Shepherd's Tree Game Lodge

You stay at Shepherd's Tree Game Lodge inside Pilanesberg Game Reserve, where morning and evening drives go out to find lion, leopard, elephant, rhino and buffalo. The lodge has twenty-two standard rooms, four executive suites and three villas, all with outdoor showers — some have private heated plunge pools, and standard rooms can connect for families.

The kitchen serves plated dishes with local ingredients in the dining room or in the boma, an outdoor space with lanterns and a bonfire. Bush dinners are set up under the stars with tables in the reserve. The spa has three treatment rooms, two for couples, one with a hydrotherapy bath.

The lodge is two hours from Johannesburg and Pretoria, near Sun City. Game drives use open vehicles with guides; children under six stay behind for bush bumbles, a separate activity. Pilanesberg is a volcanic crater, which means hills and waterholes that draw the game.

Amani Spa operates the treatment rooms. The wine cellar has a view over the reserve, and the bar looks out to a rim-flow swimming pool.