Elephant Plains Game Lodge

Elephant Plains Game Lodge stands on land that has been in the same family for more than half a century, and the welcome still feels personal. Owner-run and refreshingly unpretentious, the lodge sits on the dry Manyeleti riverbed in the northern Sabi Sand, looking across to a waterhole where animals wander in from the plains to drink.

The Sabi Sand shares an unfenced border with the Kruger, and the riverine bush around the lodge is good leopard country. Days follow a classic rhythm. You head out early in an open Land Cruiser with your ranger and Shangaan tracker, then join a bush walk after breakfast to learn the veld’s smaller stories. The afternoon drive pauses for sundowners before the spotlight comes out on the way home. The Big Five are the headline act, and if luck is on your side, wild dog or cheetah may steal the show.

Back at the lodge, meals mix international dishes with South African specialities. Breakfast and lunch are served in the dining room or on the pool deck, while dinner is eaten around a log fire in the boma, with bottles from the lodge’s own wine cellar. Between drives, there are two swimming pools, a gym, a games room and a small library. Children aged eight and over are welcome.

ACCOMMODATION

Thatched rondavels sit in the landscaped garden of the original family holiday camp and still carry an old bushveld charm, each with a sun deck and en-suite bathroom. The luxury suites, in warm, earthy tones, look over the riverbed from private viewing decks and have a lounge and an indoor and outdoor shower. For families, a family rondavel and a family suite each sleep up to four. Hidden among jackalberry trees, the glass-fronted Manyeleti Honeymoon Suite adds a private plunge pool, a daybed and a double outdoor shower. Every room has air conditioning, ceiling fans and mosquito nets.