A Tale of Conservation and Sustainability - Luxury Safaris at Tswalu, South Africa
Harsh Patil, Founder of xplorearth.us, has ventured on several safaris across the African continent, from Kenya to South Africa. Recently he set out to visit Tswalu Kalahari Reserve, in South Africa’s Northern Cape. The 282,000-acre reserve is the largest privately protected conservation area in South Africa. While at Tswalu, Harsh discovered one of the continent’s most exclusive luxury travel experiences centered around conservation and sustainability.
Travel writer Amy Eckert spoke with Harsh about the experience of staying at the Tswalu Kalahari Reserve, one that visitors can enjoy on a safari custom designed by xplorearth.
AE: How did you hear about Tswalu and what made you decide to visit?
HP: I was in Durban for a trade conference and being habituated to discovering unique luxury travel destinations, I chose to visit Tswalu Kalahari. This reserve intrigued me because of its remoteness but more importantly because of what they have been doing in terms of sustainability and conservation for over two decades.
Tswalu Kalahari was bequeathed to Nicky Oppenheimer, billionaire chairman of De Beers, in 1998. At that time, the land was completely barren – overgrazed, over-farmed, with the endemic wildlife hunted to extinction. With absolutely no water, or vegetation it was a true desert bereft of wildlife. But the Oppenheimers dedicated themselves and worked alongside professional conservationists to rewild the reserve and convert it into a premier sustainable travel experience. Of course, when you leave land alone for an extended period of time, as they did, nature has its way of making a comeback. After 25 years, the vegetation is unbelievably lush and today, there is plenty of wildlife for safari goers to enjoy: lions, cheetah, leopards, giraffes, a myriad range of bird life. The reserve’s coup de grace, though, is their successful rewilding and protection of a large pool of black rhinos and the rare pangolins.
Tswalu’s dedication to sustainable tourism has transformed this vast desert into a vibrant landscape, with a legacy for future generations to safeguard. The massive conservation effort is so impressive, you must see it to believe it.
AE: How do Tswalu’s guests gain access to this wildlife?
HP: Everyone who stays at Tswalu, every family or every couple, gets a private safari vehicle, guide and animal tracker to themselves. You’re not sharing your guide or your vehicle with anybody else.
Even if you’re there as a single person, you still get a vehicle and you get your own guide and animal tracker which gives guests the luxury of unlimited time as well as the freedom to roam around any and all parts of the Tswalu reserve. You can leave early after breakfast and come back in the evening, choose not to come back for lunch and more importantly you can focus on the activity that interests you. Tswalu’s flexibility in their game drives and safari activities is highly valued by travelers looking for the combination of a luxury safari stay combined with deeper wilderness experiences.
AE: What makes a Tswalu Kalahari luxury safari so distinctive?
HP: There are two ways in which the Tswalu Kalahari sets itself apart. One, for guests interested in photography, which most safari goers are, Tswalu offers a professional photography guide and he or she jumps into the vehicle with you. They’ll train you if you’re a novice, and if you’re an experienced photographer, they’ll give customized tips on the light and so on. And because you have a private vehicle, you can circle the wildlife as much as you want, take shots from different angles. Once back at camp, – you can head into their photography studio to develop photographs and large prints in high resolution to take back home. They’ll even ship your photographs back to you wherever you are. I have never seen anyplace else in Africa that offers this unique experience.
Second is a rare and very unique proposition at Tswalu, where guests can sponsor a young rhino and participate in the rhino notching experience. They can accompany the pilot and observe the conservation crew as they track, dart and insert microchips into the rhinos for monitoring purposes. Additionally, guests have the unique opportunity to approach and touch a rhino while sedated, of course, under the safe supervision of the rangers. Allowing one to partake and be part of the positive impact and rhino conservation efforts makes it a priceless experience for guests–although such unique experiences come at a hefty price!
AE: Tell me about safari lodging options at Tswalu.
HP: I stayed at Motse, Tswalu’s original lodge with open views to the Kalahari. Motse has nine safari tents, each accommodating two to four guests. Other options include Loapi, a luxury tented camp where each safari home has a private butler, private bar, private swimming pool, and your own chef.
Then there’s Tarkuni, a large home that accommodates up to 10 guests with five bedrooms, each with its own pool, as well as a butler, maids, guides and trackers. Tarkuni is perfect for a family or a large group of friends that just want to experience the safari all by themselves.
AE: I see what you mean when you say that the level of service at Tswalu is really a cut above. What are some of the other exclusive experiences that come to mind?
