Singita Lebombo Lodge

Built on an ancient cliff face and surrounded by indigenous trees and thickets of bush, are the one-bedroom suites of Singita Lebombo. Inspired by eagles nests, half the suites are covered by a unique log covering, and the rest of the suite is fully glass-fronted, allowing guests to feel as if there are no barriers between themselves and the beautiful wilds of the Kruger National Park.

Built in the style of a modern loft, the suites are open plan and spacious, filled with light wood furnishings as well as polished wooden floors and walls. The wooden features are thoughtfully juxtaposed with soft furnishings, muted fabrics and hanging curtains. The bed sits towards one end of the room, opposite the glass front of the suite, covered in cosy duvets and plush pillows, and surrounded by mosquito netting.

A comfortable sitting area includes a snuggly sofa, perfect for guests to relax and enjoy the view on a colder evening. All suites come with an ensuite bathroom which includes an indoor shower, a private flush toilet, a deep bathtub with a view and a unique outdoor shower.

Outside the front of the suite is the decking, which offers guests unparalleled views of the sweeping horizons, the glistening river, and the emerald coloured treetops. Guests can find on this decking a unique outdoor bed, where they can enjoy a night spent under the stars, on a cliff face. The bed is covered in mosquito netting meaning guests can slumber under the stars bug-free.

There are also 2 two-bedroom suites at Singita Lebombo. These consist of two one-bedroom suites which are interconnected by a decking area with a sparkling swimming pool.

The villa at Singita Lebombo continues the lodge’s theme of natural rustic buildings with comfortable and soft furnishings filling the interior. The villa is made up of two two-bedroomed suites, connected by an expansive area of decking.

In total the villa has four bedrooms, accommodating up to 8 people, all with comfortable king-size beds, which are swathed in mosquito netting for a bug-free nights sleep. A spacious kitchen and dining area can be found in the centre of the villa, with a large dining table where guests can gather in the evening to enjoy a freshly prepared meal.

This villa includes two private plunge pools and a large sparkling swimming pool, all for guests to use at their leisure. A private boma area offers guests another unique and luxurious area to enjoy. Perfect for unwinding in the evening with a drink from your mini-bar, snuggling around the roaring fire pit to keep warm and gazing up at the wide night sky.

Surrounded by vivid and indigenous woodland guests can enjoy a feast for their senses. Enjoy refreshing breakfasts with freshly made fruit juices, light lunches between game drives and gourmet dinners, which can be paired with some of the finest South African wines if guests so wish.

After dinner, with a drink from the bar, guests can make their way to the boma area where they can enjoy their drink around the roar of the fire, under the starry night sky.

Guests have the chance to go on a daily game drive through the untouched wilds of the Kruger National Park. Accompanied by a professional ranger and tracker, you will travel through the park, being taken to some of the best viewing spots to see lions, elephants, zebras, and many more wild animals largely undisturbed and in their natural habitats.

This is the perfect activity to immerse yourself in the heart of nature. While less ground may be covered than on a game drive, the experience guests will receive on a guided walk will leave them with memories to last a lifetime. With a friendly and knowledgeable tracker, follow animal footprints or learn how to identify the different types of flora in the park. Exploring the park on your own two feet gives a sense of connection to nature which you won’t receive on a game drive.

There are many ways to indulge in some self-care and stay fit at Singita Lebombo. Guests can begin their day with a quick workout in the fully equipped gym, before cooling down with a refreshing dip in the sparkling swimming pool. Massages are available in the spa room, where guests can enjoy a stress-relieving massage while surrounded by fresh air and vivid indigenous woodland.

Gaze up at the unpolluted night sky and marvel at the ethereal beauty of it. There is no experience like looking up at the sky and seeing it blanketed with stars and far away planets. See if you can spot the centre of the milky way, which is visible in the Southern hemisphere, or the southern pointers.

The local community culinary school has recently had a state-of-the-art open-plan kitchen built. Guests can pre-book a cooking class and learn how to cook traditional South African dishes under the supervision of a professional chef.

