Like almost everyone else at the lodge, we bought the 6 night stay at a charity function. It is obviously the facility's marketing scheme - and it works! We had a wonderful time. With all the options in South Africa, I doubt we would have selected this one, so we were very glad that we "won" this at the auction. The grounds were lovely and well cared for. The rooms were big (by European standards) with a large modern bath, a desk, a sitting room and in room coffee maker. Our room was clean and very comfortable. I'd compare the room to an older Marriott/Hilton. That Safari lodge has the main building that houses the dining room, a bar, and a sitting room with guest rooms on the second floor, there is also a wing like an old motel, and the tent rooms. All the guest rooms appeared to have similar amenities. We did not stay in the tents, but I thought they are more like little cabins than something you go pitch in the woods. The wifi was limited to the bar, upstairs lounge, and surrounding areas but since our room (13 in the main lodge) was right above the bar, we were lucky and got decent wifi in our room.
We visited the Game lodge (a separate facility about a 15 minute drive away) for breakfast and thought it was beautiful. I would guess it was much newer. The game lodge has an amazing view from the main building.
Food was good and plentiful with buffets served for all meals. It wasn't gourmet but I thought it quite good. Breakfast had scrambled and made-to-order eggs, bacon or sausage, potatoes, toast, fruit, yogurt, cereal, pastries, juice, coffee etc. All the necessary choices. Lunch had less options than dinner but still several choices with salad and at least a couple of choices of meat dishes. Dinner had at least 3 different main dish options, salads, starches and veggies. I'm a fussy vegetarian who doesn't like onions which made my choices limited, but on the 3rd night the cook learned my preferences and from then on he made me a special dinner for the remaining nights. We thought that was going far above expectations.
Overall we thought the service quite good. We found the Zulu people to have (what a sociologist in the group called) a serious "resting face." They weren't all smiley - until you smiled at them and then the wide smiles were given in return. Once we caught on to that, we found the staff to be very friendly.
Safari - the greatest strength and greatest weakness of Zulu Nyala game reserve is its size. At 4,500 acres, it is not big enough to have lions or more than 3 elephants, however, it has plenty of hippos, rhinos, giraffes, zebras, Cape Buffalo, vervet monkeys, warthogs, impala, and Nyala. We also found some Kudu, a water buck, a few duikers, a python, and the elusive but amazing cheetah. They took us out on safari in the mornings from 6:15- 8:30 and in the afternoon from 3:30 -5:30. We were never bored on the drives and each time we saw something amazing. The reserve is large enough that you can drive around for 10-15 minutes without seeing anything (or any other safari trucks) but small enough that you will definitely see animals. For comparison, we took a side trip to Phinda to see lions. Phinda is 50,000 acres (more than 10 times as big) and while it was an amazing afternoon, there was much more time spent driving without seeing animals then we ever did at Zulu Nyala and when we saw a herd of zebra they were across the field instead of almost close enough to touch. Our guide, Sandiso, was excellent. He made sure that we got to see everything and got us so close that I got great pictures with my iphone! I also like the way they team you up with the same group of people on your safari drives. We had a really fun group and it was fun (like summer camp).
Daily schedule: Up early for the first safari drive at 6:15. Return for breakfast which is served from 7-9 (I think). Lunch is served from about 11:30-1:30. Afternoon drive is 3:30 to 5:30 and then dinner starts at 7. It was quite popular to grab cocktails from about 6:30 - 7:30 and then dinner. Drinks were very reasonable (and not included in the prepaid fee). You could buy a bottle of wine and save any remainder for the next night. Almost every night after dinner some of the staff put on a dancing and singing show for about 15 minutes. They passed the hat for tips at the end.
There is not much to do at the lodge other than the safari drives. There are 2 pool tables in the main lodge, and I only saw two TVs. There are two nice pools but we were there in July - the winter season. I did quite a bit of reading, and we took naps. I am a runner and managed to run around the grounds (and up the dirt road where they were doing construction). It was mostly running in a short loop so a work out room would be a nice addition.
Weather in July was excellent. Layers are a must because it was cool in the mornings (cool enough on two of them to need wool stocking caps and gloves) and then 70-80 during the day. When it is cool they pass out blankets on the safari - grab one even if you aren't feeling cold because when the wind hits you when driving, you'll feel it! On the coldest morning I had on a long sleeve cotton shirt, a lightweight pull over sweater, a heavy pull over sweatshirt, a thin hoodie, and a windbreaker -plus a hat and gloves. That afternoon I was in shorts and a polo! Mosquitos - I had prepared our clothes and brought bug spray and wipes and never needed anything. Bugs were not a problem in the first week of July.
Your guide can help arrange side trips. We only did the one to Phinda and it was great but kind of pricey (I think close to $250 per person). Others in our group did the elephant encounter and the boat ride in St. Lucia. They seemed pleased with those trips. I drove to the resort after flying into Durban (3 hours of highway driving) so we had our own car. So, instead of taking the packaged hippo tour we drove ourselves to St. Lucia. I don't think I'd do that again because the drive was over an hour and it was highway most of the way. Seeing the Indian Ocean was nice but, we saw hippos almost every day in Zulu Nyala, so I don't think it's a must do.
Tips - You need cash for your safari guide but thankfully they allow you to add the tips to the lodge staff to your bill. They recommend 10% of the total fee which we were happy to pay.
Overall - highly recommended especially for any first timers like us. You'll be well cared for and see tons of animals!