Once upon a time I used to send a good number of clients to two of my favourite small lodges in South Africa: Three Trees Hill and Fugitives Drift. Situated in the Province inland from Durban, they are both family run and in beautiful locations. There are many activities to enjoy at both, but it is the historical tales associated with them that set them apart from other lodges.
All of these gems are off the beaten track, but the extra time and effort spent getting there will be richly rewarded.
You may be wondering why I am writing a post with design pictures rather than evocative images of animals or dramatic landscapes from the savannahs and forests of Sub-Saharan Africa.
Give em what they never knew they wanted
Ahhichatracharh Fort in Nagaur containing the Ranvas Hotel, Chanoud Garh: get under the skin of rural Rajasthan and Shakti village experience in the Ladakh Kingdom of the Himalayas
If you think you know Africa, come to the Congo for a perspective-altering experience. Here, your mind is blown away by the sheer vastness of the Congo Basin as your lungs are filled by the freshest air in the world.
Expeditionary mobile in Ugalla National park, western Tanzania, Travel down the D707, the most beautiful road in Namibia and Mini Madagascar “all in one” location and in the last remaining intact rainforest
On the road about thirty miles north of Nairobi you suddenly reach the edge of a gigantic chasm. Stretching out before you is a vast plain, and in the far distance looms a vertical wall framing the landscape and towering over an almost unnatural looking trench.
The shoebill is one of the world’s most charismatic birds, a prized sighting for avid twitchers and an exciting encounter even for first timers.
NB prices shown were current at the time of writing the newsletter and are not necessarily current now.
Please ask for an updated quote.
Please ask for an updated quote.
More holiday ideas...
- A Sense of Place: Poignancy in KwaZulu Natal
- A Sense of Place: Northern Botswana
- A Trio of Treats in India
- And now for something completely off grid and different: AFRICA’S ULTIMATE RAINFOREST SAFARI
- A Trio of Treats off the beaten track – We get you to places that others don’t!
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- Trio of treats (Rajasthan, Maldives and Garden Route)
- A Sense of Place – A favourite place: Tanzania and Ruaha
- A Sense of Place – A favourite place in Botswana: the Okavango with elephants galore
- A Sense of Place – Here be dragons and a dark past
- A Sense of Place – Justice Regained
- A Sense of Place – Summer rains make the roads impassable
- A Sense of Place – ‘Those two ladies put light in my future.’
- A Sense of Place – The bird who lost its nest
- A Sense of Place – Talking with the Maasai
- Newsflash: first American guests to Tanzania since March 2020
- A Sense of Place – AFRICA NEEDS YOU
- Escape to Italy?
- Covid: the road still to be travelled.
- A trio of treats. Series of 3 (Part 3): Tiger reserves.
- A trio of treats. Series of 3 (Part 2): Khajuraho.
- A trio of treats. Series of 3 (Part 1): Lucknow.
- A Sense of Place – Engaged people may save the planet
- A word on lions and a trio of treats
- A Sense of Place – India’s most holy city
- A wealth of wilderness walks in Namibia
- Travel snippets from Miles
- A trio of treats on the green island of Pemba in the Zanzibar archipelago
- A Sense of Place – THE INSIDE TRACK on Cape Town guiding
- A Sense of Place – Migrations of people and beasts: East Africa
- A Sense of Place – An era of revolution and global alliances
- A Sense of Place – A walk on the wild side
- A Sense of Place – The ghost ingredient is back
- A Sense of Place – Liuwa Plains and Kafue National Parks – Zambia
- A Sense of Place – Literati in the Pink City, the Capital of Rajasthan
- A Sense of Place – A Tamil town still connected to Europe, Art Deco architecture, and temple antiquity in Southern India.
- A Sense of Place – Dreamy aquamarine sea and stunning safari with the Makuleke people
- A Sense of Place – A trio of lovely ladies in Hyderabad
- A Sense of Place – Entamanu, the wishing tree and walking with the Hadza tribe.
- We get you to places that others don’t… St Helena, Gt Zimbabwe ruins and Papua new Guinea
- A Sense of Place – Walking in the hippie hills of the Himalayas
- A Sense of Place – The Okavango: the river that never finds the sea
- A Sense of Place – The Great Rift Valley, Laikipia, Samburu warriors and Maasai Olympics.
- A Sense of Place – Escape the world in the Namib Desert
- Africa is a massive continent: a collection of 55 countries
- A Sense of Place – Zambezi Watery Wilderness
- A Sense of Place – Burma: the road beyond Mandalay
- Lake Malawi – Would you rather pay for the advertising or the experience?
- From shoe-shine boy to tourist guide in Ethiopia
- A Sense of Place – Ladakh, the Himalayas
- Dhow sailing, Lions are back in Malawi, Self-drive in Namibia
- Sacred rivers and forts, India
- Piranhas, sting rays, caimans – and still people go into the River Negro!
- Kerala, Southern India – God’s own country
- South Africa: Crucible of the rainbow nation
- Madagascar: croissants and lemurs
- Argentina vs Africa on wildlife drama
- Uganda – Gorillas and Gardens
- Mozambique & Kenya: immigration official on holiday
- Mozambique: Gorongosa and reconciliation in the bush
- Zimbabwe is ready for Tourists again
- Serengeti ecosystem and unbeatable savannah
- Lamu: crab complaining
- Kenya: circumcision
- Zambia: Ellie rescue
- Africans: always smiling
- Tswalu
- French sketch
- Kenya: the best hosts
- First visit to Africa 1986
- Namibia, Namib Rand, Skeleton Coast and the ultimate flying safari
More of my favourite things...
- A few gems off the beaten track: Fanjove Island, Tanzania; The Singular Hotel, Patagonia and Isla Palenque, Panama.
- Elephant relocation, quad bike expedition and new Sossusvlei reserve
- Templed out in Tamil Nadu and elephant refuge in Jaipur
- Kenyan sanctuary and family run camp in Zambia
- Australia: Arkaba, Tasmania and Lord Howe Island
- Australia: in the outback and off the beaten track
- India: heavenly Himalayan hideaways, Botswana: fun safari for children and Argentina: hidden homestay in a mountain desert
- Limpopo retreat, Serengeti spectacle and adventure on the Zambezi
- Value for money in Kenya and the trail less travelled in Peru
- Lions in danger, free nights and a new coastal gem
- G and T on demand, hidden beach, micro-light and sleeping on a dam
- Off the beaten track