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For those who look for adventure as well as luxury, South Africa offers plentiful wildlife parks that come with incredible resort lodges. These are so sumptuous that it is hard to believe you are in the wild. Yeah - the wild, with spa services offered, fine buffet dining - breakfasts served by bright sunlight, lunches to prepare you for the afternoon and dinner by candlelight.
After the early morning wildlife viewing, a hearty breakfast is waiting--no dieting here--there is a healthy hunger. The afternoon safari runs include the "sundowners" consisting of wine, biltong (a popular dried sausage), hors d'oeuvres, bottled water and soft drinks for those who do not imbibe.
After the sun sets it is time to return to your fabulous digs and prepare for dinner. Dinners are usually buffet style with selections of meat, poultry and fish accompanied by a serious collection of salads and vegetables and then the choice of luscious desserts.
After dinner camaraderie calls, the guests mingle in the bar and compare daily notes before bedtime. However there are some differences between the resort lodges. Sabi Sabi--the overall designation is a famous wildlife reserve--sets apart from other resorts because there are three unique lodges from which to choose, none of which are close to each other: Selati Lodge, Bush Lodge, and Earth Lodge.
Selati Lodge takes you back in time to match the luxury camps you may have seen in vintage films. Consisting of eight chalets built of stone and thatch, it's set under majestic Acacia trees that line the Msuthlu River, between the Sable and Sand Rivers.
The Sabi Sabi Sands area is adjacent to Kruger National Park where there are no fences and the wildlife wanders along the grasslands and around your temporary home.
The chalets at Selati Lodge are lit at night by the flicker of oil lamps transporting you into the times of the early pioneering settlers. As rustic as Selati Lodge suites seem it does have discreet air conditioning, en-suite bathrooms with internal and external showers, private patio, queen size bedding and comfort is the order of the day.
Dinner is served in the open-air boma under the starlit sky surrounded by the warm glow of the fires. Other times dinner is served in the farmhouse kitchen.
The Bush Lodge (named long before the U.S. inherited Bush presidents) is a resort offering 25 suites artistically decorated to reflect the ethnic flavor of the bushveld.
It is overwhelming to enter your private cottage and discover this spacious and beautifully decorated suite, a decanter of sherry waiting to welcome you to the intimate setting of an African wilderness. Behold! Be prepared to enter one of the most sumptuous bathrooms one can encounter and still be in the wild.
All the lodges offer walking trails with armed rangers and the excitement of the possibility of coming face to face with one of Africa's "big five", has your adrenaline on a high.
Open Landrovers take you trekking twice a day, or if you wish, you can enjoy a massage, shop in their lovely boutique, or read on the deck by the waterhole and enjoy pure silence except for an occasional remark from a bird.
Unobtrusively the electronic age has not ignored Bush Lodge - where a meeting room is equipped with TV, VHS, projectors and a full range of equipment for those who come to work and play. One shouldn't think of work on such a pleasurable journey, however a little sneak into the computer room can put you in quick touch with office and family by e-mail.
Now we enter one of the most spectacular architectural African fetes that one can hardly imagine, hidden away in the bushveld built to meld with nature. This lodge is considered by one visiting conservationists to be "the most ecologically-sensitively-designed lodge in Africa". The buildings merge so well into the landscape, they are virtually invisible.
This is the ultimate in unusual luxury accommodations equipped with a butler for each villa, excellent cuisine, wildlife experiences, spa treatments, and a subterranean wine cellar available for dining. This exquisite gem of a lodge was created using natural earthy materials which are not camouflaged into the everyday acceptance of furnishings. Yet it works.
SABI SABI
Sylvia Frommer-Mracky,
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