Thula Thula Exclusive Private Game Reserve, KwaZulu-Natal

Hlonipha – Respect

At Thula Thula we were wooed by the same gentleness that calmed the elephants, as described in Lawrence Anthony’s ‘The Elephant Whisperer’. Even the name Thula Thula refers to a quietening or calming, usually spoken or sung as a lullaby to quieten a baby. A deep respect is shown here for all things natural and these people are serious about conservation.

Elephant and rhino are allowed to wander right into the lodge grounds, and it is remarkable to witness them going about their feeding and interactions from the deep baths overlooking the open bush. The accommodation is African style, with French verve. Zebra stripes, thatch, cool screed floors and wafty white mosquito nets let you know you are in the heart of Zululand, Africa.

The lodge owner and the late Lawrence Anthony’s elegant wife Francine joins us at the bar and it is a privilege to meet her and ask her about her life. She is passionate about Africa, conservation and delicious food and the effects of her care are everywhere. The lodge is famed for its gourmet meals and we enjoy a superb 4-course meal, once again a creative fushion of French and African inspiration.

Accommodation Experience:

On an afternoon safari game drive we spend a happy two hours driving around the well protected game reserve. It is a thrill which is hard to explain to get close to the very elephants described in the book and each one is named and has an interesting story about its personality or past. They become four dimensional beings as we hear more about their interesting quirks and history. I have a sense that one can stay here for weeks and keep learning more about each one and developing a relationship with them.

Our guide is one of the best I have ever enjoyed being out with, and he is clearly passionate about the conservation of this natural heritage, as well as offering lively stories and fresh information. We stop for drinks at a watering hole and appreciate the privilege of being out in the African bushveld. We move on, passing a ‘tall horse’ (giraffe), silhouetted against the setting sun.

However it is on our way back that I have my heart-stopping moment. We round a corner and come across the two local rhino of the reserve. We stop and discuss their habits and history, and as we do so, one comes right up to the vehicle. He keeps coming and stops, not 20cm from my door and it is all I can do to stop myself from reaching out and touching his precious head. It is an experience I will never forget, made more poignant by the plight of these endangered great beasts. This pair of rhinos have their own private bodyguards, a 24 hour security detail to ensure that they are not poached for their horns. We are excited to hear that there is a newly opened Rhino Orphanage awaiting its first two orphaned baby rhinos in the coming week. It is yet another significant contribution to the conservation of this beautiful animal by the lovely people of this priceless safari lodge and game reserve.

Nselweni Bush Lodge, Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Game Reserve

Halala Ezemvelo!

So here’s the thing – we have always loved Ezemvelo (KZN Wildlife) for their unerring commitment to conservation and community upliftment, but now we have a new reason to celebrate their pioneering spirit – the creation of beautiful bush lodges in the form of Nselweni eco-villas in Hlhulhluwe-iMfolozi Game Reserve. These spacious “tents” are a design success. Each little freestanding lodge faces out onto the bush, with folding back glass doors and windows across the full front of the kitchenette, bedroom and bathroom. From your twin beds you look straight out over your own verandah onto natural African bushveld. It is a twitcher’s paradise, surrounded by the sounds of Emerald-Spotted Wood Doves, Trumpeter Hornbills and African Wood Hoopoe. At night you hear lions mating, hyena whoop and elephants trumpet.

The compact, yet open design of the lodges allows you to feel connected with the bushveld beyond, even while cooking indoors. The gorgeous kitchenette has a vaulted ceiling with stylish cutlery, crockery, pots and utensils. A gas powered fridge, stove and oven compliment the safari feel. Glamping this is none-the-less, with smooth cream screed floors, a swish Nguni patchwork rug and a leather armchair. 

The bathroom is calm and spacious, with a creamy tiled shower more than a meter wide, opening full onto the bush. Brushed silver handrails, wide doorways and seamless ramps make the units wheelchair accessible. 

