From there, it's a 90-minute charter flight to Ulusaba or 75 minutes to Skukuza, the headquarters of Kruger National Park, where a driver will pick you up. I had come to the South African Lowveld for wild animals, and that's what I was getting. Eventually the hogs dispersed and we set down. A short Land Rover ride later, I was handed a flute of Beaumet Grand Cru champagne and ushered to my private thatched chalet.
Geography accounts for the wildlife part of the equation.
Ulusaba occupies 16,500 acres of the private Sabi Sand reserve, on the western edge of Kruger National Park, South Africa's largest game reserve. There are no fences separating Kruger from Sabi Sand, so the animals roam freely throughout an area the size of New Jersey. Branson's land is a patchwork of rolling hills, dense bush, and grassy plains. It's an ideal place for grazers, browsers, and carnivores to eat, and when they show up, you're in the front row. The luxury part took a bit more doing.