By Alice Marshall
andBeyond Tengile River Lodge is now open in South Africa’s Sabi Sand Game Reserve. The brand-new propertyopened December 1st in an elusive area of the Sabi Sand Game Reserve with few travelers coming through. The lodge offers a luxury experience that hasn’t been available here before – with larger and more secluded suites and public spaces created by Anatomy Design.
With a name that means tranquil, andBeyond Tengile River Lodge features nine floating suites that look out over the Sand river from a forest. Following the curve of the river bank, each area in the lodge offers river views. After a game drive spotting such animals as lions, elephants, and leopards (the Sabi Sands is known for its amazing leopard sightings), guests can relax in the spa or get a quick workout in the gym.
What’s cool about Tengile River Lodge?
· Each suite features a private deck with a swimming pool, outdoor seating and an outdoor dining area, a private lounge with space for in-room dining, and a built-in bar.
· The lodge is built with sustainability in mind. Although the rooms and lodge spaces are large, the ecological footprint has been kept to a minimum through the environmental auditing of the construction process. The water treatment systems allow all waste water to be recycled for irrigation.
· The lodge is situated in an endangered riparian woodland that is unique to the climate of the Sabi Sand – the wooden ceilings that overflow onto the tops of the walls emphasize this aspect. They give the lodge and the suites the feeling of a secluded cabin deep in the woods.
· Many of the materials used in the construction of the lodge were locally sourced:
o The floors have stones from the nearby Selati railway embedded in the concrete, creating a unique arrangement of colors and patterns.
o The roofs have been covered in sand from the site itself, which means that, when viewed from overhead, the lodge site has minimal impact on the area.
o Almost every single interior piece in the lodge has been specially made and designed in collaboration with a South African designer.
· andBeyond Tengile and its Africa Foundation partners work with the Hundzukani Primary School, the Kurhula Secondary School, and the Happy Homes Preschool in Huntingdon community outside of the Sabi Sand Game Reserve to find out exactly what they need most – from building classrooms to food gardens.
About andBeyond
andBeyond designs personalised high-end tours in 15 countries in Africa, five in Asia and four in South America, offering discerning travellers a rare and exclusive experience of the world as it should be. We also own and operate 29 extraordinary lodges and camps in iconic safari, scenic and island destinations in Africa and South America. This enables us to positively impact more than 9 million acres of wildlife land and 3,000,000 kilometres of coastline.
Established in 1991, andBeyond strives to leave our world a better place than we found it through our care of the land, wildlife and people, and the delivery of extraordinary guest experiences. We have established an intimate relationship with some of the world’s last remaining unspoiled natural places and the communities that surround them. In combination with our highly-skilled guides and rangers, this allows us to deliver extraordinary guest experiences that feel profoundly meaningful.