Nselweni is luxurious, combining both style and substance. And it is good to know that your contribution is to Ezemvelo, and speifically to the Hluhluwe-iMfolozi game reserve which is widely credited to having saved the white rhino from extinction, thanks to the foresight and dedication of people such as the late Ian Player and Magquba Ntombela. Even today, you need not drive far out of the camp gates of Nselweni to encounter a crash of the great, gentle beasts.

Accommodation Experience

Being in a Big 5 game reserve, we slip easily into our very different daily rhythm, waking early for a dawn game drive, having breakfast at a picnic spot with a view, napping after lunch, going out again for an evening drive with sundowners and braaing outdoors in the evenings. The first morning I wake at 4am, too excited to sleep. We have left the curtains of the front of the villa open and the moon spills in over the bed.

As our new year resolution, now lasting well into spring, we took a decision that we do not need more “things” in our life and we came to the conclusion that what the environment needs least is increased productivity. So we pledged to take more time off work, and instead of giving one another products for birthdays and Christmas, we give the gift of experiences in beautiful and natural parts of the country.

And so, at my 4am waking, I decide to participate in this creation of a memory, instead of falling back to sleep, and I head out to my private deck. It is a quiet dawn by African bushveld standards, the lions finally having stopped their cavorting. Then I hear what sounds like a rhino snorting beyond the fence and I see a hyena glide eerily past in the half dark.

I smile in appreciation and send up a silent prayer of thanks for the many people who contributed to the conservation of the vast reserve and the creation of this beautiful space from which to enjoy it.

Rhino Post Safari Lodge, Kruger National Park

The perfect safari experience

I stay at Rhino Post Safari Lodge with a friend who is a serious meditator. Half way through our stay I inquire how her meditation sessions are going and am surprised when she replies “Terribly!” I ask why and she explains “It’s just too beautiful here. I can’t bear to close my eyes.”

This sums up my experience too. I practice my own form of mindfulness bathing in the luxurious bath overlooking the dry river bed and reflect that this is one of the most beautiful accommodation spaces which the Kruger National Park has to offer. Each thatched suite faces onto the river bed, with wooden walkways all behind the rooms for maximal privacy. The front of the full length of the suite is completely open, and this open design allows the cool breeze to flow in from every side. A deck with two comfortable Morris chairs and footrest futons creates your own private outdoor lounge from which you can view game all day long.

The spacious bed has an African-style cover and patterned cushions. The cool white linen and mosquito net mean you can sleep with all the sides of your suite open, with a feeling of being in a treehouse. The sound of wildlife can be heard all night and you are fully aware of being in the wilds of Africa.

Glamorous double basins, a freestanding bath and outdoor shower means you view high definition screens onto your own private wildlife reality show from every direction.

Accommodation Experience

We gather at the Rhino Post Safari Lodge bar for pre-dinner drinks and snacks, full of enthusiastic stories about our earlier game drive and sightings. The amuse bouche are delicious, carpaccio of crocodile, avocado and asparagus, nuts, dried Mango, and a South African Kruger National Park favourite – biltong, which is dried, salted game meat. A high powered lawyer from Chile is secretly collecting the biltong to leave a trail of leopard bait to the door of her suite for an extra late-night sighting. We notice that she orders her Ostrich fillet rare.

A German guest asks Joey, our guide, “How is the traffic looking behind us?” meaning the flow of animals to the water hole just beyond the deck of the lodge bar. Joey is ever watchful (listenful and smellful) and quickly alerts us to any action. We see a mother warthog with her two tiny babies coming nervously down to the waterhole to drink on bended knees. Suddenly a herd of elephant parade right past the lodge to drink at the water hole and we all hold our breath as a baby elephant falls into the water and it takes the mother elephant a few seconds to pull the baby out.

