Royal Malewane

A dirt road runs north-east out of Hoedspruit into the Thornybush Game Reserve, and at the end of it a thatched gatehouse marks the first lodge Liz Biden ever decorated. Royal Malewane opened in 1999 as a private home that took paying guests and has since grown into the flagship of The Royal Portfolio, the family company that also owns The Silo in Cape Town and La Residence in Franschhoek.

History

Phil and Liz Biden bought the land in the Thornybush in the late 1990s and built a lodge for their own use with a handful of suites for friends. It opened to guests in 1999. Liz Biden, who had never trained as a designer, did the interiors herself and went on to do the same for every property the family bought. Royal Malewane earned its reputation less for the decoration than for the guiding: Juan Pinto, the head ranger, and Wilson Masiya, his tracker, were among the first in Africa to qualify as master trackers, and the lodge built its programme around that partnership. In 2017 the fence between the Thornybush and the Timbavati came down, joining the reserve to the Greater Kruger and opening the lodge's drives to a far larger system.

Architecture and design

The lodge is a cluster of thatched suites linked by raised wooden walkways through the bush, in the colonial manner that was already old-fashioned when it opened and has aged well since. Liz Biden's interiors are heavy on four-poster beds, Persian rugs, antique furniture and framed photographs, with claw-foot baths and gas fireplaces for the winter nights. Each suite has a private deck with a rim-flow plunge pool and an outdoor shower. The main lodge holds a sitting room, a library, a dining room and a long deck over a waterhole where elephants and buffalo drink in the dry months.

Rooms and suites

The original lodge has six Luxury Suites and two larger Royal Suites, each of the latter with two bedrooms, a private kitchen, a chef and a butler. Africa House is a separate six-bedroom villa with its own staff, vehicle and guide, built for families and groups who want the reserve to themselves. The Farmstead at Royal Malewane, opened in 2019 on a neighbouring property, adds a smaller set of suites and a farmhouse in a lighter, more contemporary style, with its own lodge and drives. More recent additions have taken the estate's total to several dozen keys spread over four separate lodges.

Dining

Meals at Royal Malewane are served on the deck, in the dining room or in the boma, with bush breakfasts after the morning drive and dinners under the stars when the weather allows. The kitchen cooks a daily menu rather than a buffet, and the wine list leans on the Cape estates the Bidens know from Franschhoek. The Royal Suites and Africa House dine privately with their own chefs.

Wellness

The Bush Spa is a thatched complex with a heated lap pool, a steam room, a sauna and treatment rooms that open onto the bush. Yoga on the deck and guided walks with the trackers are part of the daily offer.

Weddings and events

Royal Malewane hosts weddings and private celebrations, usually with Africa House or the whole lodge taken for the dates, with the ceremony on the deck above the waterhole or in the bush and dinner in the boma. There is no conference room; small corporate groups use Africa House, which has its own dining room and sitting room, and the main lodge's library for meetings between drives.

Location

The lodge lies in the Thornybush Game Reserve, part of the Greater Kruger, about 30 minutes by road from Hoedspruit's Eastgate Airport, which has daily scheduled flights from Johannesburg and Cape Town. A private airstrip serves charter flights. The Blyde River Canyon and the Panorama Route lie an hour to the west. As a safari lodge in the Greater Kruger it is the one that pairs old-world comfort with a tracking programme of real depth.