Gather around – the primal pull of the fireplace

Energising, inspiring, hypnotic. If myth has it, fire is a divine spark stolen from the gods. On earth, it’s a source of comfort and safety, with the power to draw those near it closer.

An extricable element of being in the bush, fire takes us back to a primal state of being. And as humans have done for millennia, we sit under the same night sky, celebrating, sharing stories and sustenance around the flames and basking in their warmth.

Singita’s many firepits and fireplaces encourage you to gather and connect. To debrief after an action-filled day, or reflect on the simple pleasure of being where you are, right now.

Immersed in the elements – with rustling trees, the calls of birds and hum of insects at dusk as their soundtrack – a number of our firepits are surrounded by nothing but nature. At Explore, your days are defined by fire – and start and finish around it – a punctuation point at each end. Few things are quite as humbling or peaceful as being out in the bush with only the flames and lanterns creating a beacon of light, knowing that all around you stretches the vastness of the wilderness in every direction.

While our goal is always to draw you out into the wilderness, sometimes the occasion – and weather – calls for returning to hearth and home. That may be for a moment of quiet time enjoyed fireside – there is certainly no lack of cosy places to sit in our lodges (board games at Kwitonda, the comfortable sofas in the tranquil sitting room at Ebony...) Or it may be to enjoy song and dance around the flames – often a centrepoint for joyful celebration in Africa.

The exhilarating sense of space you can enjoy from one of the various fireplace perched around our properties offers not only the space to breathe out, but a sense of perspective. Looking out over a watering hole at Faru Faru, or down the winding Sand River that has flowed for centuries in the Sabi Sand is a reminder of our place in the vastness of space and time and the importance of relishing and celebrating the moment, here and now, around the embers, with loved ones.

Our lodge teams are the people responsible for keeping our many fires going, tending to them each day so that they’re ready to welcome guests back from a drive or a walk. This ritual, of lighting each one every evening at dusk, is as meaningful as that of gathering around it, and forms part of the natural rhythm of each day at Singita.