SOUTH AFRICA SAFARI WITH BIG FIVE EXPERIENCE: AWARD-WINNING LUXURY TENTED STAY AND PRIVATE RESERVE

** Start Bdding $4799 5‐Night Classic Safari for 2 in a Luxury Impala Tent, with Big Game Drive, Bush Braai & Hosted Airport Transfers This Experience for 2 Includes: 5-night Classic Safari for two in a brand-new luxury Impala Tent at Hippo Lakes Round-trip transfers from Johannesburg to Hippo Lakes Daily game drives with a professional ranger, plus a Big Game Drive into a neighboring Big Five reserve All meals, plus two house drinks per guest per day Bush Braai dinner under the stars Winspire booking service and a personal Hippo Lakes concierge Sunrise in the bushveld arrives fast, turning the whole valley amber before the air has warmed. Below the ridge a tower of giraffe moves through the acacia, a rhino grazes at the edge of the plain, and beside you sits a ranger who has spent his life reading this country. For the next five days you have nowhere to be and nothing to arrange. South Africa’s Waterberg is a wilderness of red rock ridges and open plain north of Johannesburg, and it is a malaria-free region, so the tablets most travelers dread never come into it. No vaccinations are required and US passport holders need no visa. What sets this safari apart is how little it asks of you. There are no internal flights to connect, no string of camps to move between, and nothing to repack, because you arrive on Sunday, settle into one luxury tent, and find everything else already arranged. Hippo Lakes, in the Waterberg Small, privately run boutique set of lodges north of Johannesburg, Hippo Lakes sits in classic bushveld country, where rocky ridgelines give way to wide plains and the lakes pull game in at dawn and again at dusk. It is rated 99% five stars across TripAdvisor, Google and Facebook, has won the Travelers’ Choice Award in 2025 and 2026 (top 10% of destinations worldwide), and was recently featured in National Geographic Traveller. The whole region rises to about 5,000 feet, so the climate stays comfortable, the air is drier than the lowveld, and there are far fewer insects than in lower-lying safari regions. Hippo Lakes, in the Waterberg Your Luxury Impala Tent The Impala Tents are the newest on the reserve, privately positioned along a quiet ridgeline with sweeping acacia views stretching unbroken to the horizon. Each has cabin walls with a canvas ceiling, a king bed that can be split into twins, an ensuite bathroom, a private patio, air conditioning, heated blankets, Wi-Fi, and a coffee and tea bar, with the whole soundtrack of the bush coming through after dark. Every meal is included, chef-prepared, with every dietary need accommodated, along with two house drinks per guest per day (beer, wine, and soft drinks); additional house drinks, premium spirits, and bottles from the lodge’s wine cellar are available for purchase on site. Guests enjoy complimentary access to all Hippo Lakes lodges and amenities. Your Luxury Impala Tent Your Daily Game Drives Daily game drives are included, in an open vehicle with a professional ranger, timed for the hours around sunrise and sunset when the bush is awake. Nobody hurries, because the best sightings come from waiting rather than chasing, and by the last morning you will be the one pointing out the giraffe before he does. The Big Game Drive One day of the week takes you into a neighboring private Big Five reserve where lion and elephant roam, giving you the chance to complete the Big Five your home reserve started, and it tends to be the drive guests are still describing years afterward. What you see depends on the animals, the weather, and the roads, as it should on a safari worth taking. Your Daily Game Drives The Road from Johannesburg Round-trip road transfers run in luxury vans, shared with fellow Hippo Lakes guests and hosted by a member of the Hippo Lakes team, with no bush plane to catch and no connection to make. The journey is part of the safari: a welcome at the airport, refreshments on board, and the landscape opening out as the city falls away, with a relaxed lunch stop at an elephant sanctuary along the way, where an up-close elephant interaction is available as an optional extra. That stop is usually the moment guests realize the trip has already begun. Bush Braai Dinner One evening, dinner leaves the lodge altogether and moves out into the bush. A braai is South Africa’s open-fire barbecue, and this one is laid out under the sky with the coals burning down and the bush carrying on all around you, with two traditional South African shots, including the renowned Springbokkie, to go with it. It tends to be the meal guests describe first when they get home. Five nights turns out to be long enough for the bush to change how you keep time. You stop reaching for your phone, you start reading the tracks in the road, and that quiet shift is what sends people back to Africa for the rest of their lives. The Road from Johannesburg Please Note: Arrivals are Sunday only, with the five-night stay running Sunday through Friday. The minimum guest age at the property is 10 years. Airfare is not included. All lodges and select Impala Tents are ramp-accessible for majority of areas, and front-row seating beside the game ranger is available for guests with limited mobility; the only noticeable steps are at the fire pits and the Bush Braai site. Please Note: Why This Experience Captivates Donors and Inspires Bids Bucket-list appeal. An African safari tops more wish lists than any trip on earth, and most bidders have wanted it for decades without ever booking it. Nothing left to plan. One lodge, one unpacking, and the transfers, meals, drinks, and daily game drives all arranged. The biggest barrier to Africa is complexity, and this removes it. Big Five Country. Hippo Lakes and the included Big Game Drive together give guests the chance to see all of the Big Five on a single trip, on private reserves rather than crowded national parks. No blackout dates and no malaria pills. Travel is available in any season, and the Waterberg is a malaria-free region, so the two objections that most often stall bidding on Africa are both off the table. Breadth of appeal. It sells to couples, to milestone anniversaries, to retirees with time, and to families who buy two. Very few items reach that many bidders at once.