You don’t have to do yoga to go on a Southern Africa Yoga Safari, but it helps.

In a hidden location amongst giant sandstone rocks on the West Coast of South Africa near Eland’s Bay, Southern African Yoga Safaris makes use of a rocky retreat for a getaway with a difference. While doing your ‘Salute to the Sun’ or Tree Posture (seen here), you stare out and may meet the eyes of some of the antelopes or zebra that live in this nature reserve.  Or if you are very yogic, you may be looking inwards and finding the peace within.

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‘Number One Hotel in the World’ 

according to 2009 US Travel + Leisure World’s Best Awards reader’s survey.

Crikey, what an accolade!  Read my review of Bushman’s Kloof Wilderness Reserve http://www.safaritart.com/?p=119 on this site and find out why it won this award. Who does the voting and how many people who voted have actually been there I wonder, but this exclusive 5-star wilderness retreat at the foothills of the Cederberg Mountains (about 270m north of Cape Town), is certainly one of my favourite places.

I have fond memories of when my friend fell into the ice cold mountain dam after trying to extricate himself from a canoe that he could not control. And mountain biking with zebra and antelopes grazing on the plain and sitting by a remote spot where the strangely shaped yellow and ochre rocks created a landscape of natural sculptures. And then there was a press visit when I was forced to eat a ten-course taster menu - each nibble was more delicious than the last and I ended up with a stomach twice the size of my body but still wanted more.

This day ended with a massage from hands that knew how to unlock the tension.

Oh for that day to be right now!

And whaddyaknow, Bushman’s Kloof also took pole position as the Number 1 Lodge/Resort in Africa and the Middle East and their sister property, The Twelve Apostles Hotel and Spa, in CapeTown, was voted the Best City Hotel in Africa & Middle East, as well as Best Hotel Spa in Africa & the Middle East.

Enough now!  If you want to know more you’d better look on www.travelandleisure.com/worldsbest

Or see www.bushmanskloof.co.za, email: safaritart@wydahtours.com

Ka’Ingo Overview

Game Experience: See lots of game like lion, rhino, buffalo and elephant, giraffe, lots of buck and snuffling warthog.
Decor: Inviting beds and a bright refurbishment in progress as I left.
Food: Malawian’s are renowned for being great chefs and there are two at Ka’Ingo. Taste some of the best meat in SA, especially game like kudu, eland and wildebeest from the local butcher.
Staff: Staff at Ka’Ingo are a really happy bunch - it seems they really like working here and it shows.
Spa: Ask for Elizabeth and you will experience an unforgettable massage.
Kids: They are welcome here. One extended family of 35 take over the whole place once a year, but bringing that many isn’t a pre-requisite. 

Spafari is the latest buzz word in African safari travel and it refers to a holiday where you can combine spa and safari. If both elements can provide pleasure in an equal measures, then I reckon you’ve hit the jackpot. That’s how I felt at Ka’Ingo.

First thing to happen was a hand massage - this was just a ‘welcome to Ka’Ingo’ reminder that safari is no longer just about watching animals. This spa offers the lot, but if they have a lot of guests book quickly ‘cause you really don’t want to miss a massage from Lizzie. She has magic hands that seek out all those knots then firmly makes them a thing of the past.

Can you imagine lying on the massage bed then hearing lions roar just a few hundred metres away? That’s what happened this morning, except I wasn’t on the massage bed, I was still under my duvet. The pair of male lions that I’d seen on yesterday’s afternoon game drive, were giving it all they had. For over an hour they took turns to roar in a way that only lions know how. It’s the kind of noise that makes the ground vibrate and your heart miss a beat.

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Visitors often ‘do‘ Cape Town in three days as part of a South African holiday, which is of course impossible. It also means you don’t get to venture into the further reaches of the Western Province and find special places like Bushman’s Kloof.

In the Cederberg Mountains, 4 hours (168 miles) north of Cape Town, is a wild-west movie set kind of place, with sand tracks of red-earth winding through giant wind-sculpted boulders. Perfect ambush country. It’s in this landscape that I found Bushman’s Kloof. Bushman’s Kloof reserve is a privately owned conservation success story, as a result of its protection of indigenous flora and fauna and its great store of historic bushman paintings. The Bushmen (now referred collectively as San) lived in these Cederberg Mountains many thousands of years ago, and left a legacy of rock art in caves and overhangs. This reserve alone has 130 ancient art sites dating back 10,000 years and the area has been declared a South African Natural Heritage Site.

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Damaraland, Namibia

Not many places make your jaw drop in amazement, or make you want to utter a lazily drawn-out expletive, because no other suitable word comes to mind. But Twyfelfontein Country Lodge did just that.

This immense thatched lodge, in the heart of red-rock country in the middle of Damaraland, Namibia, is dwarfed by giant glowing rocks, that crowd around the building. The scenery is so powerful that it filled my soul with a sense of awe. It must have filled the ancient inhabitants with creative inspiration too, as there is an abundance of Bushman artwork here, starting with the great rock at the entrance.

When art is engraved into giant boulders, it means that you have to go to the art, rather than the art coming to a gallery near you. Once engraved, this sandstone turns an everlasting white, and these engravings at the entrance to the lodge, have been visible for a good few thousand years.
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