In the last 3 posts I’ve mentioned some of our favourite Safari Houses (exclusive use safari lodges typically sleeping 6 to 10 people). Examples given were Phinda Zuka Lodge in northern KwaZulu Natal, Tintswalo Manor House in the Greater Kruger Park, Uplands Manor in Kwandwe Game Reserve in the Eastern Cape and Little Tuningi in the Madikwe Game Reserve. However these lodges are certainly not the only options. Why don’t you check out our website for more information on the following Safari Houses in South Africa.

However these are by no means the only exclusive use safari lodges for family safaris and vacations in South Africa. Below I give a couple of other options…

Top of the Range
Royal Suite and Malewane Suite at Royal Malewane, Timbavati Game Reserve, Kruger
Little Madikwe, Madikwe Hills Game Lodge, Madikwe Game Reserve
Nare Suite, Jaci’s Safari Lodge, Madikwe Game Reserve

Or more Moderate options
The Homestead at Kariega Game Reserve, Eastern Cape
White Elephant Bush Lodge, Maputaland, Northern KwaZulu Natal

If you want to discuss any of these lodges in more detail, why not email me at kate@cedarberg.co.za or have a look on www.cedarberg-travel.com

Here are a couple of other options for your family safari in Africa - more in my series on exclusive use lodges or ‘Safari Houses. Phinda Zuka Lodge is in northern KwaZulu Natal, a low risk malaria area whilst Little Tuningi is in the malaria-free Madikwe Game Reserve. 

Phinda Zuka Lodge
Zuka Lodge at Phinda in northern KwaZulu Natal is probably my favourite lodge within the Phinda Private Game Reserve. It consists of four suites all set around a waterhole and is both stylish and eminently liveable at the same time with lost of exposed stonework and a lovely ambience. This is ideal for a family with older children or friends who like a little more privacy, as each cottage is set over 15 metres apart, (so I wouldn’t put small children in a separate chalet here!) Each bedroom is a blend of modern African décor and contemporary styling with a glorious bathroom featuring a free-standing bath and giant circular shower with exposed stonework

Little Tuningi
Little Tuningi is a satellite camp of Tuningi Safari Lodge, in the western side of the malaria-free Madikwe Game Reserve. Little Tuningi consists of a two bedroom family villa and a separate suite (so that it can sleep six to seven people in total with an extra bed in the two bedroom suite if necessary) and offers its own private boma area, dining room, lounge and private swimming pool. The décor is a mix of colonial and modern African influences and Little Tuningi has tried to bring the bush into the lodge as much as possible by using fully retractable doors and wide wraparound decks. One thing I like about Little Tuningi is that, because it is so close to the rest of Tuningi Safari Lodge, if you are a larger family group or perhaps two families traveling together, you can take Little Tuningi and a couple of extra rooms. This allows you to have the exclusive use of the swimming pool even though you’re a larger group.

If you want more information on these lodges or others in this series, please look at our website on www.cedarbergtravel.com or email me on kate@cedarberg.co.za

Continuing my blog about exclusive use Safari Houses which are perfect for family safaris or family vacations in South Africa. Today I’m going to talk about Tintswalo Manor..

Tintswalo Manor House
Tintswalo Manor House is a little gem of a place in the Manyeleti Private Game Reserve (with open borders into the Kruger National Park). The Manor House is a rather a grand name for a comfortable, rather than luxurious, private homestead in the bush overlooking an active waterhole. There are two reasons why I particularly like this lodge. Firstly it is not over-decorated and really does feel like home from home. It’s the sort of place that you and I might have if we owned a private lodge in the bush (!) – not at all pretentious with a relaxed feel about it. There are five bedrooms, one of which is accessed from the outside so that it’s ideal for a teenager or a nanny, wishing for more privacy. Another bedroom is only suitable as a children’s bedroom as its not en suite and is decorated in that way. The second reason is its reasonable pricing policy. It’s priced per person assuming a minimum of just four people, unlike most private safari houses which are priced per lodge. This means that it is still affordable even if only 5 or 6 people take the lodge, even though it can sleep up to 10.  

If you want more information about Tintswalo Manor or the luxurious Presidential Suite at Tintswalo Safari Lodge, have a look at www.cedarbergtravel.com or email us on kate@cedarberg.co.za

A few months ago I wrote about the Safari Houses of Zambia, where, for your African family safari, or for a party of friends, you take the whole safari lodge on an exclusive basis. However Zambia is certainly not alone in this respect. Over the next couple of posts, I’d like to highlight some of our favourite ‘Safari Houses’ in South Africa.

