Ulusaba Private Reserve

Ulusaba Private Game Reserve, is owned by Sir Richard Branson as part of the Virgin Limited Edition Luxury property portfolio and consists of 13,500 ha of land set in the prestigous Sabi Sands Private Game Reserve of South Africa.

Ulusaba is comprised of three separate lodges with the flagship lodge being Rock Lodge. Cliff Lodge is a private house atop the same kopjie (hill) as Rock Lodge and both enjoy commanding views out across the Sabi Sand bushveld. Ulusaba Rock Lodge and Cliff Lodge enjoy elevated status because of their cliff top locations and magnificent views where as the third lodge, Ulusaba Safari Lodge is located at ground level along a dry riverbed and offer a more grounded stay and one which is definitely more in tune with mother nature, especially so given the frequency of animal visits to and in and around the camp.

Rock Lodge is perched at the summit of a rocky outcrop/hill known as a kopjie and enjoys vast views across the Sabi Sand Reserve.

There are ten rooms and suites each individually designed with décor that incorporates modern and traditional African art. There are 4 Rock Cliff Roomos, one Master Suite and Two Makwela Suites and one 2 bedroomed Rock Suite. The Makwela and Rock Suites each have private plunge pools.

The lodge main lodge area has a swimming pool, gym and a spa where you can enjoy some aromatherapy treatments.  There is also a tennis court available.

Children up to 10 years are welcome at Rock Lodge where they will be invited to join the Cub’s Club where a range of activities tailored to age await.  Babysiting is complementry and run by the staff themselves thereby allowing parents to enjoy their fine dining experiences during the course of their stay.

If Rock Lodge is not for you then Cliffe Lodge and Safari Lodge also offer 5 star luxury comfort and services along with an unparalleled Big Five Game viewing experience in this incredibly rich and diverse wilderness area.

Being a private concession with traversing rights with neighbouring private concessions, you can be assured of the best leopard viewing in Africa as well as the rest of the big five.  Close encounters with leopard, lion, elephant, buffalo and rhino are an almost cert and if you’re someone who is looking for that extra something special when on a safari and dont wish to compromise at all, then any of the Ulusaba Lodges would suffice.

Having experienced both properties first hand, we would say that Rock Lodge enjoys the best views and has the more refined food whereas Safari Lodge offers a more down to earth and real game viewing safari experience.  The call of ‘Leopard in Camp’ is all too frequent which goes to show how fabulously good the game viewing is.  Strict control over the number of vehicles present at sightings is respected and enforced and therefore you will not find crowds of vehicles and queues of people here like you might when self-driving the main Kruger Park.