Garden Route Game Lodge

You stay at Garden Route Game Lodge for the Big Five — lion, elephant, buffalo, white rhino, and cheetah — on a private reserve three and a half hours from Cape Town. The lodge is malaria-free, which makes it practical for families with children. Game drives go out at sunrise and sunset in open Land Rovers, with rangers tracking the animals across the reserve.

The lodge has chalets and suites set against the Langeberg mountains, some with private decks overlooking the game reserve. The Serengeti Restaurant serves South African dishes with views of the plains where wildlife moves. There are two swimming pools on the property, and the Ayana Spa offers treatments after the drives.

Children can join the game drives when accompanied by an adult, and the lodge provides child minders for parents who want to go out alone. The region has a mild climate, with hot summers and cool winters, and around three hundred days of sunshine a year.

The reserve was once farmland, restored and stocked with game that historically lived here. It now employs eighty staff from the local community.