Our Story
Journey into our world and discover the beauty of the mountains as we attempt to protect our natural environment and the rightful home for our indigenous wildlife
WHERE THE MOUNTAINS MEET THE WILD
NORTHERN DRAKENSBERG + WILDLIFE + MOUNTAINS STREAMS + ANCIENT ROCK ART + MIGHTY TUGELA + LUXURY TENTED ACCOMMODATION
THE STORY OF SASI BUSH LODGE
A landscape shaped by people, engineering and nature
Long before Sasi Bush Lodge, before the luxury tents and before the wildlife once again began moving across the landscape, this was a place shaped by generations of people, farming and extraordinary engineering.
Today, Sasi Bush Lodge forms part of Kilburn Nature Reserve in the Northern Drakensberg — a landscape where the natural world and the hand of man exist side by side. Our story is not simply about the lodge. It is about the land itself, its history, its transformation and our ongoing attempt to protect what remains beautiful and restore what has been lost.
A Family Legacy
The story of Kilburn is intertwined with the Weston, Rein Yaeger families, whose history on this land reaches back generations.
In 1933, John Weston acquired three farms, including Kilburn, and brought them together under the name Admiralty Estates. The estate became part of an ambitious vision that extended far beyond farming, reflecting Weston’s adventurous spirit and his interest in Africa, exploration and the outdoors. (johnwestonaviator.co.uk)
The legacy of those early years can still be felt across the landscape today.
Old stone structures, foundations and remnants of earlier occupation remain scattered throughout the property. Some speak of indigenous settlement and traditional ways of life; others tell the story of European farming and the people who worked this land.
These remnants are more than ruins.
They are reminders that this landscape has always been a place of human connection.
A Landscape Transformed
For many years, Kilburn was primarily agricultural land, shaped by cattle farming and grazing. Over time, intensive use, overgrazing and invasive vegetation placed pressure on the natural environment. The landscape that once supported a greater diversity of indigenous wildlife had become increasingly fragmented.
Then came another extraordinary chapter in its history.
The Hand of Man: Kilburn Dam
Look across the landscape from Sasi Bush Lodge and one of the most striking features is Kilburn Dam. It is easy to see it simply as part of the view, but the dam represents one of South Africa’s remarkable feats of water and energy engineering. Kilburn Dam forms the lower reservoir of the Drakensberg Pumped Storage Scheme, developed as part of the wider Tugela-Vaal water transfer system. The scheme links a network of reservoirs across KwaZulu-Natal and the Free State, using the movement of water both to support water transfer and to store and generate electricity.
Construction of the Drakensberg Pumped Storage Scheme began in the 1970s and the system became operational in 1981. Deep within the mountains, water can be moved between reservoirs to generate electricity when demand is high and store energy when demand is lower.
From Sasi Bush Lodge, guests can see this extraordinary meeting of two worlds: ancient mountains and modern engineering. The dam, tunnels and infrastructure are reminders of what humans are capable of building into a landscape. But they also remind us of our responsibility to protect the landscape around them.
A New Chapter: Sasi Bush Lodge
It was against this backdrop that Sasi Bush Lodge began to take shape. The vision was not simply to build accommodation in a beautiful place, it was to create a destination that could exist within the landscape rather than apart from it.
The lodge was designed around the idea of bringing guests closer to nature — using tented accommodation, natural materials, African minimalist design and open views that allow the boundaries between inside and outside to disappear.
Today, six intimate luxury tents sit lightly within the wilderness, overlooking the mountains and Kilburn Dam. But the buildings are only one part of the story. The greater purpose is the land surrounding them. Restoring the Wild.
In 2018, a new conservation journey began. The property started moving away from its agricultural past and towards a vision of restoring the landscape to a more natural state. Areas were fenced and managed for conservation, invasive vegetation began to be removed, and indigenous wildlife was gradually reintroduced. Among the first significant wildlife reintroductions were zebra, returning to a landscape where they had once belonged.
Since then, the restoration has continued. Giraffe, wildebeest, ostrich and other wildlife now form part of the living landscape, while indigenous vegetation and birdlife continue to recover. It is not a finished project. Conservation rarely is. Every invasive plant removed, every indigenous species protected and every animal that returns represents another small step towards restoring the ecological character of this land.
Conservation in the Present
Today, Kilburn Nature Reserve is a landscape of contrasts. There are ancient mountains and modern dams. There are historic stone ruins and contemporary luxury tents. There are roads, fences and buildings — but also wild animals, indigenous vegetation, birds and open grasslands. Our responsibility at Sasi Bush Lodge and Kilburn Nature Reserve is to find a respectful balance between these worlds. We know that we cannot return the landscape to some untouched version of the past. Too much history has happened here. The dams, roads, buildings and other man-made elements are now part of its story. Instead, our aim is to work with what exists and restore what we can.
To protect the natural environment.
To encourage indigenous wildlife.
To remove invasive species.
To preserve the history that remains.
And to create a place where people can experience the beauty of this landscape while understanding the importance of protecting it.
The Story Continues
Sasi Bush Lodge is therefore more than a place to stay. It is one chapter in a much longer story. A story that began with the people who lived on this land long before us. A story carried forward through farming, the Weston-Rein- and Yaeger family legacy, the creation of Admiralty Estates, and the extraordinary engineering of the Tugela-Vaal and Drakensberg Pumped Storage schemes.
And now, a story of restoration.
We are the current custodians of this small but extraordinary piece of the Northern Drakensberg, and we know that we are only passing through the story ourselves. Our hope is that, years from now, guests will still wake beneath canvas to the sound of birds, watch giraffe moving across the grasslands, see the mountains reflected in Kilburn Dam and walk among a landscape that is richer, wilder and healthier than the one we inherited.
This is Sasi.
A place shaped by history.
A landscape being restored.
A wilderness worth protecting.