Kwandwe Private Game Reserve: Malaria-free Safaris for Children

Most children are fascinated by animals, and an African safari can be a life-changing experience. Opinion is divided, however, as to the minimum age at which such a trip is likely to succeed. Many lodges will not take young children, chiefly on the grounds that they tend to be disruptive on vehicles. And then, of course, there is the problem of malaria. Although the most effective prophylactic, Malarone, can be dispensed in pediatric doses, children are extremely sensitive to it and many parents are unwilling to risk the possible side effects. One obvious solution is to take a safari in a malaria-free area. Regrettably, most of the major African game parks are in the malarial zone (and many also have insects such as tsetse flies, which can deliver painful bites). In the northern South African parks such as Kruger and adjoining Sabi Sand, malaria is regarded as a seasonal affliction, prevalent chiefly during the rains from November to April. But alas, no one has given the mosquitoes precise dates on which they are obliged to desist.

One area that is guaranteed to be malaria-free — because it is sufficiently far from the tropics — is South Africa’s Eastern Cape. (The region’s largest city, Port Elizabeth, lies about one hour by air directly east of Cape Town.) Indeed, the lack of malarial mosquitoes was once the downfall of its wildlife. Settlers found it easy and safe to move in, and by the 1820s had already started shooting the game to prevent it from killing or competing with livestock. Nowadays, however, upscale safaris can be more profitable than cattle ranching, and several large estates have been restocked with a complete range of wildlife species.

Kwandwe Private Game Reserve opened in 2001 on 54,400 acres of land — a tract about 15 miles long by six miles wide — purchased by American business tycoon Carl DeSantis. The main lodge occupies a striking site, perched high above the serpentine course of the Great Fish River, a natural frontier that long marked the boundary between areas of European colonization to the south and the lands of the formidable Xhosa people (a tribe of which Nelson Mandela is the most eminent member). From afar, the lodge is deliberately inconspicuous, the contours of its thatched roof following those of the nearby hills. But the interior is dramatic and lavishly furnished, its floors covered by Persian rugs, and its dining tables set with embroidered damask linens, pewter, silverware and early 19th-century china. The nine air-conditioned suites, each a self-contained structure with a sundeck and private plunge pool, come with indoor and outdoor showers and claw-foot Edwardian bathtubs.

Elsewhere on the estate, Uplands Homestead, a restored 1905 farmhouse, offers three en suite bedrooms, 1820s settler décor, a sizeable swimming pool and a private chef, plus a dedicated ranger and vehicle. Kwandwe now possesses substantial populations of the larger game species, including lion, cheetah, elephant, rhino and giraffe. The terrain is grand, elemental and sun-bleached, exactly the kind of landscape anticipated by most first-time visitors to Africa. Not only are children welcome at Kwandwe — even those below the age of 6 are accepted — but dedicated rangers organize bush walks for children, fishing trips, bug collecting excursions and introductory bird identification classes. In most areas of Africa, it is probably unwise to take children below the age of 12 on safari. But Kwandwe provides parents with another option. In the malaria-free Eastern Cape, the rules prevailing elsewhere simply don’t apply.