Baroque Lifestyle Expert Sharon Preston paid a visit to the Earth Lodge and experienced the ultimate safari adventure, with lots of luxe, great game viewing and an ecological footprint.
Earth Lodge in the Sabi Sands Game Reserve in Southern Africa is a haven of luxury and futuristic design (It’s been voted one of the top 50 destinations in the world by Conde Nast Traveller). It’s an ecological masterpiece that delivers on every level – it’s green, it’s earth friendly, it’s magnificent, it’s modern and it offers a sublime safari experience.
The luxurious suites, designed to blend into their surroundings, are almost hidden from view. But when you find your haven of luxury and quiet, you’ll see that it’s a slice of modernity with a sense of the sublime. Everything is natural – wood and stone combine to create a space that is welcoming and warm, comfortable and cool. Your bath is carved from stone, and has a window overlooking the plains. Your bed is made of wood, offering rest and relaxation. Your outdoor area has its own private pool, loungers, a shower and a view of untouched nature.
Of course, the service is superb, the offerings stupendous. Enjoy early morning and late afternoon game drives. Savour food fit for royalty and pamper yourself at the spa, a haven of tranquility where you’re reminded that you’re also part of the natural order of things as you unwind. There’s a library where you can bury yourself in books about nature, ecology, and Africa. Earth Lodge offer courses on photography, cooking and sketching. Stargazing evenings where you don’t even need a telescope because the sky is so clear and the stars almost touch your fingertips.
The abundant wildlife is the reason you’re here. At the lodge’s scenic waterhole, you’ll see various animals come to drink, to refresh themselves after the heat of the day. They disregard the beauty of the lodge just as they take the magnificence of their surroundings for granted. This is their territory – all of it. And you’re privileged to be part of their daily routine.
We watched an elephant come close, a giraffe batting her long eyelashes as she bent her graceful long neck to take a drink. Skittish deer eyed us warily as they raced across the plain. Lions stretched like lazy cats under a tree on our game drive, which was followed by a family of elephants going about their everyday business.
Was the food sublime? The suite comfortable? The service exceptional? Of course. But what we will remember, long after some memories have faded, is the freshness of the air, the silence, the beauty. And the giraffe’s long eyelashes as she bent to take a drink.