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Singita hotels

Small safari lodges help finance wildlife protection across vast African reserves and concessions.

Singita builds intimate safari lodges within large protected landscapes, making conservation the foundation of the stay. Its name means “place of miracles” in Shangaan, and the collection gives guests different ways to explore reserves and concessions in settings such as Tanzania and Zimbabwe while keeping the number of rooms deliberately small.

21 Singita hotels in 5 countries on the Luxury Hotels Atlas (1 not open yet), each placed on the six LHA Tiers.

• Owned by the Bailes family
• On the atlas: 3 Apex Luxury, 17 Grand Luxury, 1 High Luxury

History

Singita developed around protected land and small lodges whose revenue could help support it. Anti-poaching work, habitat restoration, and community partnerships became central to the model. The Malilangwe Trust and Grumeti Fund carry that mission beyond the guest experience through research, wildlife protection, and teams working across the reserves.

Timeline

• 1926 — Luke Bailes's grandfather acquires land in what is now the Sabi Sand Nature Reserve in South Africa's Lowveld, the multi-generational root of Singita's original concession, purchased decades before "private game reserve" was a hospitality category.
• 1993 — Luke Bailes opens Singita Ebony Lodge in the Sabi Sand, the founding lodge of the brand and still the benchmark for its riverine-forest safari style.
• 1994 — The Malilangwe Trust is established in southeastern Zimbabwe to convert 115,000 acres of cattle-degraded ranchland into a rhino and biodiversity sanctuary, the conservation partnership that Singita's Pamushana Lodge would later be built to support.
• 1998 — The Malilangwe Trust imports 28 black and 15 white rhino from KwaZulu-Natal to re-establish a population extinct in the region; by the 2020s the reserve's rhino numbers have grown so successfully, 600%+ for black rhino, that Malilangwe has become a source population restocking other Zimbabwean parks.
• 2000s — Singita Boulders Lodge opens alongside Ebony on the Sand River, and the brand begins its expansion into Tanzania and Zimbabwe.
• 2003 — Singita Sasakwa Lodge opens on Sasakwa Hill in the newly acquired Grumeti Reserve, western Serengeti, Edwardian manor-house safari at scale on a private concession; Singita Lebombo Lodge opens the same year on a 33,000-acre private Kruger National Park concession, its demountable stilted suites designed to leave a minimal footprint.
• 2010s — Expansion into Rwanda: Singita Kwitonda Lodge opens in 2019 on the edge of Volcanoes National Park, built around mountain-gorilla habitat reforestation.
• 2019 — The Grumeti Fund reintroduces nine critically endangered eastern black rhino to the Serengeti ecosystem, the flagship conservation outcome of Singita's Tanzania portfolio.
• 2023 — Singita's Kruger National Park operation wins the Flor de Caña Eco Hotel Award for its sustainability programme.
• 2024 — Singita Milele and Singita Kilima, two exclusive-use five-bedroom private villas, open in the Grumeti Reserve; the brand announces its expansion into a fifth country, Botswana, with Singita Elela in the Okavango Delta.
• 2026 — Singita Elela opens on 11 December on the 175,000-acre NG26 (Abu) concession in the Okavango Delta, the brand's first Botswana property and the newest addition to a four-decade-old conservation model now entering its fifth country.

The houses to know

1. Singita Lebombo Lodge, Kruger National Park, South Africa — Thirteen demountable suites on stilts above the N'wanetsi River, ranked 40th on The World's 50 Best Hotels 2025.
2. Singita Kwitonda Lodge, Kinigi, Rwanda — Singita's gorilla-trekking flagship, suites and a villa with uninterrupted views of the Virunga volcanoes.
3. Singita Sasakwa Lodge, Grumeti Reserve, Tanzania — Edwardian manor house on a kopje overlooking the Serengeti migration corridor, the grande dame of the 350,000-acre Grumeti private reserve.
4. Singita Sweni Lodge, Kruger National Park, South Africa — The smaller, more intimate sibling to Lebombo on the same private Kruger concession.
5. Singita Boulders Lodge, Sabi Sand Game Reserve, South Africa — Twelve glass-walled suites on the Sand River in a private concession, the lodge Condé Nast Traveler readers consistently rank among the finest safari experiences on the continent.
6. Singita Castleton, Sabi Sand, South Africa — The hotel is in Sabi Sand, South Africa.
7. Singita Ebony Lodge, Sabi Sand Game Reserve, South Africa — The founding lodge of the entire Singita brand, opened by Luke Bailes in 1993 on land his grandfather acquired in 1926.
8. Singita Ebony Villa, Sabi Sand, South Africa — The hotel is in Sabi Sand, South Africa.
9. Singita Faru Faru Lodge, Grumeti Reserve, Tanzania — A contemporary riverside lodge on the Grumeti plains, sister property to Sasakwa's manor-house formality.
10. Singita Grumeti, Serengeti National Park, Tanzania — The largest single lodge in the collection, at the heart of the 350,000-acre Grumeti concession.

Newest openings

• Singita Elela — Okavango Delta, Botswana — opening 11 December 2026 — Singita's first Botswana property and fifth country, on the 175,000-acre NG26 (Abu) concession, one of the Delta's largest private concessions, with private access to floodplains, islands, and waterways home to more than 400 bird species.
• Singita Milele & Singita Kilima — Grumeti Reserve, Tanzania — opened 2024 — Two exclusive-use five-bedroom private villas set high on Sasakwa Hill within the 350,000-acre Grumeti concession, positioned for large groups and families wanting a fully staffed private retreat with front-row Great Migration access.

Opening next

• No further Singita lodge openings have been publicly confirmed beyond Elela as of 2026. The brand's stated focus remains deepening conservation outcomes and refreshing existing lodges rather than rapid geographic sprawl — a deliberate contrast to the broader-portfolio growth model of sibling safari brands like andBeyond and Wilderness.

Every Singita hotel on the atlas

Tanzania

• Singita Sasakwa Lodge — Grumeti Reserve · Apex Luxury
• Singita Faru Faru Lodge — Grumeti Reserve · Grand Luxury
• Singita Grumeti — Serengeti National Park · Grand Luxury
• Singita Kilima — Grumeti · Grand Luxury
• Singita Mara River Tented Camp — Lamai · Grand Luxury
• Singita Milele — Grumeti Reserve · Grand Luxury
• Singita Sabora Tented Camp — Grumeti Reserve · Grand Luxury
• Singita Serengeti House — Grumeti · Grand Luxury
• Singita Explore — Grumeti · High Luxury

South Africa

• Singita Lebombo Lodge — Kruger National Park · Apex Luxury
• Singita Boulders Lodge — Sabi Sand Game Reserve · Grand Luxury
• Singita Castleton — Sabi Sand · Grand Luxury
• Singita Ebony Lodge — Sabi Sand Game Reserve · Grand Luxury
• Singita Ebony Villa — Sabi Sand · Grand Luxury
• Singita Lebombo Villa — Kruger National Park · Grand Luxury
• Singita Sweni Lodge — Kruger National Park · Grand Luxury

Rwanda

• Singita Kwitonda Lodge — Kinigi · Apex Luxury
• Singita Kataza House — Volcanoes National Park · Grand Luxury

Zimbabwe

• Singita Malilangwe House — Malilangwe · Grand Luxury
• Singita Pamushana Lodge — Chiredzi · Grand Luxury

Botswana

• Singita Elela — Okavango Delta · Grand Luxury · Opening soon

Open The Maison in the atlas for Singita's full dossier, with prices and maps.

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