Trip Savers - Most caring staff Everything about Shepherds Tree Game Lodge is wonderful, accomodation, food, game drives and the staff. We extended our stay due to COVID19 interfering with other travel plans. Despite being the only guests by the end (just prior to the lodge having to close) the staff were still warm, friendly and the service was outstanding. They were genuinely happy to still look after us anyway possible despite uncertain and hard times for all. We were impressed by the additional hygiene measures taken by the lodge (hand sanitisers, removing the buffet etc). Even with changes to dining options, all the food and drinks were wonderful. Since we had an extended stay we had numerous game drives - which were ideal to take our mind off the world for a few hours and see some amazing animals. Franco our guide, was amazing, very polite and informative - as well as patient and dedicated when we were the only guests. Thank you so much Shepherds Lodge for a relaxing, unforgettable and enjoyable experience during the midsts of chaos. You were all wonderful and you made it hard for us to leave.

Loved every minute of our stay! We were nicely welcomed after our 2,5 hour drive from Joburg. Room was excellent, nicely equipped had romantic appearance. Especially outdoor shower was my favorite, there was supermoon and it was quite nice to have a shower under the beautiful moon. Service was excellent, you got golf cart transportation from the reception to your lodge (ours was uphill so this was really nice). Best I liked the room and game drives, our ranger Franco was just wonderful! Great knowledge and nice way of telling about the animals. There was also good rapport amongst other participants.

Phenomenal! We enjoyed an unforgettable 4 nights at this beaurtiful lodge. Terrific setting. beauriful rooms and the pool side, lounge and dining room all beauriful.Every member of the staff were freindly, welcoming and competant. Greeted upon arrival, at every meal and after each safari drive by freindly and genuienly happy, excited faces. Thanks to Jabu and the entire dining,f ood and beverage staff for making our stay so enjoyable. Special mention must go out to our Ranger Franco. He was incredible! Knowledgable, friendly, respectful and polite. Each drive was a true adventure, so exciting and fun. Franco is an all around great guy and fantastic guide. We were lucky to interact with some of the other rangers as well. JP, Moses and Sean were always freindly, open and enjoyable. We highly recommend a stay at Sheperd's tree! Hopefully we can come back again....soon!

The bestest experience of my life A melhor experiência da minha vida. Estamos encantados com o hotel. Na chegada já fomos recepcionados com drinks e toalhas umidas para limpeza da mãos, quarto maravilhoso com chuveiro à ceu aberto, menu para todos os paladares, guia maravilhoso (o nosso foi o Moses). Fizemos 4 (quatro) games e foi uma verdadeira aventura, conseguimos ver quatro dos big five. No check-out recebemos uma sacola linda com água, frutas e chocolates para viagem de retorno à johanesburgo. As refeições, as bebidas expostas no buffet, e as que vc escolhe para beber durante o game (durante a tarde o guia organiza um café da tarde no meio da savana) estão incluidas nas diárias, mas o restante das bebidas e refeições disponibilizadas no menu possuem valores acessíveis. (em torno de 60 rands bebidas e 150 rands as refeições). Não deixem de conhecer esse lugar, é o paraíso e já quero voltar. E o melhor, eles fazem um jantar lindo com os drives (o nosso foi no sábado) com apresentações de tribos regionais e um buffet divino!!!

5 star bush experience Shepherds Tree takes the bush adventure to the next level. Everything about our stay was 5 star. Though it may be more expensive than other similar camps in the Pilannesburg, it is without question the best we have stayed at. I highly recommend this bush lodge.

The Power of an Outstanding Service When an outstanding service has been given by other service workers (staff) you cannot allow it to ruin your whole experience. Despite the minor glitches but that could hugely impact your experience, I chose to cherish the best parts of my trip to Shepherd's Tree Lodge.

Shepherds Tree Lodge Hospitable staff from start throughout. Amazing rooms and view. Amazing food from starter to dessert. Beautiful game drives with thoughtful rangers. All in all an amazing "bush" getaway. We'll worth every penny.

