A safari can be so much more than a bush-bashing exercise of ticking boxes on checklists just to reassure ourselves that we’ve been-there-done-that. A safari can also be a journey someplace so remote that we find ourselves responding to the invitation to commune deeply with nature. Someplace so profoundly special that we cannot be other than transformed by the encounter with wilderness. At The Outpost, embedded deep in the Makuleke Contractual Park in the far northern reaches of the Kruger National Park, the wilderness is vast, pure and unadulterated, and the luxury so sleek and seamless it could almost have been invented by nature herself.
Once here, the wilderness is all-embracing. Everything else, quite simply, recedes. At The Outpost, you’re guaranteed a very unhindered, close-to-the-earth safari. Here in the Makuleke, also known as the Pafuri Triangle, there are just three concessionaries, so there is no bush ‘traffic’ to detract from the experience. The Makuleke is a listed Ramsar Wetland Site – and the birdlife is spectacular.
Your guides at The Outpost will show you an abundance of wildlife – indeed game viewing is supreme in this Big Five country, way off the beaten Kruger track. The terrain is a kaleidoscope of textures – Mopane woodlands, forests of Fever Trees, thorny thickets of Acacia and ancient Baobabs all have their place here. So do riverine and floodplain forests, river channels and flood pans.
Typically, your memorable moments on the Land Rover might include seeing large herds of elephant and buffalo, hundreds of birds and many varieties of antelope. The flood pans will very likely reveal pods of hippos. Foot safaris are another option, and they replace one of the two daily game drives for the guests who want them.
Accommodation is nothing short of sublime. Twelve contemporary suites sit up on a hillside – gorgeously sleek sanctuaries where ‘open-plan’ barely does justice to the seamless way in which they connect you with the wilderness. State-of-the-art retractable screens allow one to live outside whilst in, and provide jawdropping 180 degree views of a serene river valley. Whether from the bedroom, the bathtub or a daybed on your deck, the views are intoxicating. If you like, you can have a massage in your suite, enjoying these views all the while.
Meals, as far as possible, are taken outdoors. An ancient Baobab on the river bank might provide the perfect shelter a bush lunch, and at the lodge, the courtyard and pooldeck make wonderful al fresco meal settings.
The Makuleke Contractual Park lies within the ± 35,000 km² Great Limpopo Park, comprising the Kruger National Park, the Gaza National Park in Mozambique and the Gonarezhou National Park in Zimbabwe. Guests at The Outpost can visit the Mozambican and Zimbabwean parts of the park without visas and without having to exit the Transfrontier Park.
Mail us to book an utterly memorable safari, or call +27 21 797-7122.
