Private Game Reserve · 4 star
Thanda Safari's Tented Camp
We headed three hours north of Durban to spend a weekend under canvas in Zululand, and this beautiful bit of the world got well and truly under our skin.
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Proudly South African
South Africa, at its finest.
We spend as much time as we can exploring the finest of South Africa — the safari lodges, the boutique stays, the wine estates — and we write up every visit exactly as we found it.
We are at our happiest out in the bush — though a long lunch on a wine estate has never been much of a hardship either.
Outdoor SA is where we write it all up: the lodges, the boutique stays, the dinners we are still talking about, and the places that feel like a million dollars without costing one. Every review comes from a visit we actually made, in our own words with our own photos, so you know exactly what you are in for before you book.
The reviews
Where we've been
Private Game Reserve · 4 star
Nambiti Springbok Lodge
Our best sightings yet on Nambiti, at a lodge the local community owns a share of — and a spa treatment that was just what the doctor ordered.
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Country Lodge
Lythwood Lodge
We chased a rumour of snow into the Midlands on a whim, and found a hot chocolate by a log fire that still tops our list of welcomes.
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Desert Lodge · 5 star
Sossusvlei Desert Safari
A special treat from across the border — we fell asleep watching the stars through a skylight above the bed, high on a ridge over the oldest desert on earth.
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And the shorter stops along the way
Not every place we visit warrants a full review. The journal is where the rest goes — a long lunch, a morning's walk, a farm stall we keep going back to.
Stay
A Hidden Gem — Belgrace Boutique Hotel
We needed somewhere to break the drive to the Kruger and found, more or less by chance, a place we would go back to for its own sake.
Eat & Drink
Breakfast at the Oyster Box
Breakfast at Durban's grande dame on a clear autumn morning — and whether it is worth going out of your way for.
Out & About
Sterkspruit Falls
An easy, flat circular walk from the Monks Cowl office to the falls and Crystal Pools — about two hours at a gentle pace.
How we review
Three scores, every visit
Every place we visit gets scored on the same three things — the service, the value for money, and the question we ask ourselves at the end of every trip: would we go back? Here is how Thanda's Tented Camp came out.
Truth be told, the write-up is the real review and the scores are just shorthand. We only ever score places we have been to ourselves.
Know somewhere we should visit?
We are always planning the next trip, and some of our favourite finds started as a tip-off from someone who had been. If you know somewhere that deserves a write-up, we would love to hear about it.
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