Singita Lebombo

Singita Lebombo is built into the rock face of the Lebombo Mountains, and its fifteen suites lean out from it over the N'wanetsi River gorge, walled in glass. Below, the river runs in channels between sandbanks and reed beds. Each suite has a wooden deck, and on it a daybed under netting, made up for sleeping out, for a guest who finds even a glass wall too much wall. The main lodge keeps the gorge in view from its pool and its roof terrace. Indoors the ceilings are laid with thin, rough sticks, and a chandelier of black branches hangs from them.

Recommended for anyone who wants Kruger to themselves. The concession covers around 15,000 hectares on the Mozambique border and the traversing rights on it are Singita's alone, so the leopard and lion this country is known for are looked for from open Land Rovers at dawn and dusk, and on foot behind armed guides and trackers. Children under ten go in the two Two-Bedroom Suites, each with a plunge pool of its own, which join to make a four-bedroom Villa for up to eight; the other suites take children from ten. There is childminding and a Mini Rangers course in tracking and astronomy, but the walks wait until sixteen. Every meal is in the rate, with premium wines and spirits, and in the Wine Studio sommeliers lead tastings of single-vineyard and limited-release South African wines. The lodge says the wifi is slow and intermittent, which over the N'wanetsi gorge is no great hardship.