conservation*
L
uke Bailes is the founder and executive chairman of Singita, a conservation and ecotourism brand which protects almost a million acres of land in southern Africa. In the last 26 years, Singita has won numerous, prestigious World’s Best Hotel awards. But Luke’s roots are firmly in the Upper Highway. His father built a magnificent house at Camp Orchards. From his grandfather, James Fawcett Bailes, Luke inherited a great deal of land in different parts of South Africa. Braby’s Highway Directory for 2006-7 labelled a stretch of property along Inanda Road from Green Meadow
identified during these formative years. In 2020 the focus of Luke’s attention is an organisation known as Singita, which is a XiTsonga (we used to call it Shangaan) word meaning “place of miracles”. Singita exists, according to Luke, to provide a genuine African experience for international visitors. In the process, however, it helps to preserve wild areas, to develop saleable skills in the local population, and through its marketing promote the long-term sustainability of a concept designed to make an important contribution to rural Africa. Luke speaks of making decisions which take into account “twenty, fifty, even a hundred-year horizons.”
Man with a 100-year
VISION
LUKE BAILES’ LONG-TERM GOAL IS TO PRESERVE AFRICA’S WILDERNESS AREAS FOR FUTURE GENERATIONS, WRITES ROBIN LAMPLOUGH Lane to the edge of Waterfall as “Luke Bailes Farm”. Most importantly, however, was 12 000 acres of bushveld in Sabi Sand. It was here that the first Singita lodge, Singita Ebony, was opened in 1993. Educated at Kearsney College, Luke went on to take an interest in polo. On Camp Orchards at the edge of Hillcrest, he constructed a field that attracted many local players. He still owns Fig Trees Farm and was involved in the development of Cotswold Downs. A local security firm is said to be part of his local portfolio. Many of his trusted employees today are men whose qualities he
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