Tripadvisor gives a Travellers’ Choice award to accommodations, attractions and restaurants that consistently earn great reviews from travellers and are ranked within the top 10% of properties on Tripadvisor.
Tripadvisor gives a Travellers’ Choice award to accommodations, attractions and restaurants that consistently earn great reviews from travellers and are ranked within the top 10% of properties on Tripadvisor.
A beautiful safari bush home in a malaria- free private wildlife reserve for a South African holiday full of activities. Small, stylish and relaxed and offering many unique safari experiences, such as a junior tracker programme where children learn a range of bush and survival skills. Ideal for family safaris or smaller groups, it is available for exclusive, private use or non-exclusive booking.
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Jembisa Bush Home hotel emerges as a cherished retreat, earning accolades for its opulent amenities, including diverse activities and scenic dining. The establishment is celebrated for offering great value, with guests particularly impressed by the stress-free experience and the well-organized events.
Reviewers are charmed by the luxurious and comfortable rooms, which are frequently noted for their cleanliness and attention to detail. The hotel's service receives high marks for its personable and meticulous staff, while the atmosphere is lauded for its homely elegance and distinctive outdoor adventures that amplify the guest experience.
Atmosphere
Welcoming
Rooms
Comfortable
Value
Exceptional
Cleanliness
Meticulous
Service
Attentive
Amenities
Abundant
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Jembisa Bush Home delivered one of the most special long weekends we've ever experienced. The home itself is stunning, surrounded by breathtaking scenery. The food was simply delicious, but what truly set this place apart was the staff. Their exceptional attention to detail and willingness to meet every need before we even anticipated them was remarkable. They consistently went the extra mile, creating unique experiences that made our stay unforgettable. Just when we thought they had exceeded all expectations, they did it again.
It was such a treat to stay in an environment that allowed us to fully engage and be present with friends and family.
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Date of stay: September 2024
Value
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Location
Cleanliness
Service
Sleep Quality
Trip type: Travelled with friends
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from Guest Relations, Guest Services / Front Office at Jembisa Bush Home
Responded 27 Sept 2024
Thank you for your kind review! We are delighted that your stay at Jembisa Bush Home was such a unique experience and that you enjoyed such special quality time with friends and family. We look forward to welcoming you all back for another perfect escape!
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We have just arrived home after a wonderful ten days staying at Jembisa being looked after perfectly by the wonderful team there. The house is a great blend of a family home with the luxury of a large team dedicated to making it the most comfortable and beautiful place to spend time on holiday. They thought of things we needed before we had even realised that we needed them and every day there was some surprise location for one of our meals in a secret spot in the garden or out in the bush or down by the river. Our highlights were the night-time campout, fishing breakfast at the river, horse riding safari and the night sky safari but every day had its own treats. We have come home refreshed and renewed and with a much broader understanding of life in the South African bush and the wildlife that lives there especially the extraordinary dung beetles and the crucial part they play!
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Date of stay: December 2023
Value
Location
Service
Trip type: Travelled with family
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from Guest Relations, Guest Services / Front Office at Jembisa Bush Home
Responded 31 Dec 2023
We loved having your three generational family staying with us. Our adventurous camp-outs, Night Sky safari and Horse Safaris are firm favourites amongst our guests of all ages, as are our exciting 4x4 game drives and night drives. We are delighted that you had such a perfect family holiday.
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Jembisa is a very special and relaxing place and was the perfect location to celebrate a big birthday as part of a group. The whole lodge runs seamlessly thanks to the incredible team of staff who are lovely and so helpful with nothing being too much to ask. Most days the team organised a different activity including game drives and/or walks or cycles in the reserve, horse riding nearby, a big 5 drive, relaxing by the pool, the list goes on. Each day provides an opportunity for learning and new wildlife discoveries thanks to the guides whose knowledge knows no bounds! A real highlight was camping out under the stars in the middle of the bush, an unforgettable experience. The food at Jembisa is wonderful! Each meal was utterly delicious and we all enjoyed the South African wine. Thank you to the team at Jembisa for an amazing holiday, I wouldn’t hesitate to come back!