What I said in my previous blog still stands for South African Safari Houses: they are perfect for family vacations in Africa. These lodges usually come with their own ranger so that you have a private vehicle for your game drives and a private chef, sometimes even a house-keeper/butler as well. To myself “As you can imagine this leads to a much more relaxed and flexible South African family safari. No constant worrying about whether Johnny is making too much noise; no self-consciousness about an impromptu game of rugby on the lawn. You are free to choose your own game-viewing rhythm, heading out early one morning and taking it more relaxed another day. You can choose your own meal times and as importantly decide on what you all want to eat” This option is great for multi-generational family safaris where the grandparents may be joining children and grand children.

So moving on to some of our favourite family safari destinations in South Africa:

Four of our favorite South African Safari Houses are Uplands House, Tintswalo Manor House, Phinda Zuka Lodge and Little Tuningi. I will talk about Uplands House today.

Uplands House
Uplands House is part of Kwandwe Private Game Reserve in the malaria-free Eastern Cape. Uplands House was one of the original 19th century homesteads which was incorporated into Kwandwe reserve when it was returned to its natural bushveld. Uplands is an unashamedly Colonial experience with a gracious ambience which you’ll either love or find too retro for your personal tastes. There are three en suite bedrooms so it sleeps up to six adults or a mix of seven adults and children as one of the bedrooms can take an extra bed. It’s worth noting that one bedroom is definitely smarter than the others so it would work best for one family where the parents take the main bedroom.

Uplands House has proved so successful that Kwandwe Private Game Reserve has just opened a second private lodge or Safari House - Melton Mowbray Manor which, despite sounding to my mind like an English pork pie, is in reality a more contemporary take on the Safari House concept and is also slightly larger with four en suite bedrooms.

If you want to discuss this lodge in more detail, why not email me at kate@cedarberg.co.za or have a look on www.cedarberg-travel.com

If you are thinking of a Family safari in Africa , and like the idea of children doing their own thing for part of the day, (so that you can slope off to your book or to the spa or more laudibly, on a game walk), then it makes sense to choose a safari lodge which actively welcomes children.

Lukimbi Safari Lodge certainly fits this bill. Lukimbi seems to have thought through the issues surrounding children on safari in a fair amount of detail, as I witnessed when I visited it with my family (husband Anton, and children Emma aged 10, Mark aged 7 and Torben aged 4). Lukimbi is in one of the private concessions in the Kruger. Though the Kruger National Park is an intermediate malaria area, the risks of malaria are dramatically lower in the winter months from May to August (when it is also the prime game-viewing time in the Kruger) so families shouldn’t just opt for the non-malaria areas if travelling during the northern hemisphere school holidays. The Kruger, along with the adjacent private game reserves of the Sabi Sands, Manyeleti and Timbavati, should definitely be on your short list.

In our experience, the staff at Lukimbi see children as equally important guests and have a thought-out programme for entertaining the children. Perhaps as importantly, a family-friendly lodge such as Lukimbi attracts families which means that there are usually other children around to provide ready-made playmates. This in turn makes the business of children eating earlier so much easier to manage, as they don’t feel that they are missing out on anything – very important with my children!

Usually younger children under six will be able to accompany their parents on game drives, (though this is not guaranteed if the child is hyper-active and unable to appreciate the possible dangers of the bush). In practice Lukimbi tries to put two families together in a vehicle so that your children’s needs and attention span can be more easily catered for. If there are several children at the lodge, they also organize special kids only drives which are enjoyable for children (and parents) alike.

When our children returned from their game drive (at 7pm or 7.30pm), they immediately had supper all together, then they headed to the children’s den to listen to safari stories and relax before bedtime whilst we got ready for dinner. Younger children can return to their room with a baby sitter if you wish, whilst older children can curl up in the den in sleeping bags to watch a dvd and fall asleep at their leisure.  (This play room/den is also supervised from 7am to 1pm and from 4pm until you take your children to bed. Games, wildlife movies and toys are available there. )

Activities for children includes game drives with their parents and other activities such as identifying animal tracks and making casts, face painting, bush treasure hunt, braaing marshmallows in the boma and bush movie nights for example. Special folders are provided on arrival for your kids to jot down notes on their drives, and mark off animal sightings.

What I particularly liked about the children’s safari programme at Lukimbi was that it had a sense of progression. If children stay 3 nights or more, your children (ideally 7 to 12 years) can participate in the Basic Tracker programme. See our Lukimbi entry in our website for more details.