HP: The entire staff at Tswalu anticipates your needs and executes to give you a seamless experience. I had a situation where I needed to leave early to catch my flight, so the staff made it possible for me to go out early so I could get a game drive in before I headed out. Lo and behold, when I returned my bags were already packed and loaded into my car, which had been washed and gassed up! There was water, fruit, and sandwiches ready for my drive. I didn’t have to worry about anything.
AE: Tell us about the experience of having the staff at Tswalu wash your hands for you when you arrived for dinner.
HP: Yeah, it brought a smile to my face. As simple as that.
In luxury safari camps across Africa you are pampered with a cold scented towel, and a glass of fresh fruit juice after returning from a long game drive. In Tswalu they up the ante! Before our meal at Klein JAN, I was greeted by a dapperly dressed gentleman bearing a jar of cool water, offering to wash my hands.
Even more surprising, he offered me leaves of a local wild plant which lathered up like soap as I washed my hands. Even in that moment of white gloved service, Tswalu stayed true to its mantra of sustainability and preservation of the environment by using natural ingredients.
Just as the gentleman rinsed my hands with water and handed me a cool towel, I was offered a cocktail right there out in the open in the company of wild horses! I was thinking to myself, “Where am I? This is just too good to be true.”
Now I was shaking with anticipation of the upcoming fine dining experience at Klein JAN.
AE: Aaah the famed resturant Klein JAN, tell me about it.
HP: To begin with, there is no restaurant building in sight. I was ushered to a decrepit windmill and as they opened the creaky door, another world opened up.
I walked down the stairwell, wrapped around a gushing waterfall with sunlight streaming from up above. I was guided into this cool, underground cellar, the shelves of which were filled with fresh local produce – pumpkins three times the size of a football, turnips, peppers, carrots, squash the size of a baseball bat, all of it grown organically right there on the premises or in neighboring farms. I sampled tidbits of fruit, salami, jam.
Chef Jan van der Westhuizen doesn't source food from faraway places like Johannesburg or from Cape Town or any other part of South Africa. Everything is grown locally and comes from the local farming communities. The same is true of Klein JAN’s fine wines, which are stored below ground in a side cellar and are from local wineries or other parts of South Africa. It’s genuinely farm to table.
After viewing the produce cellar we entered a room dedicated to cheeses—goat, sheep, cow, buffalo—accompanied by fruit, jams and jellies. My stomach was growling and I was eager to indulge as we made our final stop: Klein JAN’s restaurant.
Double glass doors swung open to reveal the beautiful expanse of the restaurant. What caught my attention was the far wall of glass that offered a vista of the vast and untamed Kalahari. And as I dined, I marveled at glimpses of wildlife through the glass wall as it nonchalantly grazed by. It was amazing.
AE: I understand that Tswalu’s restaurant, Klein JAN, is the first South African restaurant for Chef Jan van der Westhuizen, who is himself a South African. He won a Michelin star for his restaurant JAN in Nice, France, and now he's operating Klein JAN at Tswalu.
HP: Jan’s grandfather owned a farm on land which is now part of the Tswalu Reserve. Jan was trained as a professional chef in Europe, earned his accolades there, but wanted to bring something back to his South African roots. So, in collaboration with the Oppenheimers at Tswalu, he set up Klein JAN on his grandfather’s farmstead. He used the old farmhouse and the windmills that were in ruins and refurbished them to build this absolutely marvelous, sustainable dining establishment. People fly in from all around the world to eat at Klein JAN, but guests who overnight at Tswalu Kalahari, an exquisite dining experience at Klein JAN is included.
There are no Michelin ratings in South Africa, but this is by far one of the finest dining experiences I have ever had in my life. The food was absolutely delicious. I expected a lot of meat, but of the nine courses there was only one meat dish. Everything else was vegetarian. It was quite impressive.
AE: I love that the food is sourced locally. You’re looking out on the Kalahari and simultaneously eating the fruits of the land, purchased from local farmers. It sounds like a truly immersive experience, and the height of sustainability. Others who want to recreate your visit toTswalu can book this unique experience through xplorearth, right?
HP: Absolutely. Tswalu is a first-class experience, combining private guided wildlife encounters, photography immersion, luxury safari lodging and fine dining in a setting dedicated to conservation and sustainable travel. We at xplorearth curate these very special, luxury travel experiences in Africa and beyond.
Author: Amy S. Eckert
Amy S. Eckert is an award-winning writer from Michigan. Her work has taken her to more than 60 countries, including South Africa and half a dozen other African nations. Amy’s work has been published in National Geographic Traveler, Condé Nast Traveler, Hemispheres, AFAR, The Saturday Evening Post, and Fodors.com, among others. You can learn more about her on her website.
