Lion Sands Game Reserve: Caring for your wellbeing

Each of our four lodges at Lion Sands Game Reserve – Ivory Lodge, Narina Lodge, River Lodge, and Tinga Lodge – now features its own dedicated wellness centre, allowing you to enhance your connection with the African bush in a way that refreshes the mind, body and soul. Slow travel – the luxury of taking time to recharge, to breathe and to embrace stillness – is now fully woven into the Lion Sands Experience.

Wellness in the wilderness

At Lion Sands Game Reserve, wellness is a deeply therapeutic complement to your safari experience, drawing from nature’s inherent power to heal and restore. Whether it’s an indulgent massage or a rejuvenating facial, we’ve carefully selected two native South African brands, TheraNaka™ and TheraVine™, to enhance each treatment. These brands are as committed to the preservation of nature as we are.

Each of our wellness centres combines natural materials, sustainable design and signature therapies to create spaces that work in harmony with the bush.

Ivory Lodge: Our newly enhanced wellness centre at Ivory Lodge includes a sauna, steam room and ice bath, bringing the healing properties of heat and cold therapy to the wild. The soothing dry heat of the sauna helps to relax sore muscles. Follow this with a calming session in the steam room, which purifies the skin and aids in releasing any lingering tension. Lastly, the invigorating plunge into the ice bath stimulates circulation, reduces inflammation and leaves you feeling renewed and ready to embrace the adventures ahead.

Narina Lodge: At Narina Lodge, you can de-stress with a backdrop of the Sabie River and listen to the hum of nature while enjoying one of our signature treatments, such as the TheraNaka™ African Wood Massage. This 90-minute massage mimics the rhythmical patterns of African dance, using warm Olive and shea butter mixed with the earthy scent of mandarin and neroli.

River Lodge: River Lodge was the first lodge in Lion Sands to embrace the symbiosis between wellness and safari. Its water decks, seamlessly blending into the Sabie River, capture the essence of flowing energy and calm. Choose to indulge in one of our signature treatments like the TheraNaka™ Vegan Indulgence Massage, which soothes the skin with plant-based oils and butters – an embodiment of sustainable luxury that instantly softens tension.

Tinga Lodge: The newest wellness centre addition to the Lion Sands family, built in 2024, is perched high on a natural riverbank. Here you can experience full-body rituals, facials such as the HydraVine™ Facial, a hydrating treatment using ingredients harvested from local vineyards, and more – all with a view.

We haven’t forgotten the little ones and offer children’s back and neck massages as well as a mini manicure, mini pedicure, combined with a foot soak and scrub. Our wellness centres are a treat for the whole family.

Why not start the day right with a workout in the well-equipped fitness centre, followed by our strawberry immune booster? This specially formulated effervescent drink is packed with Vitamin C, Vitamin D, and zinc to boost physical resilience and offer a splash of vitality, especially after long-distance travel.

Let us help you put self-care first

More than a list of luxurious amenities, our wellness collection embodies the true luxury of slowing down. It reminds us that life’s biggest rewards come not from how many destinations we check off, but from the moments when we allow ourselves to simply be – revelling in the joy of doing nothing at all. Rest assured that the time to relax, reflect, and revitalise is one of the greatest luxuries you’ll discover at Lion Sands.

Book your transformative safari journey today and experience the best of what our Lion Sands Game Reserve Wellness Collection has to offer.