THE SAXON, Johannesburg, South Africa
WHAT MAKES IT HIP?
Well, for starters it’s where celebrities make a beeline for when they’re in Johannesburg – and we’re talking A+ rather than D-list: Oprah Winfrey, Justin Bieber and Bill Clinton. But more impressive is that this is where Nelson Mandela used to check in when he wanted some solitude (it’s set in acres of sprawling gardens), and where he finished his worldwide best-selling memoir Long Walk To Freedom. You can even stay in the Nelson Mandela suite, which has a king-size bed, guest room and butler’s kitchen. The rest of the rooms make your average five-star look shoddy, particularly the villas linked to the main hotel by a futuristic skywalk. Also pushing Saxon into the hip
zone are its dining options: Qunu is a relaxed, inventive restaurant with living walls and a terrace for alfresco dining. As well as Africaninspired dishes, such as springbok and oxtail, beans and samp (dried corn), there’s also a tempting vegan menu.
WHO GOES?
This place is made for people-watching. Put on your Céline shades (or, er, Zara) and take lunch at The Terrace (overlooking the hotel’s swimming pool), so you can gawk freely at loved-up holiday couples, groups of stylish Jo’burgers catching up over a bottle of wine, African businessmen in suits and shades clinching a deal, and the occasional politician or movie star, too.
DON’T MISS…
Visiting its sister hotel, the Shambala Private Game Reserve. Just a two-and-a-half-hour transfer from the city (or 45-minute helicopter flight) and you’re in 10,000 hectares of savannah in Limpopo, with the Waterberg mountains as a backdrop, a glass of champagne in hand and giraffes munching on trees. Stay for the night (there are eight luxe-yet-rustic cottages with thatched roofs and circular bedrooms) and you’ll be woken super-early, just as the sun turns the sky pink, for a safari drive where, if you’re lucky, you’ll spot lions, leopards and elephants. Take a sunset cruise on the Douw Steyn Dam to see hippos and crocodiles and have a go at fishing, too. Back at base, there’s just time for a dip in the pool and a massage in the enchanting spa (you can hear birdsong from your bed) before dining on sizzling game served straight from the grill in a traditional woodfenced, open-air circular “boma”, lit by candles and a bonfire. Combined, the Saxon and Shambala = trip of a lifetime.