Luxe African Safari Homes Invite Giraffes, Zebras as Neighbors (No Hunting Allowed)
Imagine waking up and seeing a giraffe in your yard. Or having a caracal as a neighbor.
Developers in South Africa say their 49 luxury homes on 2,400 acres, a project dubbed Mahathunzi, will blend into the natural environment and share the land with the wild animals roaming free around them.
The gated community will be placed amid “authentic African terrain” of grassland plains, plateaus, dolerite cliffs, forested valleys, and water pools, the project website says.
But as with every aspect of this project, it’s not all nature’s endless spread. Mahathunzi will be near the university town of Pietermaritzburg, adjacent to the five-star Karkloof Safari Spa, whose developer, Fred Wörner, is also behind Mahathunzi.
“The idea was to extract value [from the land] but not to change the sense of place, and to blend into the landscape,” Wörner tells Yahoo Real Estate. “To have as low identity as possible.”
At the same time, though, “it’s going to be a high-security estate. It’s important in this part of the world.
"In America as well you’ve got gated communities, and it’s because of security and all that.”
Each Mahathunzi home, touted as a “small farm,” comes with a plot of about 50 to 80 acres and designed so that it’s totally isolated; owners won’t see any other homes in the development.
Instead homeowners will share the plots with the local animals, a list that includes wildebeest, giraffe, a variety of antelope, zebra and warthogs. The developers promise that these animals “will roam freely between the scant residences.”
As for the homes themselves, Mahathunzi’s developers say the 49 “low-slung homes” are “designed to blend seamlessly into the landscape” — to the point where they’d be almost invisible to passersby. In fact, it’s a design requirement: “All houses must be invisible from other houses, roads, walking paths and key vantage points,” the design guidelines say (PDF).
The homes are expected to be around 8,000 to 9,000 square feet. Lots of open space and windows will make it seem like the landscape moves through the buildings, developers say. You’ll be able to watch wildlife from your own deck: Fencing isn’t advised; that way, wildlife can come right up to your windows (and the developers specifically discourage barbed wire, to avoid harming the animals).
But there are limits to the wildlife at Mahathunzi.
Wörner says dangerous animals will be fenced off in another part of the reserve. “There will be no buffalo, or rhino, or hippopotamus, that can kill you,” he says.
“The homes are going to be built on level platforms,” Wörner says. “They’re going to be raised off the ground so you don’t have to cut any land. The idea is that you’re as green as possible. You have minimum disturbance to the landscape and the surroundings.”
Developers promise there will be no extensive changes to the earth with the dwellings, and they say they’re implementing measures to sustain food sources, prevent soil erosion, monitor “invasive” alien vegetation and track the wildlife population. The goal is minimal impact to the animals; even fishing is limited to catch-and-release (of course, one could argue that even that is quite disturbing to the animals).
Throughout the development are about 28 miles of roads and paths where you can walk and gaze at the 283 bird species, 43 resident mammal species, and countless butterflies the developers say occupy this area. You can also use the roads for mountain biking, walking and trail running.
Even in the natural space, residents will still have access to technology. All homes will have electricity and fiber optic cables that provide high-speed Internet. Water will be provided from boreholes and dams.
The plots will start around $300,000 to $350,000, with the cost of the homes ranging from about $750,000 to $4 million. The property is about an hour’s drive from Johannesburg.
Wörner is pitching his new property to executives from Johannesburg or even London, 10 hours away by plane.
“Maybe executives who move out of the rat race, who want their families to live in a country lifestyle, and yet be close to all amenities, close to airports, shopping malls, doctors, and schools,” he says.
Developers are working with two environmental consultants and the government to make sure the Mahathunzi homes don’t destroy the delicate environment, they say.
“There’s very strict management rules to make sure that you have minimum impact,” Wörner says.
“When everything is developed, if you don’t see us, then we know we’ve succeeded.”
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(All renderings and photos via Mahathunzi)