The dark and humid cellars at Singita hold some of the best vintage wines that South Africa has to offer. There are limited release wines in their wine cellars that are the only kind in the world, and guests can purchase these wines, either to be taken home or to be delivered to their suite.

The Singita Lowveld Trust works in South Africa to support a whole range of conservation projects with all sorts of aims. They support wildlife research, help with land management, towards community development projects, as well as work with anti-poaching initiates and early childhood development.

One of their partners is the NGO Panthera which works to protect and reduce the poaching of leopards for their fur. To protect the few 5000 leopards which are left, they initiated the ‘Furs for Life’ project which created the alternative high-quality faux fur. Working with local Shembe leaders, these furs are gaining acceptance as alternatives to real leopard furs.

Singita is also partnered with the Grumeti Fund in Tanzania and the Malilangwe Trust in Zimbabwe which helps to support conservation and community efforts using funds from Singita guests in the Serengeti ecosystem in Tanzania, and for community development projects and conservation in Zimbabwe.

In partnership with other leading ecotourism operators, Singita has helped to launch The Lionscape Coalition. Now officially classified as vulnerable, lions are another species which need major protection as numbers have dropped dramatically in recent years. The decline can be contributed to things such as illegal wildlife trade, habitat loss, poaching and human-wildlife conflict. Their existence is key to the whole ecosystem, making ‘their conservation an ecological imperative.’

Helping to protect their habitat is just the first step in a much wider programme, however, if they have sufficient numbers of prey and a safe habitat they will thrive. Local communities are educated on their importance and the need to live peacefully side by side with these magnificent creatures.

Singita is involved in many projects and initiatives to help protect the wonderful biodiversity that surrounds their lodges. Working with the Grumeti Fund, Singita is helping to re-establish a population of eastern black rhino to be returned to the western Serengeti which will, in turn, re-establish the greater Serengeti-Mara’s rhino population. This project is going from strength to strength and has already resulted in the birth of numerous black rhino calves.

Rhino reintroduction has also been a major aim of The Malilangwe Trust, with them having purchased 28 black rhinos and 15 white rhinos and relocating them to South Africa. highly successful, this project is now leading to the relocation of some of its rhinos to other reserves in Africa, to work the same magic on local rhino populations.

To help restore previously forested land, Singita works with local communities to provide viable alternatives to farming on cleared land. The Akarabo Nursery has so far had 60,000 saplings grown and propagated, with a team regularly monitoring the health of the saplings. Guests can even plant their own indigenous tree which will, in time, be planted on the cleared land in an effort to re-establish the natural buffer zone which lies between agricultural lands and the rainforests.

In an effort to re-establish delicate native orchids to this area, an Orchid Project has been created. These orchids are vital to the biodiversity and habitat of the Singita Volcanoes National Park, and there are numerous species of orchids only found in this region. Singita helps this project by actively supporting the reforestation efforts around their properties.

To further protect the biodiversity of the areas in which Singita operate they support various anti-poaching initiatives. Illegal poaching and hunting is still a real threat to species such as rhino and elephant who are persecuted for their horns and tusks. The Grumeti Fund have their own anti-poaching unit which is bolstered by some innovative technology such as drones and night vision equipment. Grumeti also funds its own canine unit to help with the anti-poaching efforts. There is also a canine unit which patrols the area around Singita’s first property in Sabi Sands, to help track and find any illegal hunters.

Partnered with the Grumeti Fund, the Singita Lowveld Trust and the Malilangwe Trust means that Singita is involved in a range of community upliftment projects throughout South Africa, Tanzania and Zimbabwe. One such project is the Singita Community Culinary School which helps offer young people who are interested in becoming chefs the education to gain the skillset which will be needed from them. These schools are in South Africa, Rwanda and Tanzania and offer the internationally recognised ‘Worldchefs certificate’ for those students who complete their studies – giving them strong employment prospects for when they finish.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, the economy of South Africa dwindled, and the issues that arose from this situation unfairly fell to the rural populations living in South Africa. Singita and their partners helped set up an emergency covid food relief initiative, which helped rural families who were living below the food poverty line by delivering 2863 food parcels to children and families in need.

