When Hollywood went to Hoedspruit: see the lodge that landed Tom Cruise

Last February, a helicopter landed in a field in Hoedspruit and, as some of the locals tell it, the little Limpopo town went nuts. That’s because inside said helicopter was Hollywood hotshot Tom Cruise, about to spend two months in South Africa filming sequences for the eighth Mission Impossible movie. 

Cruise gets props in movie circles for doing his own stunts and piloting his own machines and, over the course of his stay in the country, he choppered over places as far afield as Ladysmith, the central Drakensberg and the Blyde River Canyon. But at the end of each day, he’d aim his “whirlybird” towards Hoedspruit and the aforementioned field, to lay his head at a quiet bush lodge on the Hoedspruit Wildlife Estate (HWE). 

Described as a “residential game reserve”, HWE occupies 680ha on the edge of town. With half the area preserved as “untouched bushveld”, the other half is sprinkled with private homes and lodges. This means that while tenants get easy access to Hoedspruit’s urban conveniences outside, inside is a zhoushy version of the bush with widely spaced houses; well-kept roads; cycling paths and walking trails; and a population of trees, birds and other creatures — giraffe, zebra, warthog, wildebeest, impala, duiker and kudu to name a few. Since the fences pose no impediment, in an area teeming with game reserves, there is also the odd interloping leopard. Dog owners on the estate are encouraged to lock up their pooches at sunset lest they become prey. 

Human intruders are more easily handled and, predictably, the estate has show-us-your-driver’s-licence-level security: guards, booms and ever-changing access codes — no doubt the first thumbs-up for the crew tasked with choosing Cruise’s South African address. 

Hoedspruit, of course, is quite the tourist town thanks to its proximity to the Kruger National Park (Orpen gate is 30 minutes away), the Blyde River Canyon Nature Reserve and the Panorama Route with its weird rocks and jaw-dropping vistas. No surprise, then, that HWE has about 40 guest houses or lodges on its grounds.

How then, of all the options, did Safari Moon Luxury Bush Lodge land Hoedspruit’s hottest tenant? This was my mission when I checked in some time after Cruise’s exit: to find out. 

A VERY FINE HOUSE

I’m sure the secret is in the sorts of terms that excite Hollywood types: pizazz, panache, personality ... all of which Safari Moon has in abundance, thanks largely to its owner-managers Nicola and Guy Leitch. They’d already had success with two properties in the Cape when they decided to branch off to the bush. They bought the house, a private residence, and converted it to the lodge: now with six two-sleeper suites. 

Beyond the grand, glass front door, the vast communal area still looks like a house — a very fine house that flows open-plan from the entrance past the kitchen and lounge to the bar and indoor dining area, then out to the treed alfresco dining space and pool deck. A sweeping space though it may be, there is much to catch the eye for it's a cornucopia of beautiful comfort objects and objets d’art. 

Nicola, an ebullient redhead with a soft spot for animal-print, is the diva behind the décor and clearly a hunter-gather of sorts. Yes, there is one felled animal, a taxidermied impala bust on the stone-clad wall over the fireplace, but the rest is an eclectic showcase of her eye for buying “art and all things interesting” and combining them in surprising ways. 

Here the works of local artisans — beads, wood carvings and embroidery — share the stage with sculptures and paintings by names of international acclaim (such as Lionel Smit and James Stroud). There are Persian rugs, fat leather couches, oversized cushions and luxurious throws. Flowering orchids sit beside brass monkeys on the side tables. Hurricane lamps and succulents in test-tubes dot the bar. And outside, tasselled poolside parasols bring in hints of Bali on a breeze. 

Nicola also happens to be a card-carrying member of AA (Ardmore-holics Anonymous), Ardmore being the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands studio famed for its African-fantasy-inspired, one-of-a-kind ceramics. Her 55-piece collection makes a feature wall worth a lengthy snoop, though probably best not to touch: they are eye-wateringly expensive. But the wall captures well the overall feeling at Safari Moon of a place with lashings of character, at once cultured and opulent and just the right touch of kooky. 

