Singita: South African Superstar

There’s something to be said about being an original. Nearly a decade ago, Singita set the tone and claimed the style and design throne of South African safari lodges with the opening of Singita Lebombo. It remains the yardstick against which any lodge claiming to the best is measured against. Year after year Lebombo continues to beat these would be pretenders to its throne with that yardstick.

There are many South African safari lodges claiming to be the very best abound. Most have pretty websites featuring evocative imagery of an untamed Africa and almost all of them overuse words like ‘luxury’ and ‘authenticity’. In reality, too few live up to all the hype. Lebombo has a contemporary style and earthy feel that very few come close to matching. It really is the whole package: amazing wildlife, incredible style, fantastic service and mouth-watering cuisine, to say nothing of the amenities–blissful bar, pool, gym, spa, wine cellar, Wi-Fi, air-conditioning, you name it, they have it. It’s so good you quickly run out of superlatives and you end up arriving and just saying ‘wow’. Simply put Singita Lebombo is the business, the top of the heap, the best there is.

Finally, for the uninitiated, a word on size: It matters. I’m talking, of course, about concession size. Most safari lodges in South Africa enjoy a fairly large traversing area—essentially the area in which they can conduct game drives. What you’re not usually told is that the vast majority of lodges have to share their areas with their neighbours meaning that you may see lots of vehicles and other people (and I hate to say it, traffic jams) while out in the bush. Singita Lebombo is a different story. It shares its vast concession only with its sister lodge, Singita Sweni, and as a result when you’re out in the bush you really feel like you’re in the middle of the wilderness by yourself. It also helps that the game appears to be literally everywhere.

Dan once slept under a tree, in the open, in the African wild, when his Land Rover broke down a billion miles from nowhere. So he’s okay with roughing it. But he’s even better at not roughing it and has sampled more safari lodges than there are elephants in South Africa. Give him a shout if you’re curious to know what else is on his superstar list.