Christmas Dinner at Tambuti Lodge

When the Travel Consultant suggested we stay at Tambuti Lodge in Pilanesberg National Park, I immediately looked up the resort in my Complete Guide to African Safaris. But the Lodge was nowhere to be found. I looked it up online and found some pictures. It looked pretty nice. The price was right and there were two rooms available for Christmas. So I booked.

this patio has a wet bar and refrigerator

We were so pleasantly surprised when we checked in on Christmas morning after our hot air balloon safari. It was perfection. The reason it wasn't in any of my guide books? It's only been open for less than a year!

We were greeted at the door by Maritza and Lyndi holding a tray of passion fruit cocktails and were shown around the property's shared amenities. Dining room and lounge, swimming pool and boma, a second floor tree house loft and internet cafe, office and TV room with a stocked bar and fireplace.

It is an intimate lodge. Only 10 guests can be accommodated in the five private guest lodges, each named after a different safari animal. Each private lodge is huge with a very spacious bedroom, several patios and porches, an outdoor and an indoor shower and a center bathtub in the middle of the large bathroom. Even the water closet is large with a commode and a bidet.

The very high ceilings everywhere under the thatched roofs added to the general feeling of openness and spaciousness.

And so did the decor. Everything is in soothing shades of white, sand, celadon and aqua accented with graphic black and white touches and splashes of orange. The furnishings are clean and streamlined. The lodge would look just as much at home in Big Sur, California or in the Finnish woods.

It was a nice change of pace after staying at many other lodges with the more expected jungle-y African decor or the colonial "Out of Africa" looks.


As it turned out, it was a great choice for Christmas too as its diminutive size made it feel more family-like. We all sat around a single dining room table set for 10  instead of the usual multiple tables of 4 or 8. The lodge managers even ate Christmas dinner along with us! There was another family staying at the Lodge for Christmas. A Nigerian couple who live in Pound Ridge, New York and their Joburg resident daughter and her new South African husband.

 



Christmas festivities started early with Christmas Cakes for High Tea.

 



 




Christmas Dinner was delicious as well as pretty to look at. A cucumber, cream cheese and salmon appetizer, a roast beast, with plenty of veggies for the main course! Roasted potatoes, mashed gem squash and a root vegetable medley with snap peas.

Dessert was a festive tiramisu.

We popped silver Christmas crackers and lit sparklers around the table in front of the twinkling Christmas tree. Vince provided the piped-in Christmas music via his shox spin bluetooth speaker and we sang Christmas carols from around the world. Christmas Party on, Dude!






Lyndi looooves sparklers!

Santa even came and left a basket of presents for us while we were at dinner. Some spa products, a couple of safari animal-embroidered washcloths, delicacies to snack upon while on game drives, a picture frame, ... and a bottle of Amarula. How did they know?

But before you get your heart set on a Christmas holiday here next year, I have bad news for you. The word's got out. It is fully booked already for the Christmas triad next year. That's Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day. But we plan to return during the dry winter months anyway next year. It's just that good!