Luxury Travel

&Beyond Tengile River Lodge (Sabi Sand, South Africa)

November 1, 2023

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Wednesday newsletters all the time function a resort or flight evaluation.

Last summer season, I loved an outstanding safari & seaside vacation in South Africa and Mozambique, in all probability my greatest vacation ever. You can learn my opinions right here:

Review: Air France Boeing 777 new Business Class from Paris to Johannesburg
Review: &Beyond Tengile River Lodge, Sabi Sand Game Reserve, South Africa (right this moment)
Review: Lion Sands Ivory Lodge, Sabi Sand Game Reserve, South Africa
Review: Kruger Shalati – The Train on the Bridge (Kruger National Park, South Africa)
Review: Kisawa Sanctuary (Mozambique)
Review: Air France Boeing 777 new Business Class from Johannesburg to Paris

Today: Review of &Beyond Tengile River Lodge (Sabi Sand, South Africa)

Meaning ‘tranquil’ within the native language, &Beyond Tengile River Lodge is ready within the world-famous Sabi Sand Game Reserve, which shares a 50 km (31 mi) unfenced boundary with the Kruger National Park. Built with an especially gentle footprint, the magnificent lodge options 9 monumental villa suites, with a design that makes essentially the most of area and river views. The spacious suites provides sunken lounges, elegant bedrooms and ensuite loos (with indoor and al fresco showers) that open out into the forest, creating personal areas within the open air. Bespoke furnishings, lights and distinctive décor items have been created from expert native artists and hanging materials have been masterfully hand-painted. Besides taking part in sport drives and engaging bush walks, company can unwind within the lodge’s stunning lounge areas, chill out within the tranquil spa, and savor on world-class delicacies.

&Beyond Tengile River Lodge options in my high 10 listing of the greatest &Beyond lodges on this planet.

Have you ever stayed at &Beyond Tengile River Lodge? If so, what was your expertise? Leave a remark.

In this evaluation (extra data and images under my YouTube video):

PROS & THINGS I LIKE

&Beyond Tengile River Lodge is likely one of the greatest lodges in Sabi Sand, essentially the most famend sport reserve in South Africa. Located on the south-western boundary of the Kruger National Park, there aren’t any proscribing fences between the Sabi Sand and Kruger, enabling the animals to roam freely in an unlimited conservation space that covers virtually 5 million hectares (over two million acres), an space equal to the USA state of New Jersey. With no boundary fences between it and the Kruger, Sabi Sand advantages from the nice range of animals – together with the Big Five – and the reserve is especially well-known for leopard sightings. Normally notoriously elusive, the Sabi Sand leopards have grown accustomed to safari autos, thereby allowing close-up sightings and extraordinary photographic alternatives.

Opened in 2019, &Beyond Tengile River Lodge takes the extent of luxurious in South Africa’s Sabi Sand Game Reserve as much as a brand new stage. The magnificent lodge provides a recent tackle the safari aesthetic that may be a refreshing break with the opposite extra conventional lodges discovered inside the reserve. Nine unique visitor suites are tucked deep into the riverine forest on the banks of the Sand River. The villas are set round a communal space on the coronary heart of the lodge, which is designed as a blended collection of open, interactive and personal locations. The latter comprise an indoor eating room, an impressive showpiece bar, a library, a safari store, an ultra-stylish boma (outside eating space), and an expansive outside deck. All villas in addition to the communal areas look out over the river, boasting magnificent views of one in all Africa’s most wildlife-rich conservation areas.

&Beyond Tengile River Lodge options 9 monumental, secluded suites, dotted within the dappled shade of the bushveld, every with panoramic river views. The villa’s air-conditioned indoor space contains a lounge, eating space, fully-stocked bar, espresso station, main bedroom, and ensuite toilet (geared up with two basins, a bathe, and a stand-alone bathtub). Slatted uncooked wooden is used for the villa’s ceiling and extends down onto the partitions as cladding to create the phantasm of a cabin. The excessive ceilings create beams of pure gentle that illuminate the wealthy interiors. A non-public lap pool on the villa’s spacious personal deck comes full with one other bathe and a fantastic sunken outside lounge looking onto the famed Sand River. For households, two of the lodge’s suites are joined by a coated walkway to create a household suite.

