Out in Africa: A Very Different, Captivating African Vacation

Out in Africa is the name of the wildlife lodge run by our friends Monique and Ludger, whom we have just visited. Seventeen years ago the two emigrated from Germany to South Africa, and a few years later they opened the lodge near Pretoria and Johannesburg. We visited them during our two-week vacation in South Africa. This is a first report on what we experienced there.

“Africa as it was 100 years ago”: that is how Monique and Ludger describe their Out in Africa Wildlife Lodge on their website. That is not quite true, of course, but it is a special place for a very different kind of vacation. After a week in and around Cape Town, we booked a week with the two of them. Most of these lines were written under an African sky, on a laptop in the lounge next to the old railway car, where there is Wi-Fi.

Dinokeng: The Big Five an Hour from the Airport

The lodge lies in the Dinokeng Game Reserve, an hour’s drive from Johannesburg airport. The provincial government and more than 170 landowners designed the reserve together. Starting in 2008, a 200-kilometer (125-mile) fence went up around the whole area, after which those landowners removed their own fences. Since then, the animals roam freely across roughly 19,000 hectares (about 47,000 acres) of bush. Black rhinos have lived there since 2018, which means all of the Big Five are present in the reserve.

Tent Instead of Cottage, Zebra Instead of TV

But don’t worry: an electric fence protects the lodge from dangerous animals. Inside, it is the opposite of the classic lodges we have seen in South Africa and stayed in in Namibia: no luxurious cottages with manicured lawns and satellite TV. Instead, there are sturdy tents with a comfortable bed, an old writing desk, rugs and an outdoor shower, tastefully furnished. Electricity powers a few lamps, and you can light the tent and terrace with portable solar lanterns as well. There is no internet and no TV in the tents.

My wife and I stayed in the “Honeymoon Suite,” despite our advanced age. Our TV program was the view from the bed or the terrace straight into the bush, with luck onto passing animals. During our visit we looked two zebras in the eye, standing only a few meters behind the electric fence. Who was watching whom, I’ll leave open. We also saw blue wildebeest and giraffes from our tent. At night we heard birds, now and then hyenas, sometimes a lion or an elephant.

Monique, Ludger and a Reunion After 17 Years

As mentioned above, Monique and Ludger run the lodge. I have known Ludger for more than 25 years. We worked together at the US software company FileNet and often traveled to the States together. When he met Monique and moved to Darmstadt, the two couples became friends. Later Ludger moved to South Africa with Monique. There he worked for IBM, our new employer, which had acquired FileNet.

After some time in South Africa, the two bought the property near Pretoria. With their lodge Out in Africa they wanted to create a very individual experience. The Covid crisis hit them hard, like many in hospitality: the lodge stayed closed for two years. They came through the crisis with a few bruises. Now, after 17 years, we have finally seen each other again.

Fine Dining in a Railway Car

Guests arriving at Out in Africa are welcomed by Monique and led to the reception area: an open space with tables, chairs and parasols, the lounge with armchair corners, a bar with whiskeys and a wine cabinet. This is where you can charge your devices and, if it must be, work online, in case you cannot or do not want to escape the plagues of our time, smartphones and laptops, entirely. Across from the lounge stands the railway car where dinner is served. Yes, really: a complete Rovos Rail carriage more than 100 years old, standing in the middle of the bush.

Monique has furnished the whole lodge lovingly down to the last detail and looks after the guests. Ludger’s domain is the kitchen, and he also hosts whiskey tastings at the bar. Austin serves and helps wherever needed.

Even breakfast on the outdoor terrace is a delight: homemade muesli and, on request, two eggs with bacon, mushrooms and tomatoes. In the evening Ludger cooks refined dishes. We had ostrich, fish and African dishes in his own variations, light rather than heavy, inspired now by French, now by Italian cooking. That is a big difference from what we were often served elsewhere in South Africa, with far too rich a cream sauce. To go with it, you can choose wines from False Bay, Ludger’s favorite winery: a white, a very successful rosé and a red, for instance made from Pinotage, the grape “invented” in South Africa as a crossing.

Dinner is served in this dining car: brown wood, curtains, chairs, all in the original style. To my knowledge, you will find such an ambience for fine dining nowhere else in the world. Monique and Ludger like to tell visitors how arduous the purchase was and how the car was hauled by heavy-load truck from Johannesburg into the middle of the bush.

For One or Two Couples Who Want a Different Kind of Vacation

At Out in Africa, the individual vacation is offered exclusively to one or two couples. Anyone who expects a pool, TV, constant internet and a hairdresser on site is probably in the wrong place. Anyone who wants to breathe in Africa is in the right one. You have to want this vacation in the sturdy tents of the lodge. If you do, you are exactly right here.

Game Drives, a Boat Cruise and a Township

The stay can be shaped in many ways. The program Monique and Ludger offer includes various game drives, that is, trips through the South African bush on which you see the landscape and, above all, animals. One tour we took was the boat cruise in the late afternoon on the 30-hectare reservoir near the Morenga Lodge. From our boat we saw hippos and enjoyed the unique landscape with a sunset.

Those who want to get to know the land and its people more deeply can ask the two to arrange visits to environmental initiatives, craftspeople and artists. A visit to a township can also be organized. We visited a family there. I plan to write about it in a separate post. The exchange was very impressive and stays in the memory long after an ordinary vacation outing.

Getting There: In the Bush by Lunchtime

We can recommend Out in Africa to everyone who wants a different, genuine African vacation. The plane from Frankfurt (or other airports) lands in Johannesburg in the morning, you are picked up and are at the lodge by midday. The return flight leaves only in the evening, so the last day still belongs almost entirely to the vacation. That gains you two days. If you feel like going, book on the lodge’s website.

Contrasts That Stay

We will remember this vacation, of course because we saw Monique and Ludger again, but also because the landscape, the country and its people, and the animals we had known only from television impressed us. The seeming contrast between original African nature and wilderness on the one hand and a fine, delicious dinner on the other is appealing. The contrasts that still open up in South Africa today also occupy us and make us think. All of this makes this stay, for us, a vacation beyond the ordinary.

Sources & Further Reading

• Out in Africa Wildlife Lodge — Monique and Ludger, lodge website, undated
• Dinokeng Game Reserve — Dinokeng Game Reserve, official website, undated
• About Us — Dinokeng Game Reserve, official website, undated
• False Bay Vineyards — False Bay Vineyards, winery website, undated