SITTING alone at Pamushana Lodge beside a plunge pool that overlooks the vast Malilangwe Wildlife Reserve, it is hard to believe that I am in Zimbabwe, a country that has dominated the news with stories of cholera, hyper-inflation and the murder of white farmers.

But the country’s tourism sector is bouncing back. The UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office no longer has official alerts warning against travel to Zimbabwe.

Albee Yeend, the general manager of Africa for Steppes Travel, which has just reintroduced its Zimbabwe tours, says: “The fact that the US dollar is now the main trading currency has made a huge difference. Zimbabwe is such a jewel of a country.

"Before the troubles it was one of our biggest sellers. People may feel that they shouldn’t travel there because they don’t like Mugabe, but Zimbabweans are very dependent on tourism. They need it. Fortunately, investment is coming back.”

Pamushana is one of the best examples of a new generation of safari lodge in Zimbabwe. Set in the Lowveld, the former ranch was bought in 1994 by the Zimbabwean-owned and run Malilangwe Trust, with funding from the American billionaire Paul Tudor Jones.

For years the trust ran the property as a private wildlife conservancy, but in 2007 Jones signed up the South African safari operator Singita to refurbish and manage Pamushana as a high-end, low-impact lodge.

From the main lodge - all thatched, open sides and scattered with sofas, poolside loungers and four-poster outdoor beds- stretch endless vistas that change with the light. Thousands of trees speckle the plains.

In the distance, I can spot giraffe. At the back, above lawns overhung with baobabs and strangling figs, I can hear birds chirruping in the morning light. It’s as close as you can get to an African Eden.

Unlike most safari camps in South Africa, which share game reserves with other lodges, Pamushana has the entire 40,500-hectare Malilangwe reserve to itself - and since the camp sleeps a maximum of 16, everyone has a fair amount of space to enjoy.

Guests pay US$800 (£517) a night to stay at one of the most stylish places in Africa. (You can take over the camp privately - as did Catherine Zeta-Jones and Michael Douglas - for $19,000 a night.)

The Malilangwe Trust ploughs profits into conservation. In 1997 $1 million was spent buying 28 black rhino from KwaZulu-Natal, in South Africa, the largest wildlife purchase and reintroduction yet. This has brought the rhino population up to 58 black and 72 white (protected by 70 armed game guards recruited from the surrounding villages). Thirty-three roan antelope — a species that had died out — were reintroduced.

There are lion prides, more than 30 leopard and so many elephants that the resort’s management is desperately trying to persuade the Government to issue a permit so that some can be moved.

The game reserve has largely been left alone by poachers, thanks, says the manager, Jason Turner, to the camp’s relationship with local communities. The scale of Malilangwe Trust’s involvement in local welfare is like no other in Africa.

Each year it ploughs between $1.5 and $2 million into projects that benefit about 10,000 people in local villages and on former farms. They include education programmes, bursaries for children to go to school, a clinic and giving seed to local chiefs. Every day, with the help of other donors, it feeds 25 000 under-8s with porridge - the only meal that many will get that day.

Throughout the area, everyone I speak to says the same: that Malilangwe is their only means of survival. “Because they rely on us so heavily, we have been able to educate them about the value of wildlife,” Turner says. “Go to other places around here and they’re littered with traps and snares. The game has been written off. But, thankfully, most of ours is left alone. And so are we.”

This, for the visitor, is a blessing. During our four days there, we see everything you could hope to on safari, from roaring lion to baby rhino. And, on top of that, we indulge in the luxuries for which Singita has become well known: capacious bathrooms; private pools; friendly, accommodating staff; enthusiastic game guides; and a down-to-earth, relaxed atmosphere that is often absent in five-star lodges.

Luxury may be hard to stomach in a country where people struggle for food. But having seen what money from tourism can achieve in a poor area, it is difficult to advise you not to visit this little haven in Zimbabwe. The Times