Samara wins again at the Condé Nast Traveller Readers’ Choice Awards 2024

A drone picture of Samara lodges

For the second year running, South Africa’s Great Karoo region is showcased on the world stage as Samara Karoo Reserve is listed in a prestigious hotel award.

Samara Karoo Reserve, near Graaff-Reinet in the Eastern Cape’s Great Karoo region, has been named as a winner on both the United States list of the Top 15 Resorts in South Africa (#15 in South Africa) and the United Kingdom list of the Top 10 Resorts in South Africa (#6 in South Africa) by Condé Nast Traveller.

For the first time in five years, Condé Nast Traveller opted to run separate surveys in the US and the UK, and more than 575 000 readers in the USA and 125 000 readers in the UK voted in this year’s awards. As the longest running, guest-driven awards in the tourism industry, the Readers’ Choice Awards represents the epitome of excellence in hospitality.

“We’re thrilled to be recognised in these awards for the second year in a row and we extend a warm thank-you to all our guests who voted for us,” says Isabelle Tompkins of Samara. “We are immensely proud of the Samara team for consistently delivering exceptional experiences and unforgettable memories and we are delighted to play our role in showcasing the Karoo as a world-class destination.”

Samara Karoo Reserve is a conservation journey on 67 000 acres of born-again wilderness in South Africa’s heartstoppingly beautiful Great Karoo region. Founded in 1997 with a bold rewilding mission, today Samara is one of South Africa’s most diverse safari destinations comprising five vegetation biomes across strikingly varied topography, home to over 60 mammal species including the Big Five and cheetah, as well as 225 bird species.

Three intimate lodges with a true sense of place welcome guests for considered, meaningful and exceptional safari encounters in a malaria-free environment. Every guest who stays at Samara plays a role in safeguarding the landscape in perpetuity. Its low-footprint approach to tourism ensures an exclusive wilderness experience for guests, inspiring a deep connection with the wild spaces of the Karoo.

“We believe a world in which biodiversity and humanity thrive is well within reach, and staying at one of Samara’s lodges and participating in our unique experiences – from planting spekboom with the restoration team to tracking wild cheetah on foot – acts as a direct contribution to this vision,” says Tompkins.

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