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Beach or safari? This new South Africa resort will offer both

Club Med South Africa Beach & Safari is taking holidaymakers from the beach to the game reserves in one fell swoop with their South African debut.

French tourism giant Club Med, which pioneered the idea of the all-inclusive resort in the 1950s, is making its debut in South Africa next year. Sundowners by the beach are a classic Club Med experience, but this time, guests will be able to add a Big Five safari to the mix. Opening in early July 2026, Club Med South Africa Beach & Safari will span both the coast and a private lodge inside a Big Five game reserve. This ‘dual property’ structure is the first-of-its-kind for the brand. Here’s what we know so far.

Where is Club Med South Africa Beach & Safari?

Club Med South Africa Beach & Safari
Club Med South Africa Beach & Safari marks the brand’s debut in the country.

Club Med South Africa Beach & Safari is set to open on KwaZulu-Natal’s Dolphin Coast, named for the hundreds of bottlenose dolphins that frequent the water. Set on a former sugarcane plantation fringed by forest, the 345 rooms and 66 suites are located in idyllic surroundings. The resort is 45 minutes from the South African city of Durban, and half an hour from the closest international airport.

Club Med South Africa Beach & Safari comprises two properties, a beach resort and safari tents in Mpilo Game Reserve.

The second property, Mpilo Safari Lodge is a four-and-a-half hour drive from the beach resort, and it sits within the 18,000-hectare Mpilo Game Reserve. It will have 20 safari tented rooms, complete with a panoramic terrace and pool. The lodge will offer twice-daily game drives, at sunrise and sunset.

What activities will be on offer at Club Med South Africa Beach & Safari?

Club Med South Africa Beach & Safari
Relax by the pool at Mpilo Safari Lodge between safari drives.

Club Med will have its first-ever surf academy on the property itself, with four daily lessons for beginners and intermediates. Guests can participate in activities like yoga and flying trapeze. And if you’re not too much into getting active? No worries, there’s a full spa and hammam. Add to that kids’ clubs, a pool, adults-only areas, 5 bars and 2 restaurants, and guests have all their holiday needs right at their fingertips.

A sustainable footprint

The resort includes local farmers in its supply chain through a partnership with the French NGO, Agrisud. The resort is predicted to create approximately 800 jobs in the local area – 110 young people are enrolled in a training program via the NukaKamma Hospitality School, and will gradually join the Resort staff when it opens next year.

Club Med South Africa Beach & Safari
Sleek and contemporary design touches at Club Med South Africa Beach & Safari.

How much is it to stay at Club Med South Africa Beach & Safari?

Guests can experience the safari property only if they spend a minimum of 3 nights at the beach resort. Prices start at $2,289 pp for 7 nights at the beach resort, or $3,351 pp for a combination of 5 nights at the beach resort and 2 nights at the lodge. Bookings open 14 October, and the resort is set to open 4 July 2026.

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Elizabeth Whitehead

Elizabeth Whitehead

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At the foot of the pyramids, Egypt finally tells its own story

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    Ancient Egyptian history has been scattered across the globe for decades, admired, preserved, and studied, but it’s rarely seen where it actually belongs. The newly opened Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM) brings it home.

    From a viewing platform inside the Grand Egyptian Museum, the Great Pyramids of Giza rise from the desert, and for a moment, it feels like modern Egypt and ancient Egypt are shaking hands. The museum, grand in name and reality, has been a long time coming—since 1992, to be exact. Towering pharaohs, relics, and entire chapters of civilisation are on display here, all in full view of the pyramids. And because the GEM is the largest archaeological museum in the world dedicated to a single civilisation, it gets to tell Egypt’s story through its own voice, something many overseas institutions, understandably, haven’t quite managed.

    Reshaping Giza

    GEM entrance and gardens
    The GEM holds its own commanding position. (Image: Natasha Bazika)

    You might expect any building beside the Great Pyramids of Giza to fade into the background, but the GEM doesn’t bow to its famous neighbours. Perfectly aligned on the same axis and vast enough to span 70 football fields, the museum is less of an addition to Giza and more of a marker of the shift from a gateway to a cultural district.

    Inside, hieroglyphs carved from alabaster sweep across the walls and triangles appear everywhere, yet it’s a 3,200-year-old, 11-metre-tall, statue of Ramesses II who commands the room. His scale dictated the soaring atrium ceilings, which pour in natural light, unusual in museums but safe for the stone artefacts displayed.

    Hieroglyphs line the walls of the main entrance of the GEM
    Hieroglyphs line the walls of the main entrance. (Image: Natasha Bazika)

    Unlike many museums, the GEM has really considered how visitors move through it. The six-storey grand staircase leads you chronologically through Egypt’s history, from the Predynastic era to the Coptic period, flanked by statues that grow in scale and complexity as you climb. Elevators and lifts run alongside, keeping the journey accessible to everyone.

    At the top, a viewing wall frames the pyramids before you enter the main gallery to see artefacts rarely seen outside tombs, including the complete contents of Tutankhamun’s tomb, a highlight for many visitors.

    Pharaohs, artefacts and everything in between

    The GEM's showpiece Ramesses II
    The GEM’s showpiece Ramesses II. (Image: Natasha Bazika)

    The GEM holds around 100,000 artefacts across seven millennia, but the experience is entirely modern. Digital panels, QR navigation and clear bilingual signage make self-guided wandering easy, while short, glare-free labels in English, Arabic and braille are colour-coded to move you from broad themes to object-level detail.

    That said, a guide adds context you don’t get from a panel. I was lucky to have Essam Al Ebd Aziz, an Egyptologist, on board a 12-day Uniworld Nile cruise, walk me through some of the museum’s standout pieces.

    Top of the list is, of course, the Tutankhamun exhibit. Almost everything from his tomb, much of it never shown outside the Valley of the Kings, is here, from his golden funerary mask to delicate jewellery and ceremonial objects. But the GEM isn’t just about one boy king.

    GEM entrance is guarded by an 11-metre-tall Ramesses II statue.
    An 11-metre-tall Ramesses II statue guards the entrance. (Image: Natasha Bazika)

    Essam points out the canopic chest of Hetepheres, mother of Khufu, where her organs were stored in alabaster. I loved the forty little marching soldier figurines from the tomb of Mesehti, all lined up and hanging on a wall. And then there’s the statue of Metri, a scribe, with piercing blue eyes carved from lapis lazuli. All these pieces, and thousands more, now sit under one roof. And for the first time, people can see Egypt’s history in one place, told in its own voice, without leaving the shadow of the pyramids. That alone changes everything.

    Beach or safari? This new South Africa resort will offer both