Phinda Forest Lodge

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Highlights

• Forest Lodge offer its famous "Zulu-Zen" style and 360º forest views
• Well-trained and knowledgeable rangers
• Phinda is the original and largest private game reserve in KwaZulu Natal
• Big Five game drives in 7 diverse eco-systems
• Range of additional activities – coastal flights, beach excursions, deep sea fishing

Phinda Forest Lodge is situated in the northern part of Phinda Game Reserve, a 15,000ha private game reserve to the north of Hluhluwe and the St Lucia wetlands. Phinda offers a winning combination of soft adventure, thrilling game-viewing and inspired lodge design. Rich both in game and in stunning scenery, Phinda Game Reserve boasts the diversity of seven contrasting ecosystems, including sand forest, mountain bushveld and wetlands. This diversity of habitat naturally attracts a variety of game including lion, elephant, cheetah, leopard, rhino, hippo and an abundance of general game. Phinda is particularly known for good cheetah sightings, and its prolific bird life (with over 400 species recorded). Guests can enjoy game drives, nature walks, river cruises and canoeing on the Mzizene, and community visits. Given the reserve's proximity to the Indian Ocean, Phinda is able to offer optional extras such as coastal flights, beach excursions and snorkeling.

Hand-built by local Zulu people to minimise its ecological impact on the rare Sand Forest, Phinda Forest Lodge's 16 glass chalets float between the forest floor and towering torchwood trees, offering an eco-sensitive lodge with a light footprint. (Not one tree was felled during the lodge's construction.) Within these unique habitats, no luxury has been overlooked, from new beechwood floors, wall to ceiling glass walls and brand new bathrooms, enhancing the original "Zulu-Zen" feel. The stone and sand colours are accented with a soft Zulu orange and dark wood furniture is used throughout. At Forest Lodge, the glass walls are windows onto the canopy beyond, whilst at the same time careful attention has been paid to retaining a sense of privacy. Outside, the forest is alive with creatures, from the tiny red duiker and suni antelope to the narina trogon and rare red squirrel so its not uncommon to wake up to the sight of a graceful duiker browsing by your window. The dining, lounge, viewing deck and shaded pool areas of this intimate and secluded camp overlook a grassy vlei which animals congregate in numbers. There is also a forest 'boma' where memorable evenings are spent dining under the stars, lit by myriad candles and lanterns, or in a spectacular bush setting under a starlit sky.

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