&Beyond Tengile was designed by safari architect Nicholas Plewman, identified for his sustainable method to the surroundings and for sustaining a powerful sense of place. Plewman was additionally behind the design of different well-known safari lodges comparable to Bisate Lodge in Rwanda (which I reviewed right here) and &Beyond Sandibe Lodge in Botswana. The interiors of Tengile had been created by Michele Throssell, who select for a shade palette of darkish greens with shades of rust and black. The total result’s a daring & glamorous design that delivers a stupendous wow issue. Throssell additionally referred to as on native designers so as to add some colourful and genuine touches. For instance, the lights, couches, beds and chairs are all regionally designed, as are the display screen designed and store fittings. The materials for curtains and fabric are individually hand-painted by a bunch of artists in Cape Town and have wildlife prints and parts of nature.

In retaining with &Beyond’s ethos of sustainability, Tengile River’s lodge gorgeous design makes use of an excessive amount of repurposed materials with a connection to the setting and native space. For instance, stone from the Selati Railway – which used to run by means of the realm, connecting the gold mines of Johannesburg with the port metropolis of Maputo – has been used to create the terrazzo flooring. The stones have been fastidiously laid out to benefit from the contrasting colours, together with darkish greens, shades of rust and black. The roofs have been coated in sand from the positioning itself, which implies that, when seen from overhead, the lodge website has minimal influence on the realm. The lodge’s shade palette has additionally been chosen with the setting in thoughts, using shades and hues which may be discovered within the environment. Other sustainability parts on the lodge embrace thermal effectivity, a minimal ecological footprint by means of cautious environmental auditing, in addition to state-of-the-art waste water and sewer therapy programs.

In between sport drives, company of &Beyond Tengile River Lodge can chill out on the wellness heart, which is positioned adjoining to the primary constructing. Overlooking the river, the wellness heart features a gymnasium (fitted with state-of-the-art Technogym tools) and a full-length lap pool which is empty more often than not (since most company desire to make use of the personal pool of their villa). Next to the pool is an intimate spa with two therapeutic massage rooms in addition to a deck with some solar loungers the place company can benefit from the tranquil surrounding whereas awaiting their therapy. The spa provides a spread of remedies with pure and ethically formulated Africology product. Africology is one in all South Africa’s main pure, eco-friendly and holistic spa and skincare firms, specializing in pure elements which are bio-identical to the human biology.

All meals & drinks at &Beyond Tengile River Lodge are included within the room fee and they are often taken virtually anyplace, from the suites’ personal verandas to the primary eating room to the boma or bush. Special point out needs to be fabricated from of the lodge’s cooks and culinary workforce who create a few of the most scrumptious delicacies I’ve ever been served at a safari lodge. Breakfast is a feast of seasonal fruit, native jams and honey, home made bread, pastries, granola, yoghurt, smoked salmon, native cheeses, and all kinds of egg dishes. Lunch choices embrace gentle bites comparable to roasted parsnip soup, pumpkin orecchiette pasta and miso broccoli, egg & quinoa salad. For dinner, multi-course tasting menus and a boma dinner (a standard South African barbecue served round a hearth pit) are a part of the expertise, all the time paired with the most effective South African wines. Dietary necessities might be catered for on the lodge with sufficient advance discover.

Wildlife magic is the main focus of any keep at &Beyond Tengile River Lodge. Twice each day sport drives, in addition to interpretive bush walks, are a part of the safari expertise and included within the room fee. Early morning and late afternoon, company set out in an open 4×4 safari automobile within the firm of a ranger and tracker, who will try to identify the Big Five (lion, leopard, rhino, elephant, and Cape buffalo). The lodge has entry to 10 500 hectares of prime wilderness within the less-crowded south-east of Sabi Sand, and unique traversing rights on elements of neighboring Lion Sands Game Reserve and the Charleston space. Game drives on this huge space are capable of go off highway looking for distinctive sightings. Vehicle limits additionally be certain that wildlife is minimally impacted by the presence of safari vehicles. Afternoon sport drives additionally proceed after sundown, with a specifically filtered highlight used to light up wildlife that continues to be energetic at night time.

