South Africa
As for safaris, South Africa is renowned for the world famous Kruger National Park which is unique in its size, beauty and variety of wildlife. However, the Eastern Coast, which is malaria free and the Madikwe Game reserve near Botswana are also worth considering and are particularly appropriate for families.
You will find below a list of our preferred lodges in South Africa.
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Adjacent to the world renowned Kruger National Park, the Sabi Sand Game Reserve is famed for its intimate wildlife encounters, particularly leopard viewing. Home to a host of wildlife, including the Big Five, the Sabi Sand is part of a conservation area that covers over two million hectares (almost five million acres), an area equivalent to the state of New Jersey and larger than some independent countries.
With no boundary fences between the reserve and the Kruger National Park, this area benefits from the great diversity of wildlife found in one of the richest wilderness areas on the African continent along with the additional benefits experienced on a private game reserve.
Game drives traverse an area of 10 000 hectares (25 000 acres) and strict vehicle limits at sighting ensure the exclusivity of your safari activities and game viewing experience. Off-road driving ensures that you have the best possible view of any exceptional sighting and rangers are constantly in touch with each other to keep track of animal movements.
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Adjacent to the world renowned Kruger National Park, the Sabi Sand Game Reserve is famed for its intimate wildlife encounters, particularly leopard viewing. Home to a host of wildlife, including the Big Five, the Sabi Sand is part of a conservation area that covers over two million hectares (almost five million acres), an area equivalent to the state of New Jersey and larger than some independent countries.
With no boundary fences between the reserve and the Kruger National Park, this area benefits from the great diversity of wildlife found in one of the richest wilderness areas on the African continent along with the additional benefits experienced on a private game reserve.
Game drives traverse an area of 10 000 hectares (24 700 acres) and strict vehicle limits at sighting ensure the exclusivity of your game viewing experience. Off-road driving ensures that you have the best possible view of any exceptional sighting and rangers are constantly in touch with each other to keep track of animal movements.
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Situated at the heart of the malaria-free Eastern Cape province, Kwandwe is within easy reach of South Africa’s spectacular coastline and provides the perfect beginning or ending to a journey along the famed Garden Route. The wide open spaces and tranquil scenery belie the area's turbulent history, and relics of the area's rich historical and cultural legacy can be found both on the reserve and nearby. Kwandwe itself consists of 22 000 hectares (54 400 acres) of a hauntingly beautiful but previously neglected part of the African continent where the area’s natural wildlife has been painstakingly restored.
A conservation victory, Kwandwe is home to thousands of animals, including lion, black and white rhino, buffalo, elephant and cheetah, as well as Africa’s famous Big Five. Meaning “Place of the Blue Crane” in Xhosa, Kwandwe is a haven for a population of these rare, highly endangered birds (South Africa’s national bird). The Reserve also provides sanctuary for other threatened species, such as the Knysna woodpecker, Cape grysbok, black wildebeest, crowned eagle and black-footed cat. A biological melting pot of various vegetation types, the Reserve boasts a spectacular display of winter flowering aloes from June to August. Kwandwe flanks both the north and south banks of the Great Fish River, which meanders for 30 km (19 miles) through this pristine, private wilderness.
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Adjacent to the world renowned Kruger National Park, the Sabi Sand Game Reserve is famed for its intimate wildlife encounters, particularly leopard viewing. Home to a host of wildlife, including the Big Five, the Sabi Sand is part of a conservation area that covers over two million hectares (almost five million acres), an area equivalent to the state of New Jersey and larger than some independent countries.
With no boundary fences between the reserve and the Kruger National Park, this area benefits from the great diversity of wildlife found in one of the richest wilderness areas on the African continent along with the additional benefits experienced on a private game reserve.
Game drives traverse an area of 10 000 hectares (24 700 acres) and strict vehicle limits at sighting ensure the exclusivity of your game viewing experience. Off-road driving ensures that you have the best possible view of any exceptional sighting and rangers are constantly in touch with each other to keep track of animal movements.
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Set in a malaria-free area in the historic North West province, near the border with Botswana, the 76 000 hectare (187 800 acre) Madikwe Game Reserve supports a diverse combination of bushveld and the semi-arid Kalahari. Madikwe is famed for Operation Phoenix, the world’s largest game translocation exercise. Established almost 20 years ago, the reserve successfully reintroduced more than 8 000 animals of 28 species, including lion, elephant and buffalo, as well as black and white rhino. This area now boasts the Super Seven, adding cheetah and the endangered African wild dog to the already famous Big Five, as well as 350 bird species.
Apart from wildlife, the region also boasts a rich history, ranging from Stone Age relics to the passage of Mzilikazi and a range of European explorers and missionaries. Madikwe is well known for the Mafikeng Road (the main road running through the Reserve), the artery that once linked the trading route from Cape Town to Bulawayo in the early 1800s. The likes of William Cornwallis Harris, David Livingstone and Cecil John Rhodes travelled through here, battling and forming everlasting friendships with the local people, the Tswana-Sotho. The renowned South African author Herman Charles Bosman also spent several months living in what is the present reserve and many of his books celebrate the unique characters and atmosphere of the region.
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Located on the boundary of the world renowned Kruger National Park, Ngala Private Game Reserve is well known for its high densities of elephant, buffalo and rhino, as well as for its African wild dogs. Ngala was the first private game reserve to be incorporated into the Kruger National Park and has exclusive traversing rights on almost 15 000 hectares (37 100 acres) of one of the richest wildlife regions on the African continent. A spectacular diversity of wildlife moves through this immense wilderness, including elephant, spotted hyena, giraffe, buffalo and white rhino. Ngala means “lion” in Shangaan and the Reserve lives up to its name, supporting several prides of these powerful cats. However, it is even better known for excellent viewing of a more elusive cat, offering regular sightings of leopard, particularly females with their young.
With more open bush than the nearby Sabi Sand Game Reserve, Ngala guarantees exclusive game viewing opportunities guided by expertly trained &Beyond rangers.
In one of Africa’s most innovative conservation partnership agreements, an annual lease, traversing fee and percentage of Ngala’s profits is paid to the National Parks Trust to further conservation projects throughout South Africa.
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Set within easy reach of the Indian Ocean coastline and the famous iSimangaliso / Greater St Lucia Wetland Park in northern KwaZulu-Natal, Phinda Private Game Reserve is known for its abundant wildlife, diversity of habitats and wide range of activities. Thanks to its coastal rainfall pattern, Phinda enjoys a lush green environment that contains seven distinct ecosystems - a magnificent tapestry of woodland, grassland, wetland and forest, interspersed with mountain ranges, rivercourses, marshes and pans.
This fascinating variety of landscape and vegetation shelters an abundance of wildlife, including not only the Big Five but many rarer and less easily spotted species, such as the elusive cheetah or the scarce black rhino. With only a handful of lodges sharing an area of 23 000 hectares (56 800 acres) and careful trained rangers and trackers in search of prime wildlife sightings, guests are assured an exclusive game viewing experience.
Adding to Phinda’s wildlife charms, the marine diversity of nearby Sodwana on the coast is easily accessible, with scuba diving, fishing and even turtle watching only some of the adventures available from Phinda.
