Londolozi Pioneer Camp

The suites at Londolozi Pioneer Camp are perfect for couples on honeymoon, or all three can be converted into a large family camp, where up to six adults and six children can stay. The suites are all modern and bright, with clean lines flowing throughout. Guests will enter through a chic entrance which includes an eccentric chaise lounges and will be met with a spacious lounge in front of them. Guests can unwind on the modern and comfortable sofa here in the evening and gaze out through the wide window.

The suite is filled with modern furniture, with an atmosphere of a luxury hotel however guests are reminded of their beautiful surroundings through the wide windows which flood the room with light and showcase the luscious trees outside. Sat in the centre of the bedroom is a large comfortable and plush bed, covered in crisp white bed linen and romantically swathed in mosquito netting.

All suites come with a spacious ensuite bathroom which is decorated in a luxurious mix of classic Victorian and modern marble. A large bathtub sits parallel a wide window, so guests can bathe with a view, and a handbasin sits either side of the door. Each suite comes with their own expansive private decking and plunge pool, where guests can unwind and stare over the luscious treetops all the way to the sparkling river.

Guests can head to the main area of Londolozi Pioneer Camp where you will find a home away from home, complete with a kitchen and bar area. Half country style kitchen half modern restaurant style, this area is where guests come for mealtimes.

Breakfast can be enjoyed on the breakfast balcony which sits off a cosy and comfortable lounge area, where you can enjoy fresh and delicious food to start your day right. Sit around the large oak dining table in the evening and watch your food be prepared before you while you enjoy a glass of fine wine from the bar.

Head out in the morning or afternoon on an exciting game drive through the pristine Londolozi Private Game Reserve. Your passionate and professional guide will be able to drive you to all the best wildlife viewing spots for the best chance of seeing some truly breathtaking animals. Expect to see elephants, lions, leopards and zebra all in their natural habitat.

Stop at all the best points to capture the animals undisturbed on your camera. Every drive is a unique experience, so it is recommended you journey out more than once.

Truly immerse yourself in a guided walk through the wild bush with a friendly and knowledgeable guide. Become part of the park as you wander through the bush, marvelling at the smaller workings and micro-ecosystems. Your guide will be trained to follow animal tracks, so you can spend your afternoon following animal prints and seeing whether they lead you to any larger game animals.

This is also the perfect time to enjoy some birding as there will be no engine noise from any vehicles, so you will be able to hear bird songs filling the air, and look to the treetops to see if you can spot any nests.

Children are encouraged to explore the outdoors at their own pace, and The Cubs Den is the perfect way to do this. Inspire a new generation of conservationists and eco-warriors by educating them through immersion about the flora and fauna of the local area.

Start your day with a quick workout in the fitness gym, or a calming and grounding yoga practise on the unique and outdoor yoga decking. For some peace and quiet head to the ‘healing house’ where you can unwind in a comfortable decking chair and enjoy a meditation session, with nothing but the sound of birdsong and the rustle of the bush to keep you company.

End your day with a cosy gathering around a crackling fire pit with a drink from the bar or a warming tea and share stories of your day with your fellow guests. Gaze up at the wide starry sky and snuggle down to the warmth of the fire.

Nelson Mandela visited Londolozi in 1992, and this has been celebrated by the installation of an art project called ‘Freedoms Way.’ Journey along this and learn all about Mandela’s extraordinary life while exploring the bush.

Recognised for the excellent wildlife photography that can be captured in the area, Londolozi can help guests take excellent photos of amazing moments. You can hire a private safari vehicle to enjoy a journey tailored to your photographic desires, or you can ask to be paired with a photographic tutor who can help with everything from the first image down to the editing process.

Londolozi was founded in 1976 and since then it has created a reputation for itself as a leading example for conservation, as through the Londolozi Conservation Development Model it was shown that ‘people and wildlife could live and work together in harmony.’ The model has gone from success to success due to ‘its ability to produce long-term returns for investors whilst simultaneously ensuring sustainable conservation and community upliftment’ and its endorsement by Nelson Mandela.