Tengile River Lodge is managed by &Beyond, one in all world’s most unique journey firms. Established in 1991, &Beyond strives to make the world a greater and greener place by combining conservation efforts with sustainable tourism. The firm has established an intimate relationship with a few of the world’s final remaining unspoiled pure locations and the communities that encompass them. In mixture with highly-skilled guides and rangers, this permits &Beyond to ship extraordinary visitor experiences that really feel profoundly significant. As of right this moment, &Beyond owns and operates 30 extraordinary lodges and camps in iconic safari, scenic and island locations in Africa, Asia and South America, enabling the corporate to positively influence greater than 9 million acres of wildlife land and 2000 km (1200 mi) of shoreline.

CONS & THINGS TO KNOW

&Beyond Tengile River Lodge is not fenced off, so company are required to be vigilant always. Leopards, lions, buffalos, and elephants, in addition to venomous snakes and scorpions are current within the Sabi Sand Game Reserve, and there’s no bodily obstacle to them coming into the realm across the lodge. Under no circumstances are company allowed to stroll across the lodge at night time, except accompanied by a employees member. Do not fear although because it’s all a part of the joy of being immersed in a real African safari.

&Beyond Tengile River Lodge is located inside a low-risk malaria space. The danger is sort of zero in the course of the the dry winter months (May to September) however the sickness is extra prevalent within the moist summer season season (October to April). Medications can be utilized to stop the probabilities of contracting malaria, particularly in the course of the moist season. For recommendation on the usage of any malaria prophylaxis, it’s good to contact the well being authorities or your native journey clinic previous to your travels. In addition to any prophylactics, the next mitigation measures are really helpful: cowl your arms, legs and ft within the evenings and apply a mosquito repellent containing DEET.

The suites at &Beyond Tengile River Lodge are tucked away deep into the plush river-side vegetation, and consequently, their outside decks don’t get a whole lot of sunshine in the course of the day. There’s a bit extra solar on the foremost pool space, positioned proper subsequent to the primary lodge, however in the course of the winter months, when the solar is low on the horizon, the solar deck across the pool can be within the shade for a lot of the day (as a result of the deck faces north and the spa constructing behind it throws it shadow on the deck). Of course, company of the lodge ebook a keep right here for the distinctive wildlife viewing, to not get a tan, however it might have been good nonetheless to chill out in a sunny spot in between sport drives in the course of the colder winter months.

MY VERDICT

Location: 10/10
Design: 10/10
Pool: 8/10
Rooms: 10/10
Food: 9/10
Breakfast: 9/10
Spa: 8/10
Service: 10/10
Wow issue: 10/10
Value for cash: 9/10
Overall expertise: distinctive 9,4/10

TIPS FOR FUTURE GUESTS & SAVE MONEY

Save cash: learn right here my suggestions for getting the most effective deal at a luxurious resort like &Beyond Tengile River Lodge (and/or obtain many free perks).

Read my suggestions for making ready your journey in time.

BEST TIME TO VISIT

The greatest time to go to &Beyond Tengile River Lodge actually relies on your private preferences – nature has one thing to supply all year long. Incredible sport viewing might be skilled at any time and there’s not likely a ‘best time of year for game viewing’. The Sabi Sand Game Reserve enjoys excessive temperatures, frequent rains and dramatic thunder storms in the summertime months (October to April). The vegetation is lush and verdant attracting unbelievable chicken life whereas many new borns seem right now of 12 months. The winter months (May to September) are drier and cooler – the vegetation is sparser leading to improved visibility for sport viewing because the animals make their solution to the watering holes for hydration.

HOW TO GET THERE

&Beyond Tengile River Lodge is well accessible by highway from Johannesburg in below 5 hours. Most company although will desire to journey by air, by making use of a business flight to one of many two close by airports:

The tiny Skukuza Airport – the one business airport inside Kruger National Park – is positioned about 20 minutes from the lode and provides each day flights from Cape Town, Johannesburg and Durban.
The distance to the opposite airport within the space, Kruger Mpumalanga International Airport close to Nelspruit, is roughly 110 kilometers (68 miles) and it takes round 1 hour and half-hour to get to the lodge

PHOTOS

Below is a collection of my images of &Beyond Tengile River Lodge in Sabi Sand, South Africa. To view extra images (together with meals and sport drives), click on right here.