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Date of stay: January 2024
Value
Location
Service
Trip type: Travelled with friends
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from Guest Relations, Guest Services / Front Office at Jembisa Bush Home
Responded 03 Feb 2024
We are delighted that you had such an amazing holiday at Jembisa celebrating a special birthday. With three highly knowledgeable and enthusiastic rangers there are a wide range of safari activities to suit all ages and interests on Jembisa Private Game Reserve, including our special camp out under the African stars. We cannot wait to welcome you back.
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We could not ask for a better time spent on our honeymoon than at Magari. All the staff were absolutely accommodating, friendly and professional. From going on a horse-back safari at Horizon, to having each of our meals beautifully prepared in a different location, to learning about the intricate, delicate and symbiotic systems of the wildlife, fauna and flora, to cycling and walking through the bushveld, to camping out under the stars - our every need was catered for before we even knew what we needed. Throughout our stay, attention was given to the finest of details to ensure everything ran smoothly. It has not been the first time that I spent some time at Jembisa, but it was my wife's. I have always told her about how special it is there and have been meaning to take her. This was certainly the best way to introduce her to this piece of paradise. Our honeymoon at Magari will be a memorable one and we will definitely be back, as soon as we get the opportunity! Thank you so much to the staff at Jembisa and Magari. If we could rate you with all the stars in the safari night sky, we would.
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Date of stay: September 2021
Cleanliness
Service
Room Tip:Either way, whichever room or lodge you end up staying in, your stay will surely be one of the...
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from Guest Relations, Guest Services / Front Office at Jembisa Bush Home
Responded 18 Oct 2021
What a wonderfully descriptive review of Magari Safari Villa, thank you both so much! You have captured the very essence of what we do our very best to ensure each guest experiences, and we are delighted that your honeymoon was so enjoyable and memorable. Along with our highly experienced, friendly and service orientated staff, the breathtakingly beautiful Villa and surrounds, and our highly knowledgeable rangers, we are the perfect place for guests to enjoy every aspect of all that the Waterberg bushveld has to offer with regards to safari activities, nature and relaxation. We look forward to welcoming you both back soon.
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We are so grateful to everyone for making our family holiday such a la incredibly special time for us. Lorraine, Janco, Helene, Hans, Carlotta, Cliff, Portia, Sonny Boy and the numerous others curated our time to be a unique family holiday.
We love that there are so many activities, but we never felt pressured or strained by it, it was always at our leisure which made it delightful. From game drives, camp outs, fishing, swimming trips, riding safari each activity showed us something new of Jembisa and the Waterberg. The natural beauty is incredible.
For children, the team were incredibly thoughtful in ensuring they had a great holiday and the house is perfectly designed for it with a games room and kids pool area. No request for kids food/milk/yoghurt was too much at the funny times they eat, and a full 24 presence meant there was always company and a coffee to help with the 5.30 starts!
The dining, a key interest of mine, created lovely family moments for my whole extended family, who we don’t often see now that we live abroad. Local south african recipes and produce, including home baked bread, was delicious and there was a great selection of Boschendale wine (a long standing personal favourite).
We can’t recommend enough the idyll it is for a young family, and are very grateful to the team for their Herculean efforts and service over our holiday to make it so truly enjoyable!
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Date of stay: November 2024Trip type: Travelled with family
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from Guest Relations, Guest Services / Front Office at Jembisa Bush Home
Responded 05 Jan 2025
Thank you for your glowing review and for sharing such detailed and kind words about your stay here at Jembisa Bush Home. It was our absolute pleasure to host your family and create a memorable stay for you all and we are thrilled that you enjoyed the large variety of specialized safari activities we have to offer, tailor made to suit every member of the family, especially the children. We look forward to welcoming you all back for another Jembisa safari holiday.
