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Based on over 1000 Verified Reviews.

Highlights

  • Ultra-luxurious accommodation & fine dining
  • Exclusive & private safari
  • Air transfers throughout
  • Track the Big 5 & wild dogs
  • See the famous Sabi Sands
  • Explore an undiscovered part of Zimbabwe

Overview

Incredibly romantic and luxurious, this Big 5 safari to South Africa’s Kruger National Park and Zimbabwe’s undiscovered Malilangwe region offers you the African journey or honeymoon of a lifetime. Not only is there fine dining and sumptuous settings throughout, but your safari experience promises to be equally exclusive and personalised.

Begin in the Sabi Sands Game Reserve in the Kruger, which is legendary for its excellent leopard sightings as well as regular encounters with other members of the Big 5. An overnight stay in Johannesburg allows you to explore the ‘City of Gold’ or spend a quiet night in, and dine at the hotel’s Chaîne des Rôtisseurs restaurant. The final leg takes you to a little-explored region of Zimbabwe’s vast wilderness, Malilangwe Game Reserve, where you will be mesmerized by warm hospitality, untouched landscapes and thrilling big game encounters.

Throughout your 9-day sojourn, you will stay at exquisite accommodation and be hosted by some of the best names in safari (and you an even play golf!). Your hotel in Joburg is the that Nelson Mandela lived in when he was writing his memoirs, and all transfers will be air, allowing you to dedicate more time to game viewing.

Summary

  • Tour Duration: 9 Days

Accommodations Visited

Day to day

Itinerary

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Days 1-4: Exclusive safari in the Sabi Sands

Kruger National Park, Kruger Private Reserves, South Africa
Detailed breakdown

Days 1-4: Exclusive safari in the Sabi Sands | 3 Nights

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Kruger National Park, Kruger Private Reserves, South Africa

Your tour begins at OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg where you will fly to the Singita Airstrip via a shared light aircraft. On landing, you will be greeted with a warm welcome and transferred to the immaculate Singita Ebony Lodge – your base for the next three nights.

Ebony Lodge is located in Sabi Sands Game Reserve, which is one of the best private wildlife reserves in the greater Kruger region. Sabi Sands is the birthplace of the luxury safari, and here you are guaranteed no-crowds game viewing, exceptional service and unrivalled pampering. It is not uncommon to spot the Big 5 all in one day, and the reserve is also home to a rich variety of wildlife including hyena, hippo, cheetah, wild dog and plenty of antelope.

Early mornings are reserved for dawn safaris – when animals are at their most active – and romantic picnic breakfasts at scenic locations. Spend the hottest part of the day relaxing at your private plunge pool, getting a massage or hydrotherapy at the beautiful spa, or browsing the boutique and art gallery. Relaxed and rejuvenated, you head out on 4x4 in the cool of the afternoon, or later in the evening as nocturnal wildlife come out of hiding. Back at the lodge, romantic candlelit dinners await your return in the dramatic gold-and-black African-inspired dining room.

Days 4-5: Check into the Saxon | 1 Night

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Johannesburg, South Africa

Bid farewell to the Kruger and the Sabi Sands, and return to Johannesburg on a shared light aircraft flight to OR Tambo. On landing, an SUV and driver will collect you for private transfer to the very affluent neighborhood of Sandhurst. Here, you will spend the night in total comfort at Saxon Hotel Villas & Spa, arguably the city’s most refined and indulgent accommodation that regularly hosts guests of the calibre of the late former president Nelson Mandela, who ensconced himself here to write Long Walk to Freedom, his autobiography.

Your charming and sophisticated luxury suite offers tranquility in one of Africa’s most dynamic and exciting landscapes. The Saxon is a member of Chaîne des Rôtisseurs, an international association of gastronomy and culinary excellence, and its restaurants are the pinnacle of fine dining in the country. There is a whiskey bar, several enormous swimming pools, an expansive gym and a spa.

The foyer is dominated by a massive ostrich-egg chandelier while rest of The Saxon is dominated by tones of wheat and gold, and is strung with original art and sculpture. It is a welcoming cocoon that allows you to take a breather before the next leg of your safari.

Days 5-9: The magic of Malilangwe | 4 Nights

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Gonarezhou & Malilangwe, Zimbabwe

A private SUV returns you to the airport where you will fly directly to Buffalo Range International Airport in Zimbabwe. A road transfer takes you to Singita Pamushana located on the 100 000-acre Malilangwe Wildlife Reserve. Pamushana is a lodge that offers much more than luxury – walking into the main lodge you are greeted with the sight of a beautiful infinity pool overlooking Malilangwe Lake, and venturing onto the viewing deck you will find a breath-taking vista that has not changed for centuries: mountains, rocky outcrops, large baobab trees and thousands of acacia trees fill the landscape and create a sense of serenity and calm throughout the lodge.

The Malilangwe region teems with wildlife, including rare roan and sable antelope, and endangered black rhino. You have an excellent chance of seeing the Big 5, and for birders there are 14 species of African raptors. Safari activities include morning, afternoon and night game drives, and you may even disembark your vehicle to track a white rhino on foot. Exclusivity at this lodge mean that sightings are not rushed or timed, so you can spend the entire afternoon following a leopard as it saunters through the bush.

Other worthwhile activities include a tour of 2 000-year-old San rock art and even expeditions to a nearby 9-hole golf course. After four nights at Pamushana Lodge, your Southern African safari comes to its end. Transfer back to Buffalo Range International Airport for your return flight to Or Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg for onward travel arrangements.

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Inclusions

  • Return road transfer from OR Tambo to The Saxon Hotel
  • Return shared charter flight from OR Tambo to Pamushana
  • Return shared charter flight from OR Tambo to Singita airstrip
Exclusions tick icon

Exclusions

  • International flights
  • Airport taxes
  • All meals and drinks not specified
  • Tips and gratuities
  • Items of a personal nature

Rates

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Dates Price
2022-07-01 — 2022-09-30 $20,630
2022-10-01 — 2022-10-31 $17,600
2022-11-01 — 2022-12-18 $17,000
2022-12-19 — 2023-01-06 $20,620
Our rates are per person sharing unless we note differently. Please treat all pricing as a guide only: All rates are subject to availability and may change without notice Single supplements may apply Request a quote or speak to one of our African Safari Experts for the best, most current rates available.