Game On - South Africa

Under the veil of darkness, our tracker listens to a hunt playing out. Before long, we round a bend to see a pride of lions in a feeding frenzy on a wildebeest. All are battling for space, growling and sporadically leaping up to fight. With jaws locked, a nearby lioness strains to escape with a prime piece of meat. When the carcass suddenly tears apart, she flies back into our open-topped truck snarling then bounds away, provoking hilarity in our tracker and guide and no small degree of consternation from us.

There’s a demand for “real”, uncensored travel experiences these days and it doesn’t get much more real than a lion hitting your truck. Happily though, at South Africa’s Singita lodges, uncensored experiences don’t go hand in hand with roughing it.



A short flight from Johannesburg will take you to either the Boulders or Lebombo lodges and both offer all the trappings of luxury – from high-thread-count sheets to serious food and wine and sun-drenched infinity pools. However, due to the fact that both properties are situated in the midst of vast game reserves, not for a minute do you feel you’re missing out on the real deal when it comes to safari.

The lodges themselves are unfenced and the porters who escort you to your suite at night and back in the morning (when animals are most active) are a constant reminder that there just might be a leopard lounging at your door. The porters aren’t armed, mind; they’re simply there to prevent you from pulling the dangerous manoeuvre of running screaming at the first sight of wildlife.

A privately owned game reserve within the Sabi Sands area, adjacent to Kruger National Park, Singita Boulders Lodge is very much in keeping with its location. Water is a strong element throughout, along with soft-edged wood, stone walls, warm tones and a scattering of animal-skin rugs. All of the living areas, from the main lodge through to the satellite suites, focus on the view out to the reserve, aided by an indoor-outdoor flow in all spaces. The result is a feeling of being in tune with the wild, rather than shutting it out.

In a first dip in our suite’s private pool, we suddenly realise there’s nothing separating us from the lions and buffalos out there. Or, as it turns out, from a family of warthogs who turn out to be our only company, proving to be lively entertainment rather than life-threatening. It’s the season for the aptly named golden orb spiders as their giant webs glint Midas-like in the sun at every turn on our first safari. Our tracker, from the local village, points out a Woodland kingfisher, its feathers a gorgeous mix of teal, red, white and black, then two bull elephants dusting themselves at a waterhole. We see a grumpy old buffalo cooling off in the water and – in the midst of a dazzle of zebras – a prehistoric-looking white rhinoceros, grazing with her baby at her side. Then there’s the aforementioned lion frenzy – a definite highlight, once our hearts stop racing.



When you’re not out tracking wildlife, days tend to fall into a rhythm at Singita lodges, with the drumbeat the continuous stream of (all-inclusive) food and wine.

Up before dawn for a quick snack, then out on safari to work up an appetite for breakfast proper. There’s lunch – perhaps springbok carpaccio or a simple zucchini, lemon, mint and olive spaghetti, accompanied by a glass or two of South Africa’s finest. Afternoon tea is served just before the evening safari, during which you may stop for a G&T and snacks (biltong, anyone?). Pre-dinner, you can opt in to a wine tasting in the cellar, which stars many aged South African wines. And the three-course evening meal may be an elegant poolside affair one night – perhaps impala loin, beetroot, parsnip crisps and gooseberry sauce – then a colourful Cape Malay buffet the next evening, accompanied by soulful African singing.

If Boulders is the authentic African elder statesman, Lebombo Lodge is surely its sexy younger sister. Located in the mountainous south-eastern area of Kruger National Park, it clings to a cliff face high above the N’wanetsi River, its exterior cleverly shrouded in closely-bound branches – both to camouflage the buildings and to reference an eagle’s nest.

The lodge itself is airy and modern with lots of glass, touches of chrome, white banquettes, sky-blue highlights, soaring ceilings and open walls. An infinity pool stretches before the expansive view high over Kruger and a slick Dematologica spa is on-site.

Again though, the trappings of luxury are accompanied by up-close-and-personal encounters. On our first safari morning, while we’ve stopped for coffee, an elephant lumbers along to drink with us at the watering hole. As he coats himself in a protective layer of dust, a crocodile emerges from the water and snaps up a bird. Our luck continues as our trackers find a pair of leopard cubs at play while their mum is off hunting, followed by the comical sight of a giraffe chewing its cud – like an elevator, the cud visibly travels up and down its neck. Further on, a deadly puff adder slips past in the dust.

Back at the suite, hippos are honking in the river below the deck, where daybeds are made up, complete with mosquito nets, for a night under the stars. It’s a very good sleep.

Lebombo is famous for its lions so on our final morning there, it’s fitting that we come across a large pride, complete with newborn cubs. It’s then that a nearby lion lets out a booming roar that can be heard up to 10km away. The surrounding pride joins in – it’s the perfect finale. Our guide turns to us and beams; at Singita, they’re all about the finer details, but he knows something this perfect could never be planned. singita.com



WINING & DINING
It’s only 45 minutes from Cape Town, but wandering through the streets of Franschhoek feels a bit like you’ve stepped on to the pages of a fairy tale. Dramatic jagged mountains encircle the valley, sweeping down to meet a patchwork of vineyards over hills and valley floor. Then there’s the village itself, with chocolate and arts-and-crafts shops dotted through the picturesque streets, and the Cape Dutch architecture with its thatched roofs, gables, whitewashed walls and shuttered windows.