ENVI Lodges, the outdoor hospitality brand and management company, is expanding its African portfolio with its first-ever South African property set to open in Summer 2026 – an exciting milestone in the company’s continental growth strategy.
The lodge, ENVI Addo Private Reserve, is located within a private conservation reserve of 1,800 hectares bordering Addo National Park, in the Eastern Cape of South Africa. Just 75 minutes away from Chief Dawid Stuurman International Airport in Gqeberha (formerly known as Port Elizabeth), and minutes from the iconic Addo Elephant National Park, the property consists of 10 safari tents and three lodges offering an intimate and immersive stay surrounded by pristine wilderness.
The Lodge will offer guests a culinary journey through the Eastern Cape, from the Xhosa hearth to the Afrikaans farm kitchen, and the Khoi San roots of foraging and fire. Guests will enjoy an open fire cooking experience (the cornerstone of the Lodge’s culinary identity), a breakfast in the bush, or a sunset drink where guides share stories about their wildest wildlife encounters.
True to ENVI’s philosophy, wellbeing lies at the heart of the experience. Guests can reconnect with nature through guided walks, cycling trails, meditation, and bespoke spa rituals, before unwinding by the lodge’s serene pool, while enjoying a front-row seat to animals gathering to drink at the nearby waterhole. The solar-powered lodge, with its fully equipped game vehicles and highly trained guides, also promises to offer some of the most unique game drives and walking safaris in the country.
The reserve is owned by Gavin and Lynn Biggs, two conservation philanthropists who are devoting their life to regeneration and rewilding. They use their large reserve as a rehabilitation field for animals that they save from captivity, allowing them to reacclimatise to the great outdoors for a period, before releasing them into the private reserve.
“I have been fortunate in my life to have a successful business that allows me to invest in what is close to my heart: conservation”, said Biggs. “Throughout the years, we managed to rescue and release into the wild many game species and wildlife with rare genetic variations. This was only possible thanks to the work that my team and I do in the reserve daily.”
The reserve includes very rare serval cats and black footed cats, as well as giraffes, sable antelopes, black impalas, zebras, buffalos, wildebeests, and large herds of impalas, kudus and Nyalas. It is also the only reserve with five privately owned elephants and three cheetahs, living freely within their natural game reserve habitat. In fact, the herd of Asanta Sana elephants, thanks to a landmark conservation initiative with the Wildlife Emergency Fund and Fisher Foundation, was carefully and ethically relocated to the reserve to ensure the preservation of their unique family structure and to provide them with a safe, protected habitat. As for the rescued cheetahs, the expansive, carefully managed reserve provides these remarkable cats with an environment that closely mirrors their wild ecosystem, allowing them to exhibit natural behaviours and thrive as part of a balanced predator-prey dynamic.
Biggs’ objective is to attract more guests to come and partake in the conservation initiatives that he has been leading, allowing more people to learn about endangered species and support rewilding efforts. He is now planning to re-introduce brown hyena to the property, a scavenger which has not roamed these lands for some 150 years. “I want more people to be part of our mission, and I believe that hospitality and tourism can perfectly complement the work that we have been doing”, added Biggs. “This is why I decided to partner with ENVI Lodges to manage my lodge within the reserve. It is an international lodge brand whose values align with mine.” With ENVI, he wishes to raise awareness and position his reserve on the global eco-tourism stage.
Paul Jordaan, ENVI’s Executive Director, explains: “I am particularly proud of this new addition to the ENVI portfolio. Not only because it is in my home country and that it marks our brand’s entry in South Africa, but also because of the incredible conservation work that Gavin has been doing, which resonates with me personally, and with our company.”
Conservation is not only about protecting wildlife, but also about healing the land they call home. One of the lodge’s most impactful ecological initiatives involves the revival of spekboom, an indigenous plant hailed as a natural carbon sponge and a cornerstone of South Africa’s ecological restoration efforts. Another conservation project is based on protecting and nurturing the mighty Cape honey bee which plays a silent but significant role in sustaining the natural environment. The lodge will also produce and sell its own premium organic honey.
ENVI’s objective for this lodge goes beyond offering an elevated hospitality and an unforgettable safari experience; it is also about showcasing the reserve’s conservation efforts and becoming a reference for regenerative hospitality projects.
“Unlike traditional safaris, guests here are not just spectators; we want them to become actors”, concluded Jordaan. “The lodge will truly offer them transformative experiences, help raise awareness around conservation, and create encounters with animals that travellers will never forget”.
For further information on ENVI Lodges, please visit www.envilodges.com.
