Booking with us
These are the terms of your booking. They are short, and they are written to be read. The two that cost people money are clause 7, on cancelling, and clause 11, on insurance, so please read those even if you read nothing else.
1. Who you are booking with
You are booking with Nyati Safari Lodge (Pty) Ltd, registration number 2012/109849/07, which trades as Nyati Safari Lodge on the Maseke Game Reserve in Limpopo. We call ourselves the Lodge and we call you the guest.
Our address for formal notices is 38 Lebombo Road, Ashlea Gardens, Pretoria, Gauteng, 0081, with effect from 1 October 2026. Before that date it is Tzana Park, corner of Loop Street and Skirving Street, Tzaneen, Limpopo, 0850. Email info@nyatisafarilodge.co.za or telephone +27 15 793 7900.
2. Three words we use
2.1 Total booking value means the total for accommodation and everything included in the rate, for everyone in your party, for the whole stay, as set out in your written confirmation. It does not include anything you add during your stay. Every percentage in these terms is a percentage of that figure.
2.2 Arrival means the first day of your stay, and the notice periods in clause 7 are counted back from it in calendar days.
3. When your booking exists
3.1 A rate we quote you, or a rate shown on our website, is an invitation to book. It is not a booking.
3.2 Your booking exists when we have confirmed it to you in writing and your deposit has cleared into our account. Both must have happened.
3.3 Until then the dates are not held and someone else may take them.
3.4 Please check the written confirmation as soon as you get it. Names, dates and the number of people must be right, and it is much easier to fix on the day than at the gate.
3.5 The person who makes the booking makes it for everyone in the party, is responsible for paying for all of them, and must pass this document on to them.
4. What the rate includes
4.1 Every rate we quote is in South African Rand and includes value added tax and every levy that applies. What we quote is what you pay. We do not add anything afterwards.
4.2 What the rate itself covers, being meals, activities and the rest, is set out in your confirmation. Anything not listed there is an extra.
4.3 Extras taken during your stay, such as drinks, the shop and any additional activity, are also quoted inclusive of value added tax, and are settled before you leave.
4.4 Once we have confirmed your booking the rate is fixed. It does not change if our published rates go up.
4.5 If you pay with a card issued outside South Africa, your own bank sets the exchange rate and any charge it makes. That part is between you and your bank, and the same applies to a refund.
5. Paying
| When | What is due |
| To confirm the booking | 50 percent of the total booking value |
| 30 days before arrival | The balance |
| If you book within 30 days of arrival | The full amount, to confirm |
| On departure | Anything you have added during the stay |
5.1 We accept electronic transfer and the major cards. Bank charges on a transfer are for your account, so please send the full amount.
5.2 If the balance is not paid by the due date we will remind you. If it is still unpaid seven days after that reminder we may treat the booking as cancelled by you.
5.3 Where we cancel a booking under clause 5.2 we keep what you have already paid, and we do not ask you for anything more. The scale in clause 7 does not run against you beyond that.
6. Changing your dates
6.1 If you tell us more than 30 days before arrival, you may move your booking once, free of charge, to new dates within twelve months. It depends on us having the space, and if the rate for the new dates is higher you pay the difference.
6.2 A second move, or a move asked for 30 days or less before arrival, is treated as a cancellation of the original booking under clause 7, and the new dates are a new booking.
6.3 Reducing the number of nights or the number of people is a part cancellation, and clause 7 applies to the part you are giving up. Where our rate depends on how many of you there are, reducing the number may change the rate for those who remain, and we will tell you before you decide.
6.4 Adding nights or people is always welcome, subject to availability, at the rate applying when you ask.
7. If you cancel
You may cancel at any time. The law gives you that right and nothing here takes it away. What it costs depends on how much notice you give us, because the further out you tell us, the better our chance of letting the room to someone else.
Tell us in writing, to info@nyatisafarilodge.co.za. The notice period runs from the day we receive it.
7.1 Standard dates
| Notice you give us | What we keep |
| More than 60 days before arrival | 10 percent of the total booking value |
| 60 to 30 days before arrival | 50 percent of the total booking value |
| 29 to 8 days before arrival | 75 percent of the total booking value |
| 7 days or less before arrival, and no arrival | 100 percent of the total booking value |
7.2 Anything you have paid above the amount we keep is refunded within fifteen working days, to the account the payment came from.
7.3 We always try to re-let dates that are cancelled. Whether we manage it depends on how much notice you gave us, on the time of year, and on how far we have to drop the rate to do it, so we cannot promise it and we do not agree in advance to refund you if it happens. If we do re-let your dates at the full rate, write to us within thirty days of the date you were due to arrive and we will consider a credit towards a future stay as a matter of goodwill. That is a decision for us to make and the amounts in this clause remain payable.
