Luxury Hotels Atlas / The Maison / Londolozi
Londolozi hotels
Leopard guiding and family stewardship shape intimate camps on an unfenced Sabi Sand reserve.
Londolozi brings five intimate safari camps together on the Varty family’s private reserve in South Africa’s Sabi Sand. The unfenced landscape, long history of wildlife guiding, and range from family-friendly lodges to Private Granite Suites give guests different ways to experience the same stretch of wilderness.
3 Londolozi hotels in 1 country on the Luxury Hotels Atlas, each placed on the six LHA Tiers.
- Owned by the Varty family
- Worldwide: One reserve, five camps (Varty Camp, Founders Camp, Tree Camp, Pioneer Camp, and Private Granite Suites), spanning roughly 14,000 hectares (34,000 acres) of unfenced Sabi Sand Game Reserve bordering Kruger National Park, South Africa; the atlas covers three Londolozi-branded properties
- On the atlas: 3 Grand Luxury
History
The Varty family developed Londolozi from a private camp into a reserve welcoming photographic safari guests. Its work with leopards helped shape a long wildlife-guiding tradition, while the family’s involvement in Conservation Corporation Africa carried its ideas further afield. Londolozi later returned to independent family management, retaining its close relationship with the land.
Timeline
- 1926 — Charles Boyd Varty and Frank Unger buy a tract of bushveld on the banks of the Sand River, land later named Sparta Farm, after Varty's grandfather's famously impulsive decision.
- 1969 — Fifteen-year-old Dave Varty refuses to sell the by-then-bankrupt family land; he and brother John, with Shan Varty and Allan Taylor (grandson of Frank Unger), begin converting the hunting farm into a photographic-safari destination with 53 rand and one broken Land Rover.
- ~1972 — The reserve is renamed Londolozi, Zulu for "protector of all living things"
- 1979 — Rangers begin habituating a wild female leopard, the "Mother Leopard", to vehicles, work later documented in the 1988 film The Silent Hunter, the first film to bring the private lives of wild leopards to a global audience; her descendants hold territory at Londolozi to this day, eight generations later.
- 1990/1992 — Nelson Mandela visits Londolozi shortly after his release from 27 years in prison, later declaring it "a model of the dream I cherish for the future of nature preservation in our country"; a walking path called Freedom's Way commemorates the visits.
- 1992 — Dave and Shan Varty co-found Conservation Corporation Africa (CCAfrica), later renamed &Beyond, to export the Londolozi conservation-development model to other African locations, using Londolozi as the blueprint.
- 1993 — Londolozi becomes the first game reserve in the world granted Relais & Châteaux status, placing a Big Five African safari reserve among the world's finest hotels for the first time in history.
- 2014 — Condé Nast Traveler readers vote Londolozi the No. 1 hotel and resort in the world, the only African game reserve ever to receive this designation from any major global travel publication.
- ~2019 — The Healing House wellness retreat launches within Varty Camp, formalizing decades of "wild wellness" philosophy into a dedicated programme with sound therapy, Reiki, and an ice-immersion pool
- 2026 — Londolozi celebrates its centenary, 100 years since Charles Boyd Varty's original 1926 land purchase, releasing a three-part documentary series on its history and hosting travel-trade tribute events.
The houses to know
- Londolozi Private Game Reserve, Sabi Sand Game Reserve, South Africa — The reserve that invented luxury safari.
- Londolozi Healing House Retreat, Sabi Sand Game Reserve, South Africa — Varty Camp gives the Healing House retreat a close connection to Londolozi’s founding reserve history.
- Londolozi Private Granite Suites, Sabi Sand Game Reserve, South Africa — The intimate suites share the landscape and long family history of Londolozi’s private reserve.
Newest openings
- No new camp has opened at Londolozi in the last 12–24 months; the reserve's most recent significant addition is the Healing House wellness retreat within Varty Camp (circa 2019). The 2026 news cycle has centred on the reserve's centenary celebrations and a three-part documentary series on its history rather than physical expansion.
Opening next
- No new camp or reserve expansion has been publicly announced as of mid-2026; Londolozi has signalled strong forward interest from travel-trade partners for 2027 departures alongside newly released rack rates, but no new physical development was confirmed in the sources reviewed.
Every Londolozi hotel on the atlas
South Africa
- Londolozi Healing House Retreat — Sabi Sand Game Reserve · Grand Luxury
- Londolozi Private Game Reserve — Sabi Sand Game Reserve · Grand Luxury
- Londolozi Private Granite Suites — Sabi Sand Game Reserve · Grand Luxury
Open The Maison in the atlas for Londolozi's full dossier, with prices and maps.