Oliver and I started Safari.com in 2006. Twenty years on I have stepped back from the day-to-day running of the business. Earlier this year Oliver wrote, after our two families spent a week together in Mauritius, that to be able to call any of it work makes us absurdly lucky. I can only affirm that. Being in this business is a privilege. You get to call things like this “work”, which by any measure is a rather spoilt position.
My wife and I are obsessed with health and wellness, so it was an easy decision to celebrate our 22nd wedding anniversary at a new ultra-luxury health and wellness safari retreat near Cape Town called Kuganha, which opened in July 2026. We stayed in the first week of September.
Safaris a short distance from Cape Town have become increasingly popular with our guests. Sanbona is the obvious example. Our most popular affordable five-star package is the 3-Day Big 5 Safari near Cape Town at Sanbona’s Dwyka Tented Lodge, from ZAR 26,430 per person, all-inclusive, 3 days. It makes sense, then, that an ultra-luxury entrant has emerged to fill the top of that niche.
The spa comes to the guest
The pivotal element of Kuganha’s design is the in-room spa experience. The spa facilities and the dedicated therapists come to the guest and are available 24 hours a day, so the guest doesn’t need to walk back to their room after a relaxing massage or mud wrap. The concept is that the wellness will rewild your mind.
The lodge tells the story of where that came from on a printed card. Simone Derman was looking for a 50th birthday gift for her husband, Searl, and a stay at a resort in the Maldives followed. Searl had always loved massages but disliked the commute back to the room afterwards, which undid the sense of calm. The realisation was that for luxury to be seamless, the facilities should come to the guest.
Kuganha has ten luxury safari tents. Each is a 320-square-metre (3,440-square-foot) private tented suite, the largest I have come across in Africa, and each offers an immersive in-suite spa and wellness experience. That includes a cold plunge, steam shower, Himalayan salt therapy room, sauna, salt flotation tank, hot tub, plunge pool and two massage beds.
The finishes in the tented suites are ultra-luxurious, and all the carefully considered design elements are so impressive.
How to get there
Kuganha is approximately a 2.5-hour drive from Cape Town by road, a pleasant one through the Hex River Valley. We recommend the 36-minute helicopter transfer from the V&A Waterfront to the retreat.
Amy, the senior private concierge, met us at the main gate of Inverdoorn, a 10,000-hectare (24,700-acre) rewilded Big Five conservancy within the Cape Tankwa Karoo. We were welcomed into a heated atrium which overlooks the lodge pool and the Karoo bush. Dining can be enjoyed in your suite or in the main restaurant, which overlooks a watering hole and the infinity pool and has a spectacular fireplace.
Day one: a late lunch, then the arrival ritual
We decided to relax with a late lunch. Then, instead of going on the afternoon game drive, we dived into the check-in wellness sequence.
At the main restaurant Chef Calum, who has trained in Michelin-star restaurants in Australia, London, Doha and South Africa, discussed his mouth-watering menu with us. Lunch that day was tapas to share: tuna tartare with gooseberry atchar and coconut gel, rosemary gnocchi with fried artichokes and Parmesan foam, pan-fried prawns with Cape Malay curry and apricot chutney.
The check-in wellness ritual is a calm introduction to heat and cold therapy, which shows each guest how to use the in-suite wellness equipment. The signature Kuganha arrival ritual covers the following, and the treatments are available 24/7:
- Unlimited use of the private in-suite spa facilities
- In-suite sauna, steam, cold plunge, halotherapy and flotation facilities
- Signature spa rituals
- Massage treatments
- Soft-touch treatments
- Rejuvenating body treatments
- Selected pamper treatments
- Wellness sequencing arranged around the guest’s daily rhythm
- Treatments scheduled privately in the suite where possible
After our treatments we took some time to unwind and then made our way to the restaurant for dinner. Lunch had been such a delight that we could hardly wait to see what Chef Calum had for dinner.
Amazing. Incredible. The menu ran from celeriac soup with goat’s cheese, toasted walnuts and black garlic, through pan-fried scallops and seared trout, to seared springbok loin with Amarula gel and Karoo lamb rump.
My wife has to follow a strict gluten-free diet, and said that it was some of the best gluten-free baking and desserts she has ever had. Not a rice cracker in sight.
After a leisurely dinner we made our way back to our tent and sat on our deck to do some stargazing and try out the heated flotation pool. By 11pm we were absolutely exhausted. We settled into our luxurious bed and listened to the sounds of nature and the distant roar of the lions.
Day two: a slow start and an evening drive
We decided to have a slow start on our second day and slept in. We ordered breakfast to be eaten at the gorgeous dining area in our suite, and it did not disappoint. I would highly recommend the quinoa porridge. The gluten-free madeleines were also a firm favourite.
It was a beautiful sunny day, so we relaxed on our deck, getting our daily dose of vitamin D while catching a glimpse of a majestic kudu bull.
Our next batch of body-balancing treatments started at midday. Once the highly skilled therapists left us we took some time to decompress. We opted out of lunch and instead enjoyed the quiet luxury of our surroundings.
We were scheduled for the evening nature drive at 4pm, but first we indulged in a delicious afternoon high tea in the bar area overlooking the landscape, graced with the presence of four passing giraffe.
Our ranger was highly knowledgeable and incredibly passionate about the rewilding initiative in the Karoo. The Karoo landscapes are breathtaking and all the game is in pristine condition. The nature drives are a bonus. Guests may choose to focus only on health and wellness and stay within the Kuganha compound instead.
We returned to the lodge after dark and were greeted with hot chocolate, which was much appreciated after the chill in the Karoo spring air.
We decided on a romantic in-room dinner to celebrate our anniversary. The staff thought of everything and maintained a restaurant standard within the confines of our luxury lodgings. The rest of the evening was enjoyed in front of our in-room fireplace, a must-have on chilly Karoo nights.
Planning a stay at Kuganha
Kuganha is priced from ZAR 37,500 pps/night until 30 September 2026, and from ZAR 75,000 pps/night from 1 October 2026, when the rate also includes a return transfer from Cape Town. Both are full board, with all meals, a selection of beverages, a private butler and concierge, two game drives a day, sundowners, boma dinners and stargazing.
It suits couples who want wellness first and safari second, and it sits comfortably at either end of a few days in Cape Town or a wider South Africa itinerary. Our safari specialists can arrange Kuganha on its own or as part of a longer trip, including the helicopter transfer from the V&A Waterfront. Tell them what you have in mind and they will put options together.
Written by Ric Meulemans
