Sweep a spotlight across the Timbavati after sunset and the bush blinks back at you. Green eyes, gold eyes, tiny pinpoints low in the grass: a genet picking its way along a branch, a bushbaby launching between the trees, a porcupine trundling across the track with all the urgency of someone late for the pub. And sometimes, if the guides are lucky and the guests are quiet, the big prize: a leopard on the move, hunting entirely on her own terms.
With exclusive traversing over 12,000 hectares, Kambaku’s guides can follow a sighting rather than a queue. Back at the lodge there’s a fire, a drink in hand and a story that begins, “You’ll never guess what we saw…” And with Hoedspruit airport close by, it’s an easy add-on to a longer South Africa itinerary.