With just six suites carved into a cliff overlooking your private valley, Rock Lodge feels like the home of a friend; there are cosy lounges and a dining room with a wattle roof. The use of wattle, the adobe plastered walls and the hammered floors feel almost Aztec in influence. For privacy, intimacy and a lovely dash of luxury, Rock Lodge is absolutely perfect.

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.