At Mlilwane Wildlife Sanctuary, we stayed in the large Beehive huts. Fully equipped with a full en suite bathroom attached. With it being a Friday night, the patrons of the Bushfire Rock Festival made use of the accommodation at Mlilwane and the festivities went on until 04h00. With every sound fully audible through the thatch huts, I was grateful that we only planned on spending one night at this destination.
Whilst we were here we took the opportunity of visiting for the first time the Reilly’s Rock Hilltop Lodge. This was the original homestead of the conservationist Ted Reilly. This Lodge served as his homestead for a number of years while he ran the local tin mine. Today the is no longer mining in the area and the homestead has been converted into a lodge. For the best part of 50 years the whole area been run as a wildlife sanctuary, with some very special game surrounding Reilly’s Rock. You ar able to see the red and blue duikers, klipspringers and suni’s. They even offer a programme to feed the Bush-babies at sunset. The Lodge also has breeding herds of waterbuck, roan antelope and Nyala.
Reilly’s Rock is very remote and tranquil lodge. The main lodge can accommodate 20 people. Mlilwane, in the valley, is much larger in can accommodate up to 200 people. This is not a big five area, with no lions, elephants or predators of any sort, The area is completely safe for horse riding, bicycles and there are a number of walking trails. Mlilwane has some lovely dams which are home to hippos and crocodiles. With these animals around, one always has to be careful if you are on foot or riding a bicycle.