With a plethora of attractions nearby, the lodge works on a different philosophy than those middle-of-nowhere bush operations where guests are captive from check-in to check-out. Here, you can independently enjoy the estate’s bird hides, walks, self-game drives and even a spa or venture beyond the gates and book a Kruger game drive or guided tour of the Panorama Route. There are horse rides and quad biking, hot-air balloon rides and helicopter flips or simply hit the local craft markets or the wacky (human) watering holes. Your hosts are open to consultation and will help arrange your heart’s desires — just ask. 

On the drive from Graskop to Hoedspruit, we’d done some of the Panorama Route, stopping at  God’s Window and the Three Rondavels on the R532. Both viewpoints on the Drakensberg escarpment offer phenomenal vistas over the Blyde River Canyon Nature Reserve and the Lowveld far below. 

At the Three Rondavels observation deck (altitude 1,380m), you look across the canyon to the famed hut-shaped rock formations — movies stars in their own right, as they appear in Black Panther — and down to the river, a shimmering snake far below. 

The guide, meanwhile, was full of facts.  Up to 1,000m deep and 5km wide, the Blyde is the world’s third largest canyon (after the Grand Canyon in the US and  the Fish River Canyon in Namibia) but it is the world’s largest “green canyon” as it is so lushly vegetated, with bands of tropical bush, rainforest and even fynbos atop these rocks. The boat also floats past a rare feature, the Kadishi Tufa Waterfall, especially evocative as it resembles a weeping face. While most waterfalls lead to the erosion of rocks, tufa waterfalls build up the rock by depositing limestone over millions of years. With a drop of 200m, Kadishi is reportedly the world’s  second-highest example of such a fall, though I’ve had no luck in finding out which is the highest.

FIRESIDE TALES

A happy drive back to Hoedspruit leads us to the lodge. On the first night, we’d had a beautifully plated three-course feast in the dining area alongside the Ardmore. Tonight, it's a braai in the boma. Evening meals are often a communal affair, and we gather with our fellow guests and hosts for a convivial dinner, gnawing on lamb chops and laughing at the long table before retiring to the camp chairs around the fire for more chat.

Of course, the conversation turns to Cruise and Nicola is full of funny stories — how his stay was so hush-hush that when Hello Magazine called they played dumb. Meanwhile, the number of casual walkers, joggers and drive-bys on their quiet road increased suspiciously over his tenure. Cruise’s people had put up screens around the entire property so the rubberneckers were out of luck, but Nicola is quick to add that he was “a total gentleman” who often stopped to wave and smile at the residents on the estate. He and his party “looked after the lodge impeccably”, she says “and the staff loved him.” 

There's proof in the pictures: several shots for which Cruise posed smiling and first bumping  each of the staff members under the tree at the front door — perfectly, perhaps, a star chestnut.

Before our own departure, we pause to pose Tom-style for our own pics too, a magic memento of a weekend when we, too, lived like stars. 

GETAWAY AT A GLANCE

GETTING THERE: Hoedspruit is a 5-6-hour drive from Joburg. You can also fly in with Airlink, CemAir and FlySafair.

RATES: From R2,950 per person per night, B&B. Tapas-style lunch platters (R320pp) and three-course/boma dinners (R450pp) can be booked in advance. Full board, which includes one game drive per day, is from R5,500 per person per night. Check their website for late booking discounts and other special offers. 

BLYDE CANYON CRUISE: The 90-minute excursion with Blyde Canyon Adventure Centre leaves from the Blyde River Dam jetty, 40km from Hoedspruit. It’s R290 per person, R170 for kids aged 2-12. This excludes the R35 per adult Mpumalanga Tourism And Parks Agency entrance fee, to be paid in cash on arrival. 

THREE RONDAVELS: Entrance to the observation deck is R20 per person.