Arriving at Savanna is like arriving at a well-loved (yet stunning) family cottage. Warm and genuine smiles welcome you with lemonade, as you sink into an oversized couch overlooking a pool and the bush beyond. In the mid-afternoon heat, the breeze blowing through the lodge and the second story viewing loft creates a mood of serenity and tranquillity. However, as guests emerge from their luxury canvas tents in anticipation of a fresh lunch and an afternoon game drive, a buzz of excitement begins to build. Lunchtime chatter with rangers and lodge staff around a beautiful oversized table only further ups the eagerness to depart on an afternoon of adventure.

Game drives through the Sabi Sands are just as unbelievable as the reputation that precedes them. From the comfort of a specially designed open-air game viewing vehicle, you set out with your skilled ranger and tracker in search of prolific and intimate wildlife encounters. Departing twice daily, you will have moments with the famous large mammals while learning of the smaller insects and birds. Guides inevitably reveal their encyclopedic knowledge of the resident flora and fauna as you weave along dusty roads. With breaks for coffee in the morning, and sundowner cocktails and canapés in the evening, you will be hard pressed not to become swept up in the magic of it all.

Savanna completes the luxury experience as a guard escorts you back to your tent before dinner. Greeted with a piping hot bubble bath and a glass of sherry, you will have a few moments to gaze out into the bush while listening to the nocturnal world. The main lodge then lures you back for dinner with sounds of laughter and smells of roast game. A social affair that often stretches late into the night, these meals are what makes the lodge “a little bit different”. Staff claim – and I am inclined to believe it – that goodbyes from Savanna are often a teary affair.