Luxury Hotels Atlas / The Maison / Tswalu
Tswalu hotels
Private guides set the pace across Kalahari habitat for pangolin, aardvark and black-maned lions.
Tswalu makes the southern Kalahari the focus of a safari, with a vast private reserve home to species such as pangolin, aardvark, meerkat, and black-maned lion. Owned by the Oppenheimer family since 1999, the reserve uses guest revenue to support conservation and research, keeping its lodge footprint small within the landscape.
2 Tswalu hotels in 1 country on the Luxury Hotels Atlas, each placed on the six LHA Tiers.
- Owned by the Oppenheimer family
- Worldwide: One reserve, three camps (The Motse, Tarkuni, and Loapi), covering roughly 114,000–118,000 hectares (282,000–292,000 acres) on the southernmost edge of the Kalahari, Northern Cape, South Africa — the largest private game reserve in the country; the atlas covers two of the three camps
- On the atlas: 2 Grand Luxury
History
Stephen Boler began restoring former cattle land as Tswalu before the Oppenheimer family took over in 1999. The family ended trophy hunting and directed the reserve toward conservation, research, and photographic tourism. Motse, Tarkuni, and Loapi developed at a measured pace, while the Tswalu Foundation supported continuing scientific work in the Kalahari.
Timeline
- 1994–95 — Englishman Stephen Boler begins consolidating roughly 14,000 hectares of adjacent, overgrazed cattle-farming land in the southern Kalahari, naming the assembly Tswalu, Setswana for "a new beginning".
- 1995–98 — Boler adds 28 additional farms over the following years, dismantling derelict buildings, removing fences, and reintroducing indigenous Kalahari wildlife including lions, rare antelope, giraffe, buffalo, black rhino, and zebra; a controversial hunting operation called Tarkuni initially helps fund the restoration.
- 1998 — Stephen Boler dies in Johannesburg en route to Tswalu; his will specifies that Nicky Oppenheimer be given first refusal on the reserve, with the explicit hope the Oppenheimer family would continue his conservation vision.
- 1999 — The Oppenheimer family becomes custodian of Tswalu, immediately banning trophy hunting and beginning the shift from a hunting reserve to a full ecological restoration and research programme.
- 1998 (built) — The Oppenheimer family constructs Tarkuni as their own private safari retreat on the reserve, later expanded and renovated with interior design by Boyd Ferguson of Cécile & Boyd's, the firm behind the safari style used across Singita's lodges.
- 2007 — The World Wide Fund for Nature recognises Nicky and Strilli Oppenheimer's conservation work at Tswalu with the WWF-Lonmin Award.
- 2014 — Tswalu's national and regional importance as a habitat is formally recognised when the reserve is designated a protected area.
- 2015 — Tarkuni is opened to paying guests for the first time (previously exclusively the Oppenheimer family's private retreat).
- 2023 — Tswalu Loapi opens in July as the reserve's third camp, six standalone, solar-powered safari homes designed by GAPP Architects in glass, steel, and canvas, each an independent mini-camp with its own private chef, guide, tracker, and vehicle.
- 2026 — Tswalu continues to operate as a non-profit foundation, with the Tswalu Foundation's Dedeben Research Centre driving ongoing scientific studies of pangolin, aardvark, and other Kalahari species that inform reserve conservation management.
The houses to know
- The Motse - Tswalu Kalahari, Kuruman, South Africa — A private vehicle and guide give guests freedom to explore Tswalu’s Kalahari reserve at their own pace.
- Tswalu Loapi, Tswalu Kalahari, South Africa — Loapi introduced a third camp to Tswalu in 2023, adding another intimate way to experience the reserve.
Newest openings
- No new camp has opened at Tswalu in the last 12–24 months; the reserve's most recent addition, Loapi, opened in July 2023. Recent news has centred on ongoing Tswalu Foundation research programmes rather than new physical development.
Opening next
- No new camp or reserve expansion has been publicly announced as of mid-2026; Tswalu's growth pattern (three camps across roughly three decades) suggests continued deliberate, conservation-paced development rather than an active hospitality pipeline.
Every Tswalu hotel on the atlas
South Africa
- The Motse - Tswalu Kalahari — Kuruman · Grand Luxury
- Tswalu Loapi — Tswalu Kalahari · Grand Luxury
Open The Maison in the atlas for Tswalu's full dossier, with prices and maps.