Lehele Villas

Gondwana’s Lehele Villas stand alone in the fynbos. Seven family villas spread across the reserve, with giraffe passing the deck and Kwena a stretch of reserve away.

Lehele is the family lodge. Young travellers are welcome from any age and the children’s day runs from inside the lodge out into the fynbos. The Junior Ranger Programme leaves from here.

Each villa has three or four en suite bedrooms, a double volume lounge and dining room with a wood burning fireplace, a kitchen and a wraparound deck for the hours when nobody wants to be indoors. Bedrooms take king or twin beds, with seating, fireplaces and private deck corners. Bathrooms have walk in showers, deep baths and double basins. Cotton percale linen, bathrobes, a tea station, a safety box, air conditioning and internet in the room. The deck has a braai. Housekeeping comes twice a day, with a turn down when you want it.

Meals and game drives run from Lehele Lodge. Drive yourself on roads a hire car can manage, or take the rate that includes transfers and let the guide come to you.

Children are welcome from birth. Children aged 3 and over can join game drives.

The Family Villas are spread across the reserve, so some sit ten minutes from the lodge and others closer to thirty, along a drive that is often a game drive in its own right. Meals, game drives and activities all begin at Lehele Lodge, which means you make that drive several times a day, either at your own wheel or on a rate that includes the transfers. It suits some families and not others, so ask us or your agent which villa you are being offered and how far out it sits before you book. We’d far rather you knew.

If the driving would take the shine off it, the private residences run differently. Each one has its own guide, chef and vehicle, so the day starts at your own door and nothing depends on getting down to the lodge.

A conservation fee is charged separately for each stay and goes to a registered conservation fund.

The Gondwana Conservation Foundation funds the reserve’s anti poaching unit, species returns and alien clearing.