I recently visited Namibia with my husband and my two boys, 10 and 12 years old on a two week trip. We fell in love with the rugged beauty of the Namibian landscape and I want to share my experience and views with you in a few different blog entries.

To get a better sense of the different choices for stays in the Sossusvlei area I want to summarize my overall view of the properties in that area.

In general I would say if you are looking for over the top luxury I would go for the villas at Little Kulala with their new style in modern interior. The most family friendly camp would be Kulala Wilderness Camp with the two separate inter-leading rooms that form the family unit and they do take children of all ages. But taking in consideration location and quality for money my favourite overall would be Sossusvlei Wilderness Camp.

We left Luderitz at 09:00 the following morning and drove the D707 to KULALA WILDERNESS CAMP.  This route is more scenic than the C13 via Helmeringhausen and the road was in good condition.  We easily found the turnoff to Kulala Wilderness Camp (old Kulala Tented Camp).  This camp is ideal for the more adventurous, small groups and families and has 9 safari tents on elevated wooden decks with stone en-suite bathrooms and panoramic view on the plains.  The main area is elevated on a wooden deck and there is a plunge pool and bar area where we saw a magnificent sunset.  We stayed in their family unit that was very comfortable and each unit has a staircase that leads up to the flat rooftop where you can do stargazing or sleep under the stars on a provided bedroll. This camp will be ideal for the more adventurous and self-drive guest. 

We were looking forward to our trip the next morning to Sossusvlei National Park!  We left at 05:30 to drive through the reserve to the private entrance into the Namib Naukluft Park and onto Sossusvlei.  We drove past the hot air ballooning-launching site on their property.  (We should recommend that our clients stay at either Kulala Desert Lodge or Little Kulala if they are keen to do the ballooning in order to avoid a long early morning drive to get to the launch site).

We saw the sun rise over the dunes and the hot air balloons drifting away in the distance and this were just the start of the day trip to Sossusvlei.  We drove past the most impressive dunes and I could not get enough of the beauty and diversity of every single dune.  The guide asked if we would like to climb a dune and the children and the rest of the party were all for it.  We climbed ‘Dune 45’ and the children climbed all the way to the top, but…. I am afraid… I gave it my all, but decided I will rather take pictures of them going to the top than attempting it myself.  But… it definitely was an experience that we, as a family, will never forget.

The dunes at Sossusvlei are amongst the highest in the world and unbelievable!!
It was already hot when we started our walk to the vlei, but it was worth it.  We had a packed lunch when we returned from Sossusvlei and we were all exhausted from the trip.  The children could not keep their eyes open on the drive back to the lodge.

We arrived at LITTLE KULALA after doing the Sossusvlei excursion and could not believe the luxury that awaited us. They have 11 stylish thatched villas including one family unit where we stayed.  Each has its own private plunge pool and needless to say…. we thought we were in heaven!!  There is aircon in all the rooms, rooftop ‘sky bed’ for stargazing with both indoor and outdoor showers.  The main area is very striking as the floors are all painted white against brown and this is apparently to resemble Sossusvlei.  There is also a waterhole and at   the pool there is a mini dune that is starting to develop – unbelievable!  We also did a sundowner cruise to the Sesriem Canyon in the late afternoon. I have to say that this is by far the smartest property I have stayed at in Namibia and is rivalled only by Little Ongava. If clients can afford it, they just have to spend at least 2 nights at Little Kulala.  Apart from Kulala Desert Lodge it is the nearest lodge to the dunes and to Sossusvlei.

I had a site inspection of SOSSUSVLEI WILDERNESS CAMP that is together with Kulala Wilderness Camp the furthest situated from the dunes and Sossusvlei.  However, I really liked Sossusvlei Wilderness Camp as it is built near the top of a mountain, with fantastic views of the plains below and the dunes can also be seen in the distance.  The camp has nine chalets build from rock and thatch roofs, each with its own private plunge pool.  This is the only lodge that has a telescope for stargazing in the evenings. This lodge will be ideal for groups as well as FITs.

Before we headed to Swakopmund I had a site inspection of KULALA DESERT LODGE that is situated the nearest to the Dunes and to the private entrance to the Namib Naukluft Park/Sossusvlei.   The rooms are not very big and the living / dining area was smaller than the other lodges.  Although it is situated nearest to the Dunes, I would prefer Sossusvlei Wilderness Camp (or Little Kulala if budget allows) to Kulala Desert Lodge. 