Singita is involved in initiatives that are based in schools to help educate local school children in many areas. In Zimbabwe, the Malilangwe Trust has worked on a nutrition programme which gives young children a cup of mahewu every day. This is a nourishing porridge based drink that helps to give children the energy and nutrition to be able to make the most of their day at school.

In a rapidly modernising world, Singita helps to make sure that rural communities in South Africa don’t fall behind others due to the lack of technology information. The Singita Lowveld Trust partnered with the European Space Agency and the Mpumalanga Department of Education which together equipped all 19 local primary schools with satellites and laptops. Singita is also partnered with the Good Work Foundation who has a primary aim of creating digital learning campuses.

Singita has been supporting Early Childhood Development projects since 2009, these help to support the development of local children in the physical, psychological, social and cognitive areas of their life. In Tanzania, Singita supports English immersion camps, which help teach children English language skills, and scholarships are also offered in Tanzania to children who show promise in their dedicated fields of study.

The Malilangwe Trust has a cadets programme which works to empower young men between the ages 0f 16-18 to enter the job market as trained rangers.

To create a deeper understanding of the importance of preserving the local reserves, Singita has helped to fund the Environmental Education Centre to help educate the younger population on the role ‘each individual plays in minimising their impact on the earth’s resources.’ There is also a Conservation Education Centre which is run in a similar way to the environmental centre, by teaching children the importance of conservation and to help create passions for conservation in young people.

To promote the conservation of the Serengeti there is a ‘Serengeti Girls Run’ which takes place in the western corridor and helps to raise awareness for the Grumeti Fund’s important work, and also helps to get local women and international female runners active.

Located just outside Malilangwe Reserve is a ‘living museum’ which showcases the unique Shangaan culture. Local cultures are important to preserve and protect just as much as the local wildlife, and guests who stay near this project will have the chance to immerse themselves and engage in the local culture, to understand its importance in today’s society.

Singita is partnered with Bioregional as their sustainability partner, and have their sustainable practices reviewed and checked by this charity. The framework which Bioregional follows for sustainable practices include ten principles which were developed in tandem with the WWF, and are supported by science and experience. Adopting these guiding principles first in 2012, by 2016 all Singita properties became committed to the principles.

The principles are just a guide to help properties save water, improve their waste management, reduce their carbon footprint, conserve natural resources, and recycle. By following these principles Singita is well on its way to becoming a carbon-neutral operation.

To help mitigate the impact of CO₂ emissions Singita accommodations pay a carbon offset levy for each guest which are used to buy ‘carbon credits’. These carbon credits provide funds for various local projects which help to mitigate carbon emissions, ‘effectively providing guests with a carbon-neutral stay.’ Most materials used in the construction of Singita properties, as well as the furniture and art you will find inside is sourced locally, created using sustainable products, renewable or waste resources. In Singita Boulders Lodge, 100% of the original stones were used in its refurbishment.

To help them reduce their waste, Singita sends much of their recycling to small local businesses that use recycling to generate income for their community. Plastic bottles have been eliminated from Singita’s operations, when guests arrive at a Singita lodge they are given a stainless steel or glass bottle, which can be refilled at water stations. Singita are currently working on reducing other single-use plastics from their operations.

Stepping away from fossil fuels, Singita has installed more efficient energy equipment as well as running energy awareness programmes for all staff. Most of the power is made up of electricity and generator power, however, Singita is now creating a move to renewable forms of energy, such as installing solar panels. Efficient air conditioners, LED light-bulbs and other efficient appliances have been installed to reduce their carbon emissions.

To help support the local communities and reduce food miles Singita sources their food locally and supports projects which help to increase their local sourcing. A farm-to-table approach is taken by all Singita lodges and this allows them to use fresh and seasonal products in their menus. Local farmers are supported by Singita with a long-term relationship between the two. Specific guidelines for seafood are followed to make sure that any seafood they do order is procured in the most sustainable manner.

Singita constantly monitors their water usage as well as the monitoring of the surrounding boreholes which supply the lodge. All the water they do use is used efficiently and returned to the natural systems clean and unpolluted. With all their game drive vehicles, Singita tracks and monitors them to ensure efficient driving behaviours.