SOUTH AFRICA:IMAGINE OWNING a lodge in the African wilderness: it's a seductive thought that appeals to the naturalist in all of us. Now a South African company is selling fractional ownership in 12 luxury bush lodges on the edge of a UNESCO "Biosphere Reserve" near Botswana, in the north of South Africa.
The Waterberg Biosphere Reserve is one of four UNESCO reserves in South Africa; it’s a four-and-a-half hour drive from Johannesburg in the northern province of Limpopo.
This is real game territory, where blacktop roads give way to burnt sienna tracks surrounded by umber land, rolling bushveld hills and endless vistas.
Biosphere reserves are “new concept” reserves built around the principles of commitment to sustainable development, conservation and environmental awareness.
Waterberg reserve is home to 129 mammal and 350 bird species and over 2,000 types of plants with a number of endemic butterfly, fish and reptiles. These include small game such as impala, kudu and wildebeest as well as giraffe and zebra.
Historically, the area was hunting territory, so much so that Black Rhino and other species were hunted out of existence.
The area has atoned for its past by conserving its future and its cattle and tobacco farms have made way for a new type of hunting – tourists taking camera shots on the region’s rising number of game farms and reserves.
Dinkweng Lodges, owned by Zorgvliet private residence club, is a group of 12 traditional bush lodges, high on a hill on the edge of the Waterberg. It is surrounded by 2,224 acres of bushveld, where freshwater streams abound, and you can see small game like kudu, wildebeest, zebra and giraffe.
This is the African wilderness from the safety of your contemporary all mod con home. A slice of this life is for sale through fractional ownership. You can buy from one up to 50 weeks’ share in one of the lodges, effectively buying a share in the private residence club.
This will cost 120,000 South African rand (€10,365) per week, not including tax.
The 280 to 320sq m (3,013-3,444sq ft) lodges are designed in a traditional African fashion. They are simply furnished but stylish. A high thatched roof, burned black by the hot sun, is trimmed and manicured to perfection. Inside, the living area is open-plan and has a double-height ceiling showcasing the beams of the pitched roof. Red brick covers a dividing wall. The kitchen has a Bosch gas hob, electric oven and granite countertops. There is also a pantry.
Sliding doors open the inside up to the outside, where a tiered deck spans the length of the lodge and is built out into a treescape of paper bark, bush willow, peeling plane and wild syringa.
This is the place to worship the setting sun, and raise a sundowner glass as the fireball slides down behind the hills.
The plunge pool is sunken. Further down the deck is the dining/sittingroom complete with braai or barbecue, dining table and an outdoor fire lit in a sunken concrete base where you enjoy that most primitive of luxuries.
After dark the entertainment continues overhead. A blanket of stars covers the night sky and you can spend hours watching the Southern Cross, galaxies like the Milky Way and shooting stars.
The main bedroom also opens directly onto the deck. You could practically roll out of bed and into the pool.
The three double bedrooms have rosewood furnishings and their own en suite bathrooms. Two of the three also come with a pull-out couch where another two guests could take their location literally and camp at the foot of your bed.
There is no heating in the properties.
Ka’Ingo, the game reserve next door, is a 45-minute drive from the lodge and offers game drives where you can get up close and personal with the big and small animals. You’ll see tawny lions, serene giraffes, mud-splattered elephants, zebra and, if the gods stay with you, rhino, water buffalo cheetah and leopard.
At Dinkweng in addition to the cost of your week, there is an annual maintenance fee specific to a game reserve. This is R3,680 (€325) per year for each week of ownership, ie. about €27 per month. This is tied to the consumer inflation index, which presently stands at 8 per cent. There is a daily service charge of €18 for electricity, firewood and other utilities when staying in the lodge.
The development has wonderful communal spaces: an outdoor dining area and an indoor bar that serves snacks and is the only place on the property with internet access.
An adjacent small shop is open for essentials and you can rent game viewing vehicles and mountain bikes. There is also a small spa with two treatment rooms. A driving range, two hard tennis courts and helipad are being added to the facilities.
All of the 12 properties face the sun. Another nine lodges are in development but these additional homes will be demand driven. No further building permission will be granted as regulations stipulate they cannot further compromise the integrity of the environment.
www.zorgvlietprop.co.za
St Andrews Travel:00 44 1204 397 367.
