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The Safari Book- Focus on Nambiti Hills Private Game Lodge

The first sensation you feel when you stand on the deck at Nambiti Hills Game Lodge is pure joy. This distinctly out-of-body experience has much to do with the forever view from your raised vantage point, the feeling of being a Master of the Universe, or possibly being a majestic eagle, about to lift off and glide over this wild and perfect landscape. This is followed by an overwhelming urge to pat yourself on the back for being right here, right now, revelling in this most charismatic of vistas: the rolling hills of KwaZulu Natal in South Africa. There is nothing quite like them. They mesmerise you and in the silence you hear the whispers of ancestors, claiming their sovereignty here and teasing us with their mysteries.

Nambiti Hills is a luxurious game lodge experience, one of a handful of lodges carefully positioned in a relatively young game reserve half way between Johannesburg and Durban. Access is a breeze since both cities are international hubs and the highway between the two is as pleasant to negotiate as any autobahn. Nambiti Game Reserve is some 35km off this highway via the town of Ladysmith. It is close to various key Anglo-Zulu and Anglo-Boer battlefield sites as well as the Drakensberg mountains with its ancient rock paintings. Add all these options to Nambiti Hills' game drives and clients have a smorgasbord of activities to choose from. The Big 5 roam freely throughout the reserve, and a prolific bird life will thrill the bird-watchers among us. The staff is headed up by Kevin and Gemma who are genuinely caring hosts, and their past game reserve experience is evident and comforting. They remind me that the lodge is equally well aligned to the concept of a 'slow' safari, where choosing to do nothing at all confers a mantle of perfect contentment. Not that I needed reminding.

It's not for nothing that the greatest Zulu king fought for this territory, and to many this province is the soul of South Africa. Words are difficult to match to this heartland; it is more a sensation, an atmosphere, a mind space. Alan Paton, another of this area's famous sons, wrote in Cry the Beloved Country that "these hills are grass-covered and rolling, and they are lovely beyond any singing of it". Imagine that. Lovely beyond any singing of it. Paton added: "The grass is rich and matted, you cannot see the soil. Stand unshod upon it, for the ground is holy, ... Keep it, guard it, care for it, for it keeps men, guards men, cares for men. Destroy it and man is destroyed." Strong, challenging words - and yet, when you stand on that deck they make the most perfect sense.