Wallow as you watch the ellies at this luxury family villa

TimesLIVE

a day ago

Tataum Jackson and Jaco Venter fell in love in the Lowveld. He was from a small farming town in Limpopo. She was from Johannesburg. But their passion for the bush, conservation and hospitality made them a perfect match.
Their journey has taken them places from the Kruger National Park to Rwanda, and now to Last Word Madikwe, one of several lodges in the 75,000ha big-five game reserve in the North West.
As co-managers, Tataum takes care of front-of-house while Jaco mostly does the behind-the-scenes jobs, which are understandably many in a secluded bush lodge.
'From the beginning of our relationship, we've always lived and worked in the same area or property,' says Tataum. 'So for us it has become the absolute norm. I think if we had to ever work apart that would be strange as we are so used to being together at home and at work.
'We've learnt that we need to make time for us every day — where we don't talk about work. We make a point of doing things together that aren't related to the lodge, like watching a movie or playing board games.'
Last Word is a South African company owned by father-and-daughter team Peter Fleck and Nicky Coenen. The boutique collection of five family-owned properties specialises in luxurious, intimate spaces. Madikwe is their latest acquisition (purchased in 2023) and their second safari lodge since opening Last Word Kitara in the Kruger National Park in 2019.
One of its most unique drawcards is a rolling green lawn leading down to a large watering hole. Guests can sit on the grass under the trees and watch the animals drink, just metres away (an obscured electric fence in a gully offers the required security). It is a dreamlike Out of Africa experience.
The lodge is a special place. Small — six suites in total — with homey, personal attention that adds warmth to the luxury bush experience. With a staff of 23 for 12 guests in the lodge, there is no shortage of personal attention and service.
But our invitation was to something different: the lodge's newly opened villa. Once the private home of the previous owners, the expansive thatch-roofed dwelling, secluded and tucked away to the side of the main lodge, has a private plunge pool that overlooks the watering hole. It also has its own entrance to an underground hide, where visitors can spend hours getting up close and personal with the wildlife.
The renovated home is a family-friendly option that offers three en-suite bedrooms and a huge lounge/dining area. The bedrooms are spacious, the bathrooms huge and the living area — with its concrete floors, moody dark-grey walls, high thatched ceiling and oversized fireplace — is crammed full of trinkets that give it an opulent but cosy feel.
A squatting monkey holds a fruit bowl above his head, piled high with plums, nectarines and other fruit. Next to him, two hippos hold lemons in their wide-open mouths. The large dining table is adorned with gold candles and vases, while a drinks cabinet offers not only an enticing selection of hard tack, but also a menagerie of interesting sculptures and other bric-a-brac, against the backdrop of an exotic wallpaper.
In the lounge, board games and books share a coffee table with a bronze pair of pangolins and pots of aloes, under a magnificent arrangement of staggered grass pendants.
The villa espouses the core values of the Last Word group: a blend of luxury, homeliness and privacy that even some of the grandest lodges can't emulate.
The large kitchen seems superfluous, given that all meals are provided in the main lodge. But Tataum tells me they are exploring the possibility of having a dedicated chef for the villa, which would allow guests to have a more personal and intimate dining experience. In the meantime, the open-plan kitchen is stocked with water, milk, soft drinks and plenty of tea and coffee options. Attention to detail is clearly an important part of the lodge's ethos. Each day we found a small jar of tasty homemade fudge next to our beds.
And then there is the pool.
DRINKS FOR EVERYONE
There are few things more hedonistic than floating in a private pool, cocktail in hand, as you watch a herd of elephants drinking from a waterhole just metres away, against a backdrop of bushveld stretching as far as the eye can see. This is Africa at its best, with both the watchers and the watched imbibing their favourite thirst-quenchers. And the ellies came in droves: males, females, moms, babies, boisterous teens, some stern, others playful, a few grumpy, all mesmerising.
There is no shortage of wildlife at Madikwe. There are the big five, of course, and they are fascinating, highly entertaining beasts in their natural habitat. We tracked a pack of African wild dogs (I prefer their alternative name of painted wolves) on a hunting spree. These animals are so much more beautiful in the flesh than in photos. We watched elephants roll in mud, listened to the endearing miaow of two-day-old lion cubs and stalked a reclusive brown hyena. The skies were a highway of avian activity.
