Your Hosts
Bobby, Belinda and Michael Burg have travelled extensively in South Africa and are experts in crafting a bespoke experience for all our guests. We have experienced and stayed at all the lodges recommended and can craft personalized safari experiences for groups from 2–12.
As a North American operator, we cater to North American clients and have great resources and contacts in South Africa to plan everything for your once-in-a-lifetime experience. Many people have trusted us with their safari experience, and we would be honored to do that for you as well.
Our Story
Born of the Bush
Safari Timbavati was founded on a single conviction: that the wilderness deserves to be experienced slowly, intimately, and with deep respect.
The Lodge
A Private Sanctuary in the Greater Kruger
Safari Timbavati was established in the heart of the Timbavati Private Nature Reserve — a vast, unfenced wilderness that shares an open border with the Kruger National Park. What began as a single camp has grown into one of the region's most sought-after private safari experiences.
We operate with a strict low-impact philosophy: limited guest numbers, no mass tourism, and a commitment to leaving the land exactly as we found it. Every decision — from the architecture of our camp to the routes our guides take — is made with the land's long-term health in mind.
Our guests come from every corner of the world, drawn by the promise of something increasingly rare: true wilderness, encountered without compromise.
Our Guides
The Heartbeat of Every Safari
Our field guides are among the most experienced in the Greater Kruger. Each holds FGASA (Field Guides Association of Southern Africa) certification and has spent years — often decades — learning the rhythms of Timbavati's landscape.
They are trackers, naturalists, and storytellers. They read the bush the way others read a page — in the broken twig, the disturbed soil, the distant alarm call. A safari with them is not a tour. It is an education.
15+
Years Average Guide Experience
FGASA
Certified Field Guides
4:1
Maximum Guest-to-Guide Ratio
Conservation
Guardians of the Wild
The Timbavati Private Nature Reserve has been a conservation pioneer since its founding in 1956 — one of the first private reserves in Africa to remove internal fences and allow wildlife to roam freely across the landscape.
Safari Timbavati contributes directly to anti-poaching operations, habitat restoration, and community upliftment programmes in the surrounding villages. A portion of every booking goes directly to these initiatives.
We believe that luxury and conservation are not in conflict. The most extraordinary safari experience is one that leaves the wilderness better than it found it.
Anti-Poaching
Active support of the Timbavati Protection Unit, operating 24/7 across the reserve.
Habitat Restoration
Ongoing removal of invasive species and rehabilitation of degraded land corridors.
Community Partnership
Employment, skills development, and education programmes in surrounding communities.
Come and See for Yourself
Words and photographs can only go so far. The real Timbavati must be experienced — felt in the pre-dawn chill, heard in the lion's roar, seen in the first light breaking over the savanna.