As part of my recent trip to South Africa with Access2Africa Safaris, our first few days was spent at Makaranga Garden Lodge in Kloof. This small town is about a 20 minute drive from Durban and is very green and full of trees. The rainy season here is from October to March so we definitely hit near the end of it.
pond at the gardens
Makaranga Garden Lodge has 30 acres of indigenous and botanical gardens, 18 ponds, streams and waterfalls throughout the property for our enjoyment. There is also the largest private collection of Zimbabwean stone art in Southern Africa and also some Italian sculptures. Paintings and original art also hang in the halls to make it an art lover’s dream.
accessible path leading to these Japanese sculptures
My buddy Josh and I stayed in a regular suite with 2 nice size queen beds. The room itself was really nice and big. There was so much space to maneuver around and even the patio was wheelchair accessible. Not only do you get views of the lush gardens out the patio but the room itself was nicely decorated. I was also really impressed with the bathroom. It was so huge and had a spa like feeling. There was both a bathtub and a roll in shower. The shower was big enough for a big commode to fit inside and had a really fancy hand held shower head with lots of water settings. One of the fanciest bathrooms I have been in.
big accessible bathroom with roll in shower
ramp to accessible patio overlooking beautiful gardens
The wheelchair accessible garden has 18 ponds including Venus Pond and Long Pond which is the largest at Makaranga. There are many statues and sculptures around the garden imported from Italy and Zimbabwe. The Japanese Garden has authentic bridges, walkways, stone lanterns, and hand carved statues all set out beautifully to tradition. Ponds are filled with lilies just like in Japan. There are many tress filled with different types of birds too for nature enthusiasts. It was a rainy the 2 days for our stay so we only got to explore the gardens while it was light rain only. If it was sunnier, we could definitely spend a couple hours in this calm, green beautiful garden.
outside deck with a great view
The restaurant/deli has inside and outside seating. The inside part has an open faced kitchen facing the restaurant with a tree in the middle with a string of lights wrapping around it. The outside part of it is on a deck that offers really great views of the garden while you eat. Our dinners both nights were so amazing and a great price for fine dining. I had prime rib the first night and roasted duck the second and both were delicious and about half the price of what we would have to pay for in my hometown. The restaurant area was really accessible and had tables with a perfect height for my wheelchair to fit comfortably in both the inside and outside area.
great restaurant with great food
I wished we got to stay here when it was sunnier but am still pleased with our 2 night stay. Staff were friendly and the Lodge was quite wheelchair accessible and had great decor and a huge beautiful garden for guests to enjoy. Cleanliness and awesome food made it more memorable.It was a little bit out of the way of the city and there is not much nearby but thank goodness this accommodation had everything we needed right there.
checking out some art
Thanks again to Durban Tourism, Tourism KwaZulu-Natal, Umhlanga Tourism, Anew Hotel Hluhluwe & Safaris, Hluhluwe Game Reserve, Bayete Zulu Game Reserve, Leopard Corner Guest House, Makaranga Garden Lodge, St. Lucia Tours & Charters, uShaka Marine World, and Access2Africa Safaris for making this possible.