7.4 The ten percent in the first line of the table is an administration charge and not a penalty. It is what it costs us to take a booking, hold the dates and unwind it.
8. If someone dies or goes into hospital
If you cannot come because the person the booking was made for has died or has been admitted to hospital, we charge you nothing. Not a deposit, not an administration fee, nothing. Everything you have paid comes back to you.
This is your right in law and it is not something we could take away even if we wanted to. We will ask for a death certificate or a letter from the hospital, and we will ask kindly.
9. If you do not arrive, or leave early
9.1 If you do not arrive and you have not told us, that is a cancellation on the day, and the last line of the table in clause 7 applies.
9.2 If you choose to leave before the end of your stay, the nights you do not use are not refunded. Please tell us anyway, because on a reserve it matters that we know where everybody is.
9.3 Clause 9.2 does not apply if you leave because of something we did or failed to do. In that case clause 18 applies and we will deal with it properly.
9.4 If you arrive late we hold your room. Tell us when to expect you, so that the kitchen and your guide can plan.
10. If we have to cancel
It is rare, and we do not do it to take a better rate.
10.1 We will first offer you comparable accommodation at Milima Big 5 Safari Lodge (Pty) Ltd, which is on the same reserve, at no extra cost to you.
10.2 If that is not available, or you would rather not, we refund everything you have paid, together with interest at the rate the law prescribes, and we pay you back what the cancellation has directly cost you, such as a flight change or a night you have to spend elsewhere.
10.3 That applies whether the reason was over-booking or anything else within our control.
10.4 Where we cannot accommodate you because of something genuinely outside our control, clause 17 applies instead, and we will tell you as soon as we know.
11. Travel insurance
Please take out travel insurance, and take it out when you book rather than before you travel.
A safari is a long way to come and a great deal can happen between booking and arrival. Insurance covers what these terms cannot: your own illness, a family emergency, a missed connection, a cancelled flight, lost baggage, and the medical evacuation cover you should have on a reserve two hours from a hospital. We are not insurance brokers and we cannot advise you on a policy, but we can tell you that the guests who have needed it were very glad they had it.
12. Booking through an agent or a booking website
12.1 If you booked through a travel agent, a tour operator or a booking platform, these terms still govern your stay with us.
12.2 Your agent’s own booking, payment and cancellation terms govern your contract with the agent, and they may differ from ours. Read them. We cannot refund money you did not pay to us.
12.3 Where a booking is made by an agent, the agent is responsible to us for the money, whatever arrangement the agent has with you.
12.4 Please make sure your agent has given us your correct names, arrival details and any dietary, allergy or medical information. We can only work with what reaches us.
13. Safety, health and how we live here
13.1 This is a Big 5 reserve. Wild animals are wild, the terrain is not a garden, and there are risks here that do not exist in a hotel.
13.2 Before you take part in a game drive, a guided walk or any other activity you will be asked to read and sign an indemnity, and to complete a medical and dietary form. Those documents set out the risks in full and you will be given time to read them.
13.3 You must follow the instructions of your guide and of our staff at all times. This is a safety rule and not a courtesy. We may stop an activity where it is not followed, and we will not refund it.
13.4 Please tell us about allergies, medical conditions and medication when you book, not on arrival. The nearest town is not close and the kitchen plans ahead.
13.5 Age limits apply to some activities and children remain the responsibility of the adult they are travelling with at all times. We will tell you the limits when you book.
13.6 Only the people named in your confirmation may stay. Please ask us before bringing a visitor onto the property, because access to the reserve is controlled and we have to know who is here.
13.7 Our house rules, covering things such as smoking, drones, firearms and where you may walk unaccompanied, are given to you on arrival and are also on our website. They exist for safety and for the reserve’s permits, and they form part of these terms.
14. If we have to ask you to leave
We have never enjoyed doing this and we do it very seldom.
14.1 We may refuse to allow an activity, or ask a guest to leave the property, where their conduct puts themselves, other guests, our staff or the animals at real risk, where they will not follow a guide’s safety instruction, or where they are abusive to our staff or to other guests.
14.2 We will speak to you first wherever it is safe to do so, and we will explain what the problem is and give you a chance to put it right.
14.3 Where we do have to ask you to leave for a reason in clause 14.1, the remaining nights are not refunded, and we will help you arrange transport at your cost.
14.4 This clause is about safety and conduct. It is not a way of ending a booking for any other reason, and if we end your stay for any other reason clause 10 applies.
15. Your belongings
15.1 There is a safe in your room. Please use it for passports, cameras, jewellery and cash.
15.2 We take reasonable care of your property while you are with us, which is what section 65 of the Consumer Protection Act requires of us, and we do not treat it as our own.
