Destination: South Africa

Travel Editor, Kevin Raub sends DAME a postcard by Kevin Raub


Photography by Kevin Raub

But it's South Africa's Shambala Private Reserve that serves as Micato's Holy Grail. Once a private playground for the rich and famous friends of Afrikaner insurance tycoon Douw Steyn (including Nelson Mandela, who has a home on property; Oprah Winfrey, Kevin Spacey, Robert DeNiro, etc.), Shambala went public in 2008 and is now the ultimate African experience, opened up for all (that can afford it).

Here's the rub: The 30,000-acre reserve has space for up to 40 people in its three lodging accommodations (Mandela's house, the under-renovation Zulu Camp, and the Tuscan hillside villa, Steyn Lodge), but only takes one booking at a time, regardless of size. If you are a couple or a group of 10, you get the whole friggin' thing to yourself! Price? It's priceless, really, but if you must know: The minimum is two double rooms (though you don't have to fill them) for around $4300. That's a bargain.

The reserve is home to the Big 5 as well as Cheetah. Lion sightings are routine as are those of Mandela. There are Black Rhinos - much rarer than their White counterparts. In-between, I see pretty much every other important animal in Sub-Saharan Africa. All of this is at my fingertips and I don't have to endure radio calls to other vehicles whenever we spot something. It's all mine. My own private Africa. Just like I wanted.

 



Kevin Raub is a freelance travel and entertainment writer who contributes regularly to Travel+Leisure, Town & Country, American Way, and Organic Spa, among others. He often finds himself in precarious parts of the world, doing things his mother wholly advises against.
 

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