We watch the elephants move past, I count 24 in all. Finally we decide to move through to the dining room and there is a buzz of excitement as we chase out a hyena which has been sniffing around for scraps. As we settle in the foreign guests remark how despite the excitement of the African bushveld, how peaceful they have found traveling in South Africa. Our conversation turns to our late father, Nelson Mandela, and with misty eyes we discuss the miracle of peaceful transformation which we owe to this great leader. Our other local heroes, Mahatma Ghandi and Archbishop Demond Tutu also receive honourable mention. I am bursting with pride to be a South African tonight, reinforced when the international guests are blown away by the quality of Chef Brian’s food.

Open dining room with deck

Towards the end of the meal we have some intense discussions about what time we should set out for our morning drive. Joey asks us what type of animals we would like to see. The Chilean lawyer says philosophically “Whatever God provides for us to see.” We nod meaningfully and see that Joey appreciates this answer. But I can’t sustain the pretence and blurt out my very specific African fantasy of seeing a large male lion doing his morning marking rounds. Joey plays hardball and says in that case we need to wake at 5.30am, ready to leave at 6am. As South African “Kruger nerds” we are thrilled at this suggestion, but notice the Germans blanche. The brave Chilean lawyer, travelling alone on business, needs some convincing and we sense that she could go either way as first she says “Yes – we can sleep for the rest of our lives – this is a once in a lifetime opportunity!” but then she backtracks, saying “Then again if we are still fast asleep we won’t even remember what we saw.” We try to “play it cool” and let the Germans decide. They are, after all, on holiday, and may appreciate a chance to sleep in when they are not fighting morning subway traffic. Our committed guide Joey gives them a little nudge off the cliff, nonchalantly saying “Of course the game drive is completely voluntary and you should feel free to take the morning off.” That settles it and we all agree on the following compromise: If it is raining, poor (now awake) Joey will not give us a wake-up call and will let us sleep in. But if the weather is clear, he should call us at 5.30am. The ever shrewd Chilean lawyer spots a technical loophole. “You can’t actually call us all at once can you? Can you call my room last?” She has outsmarted us again.

At exactly 5.30am the next morning we get our wake-up call from Joey, our dedicated guide. The suite is so beautiful with the dawn light just coming in over the trees on the other side of the river bed, that it is difficult to break the mesmerising spell. But we feel responsible for everyone’s early wake-up and force ourselves moving. It is a warm and clear morning.

We head to the open bar and deck, meeting place and the “happening spot” at the lodge. The Chilean lawyer is already there, quieter than usual and clearly still waking up. Soon everyone has arrived and we gulp down the last of our coffee and head out to the high, open game vehicle. There is the usual mental calculation from the foreigners about where to sit to maximise both safety and viewing and information from the guide. The shrewd Chilean lawyer, who is also the most nervous amongst us, seats herself squarely in the middle of the vehicle. Exactly on schedule at 6am we are off, faces full into the dawn breeze, the smell of dew and animal activity in our noses and our cheeks flushed with the excitement of what we may see.

I simply love going on safari with international guests who have never before been in Africa, let alone on safari. Every critter is a wonder and I find myself rediscovering their unlikely beauty through the eyes of the spellbound foreigners. We pass a giraffe, zebra and waterbuck, back-lit by the rising sun. You can sense that the foreigners would be happy to spend an hour at each of these sightings, but Joey is a man with a plan, and knows we can come back to these sightings later in the day. We head straight out towards Jones’ Dam North of Skukuza.

We do not have long to wait until we are even more rewarded. As we drive into Jones’ Dam we are distracted by a yawning hippo in the water. But we quickly realise that he is not alone and to our right we see a band of four lion brothers who are already asleep next to the dam. We drive right up to them and they reward us with grumpy yawns and morning hair. Their dark manes are just growing out and they look like awkward students trying to impress by growing out their hair and a beard. One blesses us with a spectacularly stinky scat right next to the car, payback for having been woken. Seeing these boys in their natural state is an amazing privilege and we are elated about the experience.

