I stayed at Wendy’s for a few days while doing work in the area.

The Wendy's Country Lodge is near these landmarks: Hluhluwe - iMfolozi Park Wilderness Area, St Lucia Beach, Veyane Cultural Village, Crocodile Centre St Lucia, Mpila Camp Hluhluwe Imfolozi Reserve, Cape Vidal Lighthouse, Mapelane Nature Reserve, EuroZulu Guided Tours & Safaris, Shakabarker Tours - Day Tours, Bhangazi Horse Safaris, Shoreline Hippo and Croc Cruises, Themba's Birding and Ecotours, Extreme Nature Tours and Travel Day Tours, Safari for Six, St Lucia Tours & Charters, St Lucia SA, Amala Massage & Gifts, Canerat Crafts, Ants & Mustard, The Gallery St Lucia, St Lucia South Africa, St Lucia Safaris, Mtuba Mall, Futululu Park, Must Go Safaris, Way To Go Safaris, Maputaland Adventures and Enseleni Nature Reserve

It’s certainly worth braving an early morning wake/up call to explore the nearby Mfolozi game reserve with Gavin whose knowledge of the fauna and flora of the area reflects his love of this unspoilt corner of KZN.

Located in a gated area gives you a feeling of security.

The area offers opportunities to spot Africa’s big 5, plus endangered species such as cheetah and wild dog, and the largest concentration of hippos in Southern Africa.

Many rooms open out directly into the delightful tropical gardens with the result that you are not aware that there are any other properties in the area.

We would highly recommend this as a base to explore the local area or just to relax and enjoy the wonderful ambience.

We have been visiting Wendy's for many years and always stay here when in the area.

We love visiting them at Wendy’s and exploring the areas of natural beauty.

The family room and bar area were very comfortable and open for multiple guests to relax together.

There is a lovely bar/pool area which is great spot to relax day or night.

Beautiful garden, nice pool area with plenty of sunbeds.

Rooms and public areas are beautifully furnished.

Jenny and Gavin are the perfect hosts and they know everything there is in the area.

Wendy's is a clean and comfortable guest lodge and we would heartily recommend a stay if you are in that area.

The room was clean and spacious with a covered seating area to chill and relax.

Very helpful with arranging tours in the area

We felt it was a very safe area in a gated complex.

They made a real effort to get to know us and to try to help us make the most of our time in the area.

The breakfasts are superb and dinner is available on request and we enjoyed the selection on the two nights we were there.

The food was delicious and the Hluluwe tour was wonderful as well — we saw giraffes, elephants, a lion sleeping in the trees, a pack of endangered African wild dogs and more.

Breakfasts were also good with fresh fruit, yogurt and cereal to start with and then cooked breakfast after that.

Food - breakfast and dinner - is excellent.

Gavin, Jenny and Louwrina made us wonderfully welcome and provided delicious home-cooked meals and lots of laughs.

All meals were well prepared and delicious.

Breakfasts were fantastic and for our day trips we were kindly provided with excellent packed breakfasts to take with us due to our early start.

We had breakfast and dinner most days at the Lodge with a full range of three course meals.

Spacious suites w/ private verandas, very clean, delicious meals & friendly pets.

Breakfast is varied with a great cooked element.

I ordered a rare fillet and it was perfectly done and delicious.

We then retired to Wendy's Country Lodge and had a great evening chatting and drinking at the bar, followed by a scrumptious meal, before finally wending our ways homewards.

Breakfasts and optional dinners are delicious.

Super comfy beds and lovely breakfast 
Helpful caring staff 
30 min from St Lucia tho we were told 20 and it’s not great driving back from St Lucia after 6.15pm.

This was eaten outdoors when hot and indoors when raining or cold.

however a little bit too cold due to the weather.

And the cold beer and wine from Tony's bar is exellent!

Short drive to enter the park and close the the attractions of St Lucia.

Very close to Umfolozi-Hluhluwe national park which is a must see for Game lovers.

As a base for day trips to iSimangaliso National Parks (West and East) Shores and Hluhluwe Game Reserve it is ideal.

The location in particular appealed to us as it was between the Hluhluwe Game Park and the Isimangoleso Wetland Park.

Location provides easy access to the National Park and Wetlands.

Wendy’s is also the perfect base for exploring the many nearby parks and beaches, ensuring that every moment of a longer stay is filled with memorable experiences.

Apart from being a perfect host Gavin is an excellent game guide, and we had a fantastic day with him in the Hluhluwe National Park.

On our way to Wendy’s, while in Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park, we had some amazing sightings and encounters.

The visit included two excursions to Hluhluwe/Umfolozi game park and St Lucia estuary.

It was the ideal 'home-from-home' to explore this amazing part of the world, including Cape Vidal, Isimangaliso, St Lucia and Hluhluwe-Mfolozi Park.

Mtubatuba is a great centre for getting to the pristine beaches of Cape Vidal,and for wildlife viewing in the  fabulous Imfolozi Park and the Isimangaloso Wetland Reserve .