There were times during our game drives (two a day, at 6am and 4pm) when I just wanted to switch off the engine, sit in silence and listen to the beautiful cacophony of the bush.
While we didn't spot any rhinos until the morning of our departure, our ranger Damian Ivan says Madikwe is one of the few reserves that have chosen not to dehorn its rhinos. While he wouldn't say how many the reserve has, for security reasons, he says the population is 'healthy and growing well'.
Madikwe and the North West Parks and Tourism Board operate a hi-tech ops room that uses sophisticated technology to combat poaching.
We also had some sightings that were unexpected and somewhat less appealing. Breathtaking in a whole different way.
One was a Mozambican spitting cobra languishing lazily near the front door of our villa. It was swiftly and expertly captured by staff and later dispatched back into the bush — suitably far away — during our next game drive, with assurances from Damian that the highly poisonous reptile 'really doesn't want to waste his venom on something he can't eat'.
Another experience involved what one staff member described as 'an explosion' of an insect that strikes a level of terror in some completely out of proportion.
That is the African king cricket — more commonly known in the suburbs of Johannesburg as the notorious Parktown prawn. Like a biblical plague, these bugs descended on the reserve in their thousands. Perhaps it was the heavy rains that had washed them in.
I'm not one for bugs — the sight of one of these creatures in my house would prompt intervention on a military scale. But in the bush, and in their magnitude, I soon became almost blase about their presence. Almost.
Of course, luxury safaris must come with luxury food, and the meals served up at Madikwe are a modern, relaxed version of fine dining. Dinners offered favourites such as lamb shank, salmon and steak. Lunches were lighter, with the beetroot, butternut and feta salad a most memorable meal. It was served with equally delicious sliders, coleslaw and samosas.
Senior chef Neo Selehelo says she has to think on her feet when it comes to keeping five-star guests happy. Sometimes certain ingredients are just not available and she must whip up an equally delicious alternative with the fresh produce she has in her kitchen. She does an amazing job, and I was heartened to learn that the lodge sources all its eggs from a local school a few kilometres away in the village of Supingstad.
A FARM IN AFRICA
Last Word Madikwe is a new take on an old lodge. Its history goes back to 1916 when a 25-year-old farmer Phillip du Toit arrived on the Wonderboom Farm with his wife. There was no shelter or water, just barren bushveld, and he set about building clay huts (at that time it was believed clay would ward off malaria-carrying mosquitoes). The first house — made from dolomite — was built three years later. But it was only in 1940 that the farmhouse was built. This building is the heart of Madikwe Last Word today.
In 1947, Phillip Jr took over the farm, transforming it into one of the best cattle farms in the region. Over the years they bought up neighbouring farms, eventually creating a property of more than 4,000ha on which they farmed citrus and other fruits as well as Brahman and Afrikaner cattle.
In 1987, the Bophuthatswana government paid the family out for the farm. It was incorporated into the Madikwe Game Reserve and used as staff accommodation for the North West Parks Board.
It only opened as a guesthouse in 1995 and five years later was converted into a commercial lodge.
And now it is the hands of Last Word, which has made its name with a portfolio that includes luxury accommodation spaces in Constantia, Franschhoek, Kommetjie and the Kruger National Park.
The private villa is an obvious option for families. It is spacious, private, fully stocked and serviced, and allows you to be as attached to the main lodge as you want to be. You get your own pickup point for bespoke game drives, a dedicated ranger, your own pool and direct 24-hour access to the hide.
But it's also a great option for group visits. Though one bedroom is billed as a potential children's room, it offers the same accommodation and refinery as the other two rooms, lacking only a view of the pool and watering hole.
Its relaxed vibe, roaring fireplace, collection of books and board games make it a safari sanctuary that you'll always remember.
GETAWAY AT A GLANCE:
GETTING THERE:
Madikwe Game Reserve is in the North West province, near the Botswana border. It is a roughly 4.5-hour drive from Johannesburg. Be sure to take the N4 as the alternative route, the R509 through Koster, may seem quicker but is so riddled with potholes that you're unlikely to drive faster than 10km/h. Alternatively, Fedair offers charter flights. See fedair.com.
VILLA RATES: R35,000 per night for one to four people; R50,000 per night for five to six. This includes accommodation, three meals a day, tea/coffee, and two game drives per day including refreshments. It excludes beverages at the lodge, transfers, laundry services, gate-entrance fees and conservation levies.
MORE INFORMATION: Visit their website.
• Smith was a guest of Last Word Madikwe.
Image: Last Word