Cheetah Plains

Cheetah Plains is a private safari retreat in the Sabi Sand Game Reserve, which shares an unfenced border with South Africa's Kruger National Park and is renowned for some of the best leopard sightings in Africa. Opened in 2018, it was designed around a simple idea: a safari lodge that treads lightly, where every group has its own space and its own team.

The lodge runs entirely on solar power, from a plant of more than a thousand panels. Even the game drives are silent: Toyota Land Cruisers fitted with electric drivetrains glide up to wildlife without the noise or fumes of an engine.

Cheetah Plains is made up of three exclusive-use villas, each named after a celebrated big cat of the area and each with four private suites. Every villa has its own lounges, heated pool, outdoor boma for fireside dinners, wine gallery and chef's kitchen. Suites open onto private decks, and bathrooms have soaking tubs and floor-to-ceiling glass. Together the villas welcome from eight to 24 guests, and there is no minimum age for children.

Each villa has its own host, butler, chef, spa therapist, field guide and tracker. Almost everything is included: all meals and South African wines and spirits, twice-daily private game drives, bush walks, wellness treatments, child minding and the loan of a Nikon camera. Arathusa Airstrip is about 20 minutes away, and the lodge has its own helipad.

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