Review: Singita Pamushana Lodge, Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe via the Cockpit Suite

More from this series:

• Introduction: Zimbabwe Via The Cockpit Suite
• Review: SWISS First Class Boeing 777 (MIA-ZRH)
• Review: SWISS First Lounge Zurich Airport Terminal E (ZRH)
• Review: SWISS First Lounge Zurich Airport Terminal A (ZRH)
• Review: SWISS Senator Lounge Zurich Airport (ZRH)
• Review: Corendon Amsterdam Schiphol Airport, Marriott Tribute Portfolio
• Review: Corendon Amsterdam New-West, Marriott Tribute Portfolio
• Review: KLM Crown Lounge Amsterdam Schiphol Airport (AMS)
• Review: KLM Business Class Boeing 777 (AMS-JNB)
• Flying Federal Airlines To Buffalo Range, Zimbabwe
• Review: Singita Pamushana Lodge, Zimbabwe
• Review: Emirates Lounge Johannesburg Airport (JNB)
• Emirates Premium Connections Service Dubai: My Experience
• Review: “New” Emirates First Class Airbus A380 (DXB-IAH)

For our trip to Zimbabwe, our final destination was Singita Pamushana Lodge. Singita is known for offering some of Africa’s highest quality safari experiences. We took our first safari several years back, when we stayed at two of the brand’s South Africa properties — Singita Boulders Lodge Sabi Sands and Singita Lebombo Lodge Kruger Park.

The Zimbabwe property seems to fly under the radar a bit, and isn’t consistently booked out many months in advance, unlike some of Singita’s other properties. I think that’s largely because Zimbabwe just isn’t as mainstream of a safari destination as South Africa, Tanzania, Rwanda, etc.

I’m happy to report that Singita Pamushana Lodge is spectacular, and exceeded all expectations we had. It had all the signature Singita elements, from beautiful accommodations, to friendly staff, to amazing food and drinks, to friendly service.

However, beyond that I found the game drives here to be amazing, with endless rhinos, crocodiles, and more. What also makes this lodge so special is that there are no other safari lodges in the area, so you really feel like you have the entire reserve to yourself. With the lodge having only eight suites (plus the Malilangwe House), this is an intimate experience.

If you’re a Singita or luxury safari fan fan but haven’t been to this property, I can’t recommend it enough.

Booking Singita Pamushana Lodge

Rates are published online for Singita Pamushana Lodge. As you’d expect, a high quality safari isn’t cheap, and rates at this property currently range from $2,180 to $2,865 per person per night (including taxes and fees), depending on the season. Under most circumstances, there’s also no supplement for single travelers.

While Singita lodges are pricey, just about everything is included with your rate:

• All meals and beverages, including premium wines, spirits, liqueurs, and more
• Two daily game drives, in both cars and boats
• Return road transfers between Buffalo Range Airport and the lodge
• Laundry service

The only things not included are things like flights to Buffalo Range Airport, gratuities, spa treatments, and purchases at the gift shop. Currently flights between Johannesburg and Buffalo Range Airport are operated twice weekly. These flights currently cost $1,380 per person roundtrip. Charters are also available, and if you’re traveling as a larger group or family, it might not even cost more than just booking a seat.

You can book a safari directly with Singita, or can work with a travel advisor, and they can add extra perks for your stay. Ford and his team are happy to help, and can be reached at [email protected].

In the interest of full disclosure, Ford received a travel advisor rate for the stay at this property. It was still far from free, but a discount over the published rate. That was unrelated to me writing anything about the property, and all opinions expressed are my own.

Singita Pamushana Lodge location & transport

Singita Pamushana Lodge is located within the Malilangwe Wildlife Reserve, in southeastern Zimbabwe. The reserve consists 130,000 acres of land, so it’s a massive space. The lodge also has an unbelievably good location within the reserve — it’s on top of a hill, overlooking a lake, with nature as far as the eye can see.

