The gentle country ramble has been replaced by the action adventure safari. And it's left more than a handful of us hankering for the kind of places where you can, well, just lie around doing zip all and not feel guilty. Rather pack a good book and your favourite cardigan and head for Hulala Lakeside Lodge in Mpumulanga. Here you can safely forget the horror of being jostled about in a dusty landrover or landing bottom first on a sharp rock while river-rafting. The most you will be expected to do is rearrange your facial expression according to the plot of the book you are reading at pool's edge.
Extremists can venture lazily forth, Edwardian style, in the two-seater pedallos on the lake.
The other nice thing about Hulala is that it has studiously avoided the aesthetic pitfalls into which most country hotels fall. The rooms do not look like they've been decorated by Beatrix Potter or some ethno-fabric freak. The rooms are understated, spacious and gracious. The luxury suites all have private patios with lake views. It also steams sexily off the ice-buckets on your table in the dining room.