Protea Hotel The Ranch

Protea Hotel The Ranch is situated on 1 000 hectares of extended grasslands of the Limpopo Province bushveld, it is only 2 and a half hours drive north of Pretoria on the N1 and about 20 minutes south of Polokwane. They offer the personal touch, friendliness and understanding of their guests needs, in beautiful surroundings.

Their accommodation ranges from 2 Presidential Suites and 2 Executive suites (with spa pools), to Courtyard, Deluxe, Standard and Family rooms. All rooms are en-suite, with satellite TV, air-conditioning and fans. They also have a business centre, outdoor team building course and tented camp, helicopter pad and landing strip, two restaurants, coffee shop, 4x4 track, swimming and spa pools, game drives and tours of the Lion Kingdom.

If you ever have a chance to stay over at the Ranch you have to visit the Ranch Hotel Lion Kingdom and wildlife.

Ossie Bristow, a keen conservationist had a collection of orphaned wild animals which were brought in to him, those that could be send home to the wild were released in suitable habitats and those that could not be released were housed on the ranch in the Beit Bridge district.

Having a selection of tame wild animals brought him to the attention of the film companies, who always need tame animals for close-up shots and to link intercuts that had been filmed in the wild. He therefore decided to train some of his animals for the movie industry as a means of raising funds for their upkeep. With all of the turmoil currently in Zimbabwe, they decided to relocate some of their trained animals to The Ranch Hotel to set up a film and conservation tourist facility close to Polokwane in South Africa. The Ranch Hotel and properties are ideally suited for an eco tourism and film destination, with the existing hotel to accommodate tour groups and film crews and African visitors with open plains and bushveld. Gateway airport and all hire facilities are close.

Their animals have acted in over four hundred films and documentaries over the years. Films include Gods Must Be Crazy 1 and 2, Beautiful People, Mountains of the Moon, (Patrick Bergen), Search for the White Nile (Aden Quinn, Nigel Hawthorne).

To go on a tour that last 90 minutes you can enjoy the trip on one of four unimogs. Bring your own camera, you are definitely guaranteed of excellent photographic opportunities.

They also have The Ranch Farmyard with goats, sheep, ducks, pigs and more for the younger kids. This could be a fantastic family experience, your children will love it.

Then you can also have a Game Drive through their Wildlife Park. You can see lions, giraffe, zebra, warthog, wildebeest and many more.