A Culinary Journey
Our guests come to us to experience a fabulous safari, one filled with big game, spectacular landscapes and a spoiling place to rest their head on at the end of an exciting day in the bush. Safari is the Swahili term for a journey and we like to offer those staying with us not just a wildlife journey but a culinary one too.
A recent addition to our team has been Executive Chef Karla Groenewald who has been busily refining our dining experiences to be as unique as our location and as individual as each of our properties. At Thanda Safari Lodge Karla has designed menus with elements of molecular gastronomy – foams, gels and emulsions. Dining at Thanda Tented Camp has always been a more relaxed affair with roaring fires and paraffin lanterns lighting the night. Here she has introduced a variety of game meats with crocodile and springbok making an appearance. Whilst also under Karla’s tutelage, guests staying in the exclusive-use Villa iZulu will enjoy one of our local chefs being on hand to prepare meals to suit their tastes and preferences.
Karla’s own journey will assure guests that the culinary experience at Thanda will be every bit as good as the wildlife one. Her love for cooking was instilled in Namibia by her grandmother, an accomplished baker. Later on, having completed the Advanced Diploma in Culinary Art at Meerendal Hospitality Academy, she went on to train under celebrated chefs David Higgs and Stephen Fraser before moving to London where she worked her way up to Sous Chef. Two years later Karla was back home and into the Namibian bush before then heading to South Africa to work for another leading private safari lodge where she really found her own style of cooking. This led to teaching culinary art and patisserie at a well-known cookery school, but it was her love for cooking, and the lure of the bush, that eventually steered her to Thanda.
Picture by Christian Sperka – Specialist Photography Guide and Resident Wildlife Photographer – Thanda Private Game Reserve
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