I will share the review first and then each of our days at camp.
I give the hut and the camp in general 4/5 stars. I debated giving it less, but you get what you pay for and at $40 a night compared to the camps around us changing up to $600 a night, I cannot really complain, that being said, I do have a few notes.
Both my partner and I have stayed at self catering cabins in the US and else where and the one thing they all have in common, is that they provide you with the basics:
In the bathroom: wash clothes, hand towels, towels
Bedroom: bedding and pillows
Kitchen: plates, bowls, cups, eating utensils and knives and pots and pans cooking utensils, salt, pepper and cooking oil.
While Amanzimloti had much of this it did not have all and thus life was a bit difficult upon first arrival.
We had no wash clothes, which when you only have hot water out of the kitchen tap, makes cleaning yourself difficult.
We had no plates--only bowls, only 1 knife and no cooking utensils, also no pepper or oil. This made making eggs the first night rough, it also means we purchased additional items and left them there, now all he needs is plates.
Finally in the bedroom, the space heater doesn't work, it turns on but produces no heat. And finally there is an electric box at head level behind the bed that I whacked my head on- I consider it a hazard- maybe putting foam around it would help.
As far as taking a shower, we figured out a method: run the hot tap for 3 minutes allowing it to heat up, then when it is steaming turn the cold tap on just a bit to bring down the temp and increase water pressure, then take a 5 minute or less shower.
Another tip- drive a jeep, our little Ford Focus equivalent struggled on the bumpy road ways 4-wheel drive would have been better.
Now to the good news, it is peaceful, though there was not as much animal activity as Andre claimed their would be, the silence is deafening and the night sky is beautiful.
Andre is also a wealth of information and you'd be wise to listen to him. Both the big 5 safari and the full day safaris that he booked for us were a success. We saw all big 5 and ugly 5 and many many more. The cheetah project- or as it is now called the endangered animal project was a very educational tour that you can read more about in my blog from titled July 5th.
The final recommendation that he gave earned a blog spot all to itself give how wonderful it was and that is Moholoholo Ya Mati for the best value food in the area. So good infact that we ate their twice.
As for directions, follow Andres as they are the easiest and best roads and you go through the lovely town of Dullstroom, where you can grab a great beer, and a good milkshake(see blog for full review cdrawe dot blogspot dot com)
My partner and I both agree that it's a good location and a great value if all you are looking for is a place to sleep and don't plan to do much cooking, however if you are looking to cook, unless you live in country and can bring more with you, you may want to find something else.
I got a not so nice response from Andre after my review went live. I stand by it. He had photos of things that we could not find when there. The hot water does not last long and takes time to heat up, the heater did not work, and two of the cooking utensils shown, we purchased.
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