The blueprint for this model was founded on three principles; the first being to work with nature, restore damaged land and create safe havens for wildlife. The second founding principle was the desire to ‘create a place in the world to showcase African excellence.’ And the third principle was the protection of the local communities through social and economic integration which ‘up-skills and uplifts rural people.’

There are many companies and organisations that have been inspired and guided through the work of Londolozi to create their own conservation development programmes. Phinda and Zuka Game Reserve was created after a conversation around the fire at Londolozi; the safari operator Singita had a similar origin; the creation of Tswalu Kalahari Game Reserve was inspired by Londolozi; Caiman Ecological Reserve in Brazil was begun after a trip to Londolozi; the Ranthambore Tiger Reserve in India has been inspired by Londolozi; as has Leopard Trails in Sri Lanka and Lewa Wildlife Conservancy in Kenya.

At Londolozi, their aim is to go above and beyond to try and create a new way of life within the environment and community where they operate. They aim to create a way of village life which is futuristic, sustainable, and with opportunities in health and education with their overarching aim being to create a community where everyone belongs.

To create their ‘futuristic African Village’ Londolozi aid in the building and upkeep of local schools, health centres, sustainable initiatives, gardens, and buildings. Whilst creating this infrastructure they make sure to respect the local culture and build with harmony to nature in mind as well making sure all they do is sustainable for the future.

Londolozi aims to be ‘a working example of how technology can be utilised to reduce impact within a wilderness reserve and lower demand on finite resources,’ as well as trying to shift mindsets and embrace ‘a lower impact lifestyle.’ Heartware is promoted at Londolozi, and villagers are supported and encouraged to be uniquely themselves, creating a world where people can live ‘connected to each other, our shared humanity and the planet we call home.’

Many of the initiatives wouldn’t be possible without guests’ help and support. 280 breadwinners are employed ‘who support over 2800 dependents on a daily basis’ just by guests choosing to safari at Londolozi lodges. Staff are treated as part of the family, with annual training programmes which are ‘designed to support self-improvement and individual advancement within the industry.’ Every night spent at Londolozi by a guest contributes to ‘the employment and welfare of 5 employees, 8 dependents and the protection of 6 rhino’ as well as ‘8 children and 1 adult receiving access to digital education as a result of the visit.’

The Londolozi Social Investment Programme currently reaches 26,500 students who are enrolled in the ‘Satellite Learning Centres’. This programme has gone from success to success and is currently a ‘subject of a Stanford University Research Project’ which may lead to it becoming ‘the guiding principles for innovative learning programmes in other emerging countries in the world.’

The Good Work Foundation began as a ‘prototype digital learning centre in the Londolozi Village’ and has since expanded to deliver education to many remote and rural villages in South Africa. These digital learning campuses have led to 240 rural adults graduating with qualifications in subjects such as IT, English, and Hospitality – which are all internationally recognised. 10,000 children were enrolled in 2020, and they will not just gain an education but also take part in Rhino conservation programmes, and awareness-raising courses.

This is one of the mantras that flows throughout Londolozi’s operations. With respect for the people from local villages and the people who work for Londolozi, they aim to maintain the ‘harmonious village life’ they have created. Training programmes and opportunities are offered to staff at all levels of employment, which ‘allow for the continual succession and incremental advancement of each and every individual within the organisation.’ In a push to create an excellent quality of rural life Londolozi have established support systems which include a medical clinic and educational provisions.

In 2010 The Tracker Academy was founded. This is a ‘non-profit organisation which trains disadvantaged rural people in the traditional skills of tracking.’ This academy has been highly successful, with 94% of the graduates being currently employed in the tourism industry in South Africa.

Londolozi is a co-signatory to the GLTFCA, which is the ‘largest transfrontier wildlife sanctuary in the world.’ To help the vision of the GLTFCA become a reality Londolozi partnered with Thebe Corridors Company to promote training, a transformation of the safari industry and land regeneration to establish a corridor of wildlife ‘linking Londolozi and the Kruger National Park to the Drakensburg mountains in the west’ and ‘reinstating the historic migratory wildlife movements of the past.’

