Sabi Sabi Earth Lodge, Sabi Sand Game Reserve, Mpumalanga, South Africa

For a luxury safari lodge with a difference, read what Carrie Hampton has to say about Sabi Sabi Earth Lodge in this extract from her book, ‘Exclusive Safari Lodges of South Africa’, with stunning photographs by Gerald Hoberman.

Sabi Sabi Earth Lodge in the Sabi Sand Game Reserve in Mpumalanga is unlike any other luxury safari lodge in South Africa. Tucked into a slope of grassland and hidden in the earth, the lodge is concealed, even from elephants, who often venture so close that guests get an encounter they had not bargained for.

Earth Lodge takes inspiration from raw nature on one hand and innovative modern trends on the other. Highly contemporary furniture pieces emulate the shapes found in nature. In contrast are the roughly plastered walls incorporating straw, stone and pigment for a realistic elephant-dung effect.

Add to this mix, gnarled trunks of wild olive trees used to striking decorative effect and a perfectly raked Zen courtyard, and you have some idea of the unique combination of styles that makes Earth Lodge so very different.

The intention at Earth Lodge is to give guests the chance to be at one with the natural world while still having every comfort at their fingertips.

Unexpected extras come in the form of personal butlers, private plunge pools at each suite, outdoor showers and exquisite en-suite bathrooms that look out over uninterrupted bush.

This part of the Sabi Sand Game Reserve is well known for lion, leopard, buffalo, elephant and rhino sightings, and a stay at Earth Lodge will usually reveal them all without guests having to travel too far from the lodge.