While game lodge visitors lounge about in their luxury villas or sip G&T’s on sunset game drives, there’s plenty of hard work going on in the background to manage the reserve and help the animal population thrive. Many will never see the round-the-clock attention an injured cheetah needs in a dedicated boma or understand the logistical challenges of tracking, darting and dehorning a precious rhino – but more and more lodges are now offering guests the opportunity to go behind the scenes and understand that a reserve isn’t just a zoo without the bars.

Thanda Safari, a Big Five game reserve in northern KZN, is a serial winner of the title of The World’s Leading Luxury Lodge and a member of The Leading Hotels of the World – and its conservation efforts are now gaining as much recognition as its luxury offering.

Wildlife Operations Coordinator Mariana Venter says that guests at Thanda Safari can opt  into their ‘In the Path of Wildlife’ program, where they meet someone from the wildlife team to find out about what happens behind the scenes on the reserve, or join a team member on their daily duties around the 14 000 hectare property. “Guests can experience things like cheetah tracking and feeding, elephant and rhino monitoring – and even more physical work, if they really want to, such as building waterholes, fixing fences, building gabions to fix erosion problems or anything else that needs to be done to maintain the reserve”. In the recent past, guests have had the chance to experience lion contraception, elephant and cheetah collaring, cheetah feeding in the boma, game counts and identifying leopard and hyaena in the reserve. The fees that guests pay to participate in these additional activities go towards veterinary fees for sick and injured animals and the huge costs associated with rhino dehorning.

Thanda and all the other reserves in the area in Northern KZN collaborate on conservation issues, especially around endangered species. “Some of our neighbouring reserves have introduced pangolins, and we have had some of these rare animals visit us. In these cases, we assist in the monitoring and, if need be, assist in catching them to return them,” says Mariana. “We collaborate in the same way with other species, such as wild dog and cheetah  – even though we don’t have our own wild dogs. Last year, one of the reserves phoned and said they had a female cheetah with a broken leg and asked if we wanted her. We looked after her and were able to release her back onto the reserve where she hunted for herself. She actually had cubs late in May!”

Venter says that wintertime is usually better for rhino work, including darting calves to mark them for identification purposes. “It’s easier for us to know in advance if guests would want to take part in an activity, so that we can have a look at what work needs to be done and then try to plan this during their visit. If guests are staying for a few days, they can ask if anything is happening upon arrival and then we can have a look to see if there’s anything we can involve them in during their stay – but we don’t do things like darting animals, if it’s not necessary,” she says. 

Wildlife Manager Lorraine Doyle oversees conservation operations at Thanda Safari, ensuring that the reserve follows the best conservation practices and procedures to preserve not just wild animals, but also indigenous plant life. She also oversees the more professionally-oriented conservation training offering, facilitated by the Ulwazi Research & Volunteer Programme and Africa Nature Training.

The Ulwazi programme gives wildlife enthusiasts and trainee conservationists the opportunity to be a part of conservation management on the reserve, whilst also contributing to wildlife and conservation research. Africa Nature Training (ANT) is an established South African company offering a range of professional guiding courses as well as educational experiences for nature enthusiasts. Working in association with Thanda Safari, their expertise allows the Ulwazi programme to incorporate another whole range of exciting bush-learning opportunities not included in traditional volunteer programmes.

Her passion for conservation is summed up by a frequently anthologized quote from Senegalese forestry engineer Baba Dioum: “In the end we will conserve only what we love, we will love only what we understand, and we will understand only what we are taught’. “That’s really been it for me at Thanda Safari,” she says. “We have to get people passionate about the wildlife we’re involved with if we have any chance of preserving it. I always feel privileged to be able to share what I’ve learned over the past 20 years, and to continue learning on my own.” While her focus is on the day-to-day conservation and wildlife management at Thanda Safari, she occasionally guides on game drives and walking safaris. If guests are interested in learning more about conservation, she is also happy to answer questions and even take them out cheetah tracking as opportunities allow. “When I’m here onsite, I do like to get involved. Education is the foundation of conservation,” she says.

For guests who want to get a properly luxurious taste of the KZN bushveld, Thanda has a variety of options. The 9 bush villas at Thanda Safari Lodge are styled after traditional Zulu homesteads – ‘Thanda’ means ‘love’ in isiZulu. Each palatial villa has its own plunge pool, from which elephants regularly stop by to drink, private boma, covered outside lounging area, outside shower, full indoor bathroom and huge lounge with fireplace. Villa iZulu is an exclusive-use private bush residence for up to  and rates include 10 guests, a Villa host, service team, chef, guide, tracker and a private boma dinner with stays of four nights or more. The 15 tents which comprise Thanda Tented Camp make it a still-luxurious, but more in-touch-with-nature option, away from the main lodge.

An unforgettable experience is a walking safari to track animals, with ranger Sifiso Mdletshe. Apart from an encyclopaedic knowledge of the reserve’s flora, he’s an expert tracker and gets guests as close as safely possible for amazing sightings of rhino and buffalo that offer a completely different perspective on game viewing to the usual vehicle-based offering.

Thanda Safari is situated 23km north of Hluhluwe on the N2 approximately 220km north of Durban and is easily accessible from the N2 by gravel road (no 4×4 required). Richards Bay is the closest commercial airport, with King Shaka International Airport, the closest international airport. Road transfers are available from and to Durban and Richards Bay Airports.

SADC country residents can enjoy the best of the Big Five with Thanda Safari’s special SADC rates – all year round, regardless of season. SADC rates at Thanda Safari Lodge start at R4 929 per person sharing, per night, with Thanda Tented Camp experiences starting at R2 636 per person, per night. Villa iZulu exclusive use rentals start at R28 694 per night for 1-10 guests. Visit www.thandasafari.co.za for details.

Wineoclock was a guest of Thanda Safari, with the Ford Everest that transported our group safely to and from the destination – in some style and comfort – kindly provided by Ford South Africa.