Singita Boulders Lodge

The boulders were there first, and the architects left them where they lay. Singita Boulders Lodge, in the Sabi Sand Game Reserve, is built around and over the outcrops of granite that line the Sand River, with rocks forming the walls of some bathrooms and the floors of some decks. It opened in 1996, three years after Singita Ebony next door, and the two lodges share the same private stretch of river on the western edge of the Kruger.

History

Luke Bailes's grandfather bought the land in 1926 as a hunting farm. Bailes turned it into a photographic safari reserve and opened Singita Ebony in 1993, the first lodge of a company that now runs lodges in four countries. Boulders followed in 1996 as the larger and more contemporary of the pair. The Sabi Sand itself, a block of private reserves fenced off from the Kruger until the fences came down in 1993, had by then earned its reputation for leopard sightings, and Singita's traversing rights across the river country are part of what guests pay for. Boulders was fully refurbished in 2016, when the suites were enlarged and the interiors redone.

Architecture and design

The original design, by the Johannesburg practice GAPP Architects with interiors by Cécile & Boyd, put heavy thatch roofs over stone and timber frames and let the granite run through the rooms. The 2016 redesign kept the bones and stripped back the interiors to raw timber, bleached linen and iron, with the river and the rocks as the decoration. The main lodge opens onto a long deck above the Sand River, where elephants come down to drink in the dry months. A second deck holds the pool and an open fire for evenings. The boma is set among the boulders themselves.

Rooms and suites

Boulders has 12 suites, including two two-bedroom family suites. Each has a bedroom and sitting room under thatch, a bathroom with a view, an outdoor shower built against the rock and a private deck with a plunge pool facing the river. The suites are spaced along the bank so that none overlooks another. Guests at Boulders share a wine cellar, a gym and a spa with Ebony, a few minutes along the river, but game drives, meals and vehicles are run separately for each lodge.

Dining

Meals follow the Singita pattern of a short daily menu rather than a buffet, cooked from the lodge garden and local suppliers, served on the deck, in the boma or out in the bush. The wine cellar below the main lodge holds a collection of South African wines assembled over three decades, with vintage tastings led by the sommelier in the afternoons. Breakfast is served after the morning drive; dinner in the boma under the stars is the usual end of the day.

Wellness

The spa has treatment rooms opening onto the bush and a gym shared with Ebony. Guided walks along the river with an armed ranger and bush yoga on the deck are offered on most days.

Weddings and events

Singita Boulders hosts small weddings and family celebrations, normally with an exclusive-use booking of the lodge, with the ceremony on the deck above the river or in the bush and dinner in the boma among the rocks. There is no meeting room; corporate retreats take the lodge for its 12 suites and use the deck and the wine cellar for sessions. Ebony next door is sometimes taken at the same time for larger groups.

Location

The lodge sits on the Sand River in the western Sabi Sand Game Reserve, which shares an unfenced boundary with the Kruger National Park. Most guests fly from Johannesburg to the Singita airstrip on scheduled charter flights, a flight of about 75 minutes, or to Skukuza airport inside the Kruger followed by a road transfer. As a safari lodge in the Sabi Sand, Boulders has the leopards for which the reserve is famous and the river frontage that most of its neighbours lack.