Sanbona Wildlife Reserve

• Prices from $483.00
• Per night

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Highlights

• Sanbona lies between the Winelands and the Garden Route
• Wildlife Reserve which is malaria-free
• Spectacular open Karoo scenery, stunning night skies and total tranquility
• Choice of luxurious accommodation with Spa and Wellness Centre at Sanbona

Mantis Madness at Sanbona
Stay 2 nights at Sanbona Game Reserve & receive 3 complimentary nights at one of the Last Word Hotels in Cape Town (The Bishopscourt, The Constantia, The Long Beach or The Franschhoek) or at the Grande Roche in the Winelands or Lake Pleasant Living in the winelands. From 1st May to 30th Sept 2010 excl the World Cup Period of 10th June to 15th July 2010

Sanbona Wildlife Reserve, just off the Route 62 between Montagu and the Little Karoo, offers 54 000 hectares of exciting wildlife, undulating mountains and plains, indigenous wild flowers and San rock art. Sanbona Wildlife Reserve offers the best of South Africa's Karoo landscape with vast open vistas, glittering night skies and most of all pervasive silence. With the exciting reintroduction of elephant, buffalo, black rhino, cheetah and a male and female white lion, Sanbona is home to the famous african Big Five.

Sanbona's luxurious accommodation is at historic Tilney Manor (six suites) with its Wellness Centre and Spa, at Dwyka Tented Lodge
(9 tented suites) with its Relaxation Retreat or in the Gondwana Lodge with twelve suites, ideal for family safaris.

Tilney Manor offers six spacious suites with luxurious bathrooms, indoor and outdoor showers. Tilney Manor also has a Wellness Centre and Spa (with complimentary sauna and steam room for use of all guests). The main lodge is an original Victorian homestead and there's a stylish pool with shaded deck with panoramic views over the plains.

Dwyka Tented Lodge is situated in the north of the reserve on the horseshoe bend of a dry ravine, surrounded by remarkable rock formations. All of the nine rooms are very spacious with luxurious open plan bathrooms, indoor and outdoor showers, mini bar, private deck & plunge pool, underfloor heating and air-conditioning. Dwyka Tented Lodge also has a resident therapist who offers beauty treatments and massages in the 'Relaxation Retreat'.

Gondwana Family Lodge resembles a typical thatched Karoo homestead. Eight of the twelve rooms are interleading but all rooms have en suite bathrooms with bath and shower, minibar, private patio or balcony, underfloor heating and air-conditioning. Sanbona main lodge has a communal rimflow pool as well as a children activity room (with TV & DVD player, games, outdoor play area, spacious lawn) for the kid's enjoyment. Children under four are not allowed on game drives. However children of all ages can enjoy the interpretive trail, with their own guide, through the lodge gardens learning about animals on the reserve. Child minders are also available at an additional cost. Gondwana Lodge has a resident therapist who offers beauty treatments and massages in the 'Relaxation Retreat'.

As Sanbona Wildlife Reserve is so vast, it is ideally suited to second time visitors to South Africa, or for clients who are also visiting another game reserve rather than for people who are anxious to see as much game as possible in a short period of time. Sanbona Wildlife Reserve offers a more holistic experience where you enjoy the wildlife, plants, birds, San rock art and the extraordinary geology.

However Sanbona Wildlife Reserve has the only free roaming white lions in Africa. This exciting white lion project is located in the far northern part of Sanbona Wildlife Reserve. Here they are trying to re-integrate the offspring of the original two white lions released into Sanbona Wildlife Reserve, into one of the tawny prides. This is essential for survival because the original two lions were in captivity and therefore have no hunting skills to pass onto their offspring. So they are introducing suitable tawny lionesses to the cubs to teach them how to hunt, ie. a mentoring system on how to be a lion in the wild. As you can imagine, this is very delicate conservation work and so visitors staying 2 or 3 nights at Sanbona Wildlife Reserve will certainly be able to visit the white lion project if they wish, which is in a separate part of the reserve, but probably won't see the new cubs.

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