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Big-buck lodges that have definitely got game
The thoroughbred horses in the equestrian center are saddled up and ready to go. The tennis coach is hitting balls on the courts nearby, and the masseuses in the cliff-edge spa are preparing your hot stone therapy rub. But wait: Through telescopes on the edge of the lush green front lawn, someone’s spotted a lion stalking a gazelle on the plains below. Get the helicopter ready to buzz down and see if she catches her prey.
It sounds like the realm of fantasy, but this is pretty much the world Wall Street billionaire Paul Tudor Jones (and the few guests able to afford it) get to experience at Sasakwa, the flagship hilltop lodge Mr. Jones built on the extraordinary 346,000-acre Singita Grumeti Reserves he leases in a remote western corridor of Tanzania’s Serengeti.
Used to be when the super-rich wanted to get away from it all, they jumped on the private jet or yacht and retreated to the secluded island they owned in the Caribbean or the South Pacific. Now another part of the world is becoming home away from home: the African bush. And not only are the super-rich buying property in Africa, they’re opening hotels there. The lineup of tycoons who now own luxury African safari lodges -- Tudor Jones, Branson, Oppenheimer, Aga Khan -- is starting to resemble the Forbes billionaires list.
See our slideshow of 10 billionaire's safaris lodges.
And what a getaway these places provide. At Getty House in South Africa’s Phinda Game Reserve, for example, guests can hire out the four-suite Getty Lodge, the private bushveld home of Tara Getty (one of the heirs to the oil family fortune), as their sole-use property. Tara and his wife Jessica live in it nine weeks a year, and the rest of the time lease it out to guests who can sleep in their master bedroom, peruse family photos on the walls -- including those of grandfather and scion John Paul Getty II -- and have access to their personal chef and butler.
“We lock up some of the most personal family items when they’re not there, but this is very much their own home and they want guests to experience it like that,” said Wilna Beukes, marketing representative for Conservation Corporation Africa, which runs Phinda.
On the other end of the continent, Richard Branson’s new Kasbah Tamadot hotel in the Atlas Mountains of Morocco is big news, but Branson was in South Africa long before with Ulusaba, twin luxury lodges in the heart of South Africa’s Sabi Sands Reserve. While the lodge stops short of flying guests into the private air strip on Virgin, you’d be well-advised to book the master suite at Rock Lodge, Branson’s personal room on his frequent visits, with its gorgeous views of the bush below. You’ll also be dining a la Branson: He eats the same European-African fusion cuisine in the two restaurants on the property. More...
See our slideshow of 10 billionaire safaris lodges.
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Cape Grace
Cape Town native Denise van Blerk is the Front Office Tournant at Cape Grace, where she has worked since 1996.
BEST RESTAURANT
La Colombe.
BEST GIFT FOR A SPOUSE
South African diamonds from Shimansky's latest collection.
BEST GOLF COURSE
Erinvale, in Somerset West.
BEST DAY TRIP
The Cape Cuisine Tour with Rob Davidowitz.
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