If holidays should alleviate stress and provide adventure to offset the daily grind, Tuli Lodge is the place to head. Botswana's second-oldest lodge is forty this year and has that character particular to mature age, as though a trace of each passing spirit has remained in its soul. It is at ease with itself, possessing a tranquillity that prompts relaxation.

Sandwiched comfortably between the banks of the Limpopo River and a sandstone ridge in south-eastern Botswana, the cool camp brings pleasurable relief from unspeakable midsummer heat. Elusive birds arouse curiosity with flashes of colour and song in mature gardens of outsized nyala-berry and fig trees and lush lawns. Around the crystal swimming pool, staff hover discreetly, ready to quench thirst whenever required. Years of experience in conservation and running lodges have given Francois and Wendy du Toit, Tuli's congenial hosts, extraordinary self-reliance. They ensure that the lodge's casual comfort doesn't inhibit its wild side.

The Tuli Block is quite different from anywhere else in Botswana and is fast gaining popularity as a wildlife destination. Based on experience of neighbouring areas, I expect nothing but dry bush and flat landscape. How wrong I am. This is a stony area known as the hardveld, with multitudes of rocky outcrops and a network of dry watercourses and large rivers sporting giant trees along their banks. The Northern Tuli Game Reserve is a collection of former farms on Botswana's eastern boundary, a remote enclave created when Botswana's government was compelled by the then-EEC to introduce cattle fences to control foot-and-mouth disease in the 1950s. Wild animals could roam freely and the area has since gained fame as a wilderness, running directly into an adjacent Zimbabwean conservation zone.
Game happily border-hops, and we see plenty with Jerry, our Tswana guide, whose wonderful sense of humour and staggering bush knowledge are spiced with numerous anecdotes. Tuli is home to an immensely successful giraffe rehabilitation project and some of Africa's last free-roaming elephants. We creep up on herds casually lazing in the shade, until their rumbling tummies fool us into thinking there's thunder on the clear horizon.

Despite rare wet weather, we encounter many larger species, including impala, bushbuck, jackal, zebra, wildebeest, baboon, warthog, crocodile and hippo (only the big cats elude us). Seldom have I seen as many stately eland. Smaller characters are equally interesting: duiker, steenbok, Banded mongoose, Elephant shrew, Tree squirrels, leguaan and Leopard tortoises green with algae. The birdlife is extraordinary (about 340 species), offering wonderful sightings of vivid Crimson-breasted shrikes, noisy Pied babblers, Kori bustards (the world's heaviest flying bird) and Mozambique nightjars tumbling in the dawn sky.

Bouncing along game drive tracks among the sandstone ridges, we pass ancient yellow and orange rock canyons and eerie baobabs which evoke mysteries of Africa's past. Huge Leadwood trees lend an air of timelessness. On a night of lunar semi-darkness, a hyaena family in its canyon home evokes images of sorcery and witchcraft, but the lodge's comfort soon dispels any primal feelings of disquiet.
Accommodation is in eight thatched en-suite chalets, sleeping between two and eight people, with enough private space to afford guests real time out. Forty really is the new thirty, it seems: despite Tuli's age, the decor suggests a much younger camp. Local wood and sandstone complement cool tiled floors, soft pastel colour schemes, original paintings of local fauna and scenery, and heavy drapes which bestow privacy and cool to afternoon naps. The main lounge has a fireplace and is scattered with sofas and coffee tables, with piles of reading matter and panoramic garden views. Tea and coffee are constantly available, with biscuits, muffins or scones. The bar is moulded around a huge old nyala-berry tree rising through the thatched roof. Cry, the beloved barman, mixes perfect pink gins which slip down happily as we watch bushbuck crop the lawns and Banded mongoose root in the flowerbeds. Fifty paces from the main lodge is Kolobe, a rustic tented camp overlooking the river, with open-air bathrooms under umbrella thorns. Its guests enjoy all the lodge facilities, but their accommodation is closer to that of a camping safari.

The lack of a dining room renders meals at Tuli pleasantly nomadic. Breakfast and lunch tables are set beneath garden trees in varying locations, much to the excitement of opportunistic Vervet monkeys. All diets - whether dictated by religion, whim or hips - are catered for on request. Full breakfasts are offset by light lunches of quiches, cold meats, salads, fruit and cheese. Fireside dinners in the boma are a nightly theatrical experience. Seated under the open sky at a lantern-lit table, we hear a chorus of a thousand river frogs accompanied by nearby grunts and squeaks from the bush. Prime South African wine accompanies our five-course dinner of broccoli soup, fish mousse, a choice of roast wildebeest or lamb, roast vegetables and steamed ginger pudding. An impressive cheese platter accompanies the digestifs.
By day, the nearby sandstone ridge begs to be explored and we succumb, following discreet arrows past fig trees with roots clinging to the rock face like desperate dry octopuses. Countless hyraxes scamper round and a little elephant shrew stares at us myopically, twitching its proboscis-like nose suspiciously before scooting off. Scrambling beyond rock folds and fissures, we gain the summit to face wonderful views across a fantasy land of ancient baobabs and dramatic sandstone rock formations. Out there are numerous sites of ancient civilisations, the most significant of which is the Motloutse Ruins (which can be visited on request), reputedly older than Great Zimbabwe - although nowhere near as grand.

Beyond the ridge, against a ruddy cliff, is a clearing where dinner is served on clear full-moon evenings. Paraffin lamps light the path from the lodge. Beside the clearing broods a single baobab in the wide expanse of semi-arid veld. The silence under the vast night sky evokes feelings of overwhelming insignificance. Nothing in any city can match Tuli's intoxicating powers.

For information, call Tuli Safari Lodge +267 264 5303/43, email: or visit www.tulilodge.com

Fact Box

Getting There Air Botswana flies from Johannesburg to the Limpopo Valley Airport on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays. The airport is 8km from Tuli Lodge, which will collect guests.

Accommodation
The lodge offers Luxury, Executive and Standard suites, from $168pppn, sharing, and a family chalet for four (sharing in two separate rooms; children welcome). Kolobe tented camp offers permanently pitched bow tents for two (children under eleven not permitted), from $112 pppn, sharing. Accommodation is full board and includes two game drives and one guided safari walk per day. The Lodge also holds conferences and wedding ceremonies.
Land of the Giants: Tuli Safari Lodge has teamed up with with Mashatu Game Reserve, Nitani Game Reserve and Mopane Bush Lodge (in South Africa) to provide a seven-night safari, including two nights at each lodge and a single night at Mopane. "The Land of the Giants" safari costs $2050pp, including all air transfers with Air Botswana.
Information: www.tulilodge.com