Makakatana Bay Lodge
Private lake-shore safari lodge · Western shore of Lake St Lucia · Makakatana Bay Lodge (family-run since 1999)
A drawing, because nobody has sent us a photograph of Makakatana Bay Lodge yet. Send five and this page changes the same week.
Top-end
Inside the park
Owner/family-run
Eight suites on the western shore of Lake St Lucia, family-run since 1999, which iSimangaliso calls the only privately owned safari lodge inside the park. The fully inclusive rate covers game drives, trips on the lake by solar eco-boat, beach outings and catch-and-release fishing; it takes no children under 6. Resellers quote R10,880 per person sharing, the highest rate in this guide. One warning: makakatana.com now redirects to an unrelated site, so confirm the lodge is trading before you pay anyone. Choose it for the lake and the game from one private lodge; skip it if you travel with small children.
Pros and cons
Pros
- Private lodge inside the park on the lake shore
- Solar eco-boat, game drives and beach trips
- Family-run since 1999
- Two family suites
Cons
- The highest rate in the park, from R10,880 a person
- Own website redirects elsewhere; trading status unconfirmed
- No children under 6
- R80 a night community charge on top
What's here
- Family rooms
Arranged from the lodge:
- Game drives
- Boat trips
- Birding
- Fishing
We could not reach a website for Makakatana Bay Lodge, so this list is incomplete by definition. Ask them directly.
What the park charges on top
The rate above buys you a bed. iSimangaliso Wetland Park charges its own entry fee for every day you are inside. Here is what that adds up to.
- Park entryGate fee and conservation levy plus the R12 accommodation levy, counted per day because no official document says whether multi-night guests pay the gate fee once.
- $9per person, per day
- VehicleR74 car fee, counted per day for the same reason.
- $5per vehicle, per day
Three nights means three days inside, so two adults sharing one vehicle pay $69 in park fees before anyone pays for a bed.
Sleeping inside the boundary is what keeps that low. Overnight guests add the R12 accommodation levy per night, against $8 a day for anyone driving in from outside.
These are the 2024/25 rates, which expired on 30 November 2025; no newer table has been published. Sodwana, the Coastal Forest and Kosi Bay charge about half (R71 per international adult). Lodges in St Lucia town are outside every gate.
The full fee schedule for iSimangaliso Wetland ParkRates at Makakatana Bay Lodge
From $665 pppn (reseller rate). Chalo Africa, read 24 September 2026: R10,880 per person sharing, fully inclusive; winter (1 May to 30 June 2026) R9,250. LekkeSlaap: from R21,760 per night for two. The lodge adds an R80 per person per night community and conservation charge. Park gate fees: confirm with the lodge. VAT treatment is not stated. The lodge's own website no longer works, so no rate could be read from it.
All inclusive. The rate covers meals, drinks, activities and the transfers named below. Park fees are charged separately.
Every figure on this page is in US dollars.
Rates checked against the research dossier of 24 September 2026. State-camp prices come from Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife's 2023/24 tariff (1 November 2023 to 31 October 2024), the last official camp tariff that could be read; treat them as a floor, because iSimangaliso has published none since it took the camps over on 1 March 2026. Thonga Beach Lodge, Kosi Forest Lodge, Coral Divers, Mabibi Beach Camp and Umlilo Lodge are priced from their own sites. Every figure marked 'reseller rate' comes from SA-Venues, LekkeSlaap, Siyabona or a booking agent, uses that site's 'from' price, and usually prices a room for two; we halve it to give a per-person figure. Dollar figures use R16.36 to the dollar (24 September 2026) and are rounded. Gate fees are extra everywhere except in St Lucia town: R62 per South African adult and R130 per international adult at the dearest gates on the 2024/25 table, which expired on 30 November 2025 with no successor published.
Questions about Makakatana Bay Lodge
Is Makakatana Bay Lodge still open?
Not confirmed. Its domain makakatana.com now redirects to an unrelated site. iSimangaliso still lists it, and resellers still quote rates, but confirm it is trading before you pay.
What age do children have to be at Makakatana?
The lodge takes no children under 6, according to the reseller listings. It has two family suites.
What does Makakatana cost?
Chalo Africa quotes R10,880 per person sharing, fully inclusive, and R9,250 in the May to June winter season. The lodge adds R80 per person per night for community and conservation.