However the morning drive does not end there and we have an unbelievably lucky outing. We come across a huge gathering of vultures, including the pink faced Lappet Vulture, eating on a carcass. We drive right through a herd of buffalo and come up close to a parade of elephants with tiny babies. We feel fully satisfied with our morning, but even as we head back towards the lodge we come across three slim cheetah walking in parallel through the grass, and finally the cherry on the top – we see a large male leopard who is behaving strangely and is unafraid of the vehicle and heading towards us. Joey figures out that he is smelling the trail of a female leopard in heat.

We arrive back at the lodge on a high, too excited to speak. Sophia, from reception, asks us whether it was worth getting up so early. The German banker nods thoughtfully and says “I think so, ja.” We realise this is German-speak for “Oh wow yes absolutely – it was awesome!” Sophia asks “Why, what did you see?” “Well,” replies the German still soberly, “…everything.”

To book for a stay at Rhino Post Safari Lodge, visit www.isibindi.co.za 

Midlife and the Great Unknown

A midlife crisis is a badly wrapped gift which brings great opportunity for immense freedom and untapped wells of joy. It starts painfully - slowly the scales fall off your eyes and the well-trodden path makes you weary with despair. You may become depressed and anxious, but fear not – this is temporary and is happening simply because you are not heeding the call of your deeper self. You grow in intolerance and courage and become ready to eschew the heavy expectations and break free from the dull drudgery and oppressive stress which somehow became your life. There is youth and life and adventure within you, calling to be set free, making you restless and disgruntled. You see those adverts where a business person breaks free from their tie and shoes and walks away barefoot on green grass and something within you leaps unexpectedly, then hisses a firm and gentle “yesss.” This is the call of your true self, which will not be silenced. It will only be satisfied when you shed the layers of false self which you have accumulated over the years. And perhaps surprisingly, it is a gentle and kindly soul - not nearly as reckless and vicious as it sounds when caged. It simply seeks wide open spaces, wind in your hair, and the opportunity to be completely yourself in the wilds of nature.

You may find yourself going into “all-or-none” thinking – imagining quitting your job, leaving your spouse and kids, moving to a tropical island, selling the house and buying a shiny red sports-car, Harley or Jeep with which to trek through Africa. This causes cheek-chewing pendulum swings of “but”s and “what if”s.

However there is another way… which is neither destructive nor unhealthy and really quite possible when you get over your own importance. Instead of giving up everything, give your soul the escape it needs, and test your new-found freedom in different ways. Book off a month or three from work (oh come on, it’s not that impossible – it’s your ego that starts writhing in discomfort). Yes there might be some wailing and gnashing of little teeth, but try to look on this with compassionate resolve - they will all be better for it when your fresh new you returns with oceans of spaciousness and kindness and wisdom to spare.

Rent the red convertible, Harley or Jeep. Take along a good camera with which to release your creative passion. Do not rush when making the tricky decision of whether to go alone or with your favourite person – the soul loves solitude but grows in the context of honest and vulnerable relationship. Next find yourself the perfect route by listening carefully for that quiet “yes.” Be selfish and real.

You could start on safari at Kruger National Park, game viewing from the luxury of Rhino Post Safari Lodge and rhino walking from Plains Tented Camp. Don’t be alarmed if looking into the eye of the gentle, giant rhino breaks open your heart. From there you could drive through Swaziland to Kosi Forest Lodge, where the silence of the forest will claim you and set you free. Take the 4X4 coastal trail to Thonga Beach Lodge and live out your tropical beach resort fantasies in the Robinson-Crusoe style huts. Walk off the past on miles of unspoilt beach and let swimming with dolphins heal and delight you. Marvel at the immense diversity of ocean life while snorkeling in a parallel blue universe.

Come back to the animal kingdom at Hluhluwe’s Rhino Ridge Lodge, and this time your encounter with great beasts may bring you strength and direction for the future. End your stay at Isibindi’s Zulu Lodge, where the wild drumbeat under open African skies will reignite your libidinal passion for life. Let the stories of the battlefields fill you with courage and hope as you return to your new life wholly changed, with clarity and purpose to reinvent it with creativity and beauty.