As you’d expect, the remote location also means that getting here takes a bit of effort. Currently Federal Airlines operates two weekly flights between Johannesburg (JNB) and Buffalo Range (BFO), covering a distance of just over 400 miles.

The flight is operated by a Pilatus PC-12, and takes around 1hr45min in each direction. From the airport, it’s a roughly 45-minute drive to the lodge. I’ve already reviewed the Federal Airlines flight experience.

Aside from needing to time your visit based on the two weekly flights, I found the process of getting to the lodge to be quite straightforward.

Singita Pamushana Lodge suite

At Singita Pamushana Lodge, four of the accommodations are the base “suites,” which are really massive standalone villas with private pools. The property is spread out, with tons of beautiful trees providing shade. So no matter which villa you’re in, you’re guaranteed a lot of privacy.

I couldn’t even tell you what our room number was, or if there was one — I don’t think the rooms are marked, all the staff know who is in which room, and for that matter, we never even took a key or locked our doors.

While you might be in the middle of a wildlife reserve, you’re certainly not roughing it here, and the suite we had did a great job of blending traditional design and a sense of place with modern luxury.

Upon entering the suite, we found ourselves in the living room, with a large sitting area, a dining table with two chairs, a minibar, and a fireplace.

The minibar was well stocked, with everything from liquor, to wine, to beer, to soft drinks, to a coffee machine, to a kettle, to snacks. There were even some recommended cocktails you could prepare yourself.

Of course the beauty of being on safari is that you’re not limited to what’s in the minibar. If you want a cappuccino at 5AM, or a certain bottle of wine or cocktail at 5PM (or the other way around), the staff are more than happy to accommodate that.

The living room then flowed into the bedroom, via a set of stairs. There was a plush king size bed, which was turned down nightly with a net around it.

Behind the bedroom was a large closet area. There was also a laundry basket, so if you needed any laundry done, you could just toss it into there.

Past the bedroom was the main bathroom, featuring double sinks, a soaking tub, a walk-in shower (both indoor and outdoor), and a toilet and bidet.

At the opposite end of the suite there was a second bathroom, with a sink and toilet.

The air conditioning worked flawlessly, much better than I would have expected in such a remote location. Meanwhile the Wi-Fi worked reasonably well, and I was able to stay productive. Housekeeping was “invisible,” in the sense that we never saw them, but they refreshed the room multiple times per day.

In addition to the indoor space, we also had a gorgeous outdoor terrace with a dining table, several loungers, and a large plunge pool.

Perhaps the best part of the outdoor space was the view — how stunning is this?!

Singita Pamushana Lodge shared spaces

While Singita Pamushana Lodge is on a large plot of land, the lodge’s shared spaces are centralized in one main area, just a short walk from the suites. This is where you’ll find reception, a variety of seating, the pool, the dining area, and the bar.

One of the beautiful things about a lodge like this is that you feel like you have your own private residence. During our stay, two other suites were occupied, so there were a total of six guests. Whether you’re at the pool, or just chilling in the shade, you’ll rarely see another guest.

The lodge has plenty of seating if you just want to sit around and chill, enjoy a drink, or get some work done.

The lodge doesn’t have a formal restaurant, but rather it just has a variety of dining options scattered the area. Dinner was in a different location every night, and typically they seat parties far enough apart so that you don’t even see anyone else. There’s a tiered dining area where we had some of our meals, with an especially nice view.

There’s also a space that’s a bit more covered, though we never ate here, as it doesn’t afford quite the same view as the other options.

There’s even an indoor area, in the event of inclement weather (or if that’s just your preference).

At the very edge of the lodge there’s the bar area. This has some tables and high-top seating, and you can come here any time for a drink (or snack, or meal, or whatever you’d like… probably even a massage!). This is also the meeting point before all game drives.

While the views here are great during the day…

…they pale in comparison to the sunrise views from here, which we enjoyed every morning prior to our game drive. OMG.

