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Samara Private Game Reserve, home of the Tracker Academy, is proud to celebrate the Academy’s tenth anniversary this month. Alex van den Heever, General Manager of the Tracker Academy, says that the NGO – which falls under the banner of the South African College for Tourism and is funded by the Peace Parks Foundation – was established at Samara Private Game Reserve in 2010, with just eight students, thanks to the generosity of Mrs Gaynor Rupert.

Samara Karoo Reserve is thrilled to announce a new era of tailored luxury and conservation-driven adventure in South Africa’s Great Karoo region.

Two bull elephants, originally from Phinda Private Game Reserve in KwaZulu-Natal, have been released into Samara Private Game Reserve – the first bull elephants to return to the Plains of Camdeboo in 150 years. This follows the successful release of six female elephants into the reserve in October 2017 – a historic translocation.

No Wifi, no electricity, no high-tech distractions - just a grounding, humbling experience in Nature. This is the ethos of Samara Karoo Reserve's brand-new ecotourism offering, Plains Camp, due to open its canvas doors on 15 June 2023.

More than 180 years ago, the Great Karoo was roamed by the majestic Cape lion – a particularly magnificent black-maned subspecies. Wiped out by hunters, their relatives are being welcomed back to Samara Private Game Reserve near Graaff-Reinet thanks to an ambitious re-introduction project. Samara is now home to a founder pride of lions as part of a project to return the Karoo to the state of astounding biodiversity it once enjoyed. Their presence on the reserve will help to restore a once thriving ecosystem.

Visitors to Samara Private Game Reserve’s Karoo Lodge near Graaff-Reinet can now look forward to an even more comfortable stay in this Big 5 reserve, thanks to recent refurbishments.  The lodge’s Sibella Suites, named for Samara’s famous cheetah, have been a focus of the renovations, with rooms made larger, furniture upgraded, a new roof installed and the deck revamped. Comprising two inter-leading suites sleeping four guests, the accommodation is ideal for families travelling with children or couples holidaying together, especially as the location (a five-minute walk from the main homestead) affords guests extra privacy. Newlyweds may even opt for it as their honeymoon suite – together with a Star Bed experience.

Samara Private Game Reserve near Graaff-Reinet in the Eastern Cape’s Great Karoo region is honouring and celebrating this unique, remarkable and soulful landscape of infinite horizons by changing its name to Samara Karoo Reserve.

Samara Karoo Reserve and Russel Binks & Associates are pleased to announce an exciting collaboration, with Russel Binks joining the Samara Team as Brand Alchemist.

Samara Private Game Reserve is forwarding the advancement of women with the appointment of the first formally accredited female tracker in South Africa. Justa Frans’ appointment comes after her graduation from the S.A.C.T Tracker Academy, which is located at Samara, in 2018. Her Level 3 tracking qualification (an achievement of over 90%) is a useful supplement to the training she completed in nature and culture site guiding after matriculating in 2015. These skills will serve Justa well as she prepares for her position as a tracker intern at Samara.

Samara Private Game Reserve is excited to announce the addition of fly camping to its array of safari activities. This adventurous experience has guests exploring the diverse 70,000-acre wilderness on foot before spending the night in an intimate mobile camp. The practice takes its name from the safari days of yore when explorers set up camp in big game country with little more than a fly sheet protecting them from the elements.

Samara Private Game Reserve is enabling guests to become part of the pioneering Conservation journey. The reserve is offering a 5-night Conservation Journey package: a thoughtfully crafted itinerary that allows participants to make a meaningful contribution to Samara's conservation efforts (without compromising on 5-star comforts).

 Samara Private Game Reserve is leveraging a Spekboom reforestation project to encourage collaborative conservation, providing a platform for guests to play a role in the reserve’s initiatives and creating lasting memories in the process.Samara’s Isabelle Tompkins explains that the reserve’s most recent endeavours focus on Spekboom, in an effort to rejuvenate the mountain slopes which were once covered with this species. “The area used to be covered in Spekboom so t…

Samara Private Game Reserve, a family friendly Big 5 reserve located in the Great Karoo, has introduced a series of video bush lessons for children during the national lockdown. The series, Samara Bush Lessons, takes the classroom outdoors to teach children fun facts about the wild.

Samara Private Game Reserve is part of a cheetah swap that will have significant implications for South Africa’s cheetah metapopulation The swap, which recently took place, saw Samara’s Shadow (a male cheetah) transported to a new home in Rogge Cloof. In exchange, a male cheetah from the Welgevonden Game Reserve in the Waterberg was brought to live at Samara. The new male cheetah will be kept in an enclosure over the next six weeks before release in early March.

Just one year after welcoming its founder pride of lions, Samara Private Game Reserve is celebrating the birth of its first litter of cubs. Born to the first wild lion and lioness to roam the Plains of Camdeboo near Graaff-Reinet in over 180 years, these cubs represent a victory for wild lion conservation. “We are ecstatic about this birth,” says Sarah Tompkins, founder of Samara. “It’s a sign that our move to rewild the landscape to create the conditions for new lion populations has been successful.”

Samara Private Game Reserve’s participation in a project to relocate cheetah to Malawi’s Majete Wildlife Reserve is the latest step in the reserve’s ongoing efforts to conserve and boost cheetah populations. Samara is one of four South African reserves taking part in the relocation programme, which is coordinated by EWT and African Parks, with the latter additionally acting as a safe space creator.

Previously reserved for exclusive use as a four-suite villa, Samara’s gracious Manor House may now be booked by independent travellers. The Manor House is ideal for those who desire a little privacy and seclusion while enjoying the profound peace that is the hallmark of Samara’s unique Karoo safaris. In the past, the Manor House offering was available only …

South Africa: Samara Karoo Reserve near Graaff-Reinet in the Eastern Cape's Great Karoo has proudly opened the doors

Spring, a season synonymous with new life, has seen Samara Private Game Reserve welcome a new litter of cheetah cubs into its family. The cubs’ mother, Chilli, is the daughter of the legendary Sibella, whose story has been told worldwide, most recently in a National Geographic documentary, ‘The Miracle Cheetah’.