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Lesheba Wilderness has around 200 hundred different bird species and more than 300 hundred kind of trees and plants, which make it one of the richest flora area in South Africa. After a few meters in the reserve you immediately notice some trees that you have never seen before and that are common in the area. The sky is blue, the temperature is hot, but milded by the altitude (same as Johannesburg), and from far away you start seeing the thatched roof huts from the lodge taht are on the other side of the valley. The closer you get, the more excited you are and feel that your time there is going to be one in a life time experience.

Just before the lodge and at the entrance you are welcome by the staff and by great clay and wooden sculptures. Some of them have human size and you have the strange but very nice feeling to enter a traditionnal african village. The lodge is called the Venda Village. It has been built on ancient Venda huts. The sculptures are all over and the orange/red colour of the soil is everywhere. The lodge has been entirely decorated by a local artist with now international fame : Nuria Mabasa.

There are two luxury suites and five standard huts in the Village, that can accomodate in total 13 people. All of them have en-suite bathroom and comfortable beds. The two suites are separated from the rest of the lodge and have their own kitchens, therefore really nice for honey mooners or people who want to spend a very private weekend. The standards huts are surrounded by small sculpted walls and if you close your eyes, you will hear the old village chief tell some fairy tales about african culture. Next to the huts are the common areas : the kitchen, the lounge and dinning room, the swimming pool, the wooden deck and the most beautiful outside bathroom with a bathtub overviewing the valley. They all have a magical view of the valley and the mountains, allowing you to see giraffes, zebras, impalas and other game grazing and browsing.

When you are ready to eat, you will be served inside or outside, depending on the season, breakfast, lunch or dinner by Joyce, the cook of Lesheba who brings her smile and energy into her food. Around the swimming pool, next to the fire, or even in your room, meals are delicious and tasty.

During the day, you will have the opportunity to do 2 game drives (early morning and afternoon), or, as Lesheba Wilderness doesn’t have Big Five except rhinos, to hike in the 2 000 hectares of the reserve. You can walk by yourself or with an experienced ranger, who could bring you to the san rock paintings in the mountain. This area of the Limpopo Province is one of the richest for rock paintings in Southern Africa. The game is very rich in the reserve and you will be amazed how close you can get from all the antelopes and even from the rhinos (reasonnably close of course). The mountains, the two valleys, the bush, make the diversity of Lesheba Wilderness unique and fullfilling.

If you want, the ranger or the staff from Lesheba can take you to the self-catering camp, Hamasha, situated on the other side of the reserve, that accomodate 8 people. They can also take you to the different initiatives created by the lodge and the communities around the reserve.

Lesheba has a non-profit Center for indigenous knowledge, that can sleep 16 people. The purpose of this center is to build a social responsability programm, to promote the cultural assets and to train women, men or children from the area. Wheter it is sewing, sculpting or learning about how to protect the nature, this center is a great opportunity for the communities around to be in contact with the local artists and craft makers, but also to give job ideas and to help the previously disadvantaged communities. Of course, for those who want to, a tour can be organised in the Venda country, where the tourist will encounter direclty the Venda art.

This lodge is the most charming, peaceful and african-style lodge I have ever been to, and when you leave (if ever you leave), you will feel rested and relaxed like never before. Important to know, Lesheba is situated in a malaria free area.

Lesheba is a magical and unknown place, to discover urgently.

Special package (excluding long weekends and school holidays) :
  for 2 nights in full board including 2 safaris in a standard hut = R 2 000.00
  for 2 nights in full board including 2 safaris in a suite = R 2 350.00
  possibility of self-catering on request