Especially in the north east corner of South Africa, where vast reserves combine the attractions of the "Big Five" with impeccable hospitality. South Africa's world renowned reserve is the Kruger National Park, which boasts the most developed infrastructure of all Africa's game parks, plus the world's largest concentration of species, making it the best do-it-yourself drive-through reserve and great value for money too. At just less than 20 000 square kilometres - that's about the size of Wales so most visitors sample just a section of it.

But for those whose idea of safari means experiencing the African bushveld in secluded luxury, with gourmet food and personal game rangers, the private game reserves adjoining the Kruger National Park offer it all. They fall into the Sabi Sand area in the south and the Timbavati on Kruger's northern border.Whether you choose to spend your nights in a lodge or a bush camp, film star treatment comes with the territory.

With most of the safari lodges situated around waterholes, excellent game sighting is possible simply by looking up from one's novel on your private viewing deck. But twice a day at sunrise and sunset guests venture into the savannah with ranger and tracker in open 4x4 vehicles, sharing the oddly exhilarating realisation that this is one domain where man is not supreme.

This is big game country with incredible game viewing and no fences between
each private reserve's boundaries, allowing the game to wander freely. As the day gives way to the pitch blackness so utterly foreign to city dwellers, the day's sightings are animatedly discussed over cocktails. It's an experience that no brochure could ever do justice to.

But there's a lot more to this corner of South Africa than game reserves. Just outside the town of Graskop is God's Window, a fissure in the mountain side which reveals the rocky escarpment and the Lowveld about a kilometre below, with Mozambique and Kruger Park in the distance.

The Blyde River Canyon's rust coloured sandstone cliffs and craggy buttresses, soaring over the chasm gouged by the waters of the Blyde River, is another example of this region's astounding natural beauty. Amid the dizzying cliffs, spectacular waterfalls and weird rock formations, lies Bourke's Luck Potholes, an awesome moonscape of deep hollows and channels.

And then there's Pilgrim's Rest, the Victorian town "frozen" in the time of the gold prospectors. Moving northwards, the Limpopo Province not only has a rich wildlife heritage and scenic splendour, but a wealth of historical and cultural haunts. It's a land of legends and myths, where the spirit of Modjadji, the revered rain queen, can be found. Many make the trip north solely for the Bela-Bela experience. The therapeutic waters which occur naturally here have spawned an enormous health complex - just
the thing after all that game reserve indulgence!