Photographs by Sharon Grussendorff

Angala Boutique Hotel, Franschhoek

Portal of gratitude

Imagine this – five star luxury in a natural setting, with a spiritual focus to their beautiful accommodation. I feel I have fallen through a portal of gratitude into a parallel world. The meaning behind the name Angala includes the creation of the earth by the divine, an ongoing process of regenerating limitless potential (see www.angala.co.za). One enters into this spirit the moment one drives through the wine estate and walks past the large wooden sculptured heart and thick lavender into the open plan lounge and elegant dining area of the lodge.

Angala looks out to mountains for 360 degrees of its view. It is the perfect central location between Franschhoek, Stellenbosch and Paarl, from which to explore the surrounding wine estates, restaurants and countryside – if you ever manage to leave that is. I overhear a couple asking if they may extend their stay at Angala and I similarly long to make this my loveliest of homes for as long as possible. The peace and stillness simply captivate one and a quiet bond soon develops amongst the likeminded, nature-loving guests and warm, calm staff.

The light-filled rooms overlook the lake or gardens which are rich with diverse birdlife. Each room has a lounge area opening with double glass doors onto a private verandah with seating area. Back inside there is a round dining table with chairs, a most beautiful bespoke kitchenette wardrobe with cutlery and crockery, a Nespresso coffee maker, microwave, chopping board and sink. Every luxury has been thought of, and there are beautiful cotton gowns and slippers, heated towel rails, underfloor heating, air-conditioning and a ceiling fan. In the sophisticated bedroom area there is subtle downlighting and pretty bedside lamps to highlight the silky white linen and upholstered headboard.

But it's the bathrooms that win my decor heart - tiled in marble, fitted in minimalist white and with one side a full height set of glass sliding doors with views onto private gardens and the lake beyond. A deep freestanding bath faces the lovely view past double indoor showers and an outdoor shower on the deck. A portion of the deck wall rolls away to open the sense of space and continuity even further.

This is cutting-edge South African accommodation - the perfect blend of sensory, spiritual, environmental, natural, modern and aesthetic. The gardens are lush and decorated with soulful wooden sculptures. The open area in front of the main lodge is graced with an exquisite eco-pool, surrounded by Arum Lilies, Daffodils and reeds. 

I love it when an historic building is brought gently into the 21^st Century with aesthetic care and the main lodge is both modern and traditional, and very South African. It has a wide verandah on two sides, one side overlooking the valley, and the other side facing the eco pool. There is an outdoor and indoor fireplace with wooden and grey upholstered eco-style furniture. The food, which is served outdoors when the weather is good, is delicious and I feel a surge of pride in what South African accommodation like this offers its delighted guests.

Accommodation Experience:

Ascetic spirituality has us conditioned to divide the beautiful and pampering from the spiritual. This stems, perhaps, from Descarte’s mind-body dualism and the disillusionment with the wealth and corruption seen in the church, coinciding with the birth of the paradoxically titled “enlightenment” and modernism. The shift meant giving perhaps too much power to the scientific and intellectual, with the loss of the soulful and natural. Rediscovery of ancient spiritual practices like Mindfulness are now encouraging us to spend less time trapped in our thoughts and to bridge the mind-body divide by integrating the spiritual with the sensory and living fully in the present moment. Still, the idea of simply being present to nature and our senses scares us.

I decide to take up the challenge, and instead of dashing about taking too many photographs, as I would usually do, I decide to make the most of my heavenly bathroom at Angala.

If you have never had the privilege of an outdoor shower under open African skies, this should be on your list. And Angala has one of the best outdoor showers I have ever experienced – overlooking the mountains and gardens from a raised wooden platform with wooden sides for complete privacy. A cool breeze comes off the lake and brings the scent of orange blossom in from the garden.

As usual, despite all the luxury and finesse, it is nature that steals the show. From my shower I see a bright yellow and black bishop flit past and an emerald sunbird comes to visit. A distant mountain, the Paarl perhaps, is suddenly lit up in a spectacular display of light breaking through the clouds. I don’t even rush for my camera, just smile and gaze in silent awe and gratitude.

