Guest Blog: Eric Taub revisits Ebony three decades later

Eric Taub is a business consultant, published writer, author, and conference and public speaker. He visited Singita Ebony in 1995 when it first opened to cover it for The New York Times, one of the first to share the lodge with the international media. He returned last month to the lodge almost 30 years later, with his wife, photographer Carol Zulman. Here he shares his thoughts on visiting again nearly three decades on, after its recent evolution.

“The four torpid male lions lay on their sides, their swollen bellies heaving rhythmically, heavy from the just-completed ingestion of two impala.”

That’s how I began an article I wrote about Singita Ebony Lodge in the Sabi Sand for The New York Times Sunday Travel section – 30 years ago.

Before our trip in 1995, private game reserves were unknown to most who lived outside of Africa. Then, the best-known way to view wildlife was driving a rental car through Kruger National Park – while confined to the tarred roads.

It’s no exaggeration that Singita was foremost in changing that concept, not simply by offering its visitors highly-skilled field guides and trackers, but by combining the wildlife experience with singular accommodations, sensitive, welcoming visitor-focused staff, and a deep commitment to sustainability and enrichment of the lives of local residents.

Last month, my wife and I had the opportunity to revisit Singita Ebony, the first of its now-19 locations in four countries, to experience Africa’s premier lodge with fresh eyes. Ebony’s recent four-month freshening has made its public spaces even more welcoming, through the creation of a room displaying information about its deep commitment to and work in conservation, a well-stocked wine cellar, new fabrics and furnishings, and the repositioning of gathering spots to provide a more spacious open view of the river and wildlife as they graze below.

Steve Jobs famously said “Some people say give the customers what they want, but that's not my approach. Our job is to figure out what they're going to want before they do.”

That’s why Singita has become synonymous with the ultimate game reserve experience. At Ebony, our needs were anticipated before we knew we had them. From laying out yoga mats, towels, and water bottles near our constantly-heated thermal pool (and then removing them in the evening), to repositioning the portable phone, flashlights, and slippers to fit the time of day, or restocking the bar no matter how little was consumed, there’s nothing to be concerned about except observing the lives of the extensive wildlife one sees, enjoying African sunsets, and regaining a sense of the cycle of life and one’s own place in this incredibly varied and homeostatic world.

If Singita was solely about creature comforts, it would be no different from many other luxury resorts. And if one only wanted to see wildlife, there are many other ways to do so. What makes Singita a singular destination is the combination of its perfect welcoming milieu, coupled with its deep commitment to the preservation, management, and growth of the land, and its work at improving the lives of those who work for it, by creating career opportunities that would otherwise not be available.

From child education, to K9 anti-poaching initiatives, to employing local residents as highly trained and knowledgeable field guides and trackers, Singita has demonstrated its commitment to the environment and its peoples.

In addition, its extraordinary cuisine (available on one’s own schedule) is created by local residents who, after a vigorous vetting process, have been trained at no cost to them, to meet the high standards of London’s Prue Leith cooking academy. Since its start 17 years ago, 103 have graduated from the program and 91% are employed as professional chefs.

It’s all of those elements that define Singita’s gestalt, collectively creating the reason to visit. After our first visit to Singita 30 years ago, my wife and I declared that our stay was the singular best experience of our lives. Today only one thing has topped that: our most recent stay at the newly reimagined Singita Ebony Lodge.