 |
Lions, leopards and hot-stone massages
Just as the first rays of sunlight break open the sky, an open-air Land Rover slows to a halt deep in the African bush. The ranger, who's also the lodge's owner, points out a dung beetle slowly pushing its treasure across the dirt. Suddenly, a young leopard emerges from the tall grasses a few feet away and crosses the truck's path, its golden eyes shining in the early morning light. After the game drive, the party is met by a delicious meal—and a hot stone massage.
Such is a typical stay at a boutique safari lodge—an experience for only the most discerning travelers. Armed with cameras rather than rifles, millions of tourists pour into Africa's safari hotspots from Tanzania to South Africa every year. Indeed, the Big Five—lion, leopard, elephant, rhino and buffalo—have become big business. But the safari's popularity has also become its peril. Too often, dozens of jeeps from competing lodges can be found lined up waiting to give their guests a glimpse of a lioness or leopard, and large hotel chains are busy building corporate safari camps to cash in on the craze.
See our slideshow of Luxe African Lodges
Eighty years ago, an American financier and hunter named Guy Aubrey Chalkley arrived in South Africa in search of gold and game. He instead fell in love with the "veld." In 1933, Chalkley bought property near the Kruger National Park and built a small camp on the banks of the Sabie River, where buffalo and lions came to drink and crocodiles and hippos basked in its cool waters. It’s Chalkley's descendents, and others like them, who are working to protect the wilds of Africa while also redefining luxury with the boutique safari lodge.
"Respect is what defines our philosophy,” says Nick More, Chalkley’s great-grandson. With his brother, Robert, More owns and runs the Lion Sands Private Game Reserve. "My great-grandfather has inspired four generations of our family to protect and respect this land, and those who come to visit discover a personal connection amidst incredible luxury,” he adds. “And it stays with them well after they leave.”
After a flood destroyed the family's private retreat in 2000, the More brothers built Ivory Lodge, which features six villas overlooking the Sabie River, each with a private plunge pool, patio and butler. Last year, they put the finishing touches (mounted Kudu horns, family photos, Chaulkley's old wooden chests, antique china) on their new family manse, 1933, which they rent out during the summer. There, guests can avail themselves of the More's personal chef, sauna and wine cellar.
See our slideshow of Luxe African Lodges
About three hours away, Robbie Prehn and his partner Lize Mason-Gordon welcome guests to their home at Pondoro, on the border of Kruger National Park. The luxury lodge, which sleeps only 12, sits on the banks of the Olifants River in the Balule Private Game Reserve. Robbie is not only the owner, but also the ranger who gets behind the wheel of one of Pondoro's Land Cruisers each morning in order to share his deep love and knowledge of the golden orb spiders, white rhinos and lions that prowl his land. "With so many lodges, it’s no surprise that those in the know find their way to us," Prehn says.
When guests return from game drives, Lize doesn't just oversee the kitchen staff—she takes personal care of guests' gastronomic experience, from cooking their breakfast eggs to searing their filet mignon just as they like it. In short, theirs is a recipe against the corporate stampede overtaking the continent.
But tourist overpopulation isn't the only thing endangering the thrill of spotting a pride of lions stalking a zebra at dusk. Tribal warfare and armed conflict, sadly much a part of Africa's history, are constantly lying in wait. Yet there are also places where peace is breaking out, and there are now stunning new accommodations in places once inaccessible. After years of civil war, Mozambique has been working furiously to open their bush and beaches to tourism, with five-star results, including Londo Lodge, which opened in 2006, on the third largest natural bay in the world. And throughout Africa, lodges like Tongabezi and Pondoro are training local tribesman to be rangers and trackers and teaching them the importance of luxury, conservation and animal protection.
“Coming out of a war-torn country, suddenly people are seeing a whole rebirth and lodges are at the forefront of this movement,” says Deborah Calmeyer, co-founder of luxury-travel company Roar Africa, which creates personalized expeditions for clients and sends them to some of the top boutique safari lodges in Africa, including Botswana, Zambia and South Africa. Calmeyer says that luxury accommodations are working to ensure that the swell of tourist dollars benefits everyone from rangers and butlers to local farmers.
At Botswana’s Sandibe Lodge, the kitchen buys their fresh fruits and vegetables from village women and Lion Sands funds health clinics in a nearby town, also offering tours of the local communities. “Small, family-owned lodges are helping the world see the intimate beauty of Africa and are persuading governments that protecting the wild places, rather then destroying them, brings economic strength,” says Calmeyer. In recent years, Mozambique, South Africa and Zimbabwe removed their joining border fences to create the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park, a conservation area that allows wildlife—and tourists—to roam across 13,500 square-miles of bush, wetlands and lakes.
But of course, the draw for most boutique-bound adventurers is not geo-politics, but the more immediate thrills of roaring lions and private jungle pools. Here, Calmeyer assures that you can be "surrounded by the animal kingdom but… still feel like a king."
See our slideshow of Luxe African Lodges
