A Dream Come True: South Africa - Part One, Nyati Safari Lodge

Let me warn you now, this is going to be a long read because I am absolutely IN LOVE with the story I am going to tell you about Nyati Safari Lodge, South Africa.

This post is dedicated to my absolute favorite trip: my South African honeymoon.

More than a post, this is going to be a love letter, an assortment of words where I express my love, joy, and gratitude for this experience and for the people that made it possible.

There’s a reason why I’m becoming a specialist in all sorts of South American and African countries, and the reason is that my heart is 100% in those two continents. I was born in Colombia, and I left my heart there. I lived in Brazil, and I left my heart there. I poured my sweat and tears in Tanzanian soil when I was 13, and I left my heart there. I have marveled at the beauty of Africa in the East, West, and North, and I had left my heart in every single one of those, but I was missing one corner. When it was time for us to plan our honeymoon, I knew I wanted to leave my heart on that piece I was missing, the southern tip of my beloved Africa.

I always say it y’all, when I die, I want to live on the Africa side of Heaven. I am utterly in love with the beauty of that continent.

My husband is a pretty well traveled guy too, but all of his adventures are mostly European. He had never set foot in Africa, so I was extremely excited to show him why I loved it so much, but also excited to discover South Africa with him!

In August of 2021, after being in Italy for five weeks, we came back to Chicago, unpacked, packed again, and headed off to Johannesburg! (Seriously, we literally came back only for a week to change our wardrobe for the trip! haha)

Now, I honestly cannot tell you much about Jo’burg. We fly in only for a day and did not see the city at all, we stayed really close to the airport and our intention there was only to rest, re-charge, and get ready for the real adventure: the bush.

Nyati Safari Lodge, South Africa

We headed to Hoedspruit and stayed in Nyati Safari Lodge. If you are looking for amazing food, incredible sights, affordable rates, excellent service, and an overall wonderful time, then Nyati Safari Lodge, South Africa is the place for you. I cannot say enough good things about this lodge. The lodge itself is gorgeous and clean, our accommodation was spectacular, and they have some of the friendliest staff I have ever had the pleasure of knowing. Our guide was basically a walking encyclopedia who knew everything there is to know about the bush, the stars, the birds, the flowers, and so much more! My husband and I are pretty curious beings, we asked him about a million questions in the days that we were there, and he had an answer for every single one of them. I have been on many safaris before, and let me tell you, this guy was the best guide I’ve ever had. (He was also the head ranger, so maybe that’s why! haha)

At the lodge, they welcomed us with a complementary bottle of champagne and a coupon for a complementary couples massage. What a treat! Our tent was gorgeous and spacious. And not 10 minutes after we had settled in, we got quite the visit from our neighbors. Oh yeah, the monkeys found out we were there and they were ready. They were waiting for us to leave some food on our deck so that they could take it. They were quick too!

Wildlife at Nyati Safari Lodge, South Africa

Since we traveled during covid, the lodge was functioning at half capacity, so we did not have any human neighbors. Our neighbors were monkeys, warthogs, kudus, impalas, and bushbucks. Most days, we’d wake up to the sound of a bushbuck nearby, and go to sleep with the sound of the lions calling nearby. That kind of stuff was exactly what I wanted my husband to experience.

But the main thing I wanted him to see was life in the bush. Every day we had a morning game drive, and an afternoon game drive. During both drives, we would have some time to grab a snack. The guides would have a nice set up for us and offer us coffee, tea, or milk, with muffins in the morning and wine, drinks, and other snacks in the afternoon. Let me tell you, at Nyati Safari Lodge, they definitely make sure you are well fed.

Elephants

Those game drives were some of the best of my life. Mainly, because I got to share them with my favorite person in the whole world, but also because we just got to see so much! Several herds of elephants came to meet with us every morning. Oh how I loved it! Those intelligent, gentle giants were so close I could have walked up and touched them! That is always my favorite part about seeing them in their natural habitat, they are just so unbothered, so free, so comfortable in their environment. It really is the most amazing sight. And, during my stay there, I got to see FIVE baby ellies! FIVE! I prayed for one and God gave me FIVE! How cool!

Lions

As you can tell, the elephants were my favorite, but the lions stole the show too. One evening, we quietly sat behind a female that was stalking something in the distance, she was ready to hunt! On another drive, we accidentally snuck up on a female that was behind us. I locked eyes with her, and she was not playing any games! She was coming at us but we drove far away enough that she decided it was ok for us to stay. After that, we watched her and her pride move from place to place for a while. Lions are funny, they are big and scary, but they are definitely cats! They really like to just lie around for most of the day.

Other Wildlife

We also saw giraffes, zebras, buffalos, impalas, kudus, jackals, mongoose, warthogs, hippos, and all sorts of birds! We tracked a leopard and a white rhino for a while, but they refused to say hi to us. Despite that, every drive was full of beauty. We saw sunrises and sunsets at the same time that we were watching wildlife pass by!

Every time I interacted with the staff, and watched the sun rise, and heard the lions or the elephants at night, and asked the warthogs to move so that I could get to my tent, and had a wonderful meal with my husband, I left my heart there.

Nyati Safari Lodge, South Africa - a Dream Come True Honeymoon

During those first few days of our honeymoon, I got to watch my husband fall in love with the African bush. I got to see how excited he got every time he saw a lion, and hear him talk about how funny baby elephants are (they have no idea what to do with their trunks), and I got to laugh with him on our deck as we looked out into the Oliphant river. How could I not leave my heart in that place when in that place my husband and I shared some of my favorite moments of our relationship?

I told you that this was going to be a love letter, a place for me to express all of my love, my joy, and my gratitude. I hope I have shown you that dear reader. I hope that after this you rush to my Contact Me tab to ask me about Nyati and planning a trip there, or that you look them up on Instagram, or take a look at their website. I hope this inspires you to take a trip with a loved one, or to dream about your honeymoon, or to show some appreciation to your people.

This is the first part of the story of how I left my heart somewhere in the middle of the African bush in South Africa. If you enjoyed this post, check out A Dream Come True: South Africa - Part 2, Cape Town and Boulder’s Beach, where I tell you how I left my heart with some penguins in Simon’s Town.