Jock Safari Lodge, Kruger National Park

Jock Safari Lodge was built by the Niven family, descendants of Sir Percy FitzPatrick, the South African author, prospector and transport-rider whose 1907 book Jock of the Bushveld told the story of his dog Jock in the old Eastern Transvaal goldfields. The family used his trust funds to establish the lodge in the same bushveld FitzPatrick once travelled, on a 6,000-hectare private concession at the confluence of the Mitomeni and Biyamiti rivers — the first private concession ever granted within Kruger National Park, under conservation-focused management since 1982.

The lodge keeps to just 15 suites across two properties: 12 thatched suites at Main Jock Lodge, each with its own plunge pool and a sala overlooking the riverbed, and the three-suite Fitzpatrick's at Jock, an exclusive-use villa with its own chef, private safari vehicle and ranger for up to six guests. Both are graded 5-star by the Tourism Grading Council of South Africa.

The lodge runs its own rhino-protection unit, JEMU (Jock Environmental Monitoring Unit), established in 2016 to patrol the concession with motion-detection cameras and feed intelligence to SANParks rangers, and sources more than 80% of its workforce from surrounding communities.