Mtubatuba is a peaceful suburb with a supermarket to stock up on supplies before heading to one of the great places around like iSimangaliso Wetland Park, Hluhluwe Imfolozi, St. Lucia etc, all within an hour drive.

We visited Mtubatuba to go to the Hluhluwe Umfolozi park.

The hosts, Gavin and Jenny, provide a warm welcome and are happy to help arrange trips and tours around the surrounding parks, while the rest of the staff are equally friendly and obliging.

Travelers visiting Hluhluwe/iMfolozi - arguably South Africa's best National Parks - should  book accommodation at Wendy's.

The also have a deep knowledge of the parks, the animals and the other countries around, as they lived in quite a few of them.

It is the closest place to Durban and the park, so ideal for a quick trip to see some game.

Location close to other tourist attractions - Cape Vidal, Bird Park etc.

We were on our way from Durban to Tembe Elephant Park and this makes for a great break.

We took advantage of 2 local tours (game drive and hippo boat trip) both arranged efficiently by the lodge manager Louwrina.

Guided tours and safaris can be booked at the Lodge.

They offer excellent game tours and provide useful information to guests who wish to self drive.

We have stayed at Wendy's to visit St. Lucia (whale watching and hippo tour are 30 minutes away) and on our way to Durban.

Gavin is a very knowledgeable tour guide and can take you to any of the local parks.

We've done both trips, the hosts offered, one hippo tour to St. Lucia and a game drive.

The food served at the lodge is top class with the evening meals being something of a tour de force that come out of a small kitchen filled with flavor and love.

This is definitely where you need to stay if you are considering Mtubatuba and the game reserve safari tour!

We did the safari with Gavin, the wetlands tour, the cheetah project, hippo boat tour and the Zulu community visit.

NB: Gavin offers guided safari trips into nearby Imfolozi/Hluhluwe in an open game vehicle to his guests - a definite must!

Whether you are just wanting a base from which to explore the superb African wildlife reserves and beaches in the area or want to take advantage of the guided tours led by Zululand Aquatic and Animal Adventures, Wendy's is the place to stay.

Gavin is also a superb game tour guide; he is a conservationist with a deep passion for the animals which is contagious.

They also organised for us a great safari game at the Umfulozi park and the crocodile tour.

A wonderful and typical english pub is present in the house and there you can have a drink with the other guests and the proprietaries, Tony and Wendy, who will always take care of you with plenty of suggestions for your daily tours and with whom you could share a lot of interesting stories on the region.

Television didn't work and we were not supposed to,leave our rooms after 23:15 (7:15 Pm).

Wendy's Country Lodge

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The shower has no privacy apart from a see through glass door, felt a bit weird.

Our room had no privacy two queen beds with no wall for the toilet and shower.

The decor is old and tired looking and the bathroom - which had a musty smell - is in need of serious refurbishment.

The bathrooms look like they're a bit of a work-in-progress, and you wonder if they meant to have pipes and tile roughed-in

The toilet & shower were in private stalls

Several in our tour group did not like the lack of privacy for the toilet as it only had a small wall concealing it from the rest of the room.

The entrance to the bathroom had no door,

but bathroom was quite strange (please see attached picture).

but it would have been better if a small refrigerator was included and the toilet had a ceiling and vented outside instead of into the room.

As described in other reviews, there is very little privacy in the bathroom.

Entering into the room the toilet is a room by itself

The beds were uncomfortable, the toilet continually ran in one of the rooms, the shower head fell off, the milk in the room for coffee was lumpy, the floors dirty.

but the half-wall shower arrangements can be tricky if you don't like an open plan arrangement between your bed and toilet facilities.

The bathroom windows you can't exactly see through

Bathroom floors not in any better condition.

but I could order standard breakfast items from the menu.

The kitchen staff even gave us a boxed breakfast when we left on our next adventure.

Dinner and breakfast were OK (again, I'd rate them a 2 separately).

The buffet during dinner had some items that I really enjoyed.

We had a nice buffet dinner, with South Africa flavors.

Dinner was a buffet which had quite a few choices:  lamb roast, pork roast, curry chicken legs, fish, potato salad, beets,

Had several meals there, all were buffet style with no problems.

The buffet dinners were plentiful and delicious, with a vast array of dishes from which to choose.

When we had the in-house breakfast, it had one of the best croissants.

While we spent little time at the hotel, we did have time to enjoy dinner and breakfast in it's very scenic restaurant where the food and service was very good.

Breakfast:
We left too early to try the breakfast

There breakfast is continental and you can order a take away (professionally done to order in part).

Interesting buffet dinner in the dining room,

There is a large lobby with free wifi and a nice dining area where we enjoyed an okay buffet dinner.

The breakfast buffet was average, the room was average.

Had a buffet here that was pretty good and the wifi was pretty solid.

Rooms were tidy and the dinner buffet was good.

Restaurant
Both dinner and breakfast were buffet and

And when we wanted to orser ala-carte, we were told that they dont take orders when buffet dinner is available.

The buffet dinner was good as was the breakfast.