Singita Pamushana Lodge pool

In case you want something a little bigger than your own plunge pool, Singita Pamushana Lodge has a central infinity edge pool, right in the middle of the resort. There’s also lots of seating around the pool, should you want to relax between game drives.

I know I’m beating a dead horse here, but you can of course enjoy any food, drinks, etc., here as well. The staff at the lodge constantly check on you, no matter where you are. The pool is also pretty gorgeous at night.

Singita Pamushana Lodge spa

Singita Pamushana Lodge offers spa treatments at an extra cost. You can either have a treatment in the dedicated spa facility, or in your own suite. Below you can find the spa treatment options.

As far as pricing goes, you can book a 45-minute treatment for $115, a 60-minute treatment for $140, or a 90-minute treatment for $180. The spa facility is its own standalone building, and it has both a main reception area, plus two treatment rooms.

Ford and I both had massages here one afternoon, and they were incredible. I’ve possibly never had a better massage.

Singita Pamushana Lodge gym

Safari lodges are never going to have epic gyms, though Singita Pamushana Lodge has one of the better setups I’ve seen for such an intimate lodge. There’s a 24/7 gym building that guests can use.

The gym has both indoor and outdoor space, with a selection of cardio and strength training machines, plus free weights. So for those into working out, you should have no issues keeping up with your routine while here (time permitting — safaris can be jam-packed).

Singita Pamushana Lodge food & drinks

Safaris are exercises in restraint. You spend hours sitting during game drives, and then you’re offered an endless amount of delicious food and drinks. Singita has a flexible dining concept, so you can eat what you want, when you want.

Not only does the chef accommodate any dietary preferences, but he also accommodates everything from your schedule to your preferences. Whatever you want, whatever hour of the day, consider it done. Let me talk a bit about our typical day when it comes to dining.

Before game drives each morning, we stopped at the bar for a cup of coffee, ranging from an americano to a cappuccino, all of which were great.

Then after our game drive, we’d have brunch each morning, our only real meal before dinner. Our first day we were presented with a breakfast menu, since I think the staff assumed we’d be having lunch as well. But after the first day when we made it clear that it was just too much food, we were instead given a brunch menu, with the options changing every day.

Below is a sample breakfast menu.

For breakfast, we had everything from an açaí bowl, to an oats bowl, to a cheese plate, to an omelet.

For days where we had brunch, we ordered things like salmon kebab and crispy potato egg rolls with chicken.

To tide us over until dinner, there was an afternoon tea selection every day prior to the second game drive, with sweet and savory options.

There was also a fridge with all kinds of drinks and pre-made fresh snacks in glass jars, which you could help yourself to.

The dinner concept changed nightly, both in terms of type of cuisine and presentation. For example, the first night there was an international menu, served as three courses.

The bread and butter selection changed nightly, though (unfortunately) in each case it was irresistibly delicious.

To start, I had the beetroot salad, while Ford had the tomato soup.

Then for mains, I had the gnocchi, while Ford had the beef fillet.

For dessert, we split the coconut yogurt mousse.

Another evening, there was Italian cuisine, served family style. My only complaint is that the portion was way too big.

Another evening, it was Zimbabwean night, so the meal consisted of traditional food from the country, which was fun to try. They even had live entertainment from a local family, which I enjoyed immensely (I’m a sucker for any and all live music).

Even beyond the food and drinks at the lodge, on each game drive there was a stop to enjoy a drink. In the mornings, that consisted of coffee with biscuits and cookies, while in the afternoons it consisted of gin & tonics with nuts, chips, and more.

Singita Pamushana Lodge game drives

Singita Pamushana Lodge guests generally do two game drives daily. The schedule varies based on the time of year, and how long the day is. We were visiting in late summer, so the days were quite long. Our morning game drives generally went from around 6AM until 10AM, while our afternoon game drives went from around 3:30PM until 6:30PM. Let’s talk about this in a bit more detail, and about what makes Singita, and Malilangwe Reserve, special.

