Royal Malewane reopens: what we remember, and what the fact sheet confirms
The original Royal Portfolio property is back after months behind scaffolding. We haven't seen it yet. Here is what we know anyway.
Malewane Lodge, the original property of The Royal Portfolio, reopened on 1 July after closing in the middle of January for structural work. It began as the Biden family's holiday home in the Thornybush and became the first lodge in the collection when it opened to guests in 1999. We find ourselves in an unusual position for a journal entry: we know the lodge well, and we haven't seen this version of it yet. What we have is a long memory of the place, plus a photo library currently taking up a flattering amount of space in our inbox.
So this is not a review. We live up the road and will do the site inspection properly, in person, before we send a single guest. Consider it a briefing on what changed, and why the timing matters if this one has been on your list.
What we knew before
For those who haven't stayed: Malewane Lodge sits on an unfenced reserve within the Greater Kruger, so the wildlife has no idea where the reserve ends and the park begins. Which is rather the point. It takes just twenty guests across eight suites, and the guiding team is the reason the lodge gets talked about the way it does. Two of the only thirteen professional guides in the world holding FGASA Scout status work here, alongside the only two active Master Trackers in the Greater Kruger, a qualification held by a handful of people alive. Masiya's Camp, just along the reserve, is named for Wilson Masiya, the Master Tracker whose legacy the guiding team still carries. No renovation improves or diminishes any of that. It walks out to the vehicle each morning regardless of what the floors look like.
One of those Master Trackers is Lucas Mathonsi, whom we first knew years ago at Lion Sands, long before his path and ours led where they have. That we can put a face and a shared history to a qualification this rare is exactly what booking through people who live here is supposed to buy you.
What the builders did
The work was structural rather than cosmetic, and the suite count has not moved. Six Luxury Suites and two two-bedroom Royal Suites, the same configuration as before, which we read as a good sign. This was a lodge deciding to feel new without becoming something else.
The details are where it gets interesting. The Luxury Suites gained new entrance halls, and the Royal Suites now arrive through private courtyards behind Moroccan doors, with a service kitchen moved back of house so private-chef meals appear without ceremony. The plunge pools have been retiled and heated. Underfloor heating went into the Royal Suites, and the bar and observation lounge have been redesigned to open onto the bushveld. At the Royal Waters Spa, a sauna and cold plunge have been added, along with new treatment spaces around the lap pool. The fitness centre was upgraded too. There is even a new arrival pavilion at the lodge's airstrip, because apparently the arrival experience was the one thing left to polish.
The practical bits
The Royal Suites take children of all ages and come with a private chef and host, plus a vehicle of your own with its Field Guide and Tracker. The Luxury Suites take children from ten up. The Royal Suites also have their own kosher kitchens, which matters to several of our client families. Hoedspruit's Eastgate airport is about forty-five minutes away by road, or you can fly straight in to the lodge's own airstrip.
The honest advice
There is a practical reason to pay attention to a reopening, and it has nothing to do with sentiment. A freshly rebuilt lodge spends its first year at its best, with new thatch and a team with something to show off, and availability tightens once the photographs make their way around. If Malewane Lodge has been on your list, the months ahead are a sensible time to have the conversation. By the time you do, we will have driven over and seen it for ourselves.
That is the advantage of planning a safari with people who live here. We don't work from fact sheets for long.
FAQ
When did Malewane Lodge reopen?
The lodge closed in the middle of January 2026 and reopened on 1 July 2026, after structural work that ran through the suites and the main lodge areas.
What changed in the renovation?
The Luxury Suites gained new entrance halls and the Royal Suites gained private courtyard entrances. The plunge pools were retiled and heated, the bar and observation lounge were redesigned, the spa added a sauna and cold plunge, and a new arrival pavilion went up at the lodge's airstrip. The suite count stayed the same.
How many guests does Malewane Lodge take?
Twenty, across six Luxury Suites and two two-bedroom Royal Suites. The Royal Suites each sleep four and come with a private chef and host, plus their own safari vehicle.
Can children stay at Malewane Lodge?
Children of all ages are welcome in the Royal Suites. The Luxury Suites welcome children from ten years old.
How do you get to Malewane Lodge?
