The Best Place To Stay In Hoedspruit – Moya Safari Villa in Hoedspruit Wildlife Estate

Our stay at Moya Safari Villa in Hoedspruit was completely unexpected. Dane and I had flown from Cape Town to Hoedpspruit, fully intending to camp for 3 days with the EcoTraining team in Northern Kruger on the border of Mozambique. Well, sometimes unexpected things happen when you travel 🙂 

The Best Place To Stay In Hoedspruit – Moya Safari Villa in Hoedspruit Wildlife Estate

Our flight went from Cape Town to Johannesburg and in Johannesburg, it was unexplainably delayed. And then delayed again. And then delayed some more. We finally took off and arrived in Hoedspruit in the late afternoon, only to realize the bag with all our camping gear was nowhere to be found. ARGH. 

We talked with the airline, who assured us that if/when it was found, they would arrange to have it dropped off to us. Unfortunately, we would be about 6 hours away (by car), so even once it arrived, it needed to be able to be dropped off within working hours. To be honest, the airline did not sound hopeful and the more we learned about missing luggage, the more dismal we all became of ever seeing our stuff again. 

Dane and I were both pretty upset, but we decided to adventure on. The drive from Hoedspruit to EcoTraining’s Makuleke camp is around 5-6 hours depending on traffic. Toward the end of the drive, I felt myself getting sick, but I honestly thought it might just be traveling in a bumpy car for so long. I was starting to drift off to sleep when I was jolted awake. Our driver had hit a donkey and our car was badly damaged. By this point, it was pretty late at night and we were so close to camp, but the car was not drivable.

Thankfully, we were with the EcoTraining team who was able to call one of their vehicles to meet us and take us the remaining way to camp. We arrived to camp and it was hot. Sweat-pouring-off-your-face-just-sitting-there hot — and I felt myself getting sicker and sicker. With no gear for proper camping, no clothes except what we had on, climbing temperates and me on the verge of what felt like serious sickness, not to mention the donkey accident, we talked with some of the fellow campers and made the executive decision to leave the concession first thing in the next morning. In retrospect, it was the smartest decision, because both Dane and I got extremely sick the following day.

We arrived to Moya Safari Villa within the Hoedspruit Wildlife Estate and to be honest – I have never been so happy to see a bed and feel a breeze on my face. By this point I was pretty sick and run down (the best way to describe it is that my whole body felt weak), so we both showered and slept from 2PM to 7AM the next morning! 

Moya Safari Villa

Where To Stay In Hoedspruit

I woke up and felt like a brand new human. We stayed for two nights at Moya and I can honestly say it was a trip highlight. Mike is the owner of this beautifully designed villa (it’s like a bed and breakfast) and his staff, led by Reginah is courteous, friendly and will go out of their way to make you feel at home. They really wanted to make sure I felt okay so they offered lots of home cooked food and tea – so sweet. 

It’s not a huge place (I think maybe 5 rooms total) and it’s set up like a house so you honestly just feel like you’re at home. The beds are comfortable, each room has air conditioning you can turn off and on, the toiletries are top notch (big pump containers!), there is an in-room French press, and the food is delicious.

Reginah will make you anything you ask for — she even went to the market to find pita bread to make me a vegetarian pita sandwich one day for lunch. See what I mean? Just over the top to make you feel special/at home. There is even a pool you can swim in, which is great because it gets HOT.

Exploring in Hoedspruit Wildlife Estate

The villa itself is situated in a wildlife nature preserve so there are walking trails where you can head out and see so many different types of animals and Moya offers guests bikes, which Dane used to go explore one morning. 

It’s such a relaxing spot and offered a wonderful opportunity for both of us to rest. I said to Dane – I wish more travelers knew about this place! So, if you are heading out onto safari and want a couple of days to rest up before or after your trip — Moya Safari Villa is the place to do it. We would definitely go back and recommend it over and over. 

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