Elusive and rare, Leopards were hardly sighted in the early days of Londolozi. Over time, and through the use of ‘sensitive techniques’ in regard to the first leopard that was spotted, leopards are now more frequent in the area. The first leopard that was spotted was a female, and through creating a positive relationship between man and leopard, she filtered down a relaxed nature around humans to her cubs ‘and successive generations.’

At Londolozi, they grow their own vegetables in specially built vegetable gardens, and each year ‘half a tonne of vegetables are grown’ and all of these vegetables are purchased by Londolozi which helps to support micro-businesses. To reduce their waste Londolozi sends all the food waste to the local pig farmer, and staff are encouraged to grow their own vegetables at home, recycling all their fresh waste by using worm farms.

80% of the food used at Londolozi is organic, and Fair Trade coffee is used. Sustainable practices even extends to the seafood they use, with all seafood they resource having followed the ‘WWF SASSI guidelines.’

Leading by example, Londolozi is at the ‘forefront of renewable energy’ including solar power – of which the lodge gets up to 80% of its energy from – and battery-powered safari vehicles, with the whole fleet of vehicles aiming to be battery-powered beginning in 2020. These vehicles move silently through the wilderness, meaning the animals are less disturbed, and have a much lower carbon footprint than a petrol vehicle.

Londolozi also has their own solar farm, which is the first in the Sabi Sands Game Reserve and have made this land dual-purpose as a parking spot for their game vehicles, which means no land is wasted on building a car park. Solar power is not the only energy-efficient initiative they are using, with a push towards ‘energy-efficient cooling and efficient LED lighting.’

The lodge has ‘one of the most advanced’ water recycling plants in the Southern Hemisphere, and they have an eventual goal of achieving ‘closed circuit consumption models’ to reduce their waste and the negative impact it has on the environment. Londolozi works with the belief that they ‘should become an example of using modern technology to support the new systems for living and a lighter footprint on the land.’

This is an initiative which staff and guests alike are aware of, and it helps to reduce water usage and electricity usage. Consciousness of how much water is being used is encouraged, as well as guests trying to limit the air conditioners usage, and turning off the lights when not being used. In much of the lodge, low energy fans are used instead of air conditioners and maximising natural airflow is a major factor when building new areas of the lodge, so air conditioning can be used less.

Other initiatives to help limit their impact on the environment include only using indigenous plants in their gardens, running sustainable training programmes among the community, putting pressure on delivery services to remove all packaging before arriving at Londolozi and organising monthly community tree planting expeditions and litter picking walks.

All water at Londolozi is drawn from a borehole and all greywater is recycled through two water-recycling plants and ‘re-used for irrigation.’ They created their own bottling plant for bottled water, to provide guests with still and sparkling water in glass bottles, which reduces the waste that comes from single-use plastic bottles. To help save and recycle as much water as possible staff shower over buckets to collect the greywater, the water from the air conditioning units is used to water the vegetable garden and plants around the lodges, and there are storage tanks which collect rainwater to be used in the village.

At Londolozi the 5 Rs are followed, these are ‘reduce, recycle, reuse, refuse, and rot.’ 250kg of waster every week has been eliminated through buying things in bulk, eliminating single-use plastic, using refillable containers and using reusable wax wraps instead of clingfilm. Londolozi works with local community businesses to create a total of 678kg worth of waste being recycled per month. In terms of ‘rot’ – worm farms are used to break down organic waste ‘to create compost for our vegetable gardens.’

In a way to reuse even the small items of single-use plastic that Londolozi still has, they create eco-bricks, an innovative and creative way to re-use the plastic. Any left-over single-use plastic which cannot be recycled is pushed into a plastic bottle, which when full, ‘can be used to build with.’ Printing is now actively discouraged, and sharing information in other ways such as over apps or dropbox is now encouraged. Eco-friendly cleaning chemicals are used and are delivered in bulk, with containers that the staff reuse once empty.