Fly to Hoedspruit's Eastgate airport, about forty-five minutes from the lodge by road, or charter directly to the lodge's own airstrip.
Thinking about the Greater Kruger? Start the conversation. We plan from Hoedspruit, just up the road.
Vikki Jackson is co-founder of Marula Hill Travel. We plan boutique safaris across South Africa, Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Uganda, Namibia, and Mozambique. We visit every lodge we sell.
If this resonated
The bush has been expecting you
Start with a conversation. We will ask what makes you want to wake up at four-thirty, and build from there.
Begin a conversation
We run on solar and we have not printed since 2019
Vikki and Sian on solar power, paper, and what a small safari company can honestly claim.
Sandringham Private Game Reserve: should you go early, or wait?
Greater Kruger's newest reserve opens in August 2026. Our honest take on who should book Sandringham early, and who should give it a few seasons.
The packing guide
What to bring on safari, what to leave at home, and the one thing no lodge can lend you. An honest packing list from the team in Hoedspruit.
How do you want to feel when you get home?
Why we plan safaris around how you want to feel when you get home, not around a pin on the map.
South Africa's online traveller declaration: what it means for your safari (and what it doesn't)
A five-minute customs form now stands between you and the arrivals hall. Here's what it is, who needs it, and what nothing to declare actually means for a normal safari guest.
Safari After Dark
Night drives reveal a different Africa. Quieter, older, more deliberate. Here's what we love about the bush after the sun goes down.
How we tailor every Marula Hill safari
We don't start with destinations. We start with you: your pace, your family, your idea of a good day in the bush.
When space teaches: what Saseka's refresh tells us about gathering in the bush
What a thoughtful safari lodge refresh tells us about gathering in the bush.
Inside FedAir's new Baobab lounge at Hoedspruit
The new Baobab lounge at Hoedspruit airport changes how a safari begins. Vikki Jackson on the room that holds you before the bush does.
How safari pricing actually works
From the people who build the quotes. What you are really paying for, where the money goes, and how to spend it well.
Monwana, and what coming home actually means
By Vikki Jackson and Sian Loehrer. A week at the Thornybush lodge that has built its whole identity around the word home, and what we found when we tested it against the room, the drives, the afternoons and the bill.
The Mozambique dhow: a slow boat at the end of a fast trip
Why we put a dhow afternoon into almost every Mozambique trip. Sail, salt water and the long breath out after safari.
Why we built the Antarctica page
A short note from Sian on why an African safari business added Antarctica to its destination map, and how we handle a trip neither founder has yet made.
Lion Sands Ivory Lodge. What their redesign gets right
I visited Lion Sands Ivory Lodge in the Sabi Sand. The redesigned spaces are quiet, bold, and rare. Here is what they got right.
Where the money actually goes on a luxury safari
A line-by-line look at what you're actually paying for on a luxury African safari — and what a quote that looks light is usually hiding.
Bazaruto vs Quirimbas: which Mozambique archipelago is right for you?
How to choose between Mozambique's two great archipelagos for a bush-and-beach trip. Geography, lodge feel, when to go.
Sabi Sand or Kruger
Two reserves, one fence line, very different mornings
What is the best month to visit Cape Town?
Cape Town rewards you differently in every season, but March to May is the window most of our clients come back to.
What Singita Lebombo's 2026 redesign tells us
Lebombo reopened March 2026 warmer, quieter, more art-led
Gorilla trekking, Uganda or Rwanda
Two countries, the same forest, two very different days
Do you need travel insurance for a safari
What safari travel insurance must cover, and why standard policies fall short
How two women from outside the travel industry built a luxury safari brand from Africa
We are the two women behind Marula Hill. One of us came from IBM, the other from MARS Southern Africa. Here is the long version of how a private safari business gets built from outside the travel industry.
Sole-use villa safaris in Africa
What sole-use villa safaris mean in practice, who they suit, and what to ask
Why Rwanda is the cleanest country in Africa
A plastic-bag ban from 2008. A mandatory community work morning on the last Saturday of every month. The system behind Rwanda's cleanliness, explained.
A family vacation in Cape Town that works for all ages
Cape Town suits kids and grown-ups equally well: beaches, penguins, aquariums, and a city that's easy to move around.