Ulusaba Safari Lodge

Within the Sabi Sand Game Reserve adjacent to the Kruger National Park in South Africa, Ulusaba Safari Lodge is Richard Branson’s Sabi Sand safari property — a 10-suite hilltop lodge built on a series of rocky outcrops above the Mabrak River with views across the surrounding bush and the river corridor that serves as the primary wildlife artery through the Ulusaba concession. The lodge’s design takes its inspiration from the rock formations that define the hilltop’s character, with stone walls, timber decks, and the elevated infinity pool that gives the lodge’s most dramatic physical feature — its apparent suspension above the surrounding Lowveld — the quality of a landscape statement as much as a hotel amenity. The Ulusaba concession’s wildlife, including the Sabi Sand’s resident Big Five and the consistently productive leopard sightings of the river corridor, provides the game programme’s primary content.

Game drives in the Ulusaba concession and the broader Sabi Sand Reserve, guided by rangers and trackers with knowledge of the individual animals whose territories overlap the property, complement the walking safari programme conducted by the lodge’s senior Trails Rangers in the riverine bush below the hilltop. The Virgin Limited Edition service philosophy — informal, personable, genuinely attentive rather than formally hierarchical — gives the lodge a social atmosphere that distinguishes it from the more corporate service culture of some larger luxury safari brands. The kitchen team prepares menus that draw on South African seasonal produce and the bush cooking traditions of the Lowveld.

Ulusaba Safari Lodge contributes to the conservation and community work of the Sabi Sand Reserve through its participation in anti-poaching operations and through the Branson Centre of Entrepreneurship’s community development work with the villages adjacent to the reserve whose employment and enterprise opportunities are connected to the health of the conservation landscape that tourism makes economically viable.