On Safari With Your Family in Southern Africa

Family life will never be the same at Riverdene Lodge situated in the world renowned Shamwari Game Reserve in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. In line with the worldwide trend of families “doing it together “, Adrian Gardiner, CEO of the reserve brings this concept into vivid reality.

Riverdene Lodge embodies pure elegance in the wilderness with a traditional colonial African feel and ambience offering as experience designed specifically for families with its newly renovated accommodation focused on both adults and children alike.

Riverdene Lodge brings to the family vacation seeker nine inter-leading luxury family rooms accommodating a maximum of 24 guests including children. All luxury rooms are fully air-conditioned and equipped with televisions. Private balconies lead onto the landscaped garden. Riverdene Lodge has two expansive, elegantly furnished casual lounges and a glorious sunroom designed to maximise our life giving African sun. Loads of space for families to be together and yet sufficient space in between for a degree of peace & quiet! Their magnificent rim flow swimming pool is designed to entice guests to relax and restore their energies. With the outdoor life being an integral part of an African Safari, the Riverdene Lodge lounge opens onto a spacious outdoor braai (Afrikaans word meaning barbeque) area where the African stars at night can form the basis for your youngster’s love affair for Africa in such a real way!

What makes Riverdene such a great find for families? Each family will receive personal attention from their assigned ranger for the duration of their stay. To really appreciate and understand the African wilderness areas, you have to have an “ interpreter “. This is where each ranger and tracker at Shamwari comes into their own. Highly trained and experienced in this art of being a part of the Cycle of Life, they impart their knowledge and personal Safari experiences to both parents and their children at a level both will learn and grow from. As an added value item at Riverdene, they have developed a really cool and effective children programme for the aspiring adults to get closer to understanding Mother Nature.

In supporting this family vacation drive, the newly renovated accommodation at Riverdene Lodge will feature two supervised playrooms for children activities. Supervised spacious green lawns with a jungle gym, and a sports and social programme such as soccer, cricket, treasure hunts and swimming will be arranged to entertain and teach children. A special children focussed menu will be available, and dedicated child minders will be on hand at all times.

Upon arrival, each child will automatically receive a Born Free Foundation certificate. Special daily educational game drives on the Reserve for children with their parents will be organized with specific trips to the Born Free Center and the informative and fascinating Shamwari Film Studio.

The children will be introduced to the Shamwari Game Reserve and Born Free Foundation’s challenge to promote the conservation of species and the protection of habitat whilst maintaining a human and compassionate approach to the welfare of animals.

At the Shamwari Film Studio, the children will be shown where the popular international “Unearthed 2” series was filmed, produced and edited. ‘Unearthed 2’ is currently being aired on Animal Planet, plus they will also be exposed to the filming of the new wildlife series called ‘Shamwari: A Wild Life’ which is to be launched in September 2008.

Possibly one of the key aspects of the children’s program at Riverdene Lodge is found where children staying at the Riverdene Lodge will also be invited to take part in the special education programme at the Shamwari Animal Hospital and Rehabilitation Center. Here they will get in touch with the realities of animal rehabilitation, the limitations of mankind’s ability to succeed in this field and yet will leave knowing that dedicated folks have embraced Mother Nature and the much needed bonds between the two are growing stronger and stronger.