Singita Boulders — Hotel in Bushbuckridge

Singita did not disappoint. We squeezed this stay in between attending a friend's wedding in kwaZulu-Natal & Benguerra Island. We ended up wishing we had stayed longer here and spent less time at Benguerra Island. ||The accommodation was spot-on. We had a villa facing the river and saw elephants / buffalos every day we were there from the comfort of the plunge pool. There's a diff food menu daily and the team respected our wishes when we asked for smaller portion. It was clean, it was comfortable, and it almost made us want to stay in our room and not go on the game drives! ||What I will say is that the devil is in the detail and Singita excels at this: a drawing kit in the room, fleece poncho for the colder evening, a hot water bottle for the chilly morning game drive, toiletry kit for when nature calls while we were on a game drive, SPF in the room and in the vehicle, a binocular for each guest... the list goes on. They are all SUCH minute detail that doesn't cost an arm and a leg to prepare; and yet, most of the other lodges never thought to do the same.||While game viewing in Sabi Sands is always good, you sometimes get stuck with people who want different things. We were lucky to not have to share the vehicle with anyone else. Our guide Marc and tracker Golden were AMAZING and delivered almost everything on our wish list -- chief among them: leopards. The 2 of them tracked down 3 different leopards in 3 days. To be able to find elusive cats, and to be able to sit in the peace and quiet of nature to observe them is SUCH a treat and such a highlight. So big thank you for both Marc and Golden for the experience. ||Now, post departure follow up:||My husband was severely bitten by insects while at Singita, ticks and god knows what else. He removed the ticks himself and didn't think much of it as this is what happens when you are in the bush. Once we got to Mozambique, one of the bites started looking rather horrid and his lymp nodes started swelling up. I got worried. I sent an email to an email address I had for Boulders hoping that someone can take a look at the wound. I was very clear that this is not about placing blames, but rather, we just wanted to know if this is a "BAU" bite that is commonly seen in/around the lodge, or if this is something we should perhaps rush to a hospital for. No one ever replied. By the time we got back home, his lymphs were swollen in multiple places. I asked the travel agent for help reaching out to Singita. While waiting to get a response, my husband went to the ER twice with additional symptoms that showed up. We were eventually put in touch with a doctor there 6 days after my first email (which was never responded to) BUT the singita contacts put us in touch with a doctor who is OOO. We got 1 reply from him before he became unreachable so we are kinda back to square 1 again? I mean, thank god it seems like the bite is a common one (seems to be African tick bite fever). Can't imagine what would have happened if this is something more serious. ||For us, I suppose the stay was SO wonderful / so personalized that we had hoped a request like this, even if this is something that's normal for the bush, would be taken with more urgency? And more accuracy? At least connect with someone who hasn't turned on the OOO response? We made it very clear on numerous occassion that we were not looking to place blames bc we understand that this is part of being in the bush. All we wanted was for an expert to guide us with a "ah yes, don't worry" or "tell your city doctor to look / test for a / b/ c and d" This was very disappointing as we expected more from Singita and def dimmered the high we had from the stay. | |a suggestion: maybe Singita can provide an email address that has a SLA of 24H for departing guests in case if they experience anything out of the norm?||To wrap it up: the stay was wonderful and we will be back again even with this whole insect...

---MAGNIFICENT LODGE IS ABSOLUTE PERFECTION! ---Singita Boulders is set along the Sand River. The spacious suites with fronted glass gives you the opportunity to engage with the environment. You will find luxurious rustic handmade furnishings in the suite, a sprawling wooden deck, large living room, spacious bathroom and outdoor pool. ---This was the last lodge we stayed at during our 6.5 week adventure to Africa. We were here for 4 glorious days. ---In our travels through Africa there were 2 guides that stood out. One was our guide, Collen at Boulders. His deep knowledge of the animals was beyond belief. He had a way of explaining things that was so interesting and fascinating. Collen was also so kind and a true gentleman. We loved him and miss him! Our tracker Casper was also very special. He and Collen make a great team. We had a lot of fun with both of them and will have lasting memories of our great game drives with them. ---The community areas were all so lovely. We enjoyed having breakfast and lunch facing the river in a beautiful atmosphere. ---The food was creative and delicious. Some of the best food we had during our entire trip. Our waitress Vivian was exceptional! Thank you for the wonderful service you provided us. Thank you also to the wine steward for the great recommendations, Tumelo. ---Dinner in the evenings was by candlelight in the dining room or other venues. ---How lucky were we that on the first night of dinner- I recognized Luke Bales eating with his family. Luke is the founder of Singita. He was so friendly, fascinating, and even came to sit and talk with us after dinner.--- ---The Boma at the lodge was fabulous. The chefs cooked the food on outdoor grills. The chicken, lamb chops, steak etc. were all marvelous. We sat with our guide and tracker for dinner and had the best time being with them. The staff entertained us with a lively show of singing and dancing. Our guide even got up to dance and I was impressed with his dancing! ---What made Boulders so special was the amazing staff. They all had the best attitudes. Thank you to Jordan, Marinda, Claude, Alex, Louise and Shiren for being so attentive to us. We were even there when Jordan was promoted to Lodge Manager and it was so exciting to see that. ---Thank you also to Wiseman who took us to our suite every night and also brought in wooden logs to for our fire pit. ---Perfection does not just happen at Boulders without the leadership of the General Manager, Grant. He was always present and so engaging. He sat with us for a lunch and at a breakfast and we loved talking with him.

---Thank you to everyone who made our stay at Boulders with memories that will last a lifetime! What a wonderful way to end our...

The spacious suites with fronted glass gives you the opportunity to engage with the environment. You will find luxurious rustic handmade furnishings in the suite, a sprawling wooden deck, large living room, spacious bathroom and outdoor pool.||||In our travels through Africa there were 2 guides that stood out. One was our guide, Collen at Boulders. His deep knowledge of the animals was beyond belief. He had a way of explaining things that was so interesting and fascinating. Collen was also so kind and a true gentleman. We loved him and miss him! Our tracker Casper was also very special. He and Collen make a great team. We had a lot of fun with both of them and will have lasting memories of our great game drives with them.||||||The food was creative and delicious. Our waitress Vivian was exceptional! Thank you for the wonderful service you provided us. ||||How lucky were we that on the first night of dinner- I recognized Luke Bales eating with his family. Luke is the founder of Singita. He was so friendly, fascinating, and even came to sit and talk with us after dinner.||||The Boma at the lodge was magnificent. The chefs cooked the food on outdoor grills. The chicken, lamb chops, steak etc. were all marvelous. We sat with our guide and tracker for dinner and had the best time being with them. The staff entertained us with a lively show of singing and dancing. ||||All the staff were so attentive.||||Perfection does not just happen at Boulders without the leadership of the General Manager, Grant. He was always present and so engaging. He sat with us for a lunch and at a breakfast and we loved talking with him.||||Thank you to everyone who made our stay at Boulders with memories that will last a lifetime! What a wonderful way to end our...