You won’t need to leave the comfort of Imbali’s deck to see Kruger’s creatures stake their claim over their humble patch: the striking Golden Orb spider spinning her impenetrable web, Burchell’s starlings bravely pecking at a wayward cobra, and squirrels dashing past with their tasty tidbits.
Sheltered in a riverine forest overlooking the seasonal Nwaswitsontso river, Imbali is built on the site of a 400-year-old African settlement that has yielded such evidence of an ancient culture as clay pots, bone tools, and grinding stones. Plush leather sofas, African patterned tapestries, and traditional artifacts fight for their place of pride amidst thatched Tsonga roofs, stone columns, and the odd tree that emerges unapologetically through the teak deck; an impressive Jackalberry keeping diners company as it rises through the lodge’s floor and peeps well out over the Tsonga-styled thatched roof.
Nothing gets in the way of Kruger’s creatures at Imbali. The humble dung beetle is left to his day’s work on neatly raked pathways, the skittish francolins shriek in protest to occasional distractions while tiny frogs play peacefully in the lodge’s infinity pool.
Continuing in the spirit in which the Kruger National Park was created, Imbali acts as a sanctuary for the bush’s creatures, great and small, and is in fact your very own bush sanctuary for the duration of your special Kruger National Park stay.
