and play area for the kids and a beautiful big dam that is great for bird watching and photography.

These are some of the birds we saw, both at the lodge and in the park...

Rio Vista is owner run and we met with Anita (the owner) on arrival - what a friendly lady and so helpful. She came and chatted to us at dinner and told us about the history of the lodge and gave us some info on the area around the lodge. 

There is a Wi-Fi hotspot in the lodge’s communal area for those who need to connect with the outside world.

Food & Drinks

The newly renovated restaurant has open sides allowing you a good view of the river and Kruger Park. There are canvas flaps that are lowered when the weather gets too cold and they also have heaters to ward off the cold.

The Rio Vista Lodge food is 5-star! We had 3 wonderful dinners: oxtail stew; kingklip, prawns, lamb curry and a desert on one of the nights.

Jenny had the lamb curry twice so I guess it was really good!

Prawns!

Kingklip!

Jenny's favorite - Lamb Curry!

Each morning we took breakfast packs with us, which we asked for at dinner and before we left the restaurant our packs were ready for us.

These have to be the best breakfast packs ever!

Every day we were given two packs each and each time we had something different. The one pack contained a variety of fresh fruit with a juice, while the other had the exciting stuff... 

Scotch eggs, ham & cheese plus salad and nuts	Smoked sausages with boiled eggs, salad and ham & cheese
Crumbed chicken breast with salad, boiled egg and ham & cheese	Fresh fruit and fruit juice

We don’t eat wheat so this can make it difficult for lodges, as breakfast packs are normally a sandwich with muffin and rusks and a boiled egg but Rio Vista Lodge’s kitchen staff were ultra-creative!

Viewing deck with spotlight at night

The old restaurant (viewing deck) will now become the cocktail deck which has an unobstructed view over the river. 

Accommodation

The main lodge houses 17 rooms, each room has been elegantly decorated; the upstairs rooms have a view from their balcony and ground level rooms have a patio.

All have an en suite bathroom, tea and coffee station, aircons and bottled water with a small bar fridge. Some have views of the pool and river while others look onto the lovely gardens.

Linos, which is just next door to the main lodge, has two double chalets, meaning each has an inter-leading door making them great for families or for four couples.

The chalets have en-suite bathrooms, tea and coffee station, air-cons, DSTV and a large patio overlooking the Crocodile River. 

Should you wish to get the Kruger eBook, click on the above book cover, then click 'Add to Cart' where you'll see a button called 'Add Promo Code'. Click on it then add the word K2K and the 33% discount will be automatically applied. This code is valid until the end of the month, so don't delay!

"This is an indispensable guide to getting the best out of Kruger, camera in hand or not!” - Caroline Webb, Associate Editor, Getaway Magazine, South Africa

Activities

If you are a golfer then there is a golf course just down the drag; if you love the wildlife then the Kruger Park is a hop, skip and a jump away.  

Our Sightings

Sunrise on the S114

We did three day's of self-drive safaris and had some amazing sightings:

Leopard x 2

Buffalo

Elephant

Rhino

Giraffe

Hyenas

Wild Dogs 

For more information or to make your booking please click here

Return from Rio Vista Lodge to Kruger Park page

To make a car rental booking in South Africa click here

To make a car rental booking in Botswana or Namibia click here

To make a safari rental booking in South Africa, Botswana or Namibia click here

ShareFacebookXPinterestTumblrRedditWhatsAppMessenger