Phelwana Game Lodge, Hoedspruit

High Tea with Hippos

Put me next to a waterhole in a game reserve and I am happy. Put me next to a waterhole in a game reserve in a luxury tent and I am a supremely ecstatic little camper. I sit drinking my coffee on my deck overlooking a dam where mother and baby hippos splash about. I may soon join them for an afternoon wallow in my own plunge pool - there is a certain permissive sloth and appreciation for life that they impart. 

Phelwana Game Lodge has been taken over by enthusiastic new owners who understand a girl like me. Creamy floors, white linen and cream curtains are perfectly balanced with wooden and leather safari style chairs and an old travelling trunk. The waxy green central wall adds flair to this calm and spacious tent.

This is glamping in true style, with airconditioning and a spacious glossy bathroom with double basin and vanity, indoor and outdoor shower and modern fittings. 

Meals may be taken at one’s own tent, complete with white table cloth, silver service and romantic oil lit lamps and candles. The main lodge has a large dining area and freshly upholstered lounge looking onto a fireplace.

Accommodation Experience

High tea at Phelwana is a sumptuous affair. A layered cake stand is brought out to the lapa overlooking the dam, and is filled with freshly baked scones, carrot cake (with the good icing), koeksisters, tartlets, sandwiches and deviled eggs. While I am eyeing out the lavish spread, two hippos come closer for a look – not 10 meters from the lapa in the water below. I have never been so close to hippos within such safety and decadence. I can almost count the chin hairs on the hippo’s broad jaw as he yawns. This is a high tea I will always remember with excitement, as a great serendipitous privilege.

Royal Malewane Luxury Game Reserve, Limpopo

Soulful Luxury

One of the open lounges at the main lodge

What is your definition of luxury? For me, it is close contact with nature from a bed of fine white linen or a deep bubble bath – where the contrast between the natural and the finessed somehow enhances each experience. It is about a balancing act of creative décor and an earthy respect for the environment, a celebration of all that is quintessentially local. However you choose to experience luxury, you will find it here at Royal Malewane Safari Lodge in Limpopo, South Africa (www.royalmalewane.com).

Literally host to royalty and A-list celebrities, it doesn’t get better than this. Individual thatched open-plan suites, more like private villas, overlook the African bushveld. With infinity edge swimming pools, indoor and outdoor showers and Victorian baths it is easy to stay cool even in the summer heat. Usually a prude, even I walk freely between these aquatic pleasures in my natural state, so discretely designed and well placed are these villas. There are three outdoor seating areas on my deck – sun loungers, an al fresco dining area where private dinners may be served, as well as a thatched shaded lapa.

Private heaven

Colonial Afro-Zen fusion is expertly achieved with antique furniture, Persian carpets and the finest fabrics. My suite has a cream couch and a fern-print armchair facing a bank of glass doors outwards and an indoor fireplace. A grand four-poster bed is draped in a white mosquito net and said silky white linen.

The main lodge overlooks a water hole, with beautiful indigenous reeds back-lit by the setting sun. The safari-style lodge is a vast open-plan structure with four different lounge areas, each decorated with Liz Biden’s dramatic flair. She manages to make creamy white couches, oversized regal arm chairs, ornate vases and rich carpets somehow work seamlessly in this open-air bushveld setting.

Waterhole overlooked by the main lodge

I say it again – the Royal Collection deserves its own 6-star rating from the South African Tourism Board. The enthusiasm to please goes well beyond tick-box duty. Around every corner there are thoughtful touches, and every day reveals a surprise of some unique African bushveld experience in which the staff take genuine delight in their guests’ reaction.

All luxury aside, one also wants to have close encounters with diverse game when on an African safari. Set in a Big 5 game reserve bordering Timbavati and Kruger National Park, your chances of seeing interesting game are greatly increased here by the private game reserve setting and the guides who are as passionate about their Royal Malewane animal family as they are about pleasing their guests. Genuine naturalists, each one is plotting their own personal wildlife expeditions, including gorilla trekking in Rwanda and tiger safaris to India. They have become international consultants on how to coordinate game viewing experiences in a way that fulfills their guests’ hopes while respecting the animals’ safety and comfort.

