Our Christmas trees are twelve feet tall, covered in lights, and occasionally wander off to browse on nearby leaves…It’s not what you would expect a Christmas Eve dinner to be, but here, at Londolozi, the age-old holiday carries its own kind of festive magic. While the northern hemisphere might warm their cold hands around a roaring fire and stow coats on the rack in the hallway after coming in from the freezing temperatures, here in Africa we celebrate the delicious warmth of summer, having only just moved through the longest day of the year. We step off landrovers after an exciting afternoon on game drive, in search of something crisp in hand to temper the fading heat of the evening.

Christmas time at Londolozi means bringing the festive feeling into our entire experience for our guests and showing them a 100-year-old style of family hospitality. Where some might have a fir Christmas tree, we hold onto the tradition of placing our gorgeous white giraffes (I was kidding about them wandering off), lit up in pride of place, on each of the 5 camp decks.

We replace warmed mulled wine with icy cocktails – conceptualised, crafted and tested for weeks ahead of the traditional annual Christmas cocktail competition.

Each camp was beautifully decorated for the occasion, celebrating the vibrant summer colours we see reflected in the bushveld around us. While the lush summer landscape and grasses after rain hold the vibrant green – the colour so traditionally linked to this time of year – we celebrate our connection to the earth and sky with dusty browns, clays and golds that reflect summer sunsets and sunrises so indicative of this time of year. This was our inspiration for our Christmas Eve table settings – nature not only at the heart but reflected all around us. Encircling us.

This year, our Christmas Eve tables were adorned with baubles wrapped in African Mudcloth – a textile that feels particularly meaningful in this setting. Traditionally known as Bogolanfini, this centuries-old fabric is created entirely by hand using fermented river mud and plant dyes, with each geometric pattern carrying its own story of protection, identity, or celebration. These Londolozi-made decorations feel perfectly at home here,  bringing a layer of African heritage and handcrafted soul to our festive table. Alongside these, we had woven in Combretum pods collected from the trees around us – nature’s own Christmas ornaments – that will eventually return to the earth as compost when the season ends.

In a celebration often dominated by glitter and plastic, we chose the textures and jewels of nature instead, reminding us that the most beautiful decorations are those with meaning, made slowly by human hands, and borrowed gently from the bush around us.

No Christmas Eve celebration would be complete without a feast, and that was certainly what our home-grown Londolozi Chef team conceptualised and prepared by way of an incredible five-course dinner,  showcasing South African ingredients alongside classic Christmas flavours.

The meal began with delicate mini brioche loaves accompanied by biltong pâté and roasted bone marrow garlic butter, a perfect balance of warmth and richness to start the night. Next, gluhwein-poached beetroot paired with whipped thyme goat’s cheese, pistachio dukkha, and fresh pomegranate. Guests then enjoyed panko-crumbed pork meatballs with homemade cranberry jelly, followed by a perfectly seared lamb rack served with Christmas-spiced carrot purée, roasted baby carrots, and a spiced red wine jus. The evening concluded on a sweet, indulgent note with a salted dark chocolate tart paired with homemade peppermint crisp ice cream.

As plates were cleared and the last spoons scraped the final traces of chocolate and peppermint, the tables grew louder with conversation, warmer with laughter. Because while we take immense pride in every dish our chefs create and the way our camps are presented, we know that what lingers long after the meal isn’t just the flavours – it’s the feeling of being gathered, of being seen, of being in an African home.

For us at Londolozi, the holidays have never been about perfection – they’ve always been about presence. Hosting loved ones, whether family, friends, or guests who have become both, is a tradition we treasure deeply. It’s why we spend weeks testing cocktails, why our chefs lovingly craft each course, why we collect seed pods from the bush and hand-paint mudcloth baubles. The effort isn’t for show; it’s an act of care, a way of honouring the people gathered around our table and creating a space where everyone – no matter where they’ve travelled from – can feel truly at home.

This is our way of saying: you are welcome here, you are celebrated here, and you matter to us.

From all of us, we wish you a very merry Christmas!

With love,

Your Londolozi Family