The Story of Jaci’s Private Lodge: Family, People and 26 Years in Madikwe game reserve

The history of Jaci’s Private Lodge begins long before this family-run safari lodge became part of the Madikwe landscape.

Jan and Jaci first met while living and working on Bazaruto Island, surrounded by the ocean, wild places and the kind of hospitality that felt intimate rather than formal. It was there that a shared love of people, food, nature and creating memorable experiences began to take shape.

Eventually, island life gave way to the city. Jan, who came from a strong restaurant and hotel background, convinced Jaci to make the move, with the promise that it would not be forever.

It wasn’t.

From the islands to Madikwe Game Reserve

The African bush had always been a shared passion. Jan and Jaci loved camping, good food, being outdoors and the kind of hospitality that makes people feel immediately at home.

That pull eventually brought them, together with their young daughter Savannah, to a relatively new reserve in South Africa’s North West Province: Madikwe Game Reserve.

There, they built and founded Madikwe River Lodge – the first ever lodge in Madikwe.

They also made a decision that was unusual in the safari industry at the time: families, including children of all ages, would be welcome.

It was an early reflection of a philosophy that would continue to shape everything they created afterwards. Safari did not have to feel exclusive in the traditional sense. It could still be exceptional while being warm, colourful, generous and genuinely welcoming.

Creating something different in Madikwe

From the beginning, Jaci and Jan were never particularly interested in doing things exactly as they had been done before.

That applied just as much to the way their spaces looked as it did to the way guests were welcomed.

Working with Jaci’s father, Cris Browne, Jaci developed interiors that were bold, layered and full of colour. At a time when safari design often leaned heavily towards muted palettes, their approach was deliberately different.

The inspiration was simple: the African bush itself is not beige.

It is filled with colour, pattern, texture and movement, and the interiors they created reflected that same energy.

That visual identity would later become one of the most recognisable elements of Jaci’s Private Lodge.

Jaci’s branding also has a unique connection to Madikwe’s conservation history. During Operation Phoenix, the wildlife reintroduction programme that helped establish Madikwe’s wildlife populations, African wild dogs were introduced into the reserve. One of those original wild dogs was photographed, and Jaci’s original logo was based on that particular dog. That connection is why the African wild dog continues to feature in Jaci’s branding today.

 

The beginning of Jaci’s Private Lodge

After selling their interest in Madikwe River Lodge, Jan and Jaci could have moved on.

Instead, Madikwe pulled them back.

A new site was found, plans were drawn up and construction began on what would become Jaci’s.

By then, the family was growing too. Dane and Tristan were quite literally born into the story, growing up with the reserve, the lodge and the rhythms of bush life around them.

For them, Madikwe was never simply a workplace. It was home.

Over time, Jaci’s continued to grow and evolve.

Jan later discovered another site along the Marico River and imagined a lodge lifted entirely above the ground, connected by wooden walkways through the trees. That idea became Jaci’s Tree Lodge.

The family’s instinct to create experiences that brought guests closer to the bush continued as well.

Jan and Cris developed the original Naledi Star Bed, giving guests the opportunity to spend a night beneath the African sky.

A later collaboration with Guts and Toby from Pangolin Photo Safaris inspired the Terrapin Hide, positioned within the wetland and designed to offer photographers and wildlife lovers an extraordinary eye-level perspective.

Other viewing decks, outdoor dining spaces and experiences followed, each one adding another layer to the way guests could experience Madikwe.

But while the lodges evolved, the philosophy remained remarkably consistent.

 

The people behind Jaci’s

Jaci’s has never only been a family business in the literal sense.

Over the years, it has grown into what the family calls its “pack” – a group of people connected by the same place, values and sense of hospitality. That sense of shared ownership is reflected in the business itself, with 27.2% of Jaci’s owned through a staff trust.

Many members of the team have been part of the journey for years, helping shape the guest experience, welcoming returning guests, watching families grow and creating the moments that often become the most memorable parts of a safari.

It is this continuity that has helped Jaci’s feel familiar even as it has changed.

Guests may arrive for wildlife, beautiful spaces and time in the bush, but they often return because of the people.

That commitment extends beyond the lodge team too. Wherever possible, Jaci’s supports local suppliers and makers, sourcing items such as firewood, blueberries, tilapia and eggs locally, stocking the curio shop with locally made products, and prioritising South African suppliers, artists and artisans. Community empowerment and sustainability remain part of the wider philosophy behind the lodge.

 

The next generation of Jaci’s

Today, the next generation is helping shape the future of Jaci’s.

Dane leads Sales and Marketing, bringing his own perspective to how the Jaci’s story is shared with the world, while Tristan serves as General Manager, overseeing the lodge with the understanding that comes from having grown up within it.

For Jan and Jaci, seeing their sons take on these roles represents something especially meaningful.

More than two decades after the first guests were welcomed, Jaci’s remains a family story – only now the next chapter is being written by the generation that grew up alongside it.

 

Rebuilding Jaci’s Private Lodge after the floods

In February 2025, severe flooding caused devastating damage to the lodge.

It became one of the greatest challenges the family and team had faced.

But rebuilding also created an unexpected opportunity.

Rather than simply restoring what had been there before, Jan, Jaci and the wider team chose to reimagine the lodge for its next chapter.

Over the months that followed, the spaces were completely transformed.

The result was a new Jaci’s Private Lodge – refreshed, reconsidered and full of new energy, while still holding onto the things guests had always associated with Jaci’s: colour, generosity, character and warmth.

When guests were welcomed back in 2026, it marked far more than the reopening of a lodge.

It was the continuation of a story that had begun decades earlier.

 

Twenty-six years in Madikwe – and still evolving

From Bazaruto Island to building Madikwe’s first lodge, from raising a family in the reserve to creating new safari experiences, and from rebuilding after the floods to welcoming guests into a completely reimagined Jaci’s Private Lodge, the journey has never followed a straight line.

Perhaps that is exactly what has made it what it is.

Today, Jaci’s is far more than a lodge.

It is a family, a team, a collection of memories and a place shaped by the people who have been part of it.