Chitwa Chitwa is a five star luxury lodge in Northern Sabi Sands in the Greater Kruger area. While we have stayed in five star lodges before, this is one of the fancier places in Greater Kruger we have visited! Chitwa is a great option for families as they accept children of all ages (including babies) – a good thing for us as we were taking our 5 month old baby on safari! We were really excited to check Chitwa out, having already stayed in many neighbouring lodges including Cheetah Plains, Arathusa, Elephant Plains and Nkorho Bush Lodge.
Chitwa’s Accommodation, Hospitality and Food
The rooms
Chitwa Chitwa offers 6 luxury suites and the more exclusive Chitwa House (two suites, 4 guests). They also offer a family suite which is ideal for families or friends travelling together as it consists of two inter-leading ensuite rooms joined by a living area. All suites are extremely spacious and all have a private deck complete with outdoor lounge and/or chairs that look over their large watering hole. Oh yeah and a private plunge pool! They also come equipped with a King bed, bath tub, indoor and outdoor shower, fireplace, minibar, fan, tea and coffee station, lounges, table and of course air conditioning. The mini bar had a good selection of drinks as well as complimentary chocolate bars and pringles!
All the rooms are a little different and I am pretty sure we got one of the larger rooms given we were travelling with a baby. Our room definitely had a ‘wow’ factor to it – I am pretty sure it’s the largest room we’ve stayed in at a safari lodge so far! We also love having a fireplace but even though we stayed in Winter (August), it was never cold enough to warrant having it on. While we loved our room, the one thing that I didn’t like was the fact it was quite dark – though we had lots of windows/doors looking outside, it was still a bit too dark for my liking in the day. It didn’t bother me though as I spent most of my time out on our huge deck, which had a sizable area and lounge undercover so was very comfortable!
The lodge
The lodge itself had a great layout, all rooms seemed to be relatively private and far enough away from each other such that you never heard much from other people. The main area was in the middle so not a long walk for anyone and there were plenty of spaces for people to hang out including outdoor lounge, indoor lounge, bar, indoor dining room, outdoor dining room, a pool and huge deck. They also have a gym and a spa. I enjoyed an awesome massage while there and can definitely recommend getting a massage or treatment!
And let’s not forget their huge waterhole – one of the biggest in Sabi Sands I believe. It offers entertainment at all hours with resident hippos playing, fish eagles hunting and crocodiles sun baking. While we were there a big herd of buffalo visited one morning and a fish eagle caught a catfish another! Lastly the lodge is semi-fenced, with a couple of wires that are designed to keep the bigger mammals like elephants and buffaloes (and large hippos) out. Due to the fact predators can still get in, you have to be escorted to and from your room at night.
The Service
The service as expected was top notch at Chitwa Chitwa. The staff here were some of the best we had encountered and genuinely seemed to enjoy their job (this cannot always be said for every lodge). We like to be relatively low maintenance guests but it struck us as the type of place where they would go out of their way to accommodate any requests you might have. We liked the added touch of having the option of eating our lunch in our room too – something that was handy when you have a baby! Overall we found it to be an exceptionally well-run lodge with very personal service.
The Food
Chitwa served some of the best food we have encountered when out on safari. Not only was it delicious but also plated as if we were eating at a five star restaurant. Everything was tasty and ala carte (except for the bush braai we had one evening). I don’t like buffets so this was to my liking! For breakfast there was a really sizable continental buffet including things like croissants, muffins, spreads, sliced meats, yoghurt, fruits and more as well as a diverse menu of hot cooked options to choose from. I couldn’t help but get the eggs benedict every morning as that is my favourite and it was delicious every time!
For lunch you chose an option from four (that come with recommendations from the wine cellar) and this is served either in the main dining area or in your room! That’s the first time we have come across a daily option to eat in your room although I’m sure this is something many lodges would accommodate if you requested it. Dinner was a three course affair once again chosen from a couple of options for each course. They are one of the few lodges that also have afternoon tea snacks prior to game drive despite also offering lunch.
Delicious lamb cutlets 
DESSERT. Yes. 
LUNCH 
Pasta for lunch … 
Afternoon tea 
OMG YUM. 
BREAKFAST IS SERVED 
Breakfast menu
Going on safari with your baby or children at Chitwa
We definitely recommend Chitwa Chitwa for those who are going to take their baby or children. It’s really a great set up for families, particularly as the rooms are spacious (they can accommodate an additional bed for a child under 12), they offer babysitting, allow children 6 and over on game drives and for younger children offer dedicated activities. Children under 3 are free, children 3-5 are charged 25%, 6-11 50% and 12 and up are charged the adult rate.
Chitwa had a cot ready for us when we arrived, but we used our own anyway – we recommend doing this for all places if you have your own portacot.
