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.

  • 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.

What’s included

  • A plated appetizer of cured meat, melon, and a sesame-crusted fritter on dark slate.

    All meals

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

  • Two guests hold glasses of white wine beside the boma fire pit at dusk.

    Selected drinks

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

  • A game drive vehicle carries guests down a narrow track through dense dune forest.

    Scheduled game drives

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

  • A guide and a guest cross calm estuary water in one of the lodge's small boats.

    Eco-boat cruises on Lake St Lucia

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

  • Four guests walk along an empty beach between the dune forest and the breaking surf.

    Beach and coastal excursions

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

  • A game drive vehicle waits on the bank while the lodge boat carries guests up the channel.

    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 dark timber luxury suite stands on its raised deck beneath the dune forest canopy, screens open to the bedroom.
  • A luxury suite bed beneath a fish painting, with a sun hat and a book laid on the blue quilt.
  • A suite bedroom with a portrait painting above the bed, a window seat, and cane chairs on the timber floor.
  • An outdoor bathroom with a freestanding bath and open-air shower behind a timber screen.
  • A second view of a suite bedroom, from the window seat toward the bed.

Luxury suite

Sleeps 3

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

  • The honeymoon suite opens onto its private deck above the dune forest, with Lake St Lucia stretching to the horizon at dusk.
  • The honeymoon suite bedroom opens onto a private deck with two chairs facing the wetland.
  • Two guests sit on the lit veranda of the honeymoon suite at dusk, the cabin standing alone in tall wetland reeds.

Honeymoon suite

Sleeps 2

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

  • The family room's timber cabin and wide raised deck sit in a clearing of the dune forest, its sliding screens open to the bedroom.
  • A family room with a window seat and doors open to a private deck set with morning tea.
  • Twin beds in a family room, with lamps and a shared bedside table between them.
  • A family room interior with a wide bed and doors to the deck.

Family room

Sleeps 4

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

Gallery

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Experiences

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

A safari vehicle pauses beside a large herd of buffalo grazing in open grassland.A safari vehicle pauses beside a large herd of buffalo grazing in open grassland.

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

Included
Two guests in sun hats watch a pod of hippos on the bank from the deck of the lodge boat.Two guests in sun hats watch a pod of hippos on the bank from the deck of the lodge boat.

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

Included
Two guests walk along the sand at the surf line of a deserted Indian Ocean beach.Two guests walk along the sand at the surf line of a deserted Indian Ocean beach.

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

Included
Guests line the rail of the canopied pontoon cruise boat on the flat water of the narrows, one photographing the green shoreline with a long lens.Guests line the rail of the canopied pontoon cruise boat on the flat water of the narrows, one photographing the green shoreline with a long lens.

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

Included
A Cape buffalo faces the camera at close range, standing chest-deep in low flowering scrub.

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

Included
Aerial view of a deserted iSimangaliso beach where forested dunes meet a rocky point and the Indian Ocean surf.

Follow nesting loggerhead and leatherback turtles on summer night drives.

Extra

Journeys

Every journey below includes Makakatana Bay Lodge and books as one stay.

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.

Things to know

Cancellation policy

  • The deposit returns in full more than 60 days before arrival.
  • The deposit is 50% of the booking value.
  • The balance is due 30 days before arrival.
Read the full policy

Lodge rules

  • Check-in from 13:00
  • Checkout by 11:00
  • The park gates keep seasonal hours
See all rules

Rates and inclusions

  • Rates are quoted per person sharing per night in South African Rand, on the lodge's fully inclusive basis.
  • All meals
  • Selected drinks
See what the rate covers

Common questions

Plan your stay at Makakatana Bay Lodge

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Makakatana Bay Lodge

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