Lodges don’t come more contemporary than Forest Lodge. Nestled deep in-between the towering boughs of the rare sand forest, the suites channel strong Asian influences. From the outside they resemble Zen temples uprooted from Kyoto and dropped into the African bish. Inside, the huge floor-to-ceiling windows bring the sand forest into your suite, allowing you to watch the vervet monkeys and shy nyala making their way through the trees. The main lodge area has a lovely deck and pool overlooking an area of open grassland – popular with elephants!

Phinda Private Game Reserve, part of the outstanding &Beyond family, was conceived in the early days of KwaZulu-Natal eco-tourism and became a flagship project for &Beyond. 23,000 hectares of pineapple and cattle farms were turned over to conservation and restocked with indigenous game. Today the game is flourishing, including the Big Five, and Phinda is also well known for its cheetah sightings, probably the best place in the province to see these sleek speed merchants. Phinda also covers an impressive seven different habitats, including the very rare sand forest.