Imagine a world with no cell phones and no internet. We found it...only a 3-hour drive from Johannesburg!

Having suffered a heart attack 2 months ago, my wife and I resolved that we would have a little more "down time" every now and then, especially when there is a public holiday.

With Heritage day upon us, we decided to forget about work for a few days and just relax. Check out the Pilgrims unwinding!

That's pretty hard to do though if the computer is on and the phone keeps ringing. So my wife Nicole did some research on game reserves... and that's how we came across Nungubane Lodge at Welgevonden Game Reserve in Limpopo.

Only a 3-hour drive from Sandton, it's really close enough so we didn't waste even half a day of our precious holiday time trying to get there. If like me, you enjoy a good pit stop along the way to stretch your legs, and have a pee in a clean toilet, I recommend the Engen 1-stop just before Modimolle (Nylstroom).

It's about an hour-and-a-half into the journey and there's nothing like a Wimpy burger when travelling (don't tell my cardiologist).

Just a note that the last 16 km of the journey to Welgevonden West Gate is via a dirt road... so I decided beforehand that we would travel in my wife's car (hehehe)!

They have a safe cordoned off area to park your car (or your wife's) and then the game ranger picks you up to take you to the lodge. They have two collection times at the gate, either 12.30pm or 2.30pm.

It's about a 30-minute jeep ride through the reserve to the lodge itself and we were greeted at the lodge with a friendly smile, refresher towels and a cool cocktail.

The six rooms available are free standing and thatched, all within a 30-second walk of the main lodge...which might I add is cordoned off with an electric fence so that if we decided to go for a midnight stroll to the boma or pool, we wouldn't land up being a lion's late night snack.

It goes without saying that the rooms are really nice...even better (according to my wife) is that they have NO televisions. After one night there I actually didn't mind not having Sky News blaring in the background.

After settling in we were treated to a scrumptious lunch cooked by a chef who believes in presentation as much as flavour. Then it was a bit of chill time before Nicole and I went on our first game drive of our stay.

You get two complimentary game drives a day, one at sunrise and the other at sunset.
There seems to be a communal relationship between the rangers of the different lodges and they communicate with each other via two-way radio sharing their finds.

Having said that, you still have to "hunt" for your viewing and the rangers have to follow spoor, unlike some reserves, which have their animals electronically tracked and know where they are at all times (which we believe spoils the thrill of finding an animal).

Welgevonden Game Reserve is home to the big five, and we were able to see four of the big five within our 2-night stay.

We got up close and personal with white rhino, elephant, a male lion and even a leopard (early evening though so the night vision goggles eventually came into good use other than in the bedroom!).

The only one we didn't see was buffalo. I decided to pull my Nikon semi-pro camera out of the cupboard before leaving for the holiday and was able to capture the animals in their natural habitat.

It really is worthwhile investing in a decent camera with a long lens if you enjoy game viewing. A small pocket camera just doesn't produce the same pics.

One of the highlights has to be the evening sundowners during the sunset game drive. There's nothing like overlooking the rolling valleys with a glass of red wine in your hand!

An interesting moment was when a fellow game ranger's vehicle got stuck (I think partly because he had some hefty international tourists on it!).

They all had to bail out while our ranger's noble Toyota Landcruiser towed the Landrover out of a ditch (you have to see the footage in the video!).

All in all, it was a fabulous 2-night getaway from Johannesburg. Even though Welgevonden Reserve is at less than 50% animal capacity, we got to see enough to feel we didn't need a "visual top-up" at Jo'burg zoo when we got back.

Nungubane Game Lodge is a stylish yet affordable option, a quick and close game holiday. Also, the managers of the lodge are a married couple that really knows how to make you feel at home without getting in your face.

We came back to Johannesburg well relaxed...and a million emails waiting to be answered.