Owner-managed and run, our Lodge offers an intimate bush experience, where personal service and attention to detail are the cornerstones of every waking moment.
The lodge successfully combines colonial style and African eccentricity in a delightful marriage of opposites.
Set in the pristine 75 000 hectare malaria-free Madikwe Game Reserve, our lodge is the ideal place for that ultimate safari experience.
Enduring Charm
This is a luxury boutique safari lodge in South Africa’s Madikwe Game Reserve. Organic glamor and opulent accents combine to ensure a distinctive and elegant flair. Tradition and eccentricity are tastefully united in an atmosphere that knows no equal. Your African safari will provide a detailed insight into the diverse landscape of Madikwe Game Reserve and its unparalleled game viewing. Indulge in award winning cuisine under African skies or treat yourself to a tranquil spa day in the lodge's Royal Spa.
Our lodge reflects a classic sense of style that is sufficiently robust to match the savage beauty that lies beyond. Our lodge is easily accessible by air and road and is located in Madikwe Game Reserve in the North West Province of Southern Africa.
Main Lodge Facilities
- Lounge and library with fireplace
- Gourmet dining experiences: Boma and Star deck
- Complimentary WiFi access
- “Sofa Safari” overlooking our private waterhole
- Curio Shop
- Our lodge's watchtower overlooking the Savannah plains and waterhole
- Open air bar
- Large Lap pool
Accommodation
Cocooned beneath a Canopy of Stars
Our lodge gently embraces the lay of the land with just five freestanding luxurious villas. Each slice of paradise is fully air-conditioned and offers superlative luxury and intimate privacy combined with extravagant outdoor facilities which include individual rim-flow pools and salas, expansive wooden decks and private outdoor showers. The villas exude colonial charm perfectly suited to a luxury safari experience.
Villa Facilities
- Views of our waterhole and open savannah
- Lounge with fireplace
- Dining area
- Walk-in dressing room
- Complimentary minibar and coffee/tea facilities
- Air conditioned
- Private rim flow pool and sala
- Outdoor shower
A Food Lover's Delight
Designs from Head Chef Jacques Sansom and General Manager / Chef Nico Verster titillate the senses with an array of sensual delights. Dine alfresco beneath Africa’s ink-rich skies, cut with the brilliance of a million stars. Food aficionados can indulge in harty South African fare served with the chic colonial charm and grace that is unique to our lodge.
Safari and Daily Game Drives
Enjoy daily game drives in pristine malaria free Madikwe Game Reserve. Madikwe Game Reserve is an ancient land where nature plays out her age-old theatre of life and death between hunter and hunted. Well positioned within the reserve’s treasure trove of animals, our lodge reverberates with the call of birds and impish Vervet monkeys. The lodge offers incredible safari experiences including sighting of the big 5 and super 7. The ‘Big 5’ phrase referred to the five most dangerous animals in Africa to hunt. The term is still used today but without the hunting connotation. The “Super 7” phrase also includes the highly endangered Wild dog and Cheetah.
Madikwe Game Reserve is know as one of the best conservation areas in all of Africa, at our lodge you will get to experience this diverse and rich ecosystem with over 130 mammal and 300 bird species not to mention the vast landscapes of plant life that keeps the whole reserve alive and healthy for all its inhabitants.
Twice-daily game drives at dawn and dusk form the daily routine of your Safari day. You will witness sunrise and sunset under incredible African skies whilst enjoying the daily animal sightings. A typical game drive lasts approximately three to four hours and all game drives are included in our rates.
Madikwe Game Reserve
A Plethora of Animals
Where rugged landscapes soften to the blush of the African dawn. The malaria-free Madikwe Game Reserve is a 75 000 ha region of untamed beauty. A natural splendour located in South Africa’s North West province. This wild terrain boasts a tapestry of awe-inspiring landscapes that encompass vast open plains, dense bushveld and towering rocky peaks. All of which offers sanctuary to a kaleidoscope of creatures, including the ‘super seven’.
Operation Phoenix
Prior to 1991, the area where Madikwe Game Reserve is today consisted largely of degraded cattle farms. As the area was not running efficiently, Settlement Planning Services commissioned a feasibility study to establish the best use of this land. The study showed that the development of wildlife-based tourism in the area the creation of a game reserve would be most beneficial to local communities. What followed was the largest translocation project in the world – Operation Phoenix.
Over a period of seven years, Operation Phoenix reintroduced more than 8,000 animals of 28 species into the newly established Madikwe Game Reserve. The project achieved a number of world-firsts with entire herds of elephant being relocated and the reintroduction of African wild dog into a fenced reserve.
Historic Introduction
Madikwe’s rich cultural history began almost one million years ago and is as much a part of the Reserve as the wildlife and other natural wonders in the area. Historical sites containing irreplaceable artifacts are in abundance and in time will be restored and displayed as part of South Africa’s heritage.
Operation Phoenix is world renowned as the largest and most successful reintroduction programme to date. In fact, it has been so successful that Madikwe is able to sell wildlife to donate and sell some of its wildlife to other Southern African Parks. Another result has been the establishment of Madikwe’s prosperous wild dog breeding programme.
The evidence of this translocation project is very clear to visitors of the park today. Madikwe appears to have been a wildlife rich reserve for centuries, however this is all the result of Operation Phoenix. This project is an ongoing effort with 5 cheetah and 25 gemsbok being introduced into the park in 2012.