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Spent 10 days at Jembisa and it was brilliant. The game drives incorporated a variety of animals including giraffe and zebra, and always included drink breaks in beautiful locations across the reserve. They are also very happy to take you to a big 5 game drive which was well worth the visit. Very very family friendly. High chairs, car seats, cots and playroom with lots of toys available. The staff at Jembisa are extremely accommodating to provide food appropriate for infants - my 11 month old baby had his own separate meal plan each day of delicious food all prepared by the staff at times suitable for my baby even if different to main mealtimes. All the staff at Jembisa are very helpful and will rearrange activities to be as accommodating as possible. We had to change plans last minute due to illness/ baby needs and the staff were extremely accommodating to help reschedule activities so we didn’t miss out. There are so many things to do and beautiful places to eat at Jembisa, we could have easily stayed another week. I’d recommend spending at least 7 days there so you have time to fully enjoy all the different animals, activities, food and beautiful spots on the reserve. I’d particularly recommend this as a destination for families with young children as the staff will look after you and your children extremely well. Chefs David and Portia also made delicious gluten free meals for my husband, including gluten free pancakes, muffins and bread made fresh each morning. Lorraine and Marinette are always available to help you in any way possible whether it’s to do with food / activities or babysitting. Ed took us on excellent game drives and has a wealth of knowledge about all the animals and insects you see on the reserve. It was the most fantastic experience and I’d highly recommend
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Date of stay: December 2023
Value
Location
Service
Trip type: Travelled with family
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from Guest Relations, Guest Services / Front Office at Jembisa Bush Home
Responded 31 Dec 2023
Thank you so much for your fantastic review, we loved having your whole family stay and are delighted that you all had such a wonderful experience at Jembisa Bush Home. Our beautiful lodge and stunning reserve are perfectly suited to family safari holidays, accommodating and enthralling guests of all ages with many varied safari activities to experience. Our chefs are able to cater for dietary requirements and use the freshest local produce available. We look forward to welcoming you back for another incredible stay.
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My family and I had the most amazing time at Jembisa.... The staff are what elevate this place from being a lovely peaceful bush home to a place that feels like a home from home. From the moment you arrive, nothing is too much trouble and you are made to feel so incredibly welcome. Our guide for our 5 days was Ed, he was fantastic, extremely knowledgeable and patient with our 10 year old son. The private reserve is simply stunning, we saw plenty on our game drives including baby giraffe! Being non big 5, we had ample opportunity to get out the jeep and look at tracks and explore poo - which our son loved! We also went for a bush hike, river fishing and a great cycle safari too. The food is fabulous, each meal (without spoiling any surprises) is served in a different location...each one just as beautiful as the last! Thankyou so much Lorraine, Marinette, Ed, Cliff, Sunnyboy and of course Milo & Astro for a truly wonderful time. We cannot wait to come back one day...
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Date of stay: October 2023
Value
Location
Service
Trip type: Travelled with family
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from Guest Relations, Guest Services / Front Office at Jembisa Bush Home
Responded 24 Nov 2023
Thank you for such an incredible review! It is so appreciated and we are all delighted that your family enjoyed staying here at Jembisa Bush Home. How wonderful that you all experienced so many of the exciting safari activities that we have to offer on the reserve such as our game drives, hiking, cycling and fishing, and that your son so enjoyed identifying the different tracks and animal droppings found all over. We look forward to welcoming you back to experience another amazing safari holiday here with us.
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3 generations of our family spent a week at Jembisa. It could not have been more perfect. We've been to many game reserves in Southern Africa and we chose Jembisa precisely because we wanted a home away from home for Christmas- a relaxed, luxurious place where the staff bent over backwards to make our stay special and we could set our own rhythm to the day. Because Jembisa doesn't offer the 'Big Five' - it is uniquely positioned to offer activities that these other game reserves can't. We went on long morning hikes before breakfast, we fished by the river bank, the kids rode bikes around the estate, we went on sunset game drives to observe beautiful game (and mating giraffes!), we slept out under the stars (one night only thankfully) and swam and played tennis. The location of every meal was carefully crafted, the food was delicious and the Jembisa team were outstanding. Another highlight was a fascinating star gazing talk which I would highly recommend. We would love to return one day. It could not have been more relaxing. Thank you Lorraine, Andre and Clayton.
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Date of stay: December 2022
Value
Location
Service
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from Guest Relations, Guest Services / Front Office at Jembisa Bush Home
Responded 08 Jan 2023
How wonderful that 3 generations got to spend the perfect family Christmas holiday together here at Jembisa! We absolutely delight in being able to offer all generations exciting activities to enjoy together including our adventurous star-lit camp-out experience and the spectacular Night Sky safari. We look forward to welcoming your whole family back again.
