floridagal23

We're been remiss in planning our big yearly trip - capetown and sa.

Has anyone been to Singita lodges recently? I couldn't find anything super recent in the search, but then again, I'm not the best at this.

We're in our early 30s, no kids. There are various promos right now on the singita website - a few nights in one lodge in kruger with a few nights in sabi sands (free night and free flight between lodges) and then a free fourth night only in the kruger lodges, not the sabi sand lodges. Right now I'm leaning towards the 4 nights in kruger for the price of 3 as we'd likely lose a morning game drive flying to the next lodge (I guess). But if Sabi Sands is that much better, we'll do it. I'm not sure if we can get the same 4/3 deal at a Sabi Sands lodge, or if we only do 3 nights (paid) at Sabi Sands with no deal, if that is "better".

Does anyone have any thoughts about the singita lodges in kruger v sabi sands? We plan to go in the fall when the game visibility should be good in either place. I know much depends on availability with the lodges so we want to get our first and second choices in order and proceed with booking.

Thanks!

wripro

Whatever you do make sure you include a stay at Boulders. imo, the best of Singita in SA. The lodges in Kruger, Lebombo and Sweni, are extremely contemporary, more form than function.

bhrubin

Having stayed at both Ebony (2003) and Boulders (2010), I agree that Boulders is the better of the two (even though they are 5 min apart). That being said, wildlife viewing will be comparable at either or the Kruger lodge. The other lodges are in newer game areas, so the wildlife is still adjusting to the vehicles and so sightings might be less common or more distant.

Otherwise, Singita is extraordinary...so go for whichever you feel is best. If you've never done safari, one might argue that getting the most game drives is the most important--since the more drives you do, the more likely you get to see everything you want to see. Others might argue that switching locations will change the scenery for different wildlife viewing, but I don't buy that between the SA Singita lodges as much. I'd stay at one lodge longer rather than give up the extra 1-2 game drives during the time you'd be switching lodges (unless they can switch you without losing a game drive, if you're willing).

Singita is extraordinarily expensive, too...so if you can get the savings, go for it! But regardless of your choice, you will love it.

P.S. If you love wine, then Boulders might even have slightly more value, since their wine cellar there is amazing (South African wines over decades).

DrGiggles

Stayed at boulders and lebombo last year. Game viewing at both i thouht was underwhelming though lebombo had a ton of lions, 2-3 prides on territory. Loved the room at boulders and thought the food was excellent. Hard to go wrong.

Game viewing will be same at boulders and Ebony (same between sweni and lebombo) decision between those would be a function of design aesthetic. Visited ebony and the design wasnt my cup of tea (very colonial safari)

pauljeff

Also stayed at Boulders and Lebombo last year - stayed 4 at Lebombo and 2 at Boulders (I wanted to do more at Boulders but it was so hard to find space.)

We're in our mid-late 20s and enjoyed Lebombo a ton more despite my prior predictions that Boulders would be better. Having never been on safari we may not be calibrated for goodness of wildlife viewing but we felt like we saw a lot more at Lebombo than at Boulders. The setting for Lebombo is also excellent.

I'd agree that the rooms at Boulders are fantastic but to be honest we didn't even use our pool there and they are very very dark inside. We did however manage to stand on our deck as a herd of 20-30 Elephants grazed a couple of feet away which was magical.

All that said - I think we were also very lucky with our Lebombo group (us + some honeymooners who'd never done safari before and a guide who was gung-ho and about the same age) vs our Boulders group (us + some people in their late 50s who'd seen it all before and took about 5 minutes to get up and down from the land rover and a guide who I think knew them all from the past and while trying to be nice to us was possibly tailoring it more to their preferences. ) so clearly we may be a bit biased.

All that said if we were to go again I'd absolutely go to Lebombo - Boulders I'm less sure about.

Feel free to PM me if you have specific questions.

Paul

pauljeff

ps - we went in October 2014 so similar ish time to the time that you're planning. If you haven't got Cape Town planned yet we were wowed by Ellerman House too.

Londonjetsetter

Pauljeff this is very encouraging as I will be at Lebombo in late October. I have to say that the look of Boulders doesn't really appeal to me and I was thinking exactly the same about the dark pools. What was the weather like in October?

Michael82

Hi,

im in my early 30s, in the past 8 years ive stayed a total of 18 times at the Singita Lodges, twice in Lebombo, 1nce in Tanzania and the rest at Boulders and Ebony. I even had my wedding there last year (booked the whole of boulders for 4 nights with friends and family).

For me its the best Hotel in the world (but then i just love the whole experience and the wildlife).
I prefer Ebony/Boulders over sweni/Lebombo for 2 reasons: Superior Wildlife and easier/faster to get to. Lebombo can be 2 plane rides instead of 1 + longer drive to it.
Generally temperature at Lebombo is around 5 degrees higher than at the sabi sand lodges. Game viewing, especially Leopards is better at the Sabi Sands.
We also always take a private vehicle.

That said, cant go wrong with any of their lodges. Ebony will be majorly renovated (about time) - and therefore closed - in May for about 3 months.
Also very difficult to get space at Boulders.

Good Luck and have fun, its amazing.

Pausanias

Call me old fashioned but all you need for a safari are:

a tent
hot water
home cooking
binoculars & bird book
camera with telephoto lens
an excellent local guide

Anything else is for softies.

wripro

Then why are you post in ton the luxury board?

offerendum

Very good question......

pauljeff

We had no rain for 6 days - we did have an unusual heatwave (> 35 degrees iirc) which made the game a bit harder to find but our guide did an excellent job, and 2 days of low cloud which we liked less.

Small sample size etc etc but I think the guides did suggest that it was a sensible time of the year to be going.

Mornings were cold enough to want a 2nd layer sometimes on top but I never felt like I was being foolish wearing shorts.

Enjoy.

P.S. If you've already booked at this point in time you may want to see if you can bully Lebombo into giving you a room that works for you. Essentially theres' a trade off between a longer walk to / from dinner and a view thats higher up / closer to the river and the hippos. We had a short walk to dinner but figured we'd have preferred being in one of the rooms thats a longer walk but right above the river. The hippos are noisy though....

Pausanias

Sorry about this, was merely trying to say in my own sardonic way that on a safari I thought the animals were the number one priority.

offerendum

No objection! But a nice luxury hotel which fits into the scenery is the perfect combination

SFO777

We stayed at Singita Sabi Sand a little over a year ago. It was spectacular. My trip report.