Bass Lake Country Lodge

You stay at Bass Lake Country Lodge on a bushveld farm thirty minutes from Pretoria, where the lake draws tilapia and bass in summer, trout in winter. The property records over two hundred bird species, with a hide at the dam for watching them. Families come for the go-cart track cut through the bush; hikers follow trails past kudu and impala.

The lodge serves pre-packed picnic baskets to eat wherever you choose on the farm, with no outside food or drink allowed. Spencer’s Restaurant opens Friday to Sunday for breakfast, lunch and dinner, run by a chef trained in a Michelin-starred kitchen. On Saturdays the kitchen bakes cakes for what they call Sugar Rush Saturday.

Fishing is catch-and-release for bass and tilapia in summer; in winter you may keep trout at a fee per kilogram. The spa takes two guests at a time for treatments on Saturdays only, booked forty-eight hours ahead. Rustic wooden piers and old farm ruins serve as backdrops for photoshoots, with photographers bringing their own equipment.

The property has hosted conferences for twenty-seven years, with team-building activities like archery and drumming available for groups. Bass Lake is the reason the lodge is here at all — the water draws the fish, cools the air, and fills the dam where the birds come to drink.