Safari Houses of South Africa – for African family safaris
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