by Editor | Oct 1, 2013 | Africa, Lake Malawi, Malawi, Simon and Baker Travel Review
Located on the western side of Malawi’s Nankumba Peninsula, an area widely recognized as one of the most scenic around Southern Africa’s Lake Malawi, Pumulani was discretely tucked into a steep hillside. The only luxury property along the protected shores of the 9,400 hectare (36.30 square mile) Lake Malawi National Park and UNESCO World Heritage Center, Pumulani was designed by Dutch architect G. Hooft Graafland. In addition to a striking main lodge high on the hill and wide open to the endless lake vistas and the long aquamarine infinity pool below, he designed the property’s ten spacious rooms nestled into craggy granite outcrops around the hillside, each with a secluded private deck with lake views. Under their vegetal roofs of endemic grass meant to help offset their footprint and regulate their interior temperature, the rooms all but disappeared within their lush forest surroundings.
by Editor | Oct 1, 2013 | Africa, Kruger, Simon and Baker Travel Review, South Africa
Little Garonga was the last stop on a recent extended trip to southeastern Africa. After three weeks of dawn game drives, hectic transfer schedules and all around high voltage excitement, I was feeling somewhat depleted by the time I arrived. I couldn’t have chosen a better place to replenish my flagging energies and gently say goodbye to the wilderness before the long journey home. Set deep into the self contained 22,000 hectare (85 square mile) Greater Makalali Conservancy, west of the world famous Kruger National Park in South Africa, Little Garonga was a relatively recent luxury addition to the long established Garonga Safari Camp.
by Editor | Oct 1, 2013 | Africa, Kruger, Simon and Baker Travel Review, South Africa
It was my first visit to Motswari Private Game Reserve within the larger Timbavati Nature Reserve in South Africa. I had barely settled in and yet, as I made my way along the sandy path toward the common areas of the lodge, I experienced an unexpected sense of familiarity. The azure African sky and blazing early afternoon heat were filtering through the branches of towering native trees. Under their neatly trimmed conical thatched roofs, circular pale adobe structures stood in the dappled shade of the grove. I passed staff members along the way, who greeted me with the earnest warmth of someone who has been looking forward for me to show up.
by Editor | Oct 1, 2013 | Africa, Kruger, Simon and Baker Travel Review, South Africa
Shumbalala is within the Thornybush Game Reserve, a private fenced game reserve near the southwestern boundary of South Africa’s legendary Kruger National Park. The Big Five (buffalo, elephant, leopard, lion and rhino), along with close to 150 species of mammals large and small, roam the reserve’s 14,000 hectares of bush. Although Shumbalala game viewing vehicles shared space with game viewing vehicles of 11 other properties on the reserve we seldom crossed paths with vehicles from other lodges. From the instant I passed through the gate of the Thornybush Game Reserve, the game viewing was indeed exceptional. No more than a 15 minute drive into it, the Shumbalala ranger who had welcomed me at the gate (no private vehicles were allowed in Thornybush) stopped within feet of a scene that made my eyes pop: white rhinos, a half dozen of them, snoozing in an untidy heap in the shade of a roadside tree.
by Editor | Oct 1, 2013 | Africa, Malawi, Simon and Baker Travel Review
Malawi is a small landlocked country in southeast Africa (less than half the size of the United Kingdom) that had until recently attracted little notice from tourists. With its growing population exceeding 16 million living mainly in rural areas and its economy largely based on subsistence agriculture and international aid, it is one of the least developed nations in the world. However, this long, narrow wedge of granitic land shaped by the Great Rift Valley is home to spectacular vistas of rolling plateaus and mountainous regions dotted with wilderness reserves and national parks.
by Editor | Oct 1, 2013 | Africa, Majete, Malawi, Simon and Baker Travel Review
The Majete Wildlife Reserve in southern Malawi was a rare game viewing destination as yet mostly undiscovered by tourists. Originally proclaimed a protected area in 1955, the 70,000 hectare (270 square mile) swath of Africa’s Great Rift Valley in the lower Shire River had suffered such extensive poaching in the 1980s and 1990s that it had been all but written off as a wildlife reserve. In 2003, African Parks, an international nonprofit organization committed to the rehabilitation of Africa’s national parks took over the management of Majete. They have since methodically restored the park’s bio diversity and reintroduced over 2,500 animals including rare and endangered species. With the recent reintroduction of lions and leopards, Majete became the only Big Five park in the country. Nestled within a 7,000 hectare (27 square mile) private concession with exclusive tourism rights in one the most spectacular areas of the reserve, Mkulumadzi achieved a perfect balance of idyllic seclusion and first class accommodations in the repopulated wilderness area.
