&Beyond Phinda Vlei Lodge

Phinda Vlei is six suites at the edge of a pan in the Phinda Private Game Reserve in northern KwaZulu-Natal. We book it for your party on an exclusive-use basis, so the lodge, the vehicle and the guide are yours for two nights. It is the safari end of The KZN Golf Circuit, after four rounds on the coast and Highveld.

You fly north from King Shaka International in a Pilatus PC-12. Before landing, the pilot makes a low pass over the Phinda strip to clear it of nyala and warthog. The afternoon drive leaves when you are ready.

We come here for the cheetah. Phinda has been rewilding cheetah for years, and you track them on foot with your guide and tracker, following the signal and then the spoor through the grass and the sand forest. It is slow, quiet work. When you find her you stay as long as she lets you, then step back the way you came. After lunch and a rest, an evening drive takes you across the reserve's different habitats, and dinner is by the fire on the deck.

Six suites take a golf party of four comfortably, and suit a couple who want a lodge to themselves just as well.

You leave after a last morning drive. The PC-12 takes you back to Lanseria, and you are at The Saxon in Johannesburg by mid-afternoon for your final night.

Good to know

• The lodge is booked for your party alone.
• Cheetah tracking on foot is part of your stay.
• Our KZN Golf Circuit runs best April to June and September to November.

Country: South Africa