Singita has two lodges, Ebony and Boulders, on an 18 000 hectare concession in the renowned Sabi Sand Reserve adjoining Kruger National Park. It has another two within the Kruger National Park, both low-impact lodges on raised decks, called Lebombo and Tsweni.
The game viewing is outstanding – guests will almost certainly see the Big 5 (lion, leopard, buffalo, elephant and rhino) and all sorts of other wild animals in the wooded savannas from the back of comfortable game drive vehicles, guided by experienced field rangers.
Pampered in the Bush
Visitors are pampered from the minute they arrive. Apart from exquisite décor, the lodges have wellness centres where you can enjoy a variety of massages, reflexology, manicures, facials and aromatherapy.
The cuisine is world-class. You may be offered, depending on where you stay, dishes like African peanut butter and butternut squash soup; ostrich fillet with cinnamon espresso jus; chermoula marinated tiger prawns with avocado salsa; or springbok fillets with papino, dill and ginger relish.
But similar claims could be made by a number of other luxury bush lodges in South Africa. So what sets Singita apart?
Involving the Community
Over several years the Singita Group has reached out to the village communities on the borders of the Sabi Sands, mainly the little settlement of Justicia,where most of their staff live.
This community outreach has helped set up small businesses. One of the most successful is a community tour, operated by Zamani Mathebula, who started at Boulders as a waiter. He says he realised the potential because so many guests would ask him about his background and everyday life. He now takes them to see his village, Justicia, home to 15 000 people.
Township Tour
Typically, guests are welcomed by the Justicia Big Boys, who serenade guests with their traditional scathamiya music. After that they go to a pre-school, where they are entertain
ed by the young children.
Then there’s a visit to a typical household, where the family introduces the guests to Shangaan ways of food preparation, including crushing corn and the many uses of maize. Here visitors try foods that grow in the area such as monkey oranges, wild spinach and marula nuts.
Good Neighbours
Singita has helped to uplift Justicia in many ways, and it’s mostly children that have benefited. Classrooms and toilets have been built at the local primary and high schools; and chairs, blankets and toys have been donated to the little pre-primary school. It has supported the Literacy Centre at Mketsi Primary School by paying trainers’ salaries, as well as supplying training materials and chairs.
Singita has also helped repair boreholes at Justicia, facilitated more water accessibility for households, and fenced the local vegetable garden, which supplies much of Singita’s fresh produce needs.
In addition, Singita has teamed up with other neighbouring lodges (Nyati, Londolozi and Ulusaba) and the Dell computer group to set up a centre for disabled children, which will provide educational development as well as physiotherapy, speech and occupational therapy. Once it is up and running, the Tshemba Hosi Disabled Centre will be formally handed over to the community.
Guests make a difference
Most heart-warming is the impact guests have made in Justicia. Over the years they have donated many boxes of stationary to the pre-school; contributed to the costs of building two classrooms at Mketsi Primary School; donated a piano to Madlala High School; and given books to the value of R40 000 to Mketsi andBabati Primary Schools.
Guests can also sponsor disabled children to attend the Tshemba Hosi Disabled Centre. In fact, much of the community upliftment programme is guest-driven, says the group’s general manager Mark Witney.
He was quoted in a local newspaper as saying: ‘After our guests began to show a growing awareness about responsible tourism, we realised that our daily business practices, community projects and the local Shangaan culture are of great interest to the consumer. That’s why we decided to apply for Fair Trade in Tourism certification.’
Fair Tourism
Fair Trade in Tourism South Africa is the only Fair Trade label in the world linked to tourism. It is a World Conservation Union (IUCN) initiative that has been running since 2003, and which accredits tourism operators that pay staff a fair wage, support neighbouring communities in various ways, have ethicalbusiness practices, respect the environment, and promote local tourism attractions.
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Images © Singita Game Reserve