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One of the six canvas-and- glass suites that overlook Mashuma Pan, a perennial draw for birds and wildlife within one of Africa’s most beautiful parks. -
A rich variety of experiences awaits, from tracking animals through the park-like Mana Pools on foot to watching elephants swim across the Zambezi while sipping coffee on the banks of a tributary. -
Subtle Japanese referencing – the torii (gateway) traditionally marks the transition into a sacred space. -
Minimising long-term maintenance and providing visual texture, the storage pods are clad in fibre thatch. -
Mesmerising views from the pool, regularly visited by elephants. -
Andrea Kleinloog of HK Studio was encouraged to push the boundaries of safari design while ensuring guests are still completely immersed in the sights and sounds of the wilderness. -
Each of the six tent suites opens onto a large private deck with a choice of seating to watch the constant stream of visitors. -
There are two Family tents, each offering two identical bedrooms, a central living area, and sliding doors that lead out to a deck and a private plunge pool. -
Most of the furniture has been designed for Molori Mashuma by HK Studio. -
The bedroom cushions are made entirely from offcuts and decorated in sashiko-style embroidery by Limpopo-based studio Kaross. -
The four Premier tents are spacious, air-conditioned cocoons in which to while away the day. -
Bathrooms have direct access to the Zimbabwean teak deck – and the view. The light fitting above the bathtub is made by Ashanti Design from recycled T-shirts.
WORDS Pippa de Bruyn PHOTOS Elsa Young
Molori Mashuma in Zimbabwe’s Mana Pools National Park is not your classic tented camp – instead, it pushes the boundaries of safari design in a way that is contextually relevant.
The teak deck flows around the riverine copse like water, providing elevated vantage and deep shade under the mashuma tree, ensconced in “Annie’s V&T” peacock chairs, we watch as spoonbills and jacanas forage in the eponymous pan; a bull elephant delicately suctions up sausage tree flowers; two fork-tailed drongos fight for territory, or females, or fun.
The truck has still not come. Filled with the “finishing touches” to a project now more than three years in the making, it was due two days ago, in time for the arrival of the photographer. But co-owner Annie Ichikowitz and her designer Andrea Kleinloog flit about unfazed, rearranging chairs, plumping cushions, placing gold-tipped grasses in vases and seedpods in soapstone bowls. Andrea bubbles words as she works, positing the impossibility of ascribing a single quality to the African design identity, other than perhaps “resourcefulness”; the importance of “leaning into chaos”, “happy mistakes” and the “generosity of forgiveness”. Looking at this open-air living room, with its vibrancy of colour and bold shapes, finishing touches seem superfluous. It is ebullient and quirky, yet threaded through with a steely resilience.
“When Eric and Annie first approached us to design Molori Mashuma, they had clear ideas on what they didn’t want,” Andrea says. “No thatched lodge; no classic tented camp. To push the boundaries of safari design, but still be contextually relevant to place. To flag that this offers a safari experience unlike any other in southern Africa.”
“Or quite frankly, anywhere,” Annie chips in. “We wanted Mashuma to express what Eric and I love most about being here. There’s a dreamlike enchantment about this place. The way time slows and expands. How the light keeps changing.It’s unlike anything we’ve experienced in all the years we’ve spent in the bush.So we didn’t want traditional.”
Andrea picks up: “Our starting point for the main area was to ‘disappear’ the buildings. We took inspiration from landscape artist Christo Coetzee’s The Gates – simple steel frames he installed in New York’s Central Park in the 1980s – then demarcated the different seating areas within the space, using contemporary furniture that was designed specifically for Mashuma. Given the extreme weather and woodborers, we designed in durable materials – steel, stone and UV-stabilised fibrecane – softening with rich textiles and contrasting colours. We wanted un-ostentatious luxury that allows guests to be fully present within this wild setting.”
Removing the bubble-wrapped trappings of a traditional safari lodge is a fairly radical departure, but sensorial immersion is trademark Mana Pools, where walking amid game is encouraged, and where the depth of field and surreal light cast by the woodlands are much loved by photographers. That said, alfresco living – particularly in the Zambezi valley – presents challenges. “We had to make sure that every element in the main area and the tented suites was lightweight – easy to strip and pack away in storage pods during the rainy season,” Andrea says as she runs her hand over a pod, all a-bristle in brown. “We clad all the storage pods in thatch, so we’ll never have to paint a wall. We introduced the concept of sashiko, the Japanese art of mending fabric with visible stitching and patching. The bedroom cushions, made entirely from offcuts, are decorated in sashiko-style embroidery by the Limpopo-based studio Kaross. The plan is to bring these master craftspeople here to teach the locals to repair tents using these methods.”
Upskilling local talent is key. In 2023, UK-based Zimbabwean-born Xanthe Somers led a two-week workshop in Harare with the potters from Burnt Earth, teaching them a more free-form way to work with clay. Of the 12 mirror frames made during this workshop,10 broke in the kiln. For Andrea, this was just another happy mistake: “We decided to piece them back together in our own African form of kintsugi, the 15th-century Japanese practice that celebrates flaws and mishaps by mending seams in gold or silver – again, repairing rather than replacing.”
The news comes in when we are seated for dinner: the truck will arrive at dawn. “I’ll believe it when I actually see it,” Annie says, and Andrea laughs. And this charms in equal measure: the mutualism of these women, a creative camaraderie made manifest on a spec-like oasis in the vast 676 600-hectare Mana Pools National Park. roraprivatecollection.com | hkstudio.co.za
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