15.3 We are not responsible for loss or damage to your property that was not caused by a failure on our part to take that care. Please insure anything valuable. Nothing in this clause limits our liability where the law does not allow it to be limited.
15.4 Anything left behind is kept for three months and we will do our best to get it back to you at your cost.
16. Damage and extras
16.1 We do not take a damage deposit and we do not hold an amount on your card. We would rather trust you.
16.2 If something is broken or damaged beyond ordinary wear, we will show you what it is and tell you what it costs to repair or replace it. Please tell us if something breaks. It is almost never a problem and it is much easier to sort out while you are here.
16.3 Extras and any damage are settled before you leave. Where that has not happened, we may charge the card used for the booking, but only after we have told you in writing what the charge is for and how much it is, and given you seven days to query it. By accepting these terms you agree to that, and it is the only circumstance in which we will use your card after you have gone.
16.4 An invoice that is still unpaid thirty days after we send it carries interest at the rate the law prescribes.
16.5 We charge what the repair or replacement actually costs us. We do not add anything to it.
17. Things outside anyone’s control
Sometimes something happens that neither of us caused and neither of us can control, and it stops us giving you your stay or makes it unsafe or impossible to give it to you properly. A fire, a flood, a drought, a storm, a disease outbreak in people or in animals, the road or the reserve being closed, a failure of the water or electricity supply that we cannot fix in time, a government restriction, unrest, or anything else of that kind.
17.1 We decide, acting reasonably, whether this clause applies, and we tell you as soon as we know.
17.2 We will first offer you the same dates at Milima Big 5 Safari Lodge (Pty) Ltd if that is possible, or new dates within eighteen months at the rate you have already paid, even if our rates have gone up in the meantime. This is what we offer first and it is the best outcome for you.
17.3 If neither suits you, you may take a credit for what you have paid. The credit is valid for three years, it may be used by anyone you nominate, and it may be used at either lodge.
17.4 A refund is the last of the three and not the first. If you do not want the alternative dates and you do not want the credit, we refund what you have paid, less anything we have already spent or committed on your booking that we cannot get back, and less the ten percent administration charge in clause 7. We will show you what we have deducted and why.
17.5 If this happens after you have arrived, we refund only the nights you do not use, and only to the extent that we can avoid the cost of them. Nights you have already had are not refunded.
17.6 We do not pay a cancellation fee under this clause and we do not pay you compensation, damages, or the cost of your flights, transfers or anything else you have booked elsewhere. The cause was not ours and it was not yours. This is exactly what travel insurance is for, which is why clause 11 asks you to take it out when you book.
17.7 If the event is still going on ninety days after your original arrival date, either of us may bring the booking to an end and clause 17.4 applies.
18. If something goes wrong
18.1 Tell us while you are here. Almost everything can be fixed on the day, and very little can be fixed a month later.
18.2 If it is not resolved, write to info@nyatisafarilodge.co.za. We acknowledge a complaint within two working days and we aim to answer it within fifteen working days.
18.3 If you are still not satisfied you may take it to the Consumer Goods and Services Ombud, to the National Consumer Commission, or to a consumer court in your province. Those routes are yours and this document does not take them away.
19. Your information
What we do with the details you give us is set out in our Privacy Policy, which is on our website. If you booked for other people, you are telling us that you have their permission to give us their details.
20. The legal bits
20.1 These terms are governed by the law of the Republic of South Africa.
20.2 We do not require you to sue us in any particular court. The ordinary rules on jurisdiction apply.
20.3 Nothing in these terms limits or excludes any liability we are not permitted by law to limit or exclude, including liability for death or personal injury, or for gross negligence or a deliberate act. Nor do they take away any right the law gives you, and nothing in them asks you to waive a right or to sign away a claim before it arises.
20.4 If a court finds that part of these terms cannot stand, the rest still applies.
20.5 These terms, your written confirmation, our house rules, our Website Terms of Use, our Privacy Policy and any indemnity you sign are the whole of what has been agreed between us.
20.6 Where these terms and the Website Terms of Use differ on anything to do with your booking, these terms apply. Where these terms and your written confirmation differ, the confirmation applies.
20.7 We may change these terms, but the version that applies to your booking is the version you accepted when you booked, and we send it to you with your confirmation.
20.8 These terms are in English. Where we provide a translation, the English version applies.
21. Talking to us
Nyati Safari Lodge (Pty) Ltd, registration number 2012/109849/07. Email info@nyatisafarilodge.co.za. Telephone +27 15 793 7900. Post and legal notices to 38 Lebombo Road, Ashlea Gardens, Pretoria, Gauteng, 0081 with effect from 1 October 2026.
Terms date: 9 September 2026. Version 1.