We did not have the opportunity to eat breakfast at the hotel, as we left prior to breakfast hours.

The hotel staff was very welcoming and the buffet dinner was very good.

The breakfast and dinner buffet were OK, with a number of good choices on offer.

We had breakfast and dinner from the hotel buffet and the food was good.

Chalet style rooms, beautiful grounds, delicious breakfast and buffet dinner, good service, friendly staff.

The shower area was directly next to the beds, and the glass shower door would leave you completely exposed to anyone casually walking through the room.

No mosquito netting over the bed, so our guide told us to stuff towels under the door (which had ample gaps to let in critters.

but with an open top above the door it was not that private.

I didn't need to go into the room when we opened the door - both rooms had twin beds (we wanted doubles) so my husband went to reception and they offered to move us to a chalet.

The toilet is separate from the bathroom and has a door which is more than I can say for the bathroom itself.

Opened the door to a spacious chalet room, to find a dead cochroach on the floor.

There was an area with the toilet that has a frosted door, and a separate area with a shower and a sink (without a door).

but we would have preferred a bathroom with a door.

The rooms did have small patios/balconies off the sliding glass doors.

Aesthetically the grounds were well kept and very tropical looking.

They have beautiful grounds surrounding the hotel.

Although the hotel has nice grounds and a decent lobby, the rooms are worn, tired, and look more like a discount hotel than a member of the Marriott chain.

This hotel grounds are beautiful with many plants and flowers.

The grounds are well kept and it was a pleasure walking in the gardens..

The grounds are lovely to walk around and the reception staff very friendly

The food was great, their was free wifi in lobby, the grounds were beautiful.

Extensive well maintained grounds, ample parking, nice bar/patio and a very good restaurant.

The hotel was clean and the grounds were pretty.

The grounds are very well landscaped and quite beautiful.

The grounds of the hotel have nice gardens and good for bird watching .

We were told the grounds are very nice to see.

The hotel grounds were spacious and allowed us to explore.

Stunning layout with a lot of trees and flowers and stairs as the rooms were chalets on extensive grounds.

The room was clean, I couldn't see the grounds due to the storm

But the grounds of the hotel room was very nice.

But, what I did get at the hotel was a spacious and clean room, well maintained and situated amongst trees, beautiful gardens and a serene atmosphere.

The hotel rooms were very clean, and once could not ask for a better place to stay.

The property itself is beautiful and the rooms are neat, spotless, spacious and very comfortable.

The rooms are ok - they are adequately size and not cramped, room is clean, bathrooms are decent and clean,

As with the other hotels very friendly and helpful staff, a comfortable and clean room and excellent dinner and breakfast buffets.

but as been mentioned by others the layout of the room with the bathroom open to the rest of the room is different.The bed was comfortable and the room was clean.

I stayed one night and found the room clean, well appointed, and the bed was excellent.

well situated off the main road, good place to explore the zululand,  hluhluwe and st lucia areas from well designed hotel with comfortable rooms which are clean and spacious.

Rooms are hot airconditioners doesnt work, rooms are smelly, linens are worn that im so surprise that they are part of Marriott.

One item that could be an issue with anyone with mobility or breathing issues was the separate buildings were spread out around the compound so you could have to walk quite a way down (&, of course, then back up).

but the bedding is terribly old and torn and the room is smelling.

Drapes were very dirty with mildew across the bottom.

There were "no smoking" signs at the room,

Second, one of the beds had small blood stains on the bed sheet and comforter near the pillow area, which was disgusting and made us question the cleanliness of the remainder of the room.

Also, pool was out of order - bad color and reeked of sulfuric acid.

The first room we got smelled really badly, after complaining we swiftly got another room.

The water was smelling way to much of chlorine.

Protea Hotel Umfolozi River

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grounds

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room cleanliness

The Marula Place is near these landmarks: Hluhluwe - iMfolozi Park Wilderness Area, St Lucia Beach, Veyane Cultural Village, Crocodile Centre St Lucia, Mpila Camp Hluhluwe Imfolozi Reserve, Cape Vidal Lighthouse, Mapelane Nature Reserve, EuroZulu Guided Tours & Safaris, Shakabarker Tours - Day Tours, Bhangazi Horse Safaris, Shoreline Hippo and Croc Cruises, Themba's Birding and Ecotours, Extreme Nature Tours and Travel Day Tours, Safari for Six, St Lucia Tours & Charters, St Lucia SA, Amala Massage & Gifts, Canerat Crafts, Ants & Mustard, The Gallery St Lucia, St Lucia South Africa, St Lucia Safaris, Mtuba Mall, Futululu Park, Must Go Safaris, Way To Go Safaris, Maputaland Adventures and Enseleni Nature Reserve

Recommend and will came back when in the area.

Breakfast was always made to order and Anthony and the staff were always available if we needed anything.

Great accommodation with nice breakfast and beautiful gardens surrounding the house.

Apr, 27, 2022

Feb, 24, 2022

Jan, 16, 2020

Apr, 3, 2019

Feb, 2, 2021

Aug, 24, 2017