Our housekeeper looked after Isla while we went on our six game drives and she was so good that we wanted to take her home with us! Isla was always happy (and smelled delicious) when we returned and Mandi even managed to get rid of a pesky rash that had been bothering Isla for a few days. Mandi bathed Isla during our evening drives so when we came back we just fed her and put her down to sleep virtually straight away. Overall we were really happy with the level of care offered to our baby during our stay and would not hesitate to recommend others to go on safari with their baby (incidentally we wrote a whole article about it)!
Game viewing at Chitwa
The wildlife sightings
We had just come from neighbouring lodge Nkorho, which shares a significant amount of traversing, so we had a good idea about what to expect in terms of game viewing! Being in Sabi Sands so we were expecting leopard sightings galore and that is definitely what we got! So much so that the two boys on our game vehicle ended up complaining about seeing leopards! I think we had six leopard sightings over the six drives, but only one lion sighting! We had a few elephants and buffaloes, a couple of rhinos as well as the usual suspects like giraffe, zebra and impala. We even saw a couple of ostriches. Oh and lots of hippos of course.
We perhaps didn’t get the same quantity or diversity of sightings as we enjoyed at Nkorho but this was partially due to chance and partially due to the fact our guide was less into the ‘Ferrari safari’ concept that is generally pretty popular in Sabi Sands. That was fine by us as we’ve been on lots of safaris and Van tends not to like racing around between sightings.
The Experience
So as you can see, the game viewing as expected in Sabi Sands, is excellent. Similar to Nkorho (since the traversing is very similar), the sightings in Northern Sabi Sands are very busy. This means that you do have to leave sightings to allow for other cars, and sometimes you have to wait to go to sightings (which means you can miss out on them altogether). This can prove frustrating for wildlife photographers or those who have already ‘ticked off’ animals and would prefer to be able to spend quality time observing rather than racing around finding more animals. It is a good place to go on your first safari though if you are keen to see as many animals as possible and tick off the Big 5. Although that being said, for most of our predator sightings at Chitwa we left of our own accord rather than by necessity.
Chitwa has a smaller traversing area of 5,500 hectares, but it’s plenty big enough to get the wildlife diversity and quality sightings you want. They share much of their traversing area with other lodges like Arathusa, Elephant Plains, Cheetah Plains and Nkorho, which is why sightings can get quite busy.
Here’s a short(ish) video we put together of some of our sightings while at Chitwa Chitwa.. Don’t forget to subscribe to our YT channel as well!
What we love about Chitwa Chitwa
- The game viewing is excellent – particularly good for leopards and elephants (as per Sabi Sands’ reputation)
- The lodge is a good size with a maximum of about 16 guests
- They typically like to keep to a maximum of six people per game vehicle, which is really nice
- Their game vehicles are a bit nicer than most other lodges, with storage/tables in between two seats in the first two rows
- They have one of the largest waterholes in the reserve, which means you can enjoy game viewing all day – particularly the resident hippos who were very active during our stay!
- The lodge is semi-fenced – good or bad depending on your preference but we prefer the excitement of animals being able to roam through at any time.
- They have trackers, which means you are more likely to find animals!
- They offer a true five star experience including exceptional food and service
- The lodge and rooms are very fancy – a great place to go if you want to spoil yourself, enjoy a honeymoon or get the true luxury safari experience
- The huge outdoor deck with private plunge pool overlooking the waterhole makes it a great place to relax during the day
- They offer the option of eating lunch in your room or in the main area, a nice touch
Considerationsβ¦
- Traversing is not massive and it is shared with lots of other lodges making sightings very busy. There are also times where animals are just outside their traversing area so just out of reach, which can be a bit annoying (ie. you can see elephants but you can’t get close enough to them as they aren’t allowed to drive over invisible boundaries (this is a common issue in private game reserves like Sabi Sands and Timbavati)
- Northern Sabi Sands is not the best for lions at the moment as they had a strong coalition of four male lions that decimated the population a few years ago and are still trying to recover. It’s more than likely you’ll still get lion sightings but if you are lion-obsessed there may be better places to go.
- Another issue of Sabi Sands is the prevalence of man-made structures – it’s hard to drive for too long without encountering another lodge/house, solar panel, power line or other man-made structure which detracts a little from the overall ‘wild’ experience.
- It is one of the more expensive lodges in Northern Sabi Sands, and their standard rate does not include alcoholic drinks – something most other lodges now offer in Greater Kruger
- Due to being so excellent for families, there is a chance you will end up on a vehicle with someone else’s children (this happened to us) – this can be entertaining but also distracting and annoying at times!
So, should you stay at Chitwa Chitwa?
This is definitely a fantastic lodge to visit if you are looking for a luxurious experience in Sabi Sands. It is a bit more expensive than some of its neighbours with similar game viewing, but it is a step above in terms of accommodation, food and service. It’s also a great option for honeymooners and families in particular. We would definitely recommend a visit if you have the budget!