&Past Tengile River Lodge (Sabi Sand, South Africa)

Wednesday newsletters all the time function a lodge or flight assessment.

Final summer season, I loved an exceptional safari & seashore vacation in South Africa and Mozambique, in all probability my greatest vacation ever. You’ll be able to learn my opinions right here:

Right this moment: Evaluation of &Past Tengile River Lodge (Sabi Sand, South Africa)

That means ‘tranquil’ within the native language, &Past Tengile River Lodge is ready within the world-famous Sabi Sand Sport Reserve, which shares a 50 km (31 mi) unfenced boundary with the Kruger Nationwide Park. Constructed with an especially mild footprint, the magnificent lodge options 9 huge villa suites, with a design that makes essentially the most of area and river views. The spacious suites affords sunken lounges, elegant bedrooms and ensuite bogs (with indoor and al fresco showers) that open out into the forest, creating non-public areas within the open air. Bespoke furnishings, lights and distinctive décor items have been created from expert native artists and hanging materials have been masterfully hand-painted. In addition to collaborating in sport drives and interesting bush walks, visitors can unwind within the lodge’s stunning lounge areas, calm down within the tranquil spa, and savor on world-class delicacies.

&Past Tengile River Lodge options in my high 10 lists of the greatest &Past lodges on the earth and the greatest safari lodges in South Africa.

Have you ever ever stayed at &Past Tengile River Lodge? In that case, what was your expertise? Go away a remark.

On this assessment (extra information and images beneath my YouTube video):

PROS & THINGS I LIKE

&Past Tengile River Lodge is without doubt one of the greatest lodges in Sabi Sand, essentially the most famend sport reserve in South Africa. Situated on the south-western boundary of the Kruger Nationwide Park, there are not any limiting fences between the Sabi Sand and Kruger, enabling the animals to roam freely in an unlimited conservation space that covers nearly 5 million hectares (over two million acres), an space equal to the USA state of New Jersey. With no boundary fences between it and the Kruger, Sabi Sand advantages from the nice range of animals – together with the Massive 5 – and the reserve is especially well-known for leopard sightings. Usually notoriously elusive, the Sabi Sand leopards have grown accustomed to safari automobiles, thereby allowing close-up sightings and extraordinary photographic alternatives.

Opened in 2019, &Past Tengile River Lodge takes the extent of luxurious in South Africa’s Sabi Sand Sport Reserve as much as a brand new degree. The magnificent lodge affords a recent tackle the safari aesthetic that may be a refreshing break with the opposite extra conventional lodges discovered inside the reserve. 9 unique visitor suites are tucked deep into the riverine forest on the banks of the Sand River. The villas are set round a communal space on the coronary heart of the lodge, which is designed as a combined number of open, interactive and personal locations. The latter comprise an indoor eating room, an impressive showpiece bar, a library, a safari store, an ultra-stylish boma (out of doors eating space), and an expansive out of doors deck. All villas in addition to the communal areas look out over the river, boasting magnificent views of considered one of Africa’s most wildlife-rich conservation areas.

&Past Tengile River Lodge options 9 huge, secluded suites, dotted within the dappled shade of the bushveld, every with panoramic river views. The villa’s air-conditioned indoor space contains a lounge, eating space, fully-stocked bar, espresso station, main bedroom, and ensuite lavatory (geared up with two basins, a bathe, and a stand-alone bathtub). Slatted uncooked wooden is used for the villa’s ceiling and extends down onto the partitions as cladding to create the phantasm of a cabin. The excessive ceilings create beams of pure mild that illuminate the wealthy interiors. A non-public lap pool on the villa’s spacious non-public deck comes full with one other bathe and a gorgeous sunken out of doors lounge looking onto the famed Sand River. For households, two of the lodge’s suites are joined by a coated walkway to create a household suite.

