Londolozi
Sabi Sands“Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted.”
These are Einstein’s words. In Conde Nast Readers’ Choice Awards 2014, Londolozi was named the best hotel in the world! A global honour of colossal proportions. Londolozi effortlessly exceeds all expectations on a luxury, hospitality, wilderness and experiential front – however when anyone who knows Londolozi well, is tasked with describing this African wonder they are immediately confronted by the difficulty of portraying the intangible. It is this indiscernible x factor which sets Londolozi aside from the rest!
Let us put the necessary emphasis on those last three words of the aforementioned award:
In. The. World.
Falling under the awards was another category – Top 20 Safari Lodges & Camps in Africa – and, as can be expected when you’re the World’s Best Hotel (too much emphasis? – we think not), Londolozi claimed top position. Three of Londolozi’s five lodges, namely Granite, Pioneer and Tree are Relais & Chateaux properties and these lodges are true to the elegance and attention to detail that this world-renowned signature embodies. The remainder of the five, Founders and Varty are not to be overlooked. Varty Camp is adored for its deep history and endearing charm, and Founders is equally deserving of complimentary adjectives: sophisticated, warm and classic. Awards aside – and we’ve only skimmed the surface of the property’s accolades – Londolozi’s reputation continues to soar thanks to the oldest advertising there is: word of mouth. You see, to know Londolozi is to adore Londolozi.
The intangible
There remains that which is difficult to pin down with mere words. But before we address that, let us first touch on the wildlife. To delay it any longer would be to ignore why everyone is drawn to this place and when we say everyone, we meant it; both those who call it home and those who travel across continents to experience Londolozi with their own eyes, their own minds and, of course, their own hearts. It’s mandatory for us to say the Big 5. There it is, we’ve said it. But let’s crack the term open and put a magnifying glass to the one member of the quintet that Londolozi is famed for: Leopards. Anyone who has spent time in the African wilderness – besides Sabi Sands Private Game Reserve – appreciates that Leopards are elusive creatures. Some South Africans visit the bush time and time again and these graceful cats continue to elude them and then one day, let’s call it a Tuesday morning; they get up at sunrise and spot a female Leopard through their binoculars. It’s a brief and distant sighting – just an outline in the approaching day – but it’s enough to put a grin on their face for the rest of the week.
Considering this reality, it seems almost cruel to speak of the intimate leopard sightings at Londolozi. It is common for game drives to spend an hour or two with a leopard and this familiarity extends into every aspect of the cats’ lives: hunts, cubs, mating, territorial spats… When it comes to Londolozi, calling it a Leopard sighting is misleading because the word implies a fleetingness that is just not a factor. Lions too are generous with their presence; loitering in the grass, unfazed by the vehicles they allow to share large chunk of their days whether it be lazing in the grass, chasing a herd of impala through the bushveld or rearing their young. Not to be forgotten, elephants, rhinos and buffalo punctuate game drives through this beautiful reserve.
The origin
And so now, finally, let us turn to the energy that is so difficult to capture. There is no better place to start than with the name: Londolozi. Derived from the Zulu word, “to protect,” John, Dave and Shan Varty took the decision to leave the farm’s history of hunting behind them and build, instead, a sanctuary for all living things. Londolozi’s pioneers did not discard the past, they evolved it and so the charm, stories and character of the property’s previous generations was cherished and passed onto their own children.