THE DESERT HOMESTEAD & HORSETRAILS were our next stop. It has been newly rebuilt and is only 31 km from Sesriem and the entrance to the Namib Naukluft Park.  They have 20 thatched chalets and extra beds can also be added to the chalets for children.  The main indoor dining area is very spacious and the veranda next to the pool offers awesome views of the surrounding landscape.  They also offer sundowner drives, guided walks, Sossusvlei and Naukluft excursions, ballooning, scenic flights and quad biking can all be arranged.  They have become a popular destination for keen horse riders as they have horses for experienced riders and for beginners.  This is the ideal property to stay at if you cannot afford the Wilderness Safaris properties but still want to experience all that the region has to offer.  It is ideal for clients who wants to self-drive to the Naukluft Park or to Sossusvlei.

SOSSUSVLEI LODGE was our next stop and is situated right at the entrance gate to Sesriem Canyon and to Sossusvlei.  The lodge has 45 en-suite rooms and 3 inter-leading family units sleeping four, each with its own private patio. Facilities include a terrace overlooking a floodlit waterhole, swimming pool, curio shop and bar. A variety of adventures can be planned from the lodge including 4×4 excursions to the dunes and hot air ballooning.  It is next to Sesriem camping and I can assume can get a bit crowded during peak season. I would recommend this lodge for families or the more adventurous traveller who is not expecting luxury. Not one of my favourites!

LE MIRAGE DESERT LODGE & SPA is situated right next to the main road  (21 km from Sesriem) and not in the middle of the desert like their brochure would suggest. It has 26 luxury rooms, air conditioning, minibar and private balconies which offers amazing views on the open plains below as it is a double storey building. An open courtyard with swimming pool and green lawns and plants did make it look very inviting.  Here you can take a nature drives with quad bikes, which I think young and old will enjoy.  What makes them different is the Spa with 7 treatment rooms, 2 aroma baths and Jacuzzi and apparently it is open for anyone to visit.  I think clients staying at nearby lodges might like to make use of the Spa, but I would not really recommend it to our clients as it is a castle which looks very incongruous in the middle of the desert (Kate: Beau Geste gone wrong?).  Trips to Sossusvlei can also be arranged.

For more information visit http://www.cedarbergtravel.com

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Overlooking a natural fynbos garden which cascades down towards a long stretch of protected sandy beach, Grootbos Private Nature Reserve offers a breath of fresh air. This exclusive 5 star  eco-lodge is situated in the Overberg, less than 2 hours from Cape Town, close to the small fishing villages of Gansbaai and Hermanus.

We arrived late at night and felt completely secluded as we drove up through the enchanting fynbos forest to the beautiful Garden Lodge of Grootbos. We were met by the friendly and well-trained staff with a welcome drink. I couldn’t wait for the following afternoon as we were booked on a whale boat trip and I knew, with the whales in season, our sightings were going to be great! After a wonderful breakfast we were taken on a tour of the garden and were introduced to one of the many projects that make this a very special place to visit.
Michael Lutzeyer, Managing director of Grootbos, introduced us to Green Futures, a horticultural school for the local community - “This unique project provides annual, practical-based training programmes for unemployed people in the fields of fynbos landscaping, horticulture and ecotourism. The project is designed to develop nature-based sustainable-livelihoods for people from local communities around Grootbos”. Many wonderful stories were exchanged and we were also taken to the local township and visited the pre-school funded by Grootbos. Anybody that ever has the privilege to spend a few moments with Michael, or his father Heiner, will realize that without their absolute passion for conservation and their dedication to the local community, projects like the Grootbos Foundation can never work.

That afternoon we had a roller coaster whale boat ride and I have never seen so many whales in close proximity, as well as a large seal colony and a few penguins seemingly trying desperately to get away from us. As the Great White Shark’s main food source are the seals of the area it might have been that the penguins were aware of the sharks lurking deep in the dark blue water.

The following afternoon we were also treated to an exhilarating coastal flight over the area with an aerial view of the whales and the wonderful surrounding mountainous landscape.

I have stayed at many game lodges but was pleasantly surprised of how uniquely different and busy one can be on a nature safari. Of course children will love all the animals in the reserve, the horse-riding, the beautiful long beaches, or even playing soccer with the local children on the new soccer field that Grootbos are building nearby. Yet Grootbos appeals to children and adults alike. 

Indeed perhaps its because you feel like a child again when you stay at Grootbos as I read in their guest book. After 3 days I have fallen in love with nature again!

Voted 2nd place in the Conde Naste Best Eco Lodge &
Best Family Hotel in the World 2005/2006 by Tatler Travel Guide.

For more Information & Travel ideas visit our main website at http://cedarberg-travel.com/