&Past Tengile was designed by safari architect Nicholas Plewman, identified for his sustainable strategy to the surroundings and for sustaining a powerful sense of place. Plewman was additionally behind the design of different well-known safari lodges similar to Bisate Lodge in Rwanda (which I reviewed right here) and &Past Sandibe Lodge in Botswana. The interiors of Tengile had been created by Michele Throssell, who select for a coloration palette of darkish greens with shades of rust and black. The general result’s a daring & glamorous design that delivers a stupendous wow issue. Throssell additionally referred to as on native designers so as to add some colourful and genuine touches. For instance, the lights, couches, beds and chairs are all regionally designed, as are the display designed and store fittings. The materials for curtains and fabric are individually hand-painted by a bunch of artists in Cape City and have wildlife prints and components of nature.

Consistent with &Past’s ethos of sustainability, Tengile River’s lodge gorgeous design makes use of a substantial amount of repurposed materials with a connection to the setting and native space. For instance, stone from the Selati Railway – which used to run by means of the realm, connecting the gold mines of Johannesburg with the port metropolis of Maputo – has been used to create the terrazzo flooring. The stones have been rigorously laid out to take advantage of the contrasting colours, together with darkish greens, shades of rust and black. The roofs have been coated in sand from the location itself, which implies that, when considered from overhead, the lodge web site has minimal affect on the realm. The lodge’s coloration palette has additionally been chosen with the setting in thoughts, using shades and hues that could be discovered within the environment. Different sustainability components on the lodge embrace thermal effectivity, a minimal ecological footprint by means of cautious environmental auditing, in addition to state-of-the-art waste water and sewer therapy programs.

In between sport drives, visitors of &Past Tengile River Lodge can calm down on the wellness heart, which is situated adjoining to the principle constructing. Overlooking the river, the wellness heart features a health club (fitted with state-of-the-art Technogym gear) and a full-length lap pool which is empty more often than not (since most visitors choose to make use of the non-public pool of their villa). Subsequent to the pool is an intimate spa with two therapeutic massage rooms in addition to a deck with some solar loungers the place visitors can benefit from the tranquil surrounding whereas awaiting their therapy. The spa affords a spread of therapies with pure and ethically formulated Africology product. Africology is considered one of South Africa’s main pure, eco-friendly and holistic spa and skincare corporations, specializing in pure substances which are bio-identical to the human biology.

All meals & drinks at &Past Tengile River Lodge are included within the room fee and they are often taken nearly wherever, from the suites’ non-public verandas to the principle eating room to the boma or bush. Particular point out must be made from of the lodge’s cooks and culinary staff who create a few of the most scrumptious delicacies I’ve ever been served at a safari lodge. Breakfast is a feast of seasonal fruit, native jams and honey, selfmade bread, pastries, granola, yoghurt, smoked salmon, native cheeses, and all kinds of egg dishes. Lunch choices embrace mild bites similar to roasted parsnip soup, pumpkin orecchiette pasta and miso broccoli, egg & quinoa salad. For dinner, multi-course tasting menus and a boma dinner (a conventional South African barbecue served round a hearth pit) are a part of the expertise, all the time paired with one of the best South African wines. Dietary necessities could be catered for on the lodge with sufficient advance discover.

Wildlife magic is the main focus of any keep at &Past Tengile River Lodge. Twice each day sport drives, in addition to interpretive bush walks, are a part of the safari expertise and included within the room fee. Early morning and late afternoon, visitors set out in an open 4×4 safari automobile within the firm of a ranger and tracker, who will try to identify the Massive 5 (lion, leopard, rhino, elephant, and Cape buffalo). The lodge has entry to 10 500 hectares of prime wilderness within the less-crowded south-east of Sabi Sand, and unique traversing rights on elements of neighboring Lion Sands Sport Reserve and the Charleston space. Sport drives on this huge space are capable of go off street seeking distinctive sightings. Automobile limits additionally be certain that wildlife is minimally impacted by the presence of safari vehicles. Afternoon sport drives additionally proceed after sundown, with a specifically filtered highlight used to light up wildlife that continues to be lively at evening.

