Tau Game Lodge, Madikwe Game Reserve, North West Province, South Africa

African wedding, honeymoon safari, high-tech conference or safari vacation, Tau Game Lodge does it all. With an enviable position around a lake-sized waterhole, each cottage has a view of the wildlife action. Read more in this extract from ‘Exclusive Safari Lodges of South Africa’, by Carrie Hampton and superb new lodge and wildlife photographs by Gerald Hoberman.

Even though Tau Game Lodge in the malaria-free Madikwe Game Reserve is large enough to accommodate up to sixty people, there is tranquillity about the place. This could be attributed to the long, meandering waterhole, on whose banks the safari lodge’s thirty rustic cottages are situated.

Each little waterfront balcony gives a slightly different view of the constantly changing scene in front of it, and the variety of creatures that pay a visit to the waterhole is entertaining enough to consider missing a game drive.

Bird lovers and photographers are spoilt for choice. Spoonbills, African jacanas, herons and egrets come within easy reach of camera lenses, as do herds of golden impala, bathing elephants and mud-wallowing warthogs.

Lions slink in for a drink, causing a great stir among the other animals, including the elephants, who acknowledge the arrival of the big cats by trumpeting loudly. Tau is not called ‘Place of the Lion’ for nothing.

The Madikwe bushveld in South Africa’s North West province may seem an unlikely place to find a state-of-the-art conference facility, but tucked away at the rear of the lodge is an amazing wood-and-thatch building so technologically advanced that temperature, lighting and audio-visual equipment are controlled by the touch of a screen.

To cater for all the safari guests, wedding parties and conference delegates, the Tau kitchen has to run like clockwork. This is the job of executive chef Johan Kemp and his colleague, chef Petrus Khoali, whose inspired food creations include tender ostrich fillet kebabs and red onion with a mixed berry salsa and a starter duo of smoked salmon and springbok carpaccio.

African weddings and safari honeymoons are a piece of cake for the culinary team, who can cater for any number of guests for such a special occasion.