Inzolo – Serenity in the bush

IIt was an ambitious project, but they had the foresight to bring in Artichoke, an interior design company known the world over for their exquisite designs of lodge interiors. The result is breathtaking– an East African influence mixed with modern design to create a bespoke African elegance that retains the warmth and comfort of home.

The chalets, perched on the edge of the cliff, rather like a beautifully appointed eagle, provide views of the valley and the waterhole below. 

Sheer cliffs, with inaccessible caves, a whisper of the padded paws of a leopard safely surveying the undulating hills and valleys for potential prey. Perhaps they too, are just languidly enjoying the view.

Usually, the elephants come down the steep slope to slurp up water or to cover themselves with mud to cool their skins. A large tuskless female stands delicately picking off new leaves with her trunk. She was born without tusks in ‘an astonishing last throw of the evolutionary dice to survive human cruelty’.  

A Nyala grazes peacefully next to the deck, stopping intermittently to look up doe-eyed, leg raised and relaxed while the brightly coloured birds flit, without fear, from bush to bush. Their tweets and twitters are your wake-up call, while the lullaby as you fall asleep is the sound of the bush.

There are over 200 species of birds, including the Bittern and Marsh Owl. A cosmopolitan collection of birds also choose this as their summer destination including storks from Germany, swallows from Europe and the Amur falcon from Russia.

Whether you decide to go into the bush for a couple of hours or prefer a quick 'Ferrari Safari' you are not going to be disappointed. 

We saw a herd of elephants gathered protectively around newly-born calves, rhino, a lion and lioness deadbeat in the grass on the fifth day of ritual mating every 15 minutes, a male giraffe silhouetted against the setting sun and little warthogs trotting through the bush, the tuft of their erect tails waving like a tiny flag showing the way through the often dense high grasses.

Inzolo enchants your senses, and it is no different with your palate. Chef extraordinaire, Sebastian, loves nothing more than taking rosemary and sage straight from the herb garden or preparing the fresh leafy spinach and kale from the vegetable patch. 

Guests are encouraged to wander through his veggie garden but should keep a sharp eye out for the watermelon-stealing elephant.

But Inzolo is not just pampered luxury. The team is passionate about and committed to the conservation and sustainability of the land as well as supporting the local community. 

Hunting, of course, is verboten and the lodge has successfully launched two special conservation initiatives– the interactive buffalo breeding project and the protected enclave in which the Cape Mountain Zebra breed.
If conservation is truly a harmony between man and bush, then Inzolo is an African symphony.