PLACES

Firstly, there’s the name. Safari Moon. Just two words bestow a world of evocative bushveld magic. Secondly, you respond at once to the visual impact.  It’s a commercial lodge that feels like the private home of your wonderful friend who is also lavishly wealthy, slightly eccentric and fabulously talented. Which pretty much sums up Safari […]

The road to Makanyi raises a high, russet tail of dust in your wake as you navigate what’s known as ‘the middle road’ through the Timbavati Game Reserve. You pass families of elegant giraffe, trotting warthogs, and pirouetting bokkies, to arrive at last in the dappled shade of the 80 mighty marula trees that sprawl […]

This captivating building hides among low hills and grasslands on a six thousand hectare farm in South Africa. Coromandel Estate Manor House was designed by the famous Italian architect and industrial designer Marco Zanuso in 1975. It was commissioned by Sydney Press, founder of the former Edgar’s group, and one of the foremost businessmen of […]

Earth Lodge in South Africa's northeast was among the first deluxe hospitality venues to choose ancient natural building principles for its construction. It caused a real stir when this Sabi Sabi Private Game Reserve lodge arrived on the lodge architecture scene. With its unvarnished, low-set exterior and environmental building approach that reflected its natural surroundings, […]

Twenty years ago Makalali Nature Reserve was an over-grazed cattle ranch. Today it’s a wildlife sanctuary and home of the Garonga Safari Lodge, where nature was the leading architect. The owner, former Brit, Bernie Smith, oversaw the creation of Garonga in the mid-90s. He borrowed inspiration from architect Silvio Rech to incorporate the organic shapes and […]

The revamped Granite Suites at Londolozi Private Game Reserve take their cue from the rugged extrusion of granite rocks that give the camp its name. Interiors maven Yvonne O'Brein is no stranger to giving life to concept briefs. She was behind the re-interpretation of a bush lodge where she had to add the sixth star […]

Ebony, the original Singita lodge and flagship property, opened to widespread acclaim in 1994. Set among huge trees on the banks of the Sand River in the Sabi Sand Game Reserve, for several decades it topped the A-List of best-dressed lodges. Ebony has a unique setting. In addition to its reputation for impeccable hospitality, it […]

When it takes a mere week to purchase, complete and decorate a house, you have to believe the universe is smiling on you. The moment we saw it we knew this was where we wanted to grow old together. Andreas & Hanno Nusch, who own a turnkey events company specialising in destination weddings, fell in […]

I have a friend whose extended family used to safari annually to a remote beach in northern Mozambique for blissful holidays that went on for months. That was back in the '60s, when there weren't many hotels or shops and very little in the way of roads either. It meant three or so days of […]

A small hotel on a beach 500km north of Maputo puts the ‘less is more’ motto to work. Hotel Tofo Mar, near Inhambane in Mozambique, makes a striking, clean statement on Tofo’s otherwise bohemian beach scene.Built on prime oceanfront real estate,it once tried to be a block of holiday flats and/or a nightclub, it was […]