What a crazy time it is in the world! Marc and I came home from the most magnificent safari trip back in March to South Africa declaring a 21-day nationwide lockdown as the result of COVID-19. Despite this crazy 21st century pandemic, that nobody saw coming, our trip to Nambiti Hills was definitely one for the books…
If you’re looking for a small non-commercialised private safari experience, then Nambiti Hills is the destination for you. The lodge host approximately 8 luxury suites, one honeymoon suite and the most beautiful tented spa and wellness area. Nambiti Hills prides itself on offering a fine dining experience, with a three course breakfast and dinner every day. In between these two meals, the lodge offers high tea in the afternoon as well as snacks on both the sunrise and sunset game drives. If you’re like Marc and I, who love a hot cup of coffee in the morning with a rusk or two, then you HAVE to visit. The homemade rusks, muffins and chocolate chip cookies offered every morning on the sunrise game drive was our absolute highlight of the trip. I know it may seem simple, but isn’t it about the simple things in life?
We had a wonderful game ranger who was solely responsible for taking us on private game drives for our entire stay. The staff welcomed us daily by name and the trip felt very personalised for our needs. On our last evening, the lodge treated us to the most romantic candle lit bath and bedroom set up. We arrived back from a delicious dinner with other guests who we became friendly with and dived into this magical warm bath covered in rose petals and candles. Regardless if you’re a hopeless romantic like me or not, Nambiti Hills offers so much for everyone. Our trip to the lodge was at the end of the summer and it felt more like autumn when we were there as it rained our entire trip, which actually was the best for when going to the bush. The animals come out to play and it makes for the best cozy bonfire evenings.
Needless to say, Nambiti Hills is also perfect for the summer months, it has the most breathtaking view from the pool that over looks the Nambiti Game Reserve for 100s of kilometres. The one day we sat by the bonfire and had a G&T (as one does in the bush) and a giant bull elephant crossed our path near the lodge. It was so beautiful but words cannot even describe the beauty of being in the wild amongst the big five. Speaking of the big five, we were lucky enough to see 4 of the 5 animals. Unfortunately, leopards are always the trickiest to spot in the bush but we luckily spotted Elephant, Rhino, Buffalo and the king of the jungle, Lion. We also went on a glorious morning game drive and spotted my favourite animal of all, the cheetah. Giraffe and Zebra were of course everywhere you looked and so were the waterbuck, hippos and bush buck.
It is sad to see how the hospitality industry is suffering so badly due to the corona virus pandemic but once the world gets back to normal, I highly recommend booking a safari vacation at Nambiti Hills Private Game Experience.
Written by Tarryn Candice, travel blogger and content creator based in South Africa. (Fashion Fundi)