Sublime Sanbona

Sanbona Safari

As any born-and-bred Capetonian will tell you, one of the few things we envy of the city slick­ers in Joburg, is their abil­ity to hop into a car and head off to the Kruger Park (at a moment’s notice) for a quick res­pite from the daily grind of city liv­ing. It’s taken me 32 years to find the Cape Town equi­val­ent … enter Sanbona Wildlife Reserve, a true Big 5 game exper­i­ence, just 3 and a half hours drive from Cape Town (on the very scenic Route 62) – a per­fect week­end get­away for wild­life enthusiasts.

We arrived at the main gate on Friday after­noon after an easy drive – we left Cape Town early, avoid­ing any week­end traffic – and what a dif­fer­ence it makes not hav­ing to fly, no stress or long waits at the air­port. Just 5 minutes after sign­ing in, we were en-route to the lodge and I was rewar­ded with my first ever Black-Backed Jackal sight­ing. Off to a good start! And it only got bet­ter. Continued

A new field guide joins the Tswalu Team

The latest addi­tion to the team of field guides at Tswalu Kalahari Reserve is Cameron Pearce, an exper­i­enced ranger and man­ager who joins Tswalu with nearly five years’ exper­i­ence at three excep­tional South African game reserves, namely Kapama Private Game Reserve, Sabi Sabi Private Game Reserve and Lion Sands Private Game Reserve ... Continued

The Marakele National Park

Marakele National Park

There’s a reason why so many for­eign films are shot in South Africa. It’s not just the read­ily avail­able local skills and the cheaper prices – it’s also because of the loc­a­tion. Very few places in the world offer such diverse loc­a­tions in one place. The Marakele National Park, in the Limpopo Province is an example of a film­makers’ dream. Situated in the Waterberg moun­tain range, its dis­tinct land­scape offers every from ragged moun­tains to lav­ish grass­lands and deep val­leys. You could prob­ably shoot a fantasy epic like Lord of the Rings there and never have to leave. Continued

I ♥ Addo Because...

I ♥ Addo Because...

Hi, I’m Molly O’Hagan Ward from The Colonial on Arundel in Addo in the Eastern Cape, South Africa.

Addo IS BEST KNOWN FOR The Addo Elephant National Park which offers a wide vari­ety of game view­ing, out­door adven­ture, accom­mod­a­tion and cul­tural experiences.

GET YOUR PICTURE TAKEN AT Zuurkop in the Addo Elephant National Park over­look­ing the Zuurberg Mountains and the Addo Plains.
THE BEST wild­life PICTURES CAN BE TAKEN while under­tak­ing a private safari with my hus­band Conor, a registered guide, who will give you an out­stand­ing exper­i­ence in the 160,000 hec­tare wil­der­ness area of the Addo Elephant National Park. Continued

The Madikwe Game Reserve

Madikwe Game Reserve

Game reserves, like dark chocol­ate covered straw­ber­ries, are one of those things that you just can’t get enough of. Millions of years of human evol­u­tion have designed us to nat­ur­ally prefer the great out­doors to an office cubicle. Who can argue with that?

The Madikwe game reserve cov­ers 75,000 hec­tares mak­ing it one of South Africa’s largest. The Madikwe Game Reserve show­cases Africa at its finest. Immense plains of open wood­lands and grass­lands, the jagged Rant van Tweedepoort, the dra­matic Dwarsberg Mountain as well as haphaz­ardly placed insel­bergs, all make for awe inspir­ing scenery. Throw in the Big Five and this des­tin­a­tion is every tour­ists dream. Located against the Botswana bor­der, north of the small town Groot Marico. Continued

Bono and Ali visit Tswalu Kalahari Private Game Reserve

Tswalu Kalahari

Lead singer of the Irish rock band U2, Bono and his wife Ali Hewson, were guests of Tswalu Kalahari, South Africa’s largest privately owned game reserve, earlier this year when they were pho­to­graphed by Annie Liebovitz, the world’s most cel­eb­rated por­trait pho­to­grapher, for the Louis Vuitton Core Values Campaign, which over the years has fea­tured vari­ous per­son­al­it­ies with “extraordin­ary stature”.

It is the first advert­ising cam­paign that the couple has fea­tured in and appears in the October 2010 issues of inter­na­tional titles.

Louis Vuitton has estab­lished itself as one of the world’s lead­ing fash­ion houses ... Continued

A holiday in the crater of a once active volcano ... Pilanesberg Reserve

When a friend of mine sug­ges­ted that our next hol­i­day in South Africa should be in the crater of a once act­ive vol­cano, I wasn't sure it was a good idea. I've seen way too many dis­aster movies to not know that people say “it’s been inact­ive for mil­len­nia” about fif­teen minutes before the thing erupts and the main char­ac­ters spend the rest of the movie fight­ing for their lives.

Turns out the main char­ac­ters in this adven­ture (a group of friends and myself) spent our time explor­ing and relax­ing for our lives. The long extinct vol­cano crater in ques­tion is now home to the Pilanesberg Game reserve and was well worth the vis­ions of dis­aster ... Continued

Zebra in Pilanesberg National Park Photo

These Zebra were pho­to­graphed in the Pilanesberg National Park on a recent trip to Tshukudu Lodge. Did you know — Zebras are con­stantly wary of lions and hyenas. If a Zebra is attacked, its fam­ily will come to its defense, circ­ling the wounded zebra and attempt­ing to drive off pred­at­ors Continued

The Garden Route Game Lodge

Garden Route Game Lodge

Set against the back­drop of the majestic Langeberg moun­tain Range, the Garden Route Game Lodge guards the entrance to the Garden Route Coast. Only 3½ hours drive from Cape Town, this mal­aria free, private game reserve is home to an abund­ance of animal and bird life includ­ing the BIG 5 (Lion, Leopard, Buffalo, Elephant and Rhino).

Visitors to the Garden Route Game Lodge can enjoy gameview­ing in open Landrovers, lux­ury accom­mod­a­tion and a mem­or­able din­ing exper­i­ence in our Boma res­taur­ant. Our friendly staff and man­age­ment are there to take care of your every need to com­plete your unfor­get­table stay. Continued