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If we could describe Jembisa in 3 ways it would be fun, relaxing and cared for.
The whole team at Jembisa are fantastic. From the moment we arrived we were greeted with kindness and nothing was too much trouble. Everyone is incredibly knowledgeable about the history of the reserve itself, the animals and biodiversity, and where the best spots are for sun downers! We really enjoyed learning about the different species across the reserve on our daily game drives, whether in the morning, evening, or night. We always saw different and exciting animals. There was never a dull moment. Special shout out to Ed, Andre and Clayton for knowing so much about the animals and the habitat and answering all of our questions. We learned so much!
While we were staying at Jembisa we had the opportunity to take part in several different activities from relaxing by the pool to camping under the stars, game drives, bush walks, and horse riding. This made the whole trip full of incredibly special and unique moments we don’t think we would find anywhere else.
The whole Jembisa reserve is beautiful with so much to explore. It’s so relaxed that you can go for a walk and be accompanied by giraffes or be greeted at breakfast by baboons! The house itself is beautiful and the rooms are so lovely with very comfortable beds. We had our own corridor and bathroom with an amazing walk in shower which was so nice after a hot day. Each evening we were greeted by Cliff and Sonny Boy and enjoyed amazing wine and any other drinks we could think of. It really was luxury with Cliff and the whole team anticipating if you needed something before you even realised you wanted it.
We really appreciated having meals located in different areas across the reserve so that we got to see so much of it in a relaxed way, accompanied with incredible food. Every meal was delicious and freshly made by the amazing chefs David and Porscha who we can’t thank enough. As someone with a few complex allergies, I’m so grateful that the team were able to accommodate for me and never left me feeling left out at any meal. Probably some of the best gluten free food I’ve ever eaten.
If we could sum up the trip we would say that we came as welcomed guests and left feeling part of a close family with Lorraine, Andre, and the team. Last special shout out to the safari pups, Milo and Astra for always bringing smiles to our faces. Thank you again for an incredible trip!
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Date of stay: January 2024
Value
Location
Service
Trip type: Travelled with friends
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from Guest Relations, Guest Services / Front Office at Jembisa Bush Home
Responded 19 Feb 2024
Thank you for your incredible review of your stay at Jembisa Bush Home. There are a wide range of activities to suit all ages and interests on Jembisa Private Game Reserve, that have all of our guests interacting with nature either in a vehicle on a game drive, on foot with a bush hike or on a bicycle, for a close up experience that creates amazing, lifelong memories. All of our meals are prepared by our 2 chefs who are able to cater for any special dietary requirements our guests may have. Jembisa is perfect for groups of friends looking to experience award winning African hospitality and diverse wildlife experiences, many unique to Jembisa, in a malaria-free environment.
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Wow - Lorraine, Henriette, Carlita, Hans, Janco and the team created the wedding weekend of our dreams. Through months of clear communication via email and video calls, they completely understood our vision and executed it beyond what we could have imagined. They paid such attention to detail and made the entire experience stress-free for both of us. Our family and friends all traveled to attend this weekend and none were left disappointed - the Friday braai, Saturday ceremony and reception, and recovery brekkie on the Sunday.. it was all so well done. From the bottom of our hearts - thank you. We will never forget our celebration and such
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Date of stay: November 2024
Value
Rooms
Location
Cleanliness
Service
Sleep Quality
Trip type: Travelled with family
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from Guest Relations, Guest Services / Front Office at Jembisa Bush Home
Responded 16 Nov 2024
Thank you for such a wonderful review. We are thrilled to have been able to create ‘the wedding weekend of your dreams’. It was a joy to help bring your vision to life and see your family and friends enjoy every moment.
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There are more places to choose from in the Vaalwater area.
PRICE RANGE
R 11,854 - R 13,072 (Based on Average Rates for a Standard Room)
LOCATION
South AfricaLimpopo ProvinceWaterbergVaalwater
NUMBER OF ROOMS
6
Prices are provided by our partners, and reflect average nightly room rates, including taxes and fees that are fixed, known to our partners, and due at time of booking. Please see our partners for more details.
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