About Lepogo Noka Camp
Sensational location on top of a 100 foot high cliff overlooking the Palala river combined with some of the most gorgeously luxurious rooms in South Africa, makes this one of the most exciting new lodges to be launched in this country for many years!
Here at Bushscapes, we’re exposed to images of new lodges pretty much all the time and, to be frank, it takes a lot these days for anything to really break through the clutter and make a serious impression. Well, Lepogo Lodges’ new Noka Camp certainly succeeded in that! Quite simply, this has to be one of the most spectacularly located lodges in southern Africa courtesy of its clifftop position perched above the winding Palala river below! And once you pick up your jaw in terms of the location, the next thing that strikes you is the wonderfully stylish and luxurious design that the new lodge exhibits in spades!
Just a short three-hour drive from Johannesburg, Noka Camp is set within the 50 000-hectare, malaria-free Big 5 Lapalala Wilderness Reserve. Noka Camp consists of five massively spacious stilted villas, including one villa especially designed for families. The villas are joined by a main public lodge area comprised of a dining room, bar, lounge area and sprawling outdoor terrace, all perched atop a 100-foot-high cliff overlooking the winding Palala River below and the endless bush ahead.
One of the things that the owners are very proud of the lodge’s eco-credentials with the aim being to achieve a zero-carbon footprint. Thus the camp is entirely off-grid, with all energy self-generated by a bespoke, 250m solar walkway – cleverly the wooden walkway leading from the public areas to the individual guest villas has its roof covered for the entire distance with solar panels!
Lepogo Lodges worked closely with award-winning Japanese Architect Yuji Yamazaki on the design of Noka Camp and its five stilted villas, aiming to offer the highest level of luxury while bearing the lightest footprint on the surrounding environment. A glass-fronted design for the main lodge and villas maximises the incredible panoramic views which can be enjoyed at every turn, while the entire property has been built on small concrete pads, which ensure that minimal permanent scars are left on the land.
The interiors of the tented villas are wonderfully light-filled and superbly outfitted too, boasting a heated plunge pool, sunken bathtub and underfloor heating! Perhaps the only strange aspect to our mind is that the private plunge pool is accessed through the bathroom, whereas we would have thought it more suitable to lie directly off the villa’s lounge or bedroom area. One of our favourite features has to be the unique ‘sky bed’ which lies on the glass-floored deck cantilevered over the ravine below – this is both an inviting day bed on which to while away the daylight hours enjoying the views, but can also be made up as a bed complete with a covering mosquito net if you would like to spend the night outside under the stars!
The lodge’s main public areas are similarly inviting and luxurious with lovely use of colour and eclectic design elements perfectly complementing the light-filled interiors where walls effectively disappear through the use of retractable frameless glass panels - each vista becoming a framed work of art on a grand scale! Whether you’re seated at the bar, relaxing in one of the comfy sofas in the lounge, or seated on the extensive deck outside, the magnificent views will no doubt captivate.
Noka Camp offers a truly extraordinary South African wilderness experience for families, couples and groups of friends alike. Lapalala Wilderness has ensured that there will never be more than three commercial lodges in the 50 000-hectare reserve, ensuring the rare combination of accessibility yet extraordinary privacy. Guests are able to enjoy a wide range of activities ranging from game-drives and boat safaris, to yoga and spa experiences, swimming or fishing in the river, not to mention tours of iron-age settlements and bushman paintings in the cliffs below the lodge. Lepogo also offers ‘luxury bush sleep outs’ which allow one to follow in the footsteps of the forefathers of Lapalala.
Back at the lodge, an unparalleled dining experience will provide ample opportunity to relax and recharge, with a team of world-class chefs headed by the Heston Blumenthal-trained Thapelo Letsogo. Chef Thapelo’s creative African-Asian fusion cuisine takes inspiration from the Asian cooking styles found along the Spice route of the African coast and is made with locally-sourced and grown ingredients, alongside homemade honey, beer and gin, made onsite at Lepogo! After dinner, adjourn to the adjacent firepit area of the deck where you can enjoy the splendour of the African night sky over a night cap whilst reliving the day’s adventures with your fellow guests!
