Exclusive use, with your own guide, vehicle and chef.
Plan a villa stay
Menus planned around your family and served when and where you choose — on the deck, in the boma or out in the bush.
No shared seats and no fixed departure times. Stay with a sighting for as long as you like.
The same guide and tracker for your whole stay, shaping each drive around what your group wants to see.
With your own vehicle, many villas welcome younger children on game drives. We’ll tell you which.
Room to spend the heat of the day at the house, with the bush running right up to the water’s edge.
Lie in, eat late, drive at dawn or skip a drive altogether. The day runs to your timetable.
One person looking after the house, the timings and the small requests, so there is nothing for you to manage.
An exclusive-use safari villa gives your family its own lodge in one of South Africa’s Big Five reserves — your own ranger, tracker, vehicle, chef and host, with no other guests to share them. From the Sabi Sand on the edge of the Kruger to Phinda in northern KwaZulu-Natal, we match each family to the villa that suits the children’s ages, the season and the way you like to travel.
Plan your family’s villa staySabi Sand
The ultimate expression of safari luxury
Set within the renowned Sabi Sand Nature Reserve, bordering Kruger National Park, Cheetah Plains offers a distinctive take on the modern safari. Combining exceptional Big Five wildlife encounters with contemporary design, complete privacy and a pioneering approach to sustainable hospitality, it delivers an experience that is as considered as it is extraordinary.
Ask about Cheetah Plains
Phinda Private Game Reserve
Your safari home with a wild sense of place.
Set amongst the beautiful forest surrounds of northern Phinda, Phinda Homestead offers an entirely private safari experience, where the comforts of home meet the excitement of the African bush. With a dedicated team of ranger, tracker, chef, butler and host, every detail is taken care of, leaving you free to enjoy the experience at your own pace.
Ask about Phinda Homestead
An exclusive-use villa is the most private way to experience the African bush. The house, the staff and the vehicle are yours alone.
There is no shared dining room, no fixed schedule and no other guests at the sighting. It’s the stay chosen for milestone birthdays, three generations travelling together, and families who value privacy above everything else.
The care matches the privacy. Your host has your dietary needs before you arrive, your chef cooks for the children as well as the adults, and your ranger reads the group — slowing down for a toddler at a breeding herd of elephants, or staying out late for a teenager waiting on a leopard.
It isn’t for everyone. If you enjoy the sociable evenings of a lodge bar and meeting other travellers, a classic lodge may suit you better — and we plan those too. For families who want the bush entirely to themselves, a private villa is the way to do it.
Who is coming, the ages of any children, when you’d like to travel and what the stay is for.
One or two villas suited to your group and season, with the reasons for each.
Flights, road transfers and any time at the coast, in the Winelands or the Berg, arranged to fit.
Pre-travel details handled, and a direct line to us for the whole of your stay.
Villa rates depend on the season and how many are travelling, so every stay is quoted for your group. South African or SADC resident? Ask us about resident rates.
