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Makakatana Bay Lodge — first-paint frame

Makakatana Bay Lodge

Makakatana is a private camp on Lake St Lucia, inside the iSimangaliso wetland.

Explore South Africa's first UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Makakatana Bay Lodge is a private camp on the western shore of Lake St Lucia, inside the iSimangaliso Wetland Park — the only privately owned lodge within the park.

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A wide lake panorama at duskMakakatana Bay LodgeiSimangaliso Wetland Park
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  • Established 1999Family-run since 1999
  • iSimangaliso Wetland ParkKwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
  • “Global Winner: Luxury Safari Lake Lodge”World Luxury Hotel Awards, 2023 and 2024

About Makakatana Bay Lodge

Makakatana Bay Lodge sits on the western shore of Lake St Lucia, inside the iSimangaliso Wetland Park — South Africa's first UNESCO World Heritage Site. Hugh and Leigh-Ann Morrison opened the lodge in 1999, and it remains the only privately owned lodge within the park. The family has been tied to this stretch of the lake since the early 1900s, when Hugh's grandfather kept a store and a crab house on the land the lodge now occupies.

The lodge holds eight suites — five luxury suites, two family rooms, and one honeymoon suite — set among the dune forest along the wetland edge, each with a private deck and an indoor and outdoor bathroom. Days run on game drives, solar-powered eco-boat cruises on the estuary, and trips to the Indian Ocean beaches. Meals are cooked from scratch, and the standard rate covers meals, scheduled activities, and selected drinks.

About Makakatana Bay Lodge

Makakatana Bay Lodge sits on the western shore of Lake St Lucia, inside the iSimangaliso Wetland Park — South Africa's first UNESCO World Heritage Site. Hugh and Leigh-Ann Morrison opened the lodge in 1999, and it remains the only privately owned lodge within the park. The family has been tied to this stretch of the lake since the early 1900s, when Hugh's grandfather kept a store and a crab house on the land the lodge now occupies.

The lodge holds eight suites — five luxury suites, two family rooms, and one honeymoon suite — set among the dune forest along the wetland edge, each with a private deck and an indoor and outdoor bathroom. Days run on game drives, solar-powered eco-boat cruises on the estuary, and trips to the Indian Ocean beaches. Meals are cooked from scratch, and the standard rate covers meals, scheduled activities, and selected drinks.

The lodge grew from Hugh Morrison's childhood on the lake. The family has run trading stores in Zululand since the early 1900s, and the crab in the lodge logo refers to the old concrete block house Hugh's grandfather, John Kemp Morrison, built to store fish and crabs; the building later became the lodge wine cellar. Hugh and Leigh-Ann's three sons are the fourth generation at Makakatana.

The setting is the iSimangaliso Wetland Park, where wetlands, grasslands, dune forest, and the Indian Ocean coastline meet. The lake supports hippo, crocodile, and a deep bird list — the lodge records more than 500 species in the park. The lodge runs on solar power, including its boats.

Accommodation is eight suites: five luxury suites, two family rooms, and one honeymoon suite, several tucked into dune forest. Suites carry private decks, air-conditioning, mini-bars, and indoor and outdoor showers. The main lodge holds a bar, a dining room, a lounge, an outdoor dining deck, and the wine cellar in the old crab house.

The standard fully inclusive rate covers all meals, scheduled activities, and selected beverages — soft drinks, local beers, and house wines on the lodge's own rates material. The published basis runs an afternoon game drive on arrival day, a morning drive on departure day, and full-day excursions between: eco-boat cruises on Lake St Lucia, beach trips to the ocean coastline, and a full day to Hluhluwe-iMfolozi or the Western Shores with brunch. Park entry fees and the lodge conservation levy are charged separately, and turtle safaris, scuba diving, horse safaris, and fishing are billed as extras.

Makakatana is reached on a drive of roughly two and a half hours from Durban's King Shaka International Airport, and about an hour and a half from Richards Bay. The lodge belongs to the African Safari Collective, and the World Luxury Hotel Awards named it a global winner in 2023 and again in 2024.

What’s included

  • A lodge lounge opening to the water

    All meals

    Every meal is cooked from scratch at the lodge and is part of the nightly rate.

  • A lodge lounge opening to the water

    Selected drinks

    Soft drinks, local beers, and house wines are named on the lodge's fully inclusive basis.

  • An open safari vehicle on a sand track

    Scheduled game drives

    An afternoon drive on arrival day and a morning drive on departure day, per the published basis.

  • A boat crossing a lake at first light

    Eco-boat cruises on Lake St Lucia

    Cruises on the estuary ride the lodge's solar-powered boats.

  • An empty beach meeting the Indian Ocean

    Beach and coastal excursions

    Trips to the Indian Ocean beaches of the park are part of the standard basis.

  • A wide lake panorama at dusk

    Full-day wetland excursions

    Full days run by boat and vehicle between the arrival and departure drives, brunch included.

  • A wide lake panorama at dusk

    Full-day Hluhluwe-iMfolozi safari

    A full day to Hluhluwe-iMfolozi or the Western Shores is listed on the lodge's included basis.

Plan your stay

Enquire

We will reply personally within four hours.

Where you stay

Suites raised among the coastal forest, each turned toward the water.

  • A suite interior with a bed and timber detailing
  • A wide view across the floodplain toward Lake St Lucia
  • The lodge lounge with low seating and natural light
  • The lake at sunset seen from the lodge

Luxury suite

Sleeps 3

A raised suite set among the coastal forest. The deck faces west across the floodplain.

