Montusi Mountain Lodge

Location & Setting

Mountain reedbuck, grey rhebok, bushbuck and eland live in the hills around the lodge and are often seen on the trails. Montusi is roughly halfway between Durban and Johannesburg, about three and a half hours from each.

Royal Natal National Park, part of the uKhahlamba-Drakensberg Park, is close by, with the Amphitheatre wall and the Tugela Falls. The Tugela Gorge walk there makes a good full day out. Back at the lodge, a guided 4x4 drive climbs into the Wanhoop Valley, and full-moon walks are arranged when the timing is right.

Rooms

The 16 freestanding suites are set apart in a large garden, and every one looks toward the Drakensberg. There are Garden Suites, Mountain Suites and two-bedroom Family Suites that sleep four or five. Each has an en suite bathroom, a private lounge and a patio, with a gas fireplace in the Garden and Family Suites and a wood-burning one in the Mountain Suites. Massages and treatments are given in the lodge’s massage room.

Facilities

The thatched lounge is the place to gather in the evening, and the pool is welcome on hot summer days. On the estate there are marked trails and free guided hikes, horseback riding with The Northern Horse and a tennis court. Catch-and-release fishing for trout and bass is in the dams (bring your own tackle), and the nine-hole Amphitheatre golf course is about 8 km away. The birding is good, bread and chocolates are made in the kitchen every day, and All Out Adventures, with ziplining and quad biking, is a 10-minute drive.