Ngala Safari Lodge lived up to our expectations as a luxury destination with (most importantly) very good wildlife viewing. The cottages are excellent, and the service is just top notch. One thing that Ngala really has going for it is the food. We stayed at Phinda as well, and despite being behind Phinda in terms of the accommodation, the food more than made up for it. Great! The wildlife viewing was just amazing for us, though I realize we may have been lucky. We stayed two nights and managed to get incredible wild dog sightings as well as a fantastic male leopard in the day time, on top of lion, elephant etc. One thing worth noting is we took advantage of the andBeyond Stay for 3 Nights and get 4th Free offer, which we spread out over Ngala and Phinda. Personally, 2 nights was fine with us but I'm sure it would be very easy to stay longer in the lap of luxury!

A surprising place Swimming pool, birds & little animals coming around at breakfast time.
An open dining room with lanterns hanging from the trees along with the candleabra and very good food. The baker Carolyn bakes breads and dessers that are five star. Moses our "butler"
was so wonderful we wanted to adopt him. The safaris are great and one can see the big five plus. There is also a water hole in the garden, fenced off of course. Mama Africa (Connie) perfectly arranged everything including music, singing and dancing. P E R F E C T

I did a quick two night visit to Timbavati game reserve (adjacent to Krueger NP ) over a holiday weekend in December. I stayed at the Ngala Safari Lodge and had 4 game drives during my all too brief visit. I had stayed at other AndBeyond Africa properties before and found this lodge to be excellent as well with good food and friendly, efficient staff. The cottages are very nice and most importantly there was good general game viewing. The cottage buildings comprise two back-to-back rooms. Each room is large and well furnished in an upscale, bush theme and look out over the tropical, lush grounds. There is a pool that overlooks a watercourse where animals sometimes come to drink. There is a main building that is split into a dining area and a lounge area (with a large fireplace and comfy sofas).
As an aside - there are about 20 cottages so there can be larger groups visiting which may not lend itself to a quiet bush experience as with smaller lodges/camps (but priced less than smaller camps so you can stay longer!). This really wasn’t an issue and I would happily stay here again. Below is a list of some of the animals that I saw.

Leopard
Wild dogs
Lions
Greater Kudu (male and female)
Bushbuck
Steenbok
Wildebeest
Warthog
Baboon
Hare (cape or scrub?)
Elephants
Impala
Zebra
Spotted hyena
Giraffe
Reedbuck
Waterbuck
Black back jackal
Tree squirrel
Dwarf mongoose
Buffalo

My parents and I stayed at Ngala Safari Lodge for 2 nights over Christmas. Everyone agreed that it was the highlight of our trip to Kruger! The staff, from those working at reception to the game drive guides, were all amazing, always willing to help and answer questions. The cottages were clean and cozy and the meals were great. We can't recommend Ngala Safari Lodge enough to anyone who's looking for a nice, family friendly game reserve to stay at in the Kruger area.

Our only comment/concern is for anyone who is thinking of driving (instead of flying)--The dirt road is a little worn in places and there is a river crossing that is not small car friendly. They don't mention it, but I was really glad that I'd borrowed a 4-wheel drive for the trip, rather than taking my small sedan.