Tengile River Lodge is managed by &Past, considered one of world’s most unique journey corporations. Established in 1991, &Past strives to make the world a greater and greener place by combining conservation efforts with sustainable tourism. The corporate has established an intimate relationship with a few of the world’s final remaining unspoiled pure locations and the communities that encompass them. Together with highly-skilled guides and rangers, this enables &Past to ship extraordinary visitor experiences that really feel profoundly significant. As of in the present day, &Past owns and operates 30 extraordinary lodges and camps in iconic safari, scenic and island locations in Africa, Asia and South America, enabling the corporate to positively affect greater than 9 million acres of wildlife land and 2000 km (1200 mi) of shoreline.

CONS & THINGS TO KNOW

&Past Tengile River Lodge is not fenced off, so visitors are required to be vigilant always. Leopards, lions, buffalos, and elephants, in addition to venomous snakes and scorpions are current within the Sabi Sand Sport Reserve, and there’s no bodily obstacle to them coming into the realm across the lodge. By no means are visitors allowed to stroll across the lodge at evening, except accompanied by a employees member. Don’t worry although because it’s all a part of the joy of being immersed in a real African safari.

&Past Tengile River Lodge is located inside a low-risk malaria space. The chance is sort of zero throughout the the dry winter months (Might to September) however the sickness is extra prevalent within the moist summer season season (October to April). Medicines can be utilized to stop the probabilities of contracting malaria, particularly throughout the moist season. For recommendation on using any malaria prophylaxis, it’s essential contact the well being authorities or your native journey clinic previous to your travels. Along with any prophylactics, the next mitigation measures are beneficial: cowl your arms, legs and toes within the evenings and apply a mosquito repellent containing DEET.

The suites at &Past Tengile River Lodge are tucked away deep into the luxurious river-side vegetation, and consequently, their out of doors decks don’t get a variety of sunshine throughout the day. There’s a bit extra solar on the most important pool space, situated proper subsequent to the principle lodge, however throughout the winter months, when the solar is low on the horizon, the solar deck across the pool can also be within the shade for a lot of the day (as a result of the deck faces north and the spa constructing behind it throws it shadow on the deck). After all, visitors of the lodge e book a keep right here for the distinctive wildlife viewing, to not get a tan, however it could have been good nonetheless to calm down in a sunny spot in between sport drives throughout the colder winter months.

MY VERDICT

Location: 10/10
Design: 10/10
Pool: 8/10
Rooms: 10/10
Meals: 9/10
Breakfast: 9/10
Spa: 8/10
Service: 10/10
Wow issue: 10/10
Worth for cash: 9/10
Total expertise: distinctive 9,4/10

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BEST TIME TO VISIT

The most effective time to go to &Past Tengile River Lodge actually relies on your private preferences – nature has one thing to supply all year long. Unimaginable sport viewing could be skilled at any time and there may be probably not a ‘greatest time of 12 months for sport viewing’. The Sabi Sand Sport Reserve enjoys excessive temperatures, frequent rains and dramatic thunder storms in the summertime months (October to April). The vegetation is lush and verdant attracting unbelievable hen life whereas many new borns seem right now of 12 months. The winter months (Might to September) are drier and cooler – the vegetation is sparser leading to improved visibility for sport viewing because the animals make their option to the watering holes for hydration.

HOW TO GET THERE

&Past Tengile River Lodge is definitely accessible by street from Johannesburg in below 5 hours. Most visitors although will choose to journey by air, by making use of a business flight to one of many two close by airports:

The tiny Skukuza Airport – the one business airport inside Kruger Nationwide Park – is situated about 20 minutes from the lode and affords each day flights from Cape City, Johannesburg and Durban.
The space to the opposite airport within the space, Kruger Mpumalanga Worldwide Airport close to Nelspruit, is roughly 110 kilometers (68 miles) and it takes round 1 hour and half-hour to get to the lodge

PHOTOS

Beneath is a number of my images of &Past Tengile River Lodge in Sabi Sand, South Africa. To view extra images (together with meals and sport drives), click on right here.