First of all, when possible, Singita privatizes game drives. There were three pairs of guests, and each got their own car, guide, and spotter. We spent our entire trip with our guide Nick and our spotter Robert, and we couldn’t have asked for better people.

They were fun, knowledgable, and had a passion for what they were doing. I also loved being able to ask them about life in Zimbabwe (outside of the nature reserve), as it’s something you don’t otherwise hear much about in the West.

Malilangwe Reserve is pretty great as a Singita guest, because you have the entire area to yourself. There are some parks that have many safari lodges, and there’s nothing wrong with that, but it’s pretty cool to not come across any other vehicles (aside from the anti-poaching rangers).

You’ll find many of the same animals as at other reserves in the region, like lions, wild dogs, elephants, zebras, and more.

One special thing about Malilangwe Reserve is how many rhinos there are. Other nature reserves barely have any, while here you’ll find over 400 of them. This included both black and white rhinos, and getting up close with them was quite thrilling (and Robert is quite a brave guy for sitting where he is while a rhino approached us).

One other amazing thing about Malilangwe Reserve is how much water there is, as there’s a huge lake and reservoir. This meant there weren’t just game drives, but also game… well, what do you call it when you look for animals by boat?

A couple of days we went by boat, and saw everything from a terrifying number of crocodiles, to hippos, to elephants crossing the lake.

Another day we tried our hand at fishing, which was a first of me. I learned an important lesson — I’m not good at fishing. Poor Nick and Robert spent the entire time just untangling our lines and “helping” us (in other words, handing us the rods when there was a bite, and giving us all the credit). 😉

Singita Pamushana Lodge service

I can’t say enough good things about the service at Singita Pamushana Lodge, not that this should come as much of a surprise. I think you’d expect high standards from a lodge with just six guests and a countless number of employees, but despite that, Singita manages to positively surprise.

For one, Singita hires great, kind, outgoing people, who act as incredible hosts. From the lodge manager (Valerie), to our guide and spotter (Nick and Robert), to our butler (Sifundo), to the bartenders, to the chef, every single person we interacted with went above and beyond to make our stay special.

No request is too much, and you really feel like you’re in your home, except you don’t have to do anything yourself. And even when you’re already having an amazing time, they manage to still somehow exceed expectations.

For example, one afternoon we had an amazing boat tour, and on our way back to the lodge, we pulled over, and they had a private bar reception for us to enjoy the sunset. How special is this?

It’s not just the thought, but also the brilliant coordination. We had passed the exact point where this was set up about 15 minutes earlier, and there was nothing. So during that time, staff from the lodge came to set this up, without us even noticing.

Another morning, our game drive didn’t end as planned, but rather the lodge had set up an amazing breakfast in the middle of the reserve for all of us. Each couple enjoyed breakfast with their guide and spotter, so that was a cool experience.

Obviously Singita properties are (very) expensive, but they really cut no corners with the guest experience. At every opportunity they can, the staff try to exceed expectations.

Bottom line

I had high expectations coming into our stay at Singita Pamushana Lodge in Zimbabwe, but despite that, Singita managed to impress. This is a gorgeous lodge with a breathtaking setting, beautiful accommodations, great staff, a unique game drive experience, and tasty food and drinks.

Admittedly it’s not cheap, but if you’re into luxury safaris, I can’t recommend this enough. Personally I enjoyed this every bit as much as the two Singita safari lodges we visited in South Africa several years back (though don’t ask me to pick!).

Even if this property is outside your budget, I highly recommend doing a safari of some sort if you can. It’s unlike any other kind of trip you can take, and being able to get so close to nature really gives you a new appreciation for the world, its beauty, and the cycle of life.

What’s your take on Singita Pamushana Lodge in Zimbabwe?