Maninghi – “Place of Plenty”

Maninghi Lodge is settled on the banks of the mighty Olifants River in Balule Nature Reserve, which is situated in the Greater Kruger National Park.
The Lodge boasts an unparalleled, three kilometer view of the Olifants River and the Blyde Canyon mountains in the background, with Maninghi often playing host to scores of elephant, hippo, lion and other wildlife, which come to the river to slake the thirsts brought by the African sun.
Maninghi is family, couples and corporate-friendly, and the wide variety of activities around the area guarantees everyone is entertained.

History

Bets van den Berg spent many a day in search of the perfect plot to buy, and eventually came across Plot 16, which is better known as Maninghi Lodge today, and purchased the vacant land within Parsons Nature Reserve in 1975. Buildings were eventually erected, and this made for the perfect getaway for Bets, her family and her friends. In 1988, Bets moved to Port Shepstone, and visiting was then less frequent to her plot as this distance was far too great, being more than 1000km to travel to. Bets then decided to sell, and luckily for her it has remained in her family as her son, Gerhard, bought the plot from her in 1990. Over the years, Gerhard transformed the lodge into what we know and see it as today, and this of course has taken a lot of blood, sweat and tears from everyone involved!
In 2013, Gerhard wanted to show off his pride and joy and wanted to step into the commercial world of opening his lodge to guests, but he could not do this alone as he had a full-time job and it would be difficult to run the establishment from Johannesburg. But as fate has it, and via a mutual friend, Gerhard found what he was looking for. In 2014, Paul Slyer came on board and has been running the commercial side of the lodge since. Many changes had to be made from here as a transformation from a holiday home to a guest friendly establishment was needed. As time went by, small changes were being made to ensure the accommodations were as comfortable and as guest friendly as possible, but the most recent ‘upgrade or refurbishment’ was completed in March 2019, and this is when Maninghi had its biggest change. From a 12-bed self-catering ‘family style’ lodge, Maninghi has been transformed into its current 6 sleeper Dinner, Bed & Breakfast lodge – a typical ‘lodge’ style which trends many an establishment.
The bedrooms, of which two faces the river, are all now en-suite, air conditioned with a stocked bar fridge and a private outside sitting area to enjoy reading while having coffee. Plans are afoot to establish a tented camp in a true African lodge style to make up for the beds lost in the upgrade – watch this space!