Our Story
Meet lush
Italian generosity meets African soul
We Found Paradise.
LUSH – A dream rooted in family
For the Lupinis, Italian hospitality and genuine care are entrenched. From nonna’s wood-fired breads in northern Italy to Tito’s trail-blazing Lupo Bakery in Johannesburg, every generation has found a way to gather people around good food and conversation. When the family first explored the Pilanesberg National Park in the mid-2010s, they felt the same instinct stir.
After months of scouting the privately managed Black Rhino Game Reserve, an unfenced extension of Pilanesberg National Park, the location for Lush would reveal itself with the appearance of a rarely seen herd of buffalo. This was the sign. The Lupinis had found where the foundations could be laid.
Lush blends effortlessly into the hillside, with vast glass fronts respecting sweeping bushveld views, and holding you in the bush and in the moment. Five conscientiously placed Suites, two Deluxe Suites and one Superior Deluxe Suite afford the privacy and comfort of home, while the main lodge, run on Italian hospitality, assures you of diligent care.
The main lodge, run on Italian hospitality, assures you of diligent care.
Pilanesberg National Park
– An extraordinary canvas
Lush’s location is no ordinary landscape. It lies inside the eroded crater of a 1.2-billion-year-old alkaline volcano, one of only three such ring complexes on Earth. Encircled by the hills of the volcanic ring-dyke complex and containing both Kalahari and Lowveld biomes, the Pilanesberg National Park is a wilderness Eden. Nearly all animal species endemic to Southern Africa are to be found here.
Long before its proclamation as Pilanesberg National Park, these fertile plains supported subsistence farmers and early cattle routes. The development of the park is considered one of the most ambitious projects of its kind anywhere in the world.
It began with Operation Genesis in 1979, which game-fenced the area and reintroduced long-vanished wildlife such as elephant, black and white rhino, lion, and the elusive brown hyena.
Today, the Pilanesberg National Park is home to over 7 000 animals, including the Big Five, 25 other mammal species, 350-plus kinds of birds, and innumerable reptile and insect species.
Nearly all animal species endemic to Southern Africa are to be found here.
Black Rhino Game Reserve
– A centre of purpose
The 40 km² Black Rhino Game Reserve protects Pilanesberg National Park’s quiet northern sector, noted for excellent sightings of elephant bulls and endangered black rhino.
Lush Private Game Lodge has traversing access to the whole of Pilanesberg National Park, including the Black Rhino Game Reserve and the park’s limited-access Wilderness Area – established for the protection and breeding of this critically endangered animal, threatened by poaching.
Other successful park conservation initiatives are the Brown Hyena Project and Cheetah Project. The brown hyena is classified near threatened and is at risk due to the mistaken belief that they are harmful to livestock. The cheetah is currently classified vulnerable – though there is call for its reclassification as endangered – and is under threat from poaching, habitat loss, and human-wildlife conflict.
A place to feel whole
Life in an unspoilt wilderness, free of everyday concerns, creates a sense of wholeness. All at once you are in tune with the beat of the wild, belonging back in nature. Whether it’s your first safari or your fiftieth, Lush invites you to belong – back to yourself, back to nature, and to the hospitality the Lupini family has offered for generations.