South Africa

The ultra-luxury game reserve that was Nelson Mandela’s hidden retreat

Shaun Jacobs • 24 May 2025

Shambala, ‘Paradise on Earth’ in Tibetan, is an ultra-luxury private game reserve in the Waterberg. It was built by billionaire Douw Steyn for Nelson Mandela as a getaway from city life.

On his release from prison in 1990, Mandela spent a long time working from his own private villa at the Shambala game reserve.

Shambala is a two-and-a-half-hour drive away from its sister hotel, the Saxon Hotel, which is located in the heart of Sandton and is designed to be an oasis within the city.

Both were the brainchild of insurance billionaire Douw Steyn. Apart from their close ties to the former South African president, they share similar characteristics.

While the Saxon Hotel was transformed from Steyn’s private home into a luxury hotel, Shambala was built as a resort from scratch.

Mandela also stayed at the Saxon while it was still Steyn’s private home, with the billionaire planning to aid the peaceful transition to democracy.

To this day, there is a Nelson Mandela Platinum Suite in the Saxon Hotel, which guests can pay to stay in after it was converted from a home into a hotel.

Steyn was born in Brits in 1952 and was raised in a relatively poor family, regularly performing magic tricks as a child for extra money while studying in Linden.

He did not complete his university studies despite attending the Rand Afrikaans University (RAU), now UJ, and Potchefstroom Universiteit vir Christelike Hoer Onderwys (PUK), the forerunner of North-West University.

While not interested in completing his studies, Steyn was obsessed with business. He used savings from working as a train conductor to complete a two-year business administration course in Germany.

Steyn returned after completing the course to work for his father’s real estate agency in Melville and was quickly attracted to the world of insurance.

He also had a temporary excursion to California, where he started an insurance company called Calamerica, but soon returned to South Africa to buy the struggling Crusader, giving him an insurance broking licence.

After changing the name to Auto & General, Steyn began recapitalising the business and introduced telemarketing to South Africa. In the process, the company spearheaded paperless insurance.

In the 1990s, Steyn expanded the business overseas and replicated Auto & General’s success with Budget Insurance.

During that decade, Steyn also became good friends with Nelson Mandela and befriended other prominent members of the ANC despite the potential risk to his business.

By the time he had befriended Nelson Mandela, Steyn had built his palatial home in the suburb of Sandhurst called The Saxon.

After Mandela was released from prison, Steyn offered to let him reside in his home during his visits to Johannesburg and organised meetings with influential businessmen.

At the same time, the freedom fighter regularly made the two-and-a-half-hour journey out to Shambala to get away from the city.

Shambala Private Game Reserve

Douw Steyn on the terrace of his home in Steyn City

Shambala is set on 10,000 acres of the Waterberg and was first established in 1985, undergoing immense renovations since then.

Its name comes from the Tibetan word for ‘Paradise on Earth’ and promises to enable its guests to discover paradise among Africa’s natural landscape.

Steyn was passionate about animal conservation and dreamed of owning a game reserve. So 25 years ago, he began buying farmland under the Waterberg mountains in the Limpopo Province, on land formerly used for grazing and growing watermelons.

Over the next decade, he gradually restored it to bushveld, introducing 40 types of mammals, including the so-called ‘Big Five’ (lion, leopard, elephant, rhino and buffalo), and creating the luxurious resort.

While set out in the wild bush, Shambala is no less luxurious than its Sandton counterpart, with guests having to drive through a shimmering reflective pool to reach reception.

Similar to the Saxon, the resort is small and exclusive, with only eight chalets on its main site, known as ‘Zulu Camp’. These were originally built for Steyn’s family.

Accommodation comprises traditional individual honeycomb-shaped chalets decorated in Afro-French provincial style, each fitted with a deck overlooking the bush and a private butler.

With such a small number of guests, the chef does not bother with a menu, but instead prepares meals based on guests’ preferences and desires.

These are the rooms where former President Mandela entertained dignitaries and friends while recuperating throughout the 1990s and 2000s.

Steyn invited Mandela to stay at the reserve post-presidency, where he spent most of his time with his third wife Graça Machel.

Mandela’s private villa has remained mostly unchanged since he stayed at the reserve. The Nelson Mandela Villa has been open to the public since 2015.

Fully operational, with six bedrooms, butler service, private chef and Wi-Fi, it includes amenities such as an indoor heated pool overlooking a waterhole, a vast outdoor deck and a presidential suite.

An authentically African feel prevails throughout, from the circular kraal enclosure to the thatched roof, leadwood tree pillars and carved Rhodesian teak door frames.

A spa overlooking the river offers African-inspired treatments. Sessions are finished off with the Shambala rain stick, which mimics the sound of rain falling and is used to soothe babies in African cultures.

Of course, the star attraction is the wildlife, about which guests can gain a deeper knowledge by spending time alongside Shambala’s researchers.

In line with Shambala’s anti-rhino poaching initiative, the elephant herd stems from a group of orphans Steyn rescued from a culling programme in Zimbabwe.

The resort offers private game drives and walks, alongside a three-hour fishing expedition with an expert guide and even a tour of the night sky’s constellations.