Morning munch at Royal Malewane

Accommodation Experience:

I find myself a little above my usual station in life at Royal Malewane, and so I decide to drink everything, even this humble juice, from the beautiful crystal champagne glass I find in my suite. I do this as I lie in a deep bubble bath overlooking my private infinity edge plunge pool, onto African bushveld. A family of monkeys is using my day spa bed in the thatched lapa, the babies cuddling up to mom for a nap, while the teenagers fight. Clearly they are used to this level of luxury.

I feel a little silly about my indulgence and have a twinge of guilt at my lazy appreciation of the afternoon, but I am learning to recognize this as a defence against sinking into a realness of presence. Remember how impressed and intimidated we were with that New York style frenzied busyness and assertiveness? Already, that aggressive lifestyle has become “so 90’s” and we have seen through the emperor’s clothing of bluster and bragging to the insecure vulnerability it masked. A new brand of post postmodern soulfulness is emerging, where we recognize real luxury to be about the gift of free time, connectedness with self, family and friends and the privilege of being able to contribute to the protection of our natural heritage. A restlessness of spirit, combined with a deep love for the environment draws us increasingly to stillness and mindful appreciation of the natural world. Kindness to self, others and our environment is replacing the currency of domination and competition.

Good hair day at Royal Malewane

And this is what I find at Royal Malewane – a soulful rootedness in their pristine game reserve setting, dedication to preserving their unique, unspoilt corner of the earth, a warmth and humility in their service, an openness in the architecture and a softness in their décor. While lavishly generous, there is no ostentation here, only a shared enthusiasm for the outdoors, rare game sightings and all that Africa has to offer its privileged guests.

Another tough day in Africa

Hluhluwe River Lodge

Life worth living

A game ranger I once met in a different part of the world once confessed how much he misses the bushveld of Northern KwaZulu-Natal. The sights, sounds and smells are uniquely rural African and you are instantly transported into a different world. We are travelling North and as we turn into Hluhluwe River Lodge’s game park we instantly feel what he is talking about. This is wild country, with a soulful depth to it that is difficult to describe.

The perfect African safari style thatched huts of Hluhluwe River Lodge amplify the bushveld effect. There are two decks facing indigenous forest and birds call from every height of the bush. No effort has been spared in connecting one to nature, with full glass walls reaching right into the apex of the roof on two sides. Exposed beams and high ceilings make the hut feel cool and light.

The suite is enormous, with glossy floors and natural furniture. A wooden headboard, chunky railings and fittings complement the theme. Even the lamps are made of buck horn. A white mosquito net over the bed completes the look.

However the real reason I chose this lodge is obvious – the inviting wide bath set against glass doors overlooking a private area of the natural forest. Lying back in the bath, all doors folded right back, I look up and out into the trees. Lying quietly in this state of bliss, more and more shy birds and buck come closer and reveal themselves, unaware of my presence.

The main lodge is a lapa style thatched open structure over a wide wooden deck. There is a cool bar area and indoor and outdoor seating areas with comfortable couches with cushions covered in golden African fabrics. The dining area is vibrant with a bright red wooden wall. Its deck has far-reaching views down to False Bay where hippos graze.

Accommodation Experience:

It is our first night on our holiday travelling North and this space is so different from our usual lives – the bushveld thatch, the romantic suite and open-air bath – that we relax instantly. It is like a burden is shed and the life energy comes flowing out of us. We find ourselves joking and laughing uncontrollably about the silliest things. The contrast shows how tense we are in everyday life – tight packages held together with stress and duty. And when unwound, even in the space of a day, our life energy and a sense of fun bursts forth unbidden, unstifled. This is the great gift of even a weekend away in a characterful place and once again we vow to do this more often.