Stunning safari property. This really is such an incredible property. The food is up there with the best food we have ever eaten with so much on offer with many available choices. The rooms are stunning and kept impeccably clean and serviced by a team of amazing people. There is a coffee station in your room, along with everything else you could possibly need. The pool area is beautiful and overlooks a waterhole which sadly, probably due to the time of year we visited was very inactive. The game drives were ok, but nothing really to shout about. For me, having been on thousands of game drives to be able to compare them with, this is what let's the lodge down. It is a busy lodge and as such the trucks are full most of the time. This isn't too much of a problem unless you get to share the truck with active, loud, young children. Whilst I genuinely do believe that children should get to experience this too, I do think that when they are under the age of 12, they shouldn't be put with guests without children. The children, quite rightly got extremely excited or scared at sightings resulting in the animals, snakes etc taking flight at their squeels.... for people like ourselves who go on the game drives to be able to see the annals and spend time looking at them, this was clearly an issue with only a fleeing animal backside to see. Other lodges have policies to allow young children to go out in their own drives and my view is that this should also occur here so it doesn't impact on people travelling without children. Other than this, this really is an incredible property and we wouldn't hesitate to return. We would just request that no children were on our truck....

Luxurious game lodge We stayed for two nights at the Shepherd's Tree Game Lodge in the Pilanesberg National Park straight after visiting a different game reserve. They were very different but we thoroughly enjoyed both. The Shepherd's Tree Game Lodge may be only "mid range" according to the Pilanesberg website but it certainly felt luxurious to us. Our room was very spacious and comfortable with plenty of space for clothes and other belongings. It was perfectly clean. The lighting was good so there was no problem reading at night. The curtains were thick enough to keep out all outside light. There were sockets for electronic devices. Unfortuanley wifi was not sufficient but that seems to be the norm in South Africa. There was a safe in which we could keep passports, money and other valuables. The bathroom was much bigger than those in most hotels. The shower itself was outside (but completely concealed from view). One negative feature: the air conditioning was fiece blew cold air over our heads when we were in bed so we had to turn it off at night. There was a free shuttle buggy to transport visitors between our rooms and reception, though it was only a ten minutes walk. There was a small swimming pool near the reception and restaurant. It was a very pleasant place to spend a few hours and have a dip. Unfortunately we missed the occasion when an elephant came to drink from the watering hole in view of the pool area. Food in the hotel was excellent. The buffet breakfast was generous. Eating breakfast on the terrrace wathching the weaver birds at their nests was a treat. We were fortunate enough to be there on Valentine's night when lodge put on an outdoor dinner (with live entertainment) in the bush for all guests straight after the afternoon game drive. This was a magical experience. When we got home they arranged a "stargazing" event by the swimming pool at which one of guides pointed out the consellations in the sky. Amazing! Staff were extremely helpful. We wanted to be able to leave immediately after our morning game drive on our last day so that we could drive straight to Johannesburg airport. They suggested arrangements including a packed breakfast that meant we did not have to worry about it at all. The main reason for visiting, however, was to see the wildlife. We had two game drives a day, each of which lasted about three hours. Our guide and driver (except for the first) was Solly who ws happy to share his knowledge and long experience with us. Pilanesberg had varied scenery including rivers and hills which attract many different animals. We were very pleased to see lions, elephants, zebras, giraffes, many sorts of antelope and hippos on our drives, to mention just some favourites, and not forgetting many species of birds. As we were with the same group of people on our drives we built up a good rapport. This was a feature of this type of trip that we had not anticipated and was a particularly enjoyable.

Vacances Le parc de Pilanesberg est top Le Lodge est hyper bien organisé et géré Les safaris sont très bien gérés pour des guides efficaces et sympas !! Bref tout est bien huilé pour les clients . Le seul bémol est la cuisine qui est abondante mais pas top ; ce serait facile d’optimiser cette partie !! Cette réserve est à moins de 2 h de Pretoria !!