  • A suite interior with a bed and timber detailing
  • A pool deck beside the lodge
  • The lodge lounge with low seating and natural light
  • A wide view across the floodplain toward Lake St Lucia
  • The lake at sunset seen from the lodge

Honeymoon suite

Sleeps 2

A private suite kept apart from the others. Morning light reaches the bed from the east.

  • A suite interior with a bed and timber detailing
  • The lodge lounge with low seating and natural light
  • A pool deck beside the lodge
  • The lodge set among the coastal forest

Family suite

Sleeps 4

Two interleading rooms for a family. The deck holds the afternoon shade.

Gallery

Showing photo 1 / of 8

  • Makakatana Bay Lodge — lake panorama at dusk
  • Makakatana Bay Lodge — lounge interior
  • Makakatana Bay Lodge — eco-boat on the lake
  • Makakatana Bay Lodge — leopard on the drive
  • Makakatana Bay Lodge — hippo silhouette
  • Makakatana Bay Lodge — suite interior
  • Makakatana Bay Lodge — waterbuck at the morning hour
  • Makakatana Bay Lodge — hippo at the water
  • See all 8 photos
Show all photos

Stories

Editorial stories are authored in Sanity and surface here once Studio entries land.

Experiences

Drives, boats, and full days across the wetland park — fully inclusive.

Open vehicle on a game drive at the edge of iSimangaliso wetland

Discover rich biodiversity across pristine wetlands, grasslands, and scenic shores.

Included
Solar-powered eco-boat on the calm waters of Makakatana Bay at first light

Cruise Makakatana Bay on solar-powered eco-boats as hippos surface beside the reeds.

Included
Indigenous coastal forest path opening onto the dune-fringed Indian Ocean

Unwind on pristine Indian Ocean beaches, swim in turquoise waters, and explore iSimangaliso’s stunning coastal dunes and habitats.

Included
The lake at sunset seen from the lodge

Spend a full day on the St Lucia narrows with a picnic lunch aboard.

Included
A wide view across the floodplain toward Lake St Lucia

Cross into Hluhluwe–iMfolozi for a full-day Big Five drive with brunch.

Included
Hippos in the shallows at dusk

Follow nesting loggerhead and leatherback turtles on summer night drives.

Extra

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Map

iSimangaliso Wetland Park, KZN, South Africa

The lodge sits on the western shore of Lake St Lucia, inside iSimangaliso Wetland Park. The park became South Africa’s first World Heritage Site in December 1999. It runs from the lake’s southern estuary to the Mozambique border in one protected system.

Lake St Lucia is the largest estuarine lake in Africa. The park holds about 800 hippos and 1 200 Nile crocodiles, and 526 bird species are on the park list. The forested dunes along the coast formed about 25 000 years ago.

Common questions

  • Makakatana Bay Lodge is about an hour and a half from Richards Bay Airport and about two and a half hours from King Shaka International Airport in Durban. The final approach runs on tarred roads with some gravel sections inside iSimangaliso Wetland Park, and the lodge asks guests to follow its own directions rather than rely on GPS alone.

  • Makakatana Bay Lodge sits on Lake St Lucia in the southern reaches of iSimangaliso Wetland Park, an area of low, seasonal malaria risk rather than a malaria-free zone. Risk is highest in the wet summer months and lowest from May to August, so use mosquito-bite precautions in the evenings and ask a travel doctor whether prophylaxis suits your trip.

  • Makakatana Bay Lodge is a wetland and lake lodge on Lake St Lucia, so its core wildlife is hippo, Nile crocodile, waterbuck and more than 500 recorded bird species, seen on game drives and eco-boat cruises rather than from big-cat country. The Big Five are viewed on the included full-day safari into nearby Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park, home to elephant, buffalo, white rhino, lion and leopard.

  • Makakatana Bay Lodge offers a fully inclusive rate covering all meals, teas and coffees, selected drinks, and scheduled activities. Those activities include game drives, eco-boat cruises on Lake St Lucia, beach and coastal excursions, full-day wetland excursions, and a full-day Hluhluwe-iMfolozi safari.

  • Beyond the inclusive rate, Makakatana Bay Lodge charges iSimangaliso park entry fees and a conservation levy of R120 per adult and R60 per child per night separately. Premium experiences such as turtle safaris, scuba diving, horse riding and fishing are paid extras, as are laundry and gratuities.

  • Makakatana Bay Lodge is open year-round, with the dry season from April to October best for game viewing as the bush thins and animals gather at water. The wet summer from November to March brings green landscapes and is well suited to birding among the park's 500-plus recorded species.

  • Makakatana Bay Lodge welcomes children aged 6 to 12, and accepts children under 6 only on family-group bookings with the owners' consent, with under-12s supervised by their parents. The lodge has eight suites in total, including two family suites that each take two adults and two children.

  • Makakatana Bay Lodge offers free Wi-Fi in its public areas. As a remote, solar-powered lodge inside iSimangaliso Wetland Park, connectivity suits staying in touch rather than reliable high-bandwidth work.

  • Makakatana Bay Lodge is the only privately owned lodge inside iSimangaliso Wetland Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, set on the western shore of Lake St Lucia. Family-run since 1999 and solar-powered down to its boats, it was named "Global Winner: Luxury Safari Lake Lodge" at the World Luxury Hotel Awards in 2023 and 2024.

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Lodge

Makakatana Bay Lodge

An intimate, fully inclusive safari lodge on the shores of Lake St Lucia in iSimangaliso Wetland Park, KwaZulu-Natal.

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+27 35 550 4189

reservations@makakatana.co.za

© 2026 Makakatana Bay Lodge.

iSimangaliso Wetland Park, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.