Experiences

Nothing scheduled. Everything arranged.

Two guided outings a day are part of every stay. Choose them the evening before at the fire circle, or over coffee in the morning; the guides are used to both.

At first light

Walking with a guide.

There are no elephant, buffalo or lion on the reserve, which is exactly why you can walk it. Walks leave as the light comes up and go at the pace of the slowest walker: tracks in the sand, the trees and what they’re good for, and the sound of the bush waking up.

Dawn · Two to three hours · Included

A guide and two guests walking away along a sandy path through tall pale grass, the valley below them full of mist

As the light goes

Sundowners on the rocks.

A slow drive out to the sandstone above the valley, something cold to drink, and the cliffs turning from gold to red. Back in time for the fire.

Late afternoon · Three hours · Included

Drinks set out on a flat sandstone outcrop at sunset, an open vehicle soft in the distance and the cliffs glowing beyond

Every evening

The fire circle.

From about half past six, in the sunken ring of stone below the main pavilion. Some guests stay for one drink before dinner; some stay until the stars have turned. Nobody minds either way.

From 18:30 · As long as you like · Included

The fire circle at blue hour: a sunken ring of sandstone seats with linen cushions around a low fire, lanterns on the stone

Everything on offer

Choose two a day, or none at all.

Binoculars and a field guide on a deck rail, a lilac-breasted roller soft in the distance

ExperienceWhenHow longCost

Guided bush walkTracks, trees and birds, on foot.Dawn2–3 hoursIncluded

Sundowner driveOut to the rocks above the valley.Late afternoon3 hoursIncluded

Birding with a guideMore than 300 species recorded on the reserve.Morning2 hoursIncluded

Stars from the deckA guide, a laser pointer and a blanket.After dinner45 minutesIncluded

Photography outingWith a guide who knows where the light falls.Dawn or dusk3 hoursIncluded

Children’s tracking walkAges six and up, at a child’s pace.Mid-morning90 minutesIncluded

A private picnicLunch under a wild fig, for two or for a family.Midday3 hoursR950 per person

A treatmentMassage with marula oil, in the room open to the bush.Any time60–90 minutesFrom R1,350

From the edge of a deck: two giraffe browsing far off on a pale gold slope, the flat-topped cliffs on the horizon

What lives here

Seen from a distance, mostly.

Giraffe, zebra, kudu, eland, waterbuck and warthog; brown hyena; leopard, though they keep to themselves; and more than three hundred kinds of bird. We don’t promise sightings. We do promise that you’ll hear the bush long before you see it.

Far below the ridge, a few kudu drinking at a still waterhole in the late golden light — Kudu at the waterhole below the Horizon Suites.

Slower still

The treatment room.

One room, open to the bush on one side, and one therapist from Bela-Bela who has been with us since the lodge opened. Massage with marula oil, a slow facial, or simply an hour of quiet with the reed screen drawn.

Any time · 60 or 90 minutes · From R1,350

A treatment room with a linen-covered massage bed, a carved stone basin and a screen of thin reeds filtering the afternoon light

Stay with us

Two nights, or a week. The valley keeps.

Rates are per person, per night, sharing, and include every meal, two guided outings a day, local wine, beer, spirits and soft drinks.

From R7,450

Check availability