Sabi Sabi June 2022

Sabi Sabi at Sabi Sands at Kruger National Park - An Explanation

After spending some time in the Eastern and Northern Cape it was time to return back to Kruger National Park. I‘ve decided to try out Sabi Sabi in Sabi Sands and the Selati Camp this time. The Sabi Sabi Private Game Reserve is part of the Kruger National Park and there are no fences between Sabi Sabi and Kruger. So the animals can commute within the whole Kruger area which consists over almost 20‘000 km2. To break it down: Kruger National Park has a certain area called Sabi Sands and Sabi Sands consits of several private game reserves and one of them is Sabi Sabi. Beside of Sabi Sands there are even more private game reserves on their own within Kruger National Park. Sabi Sands describes a certain area of Kruger NP where multiple private game reserves mark their individual presence. They are not really working together, that means even if there are no fences in between of them it‘s mostly not allowed for the game drive vehicles to drive into the other areas. Some of the private game reserves in Sabi Sands do have agreements where a certain amount of cars could cross the borders to another private game reserve. But this doesn‘t apply to Sabi Sabi and it‘s not common practice.

Kruger NP or Private Game Reserve?

The benefit of a stay in a Private Game Reserve at Kruger is that your guide/ranger is allowed to off-road for some types of animals. In Kruger you need to remain on the roads and there are no real limitations of the amount of cars at a sighting - some of them private cars with unexperienced drivers in wildlife. A visit to a private game reserve gives you some advantages because of that. Sabi Sabi is just a little part of Kruger with it‘s around 70 km2. It was the first Private Game Reserve within Sabi Sands which is another area of about 650 km2 in the greater Kruger NP. So to break it down again: Kruger National Park with it‘s 20‘000 km2 consists of Sabi Sands with it‘s 650 km2 and Sabi Sands consists of Sabi Sabi with it‘s 70 km2. No fences in between at all, but restrictions to cross the borders anyway.

The brand Sabi Sands sounds good - but this alliance doesn‘t make a lot of sense in my opinion. You are usually not allowed to drive into the other private game reserves within Sabi Sands. So choose wisely when going to a PGR at Kruger - the size and it‘s location matters! Sabi Sands is mostly used to market all of the lodges of all the private game reserves within that area within Kruger NP and they are not really working together in other things as far as I know.

About Sabi Sabi and the Selati Camp

The Sabi Sabi private game reserve is about 70 km2 in size and it‘s broken down into two 35 km2 (almost) square areas (the Northern and Southern part of Sabi Sabi) which connect at the Shaws Gate entrance into Kruger NP. Sabi Sabi is just located at Kruger‘s borderline which is convenient to reach by a private car with the downside of seeing a fence sometimes and having a bit more light pollution from the villages next to Kruger NP. They have even a private airstrip and offer direct flights out of Johannesburg with Federal Airlines with a duration of about 1.5 hours.

There are 4 lodges within Sabi Sabi: Bush Lodge (a bit bigger, but family friendly), Little Bush Camp (private, with just 6 rooms), Earth Lodge (modern and with a different style - the only lodge in the Southern part of Sabi Sabi) and the lodge I‘ve stayed in: The Selati Camp with just 8 rooms in three sizes and the one and only Ivory Presidential Suite. The Selati Camp is railways branded and nice antique furniture, a pool area (not heated), a nice bar, several decks and a nice African Boma, where dinner is served at most of the time.

My Safari Experience

Jason my guide picked me up at the private airstrip of Sabi Sabi in the Southern part of the private game reserve. To get to the Selati Camp it takes about 30-45 minutes in an open safari vehicle with great game viewing chances right after you step out of the Cessna Caravan at the airstrip. After a short while it was clear, that Jason will be the perfect match for me as a photographer, because he is into it as well. He is the guy who shots the majority of the pictures used for the social media presence of Sabi Sabi. Because I‘ve booked the Ivory Presidential Suite at the Selati Camp I was eligible to have the car, guide and tracker on my sole use. So if the guide is into photography and no other guests who just like to see as many animals as possible without spending some time with them are on the car, we had the complete freedom to make the best shots. It was just a question of whether the animals will like to show up for us.

On the way from the airstrip to the lodge Jason asked me about my dream shot. Because I didn‘t get the chance to shoot many photos of leopards in the past and Kruger NP is well-known for it‘s big leopard population, I‘ve answered (building the picture up with every short sentence in this order, with short breaks in between each of them looking to Jason‘s reaction):

We both laughed after I‘ve finished my explanation of my dream shot, because we both knew that this setting is very uncommon to find. It‘s almost like to believe in unicorns - whenever it‘s happening out there. But you need to find this first at the right time. Spoiler alert: Upon our very last game drive, we‘ve just got right into this setting. But it really took several game drives to even see a leopard, which is pretty uncommon in Kruger NP.

Quality of the Game Drives

My guide Jason and my tracker Eric did a great job: They were really professionals and addicted to wildlife. The navigation skills of Eric whilst following a leopard in the darkness whilst off-roading were fantastic. Whenever this leopard was very fast and went through the thickest bushes, these two guys were able to follow the leopard. Both of them could answer all my questions, informed me anytime of the plans for the game drive, asked me what I like to see, gave me options and were not looking to the watch so that we could spend more than the regular times in the wilderness.

The sundowner drinks were nice too. I‘ve just missed the freshly prepared game meat I got at Madikwe. So the snacks were limited, but this is nothing to complain about. The only thing which was a bit frustrating was our try to find the wild dogs again. We‘ve heard them and followed them. But at a certain point we had to stop to go for them, because we‘ve reached Sabi Sabi‘s border to another private game reserve (Lion Sands) within Sabi Sands and we were not allowed to get on the other side. All in all it felt a bit too small with it‘s 70 km2 - I mean even Shamwari in the Eastern Cape is about 200 km2 in size. Especially the split into the two separate sections is a bit annoying and usually we‘ve just stayed in the Northern part because the lodge was located there.

The Selati Camp in general

Let‘s start with the culinary part of it: I can tell you, that this food was more than delicious. The chef and the whole kitchen/restaurant crew made sure, that you never eat things twice. Every evening they‘ve created a new menu with several options - from game meat over vegetarian and traditional options. One evening I had a Kudu filet - but I told the chef to bring me as well a very small taster of the other option - a chicken curry, cooked in coconut cream. Oh boy: I‘m traveling a lot - even to India and other Asian countries. But this was the best curry I‘ve ever had. And the Kudu filet was just a dream - yummy!

The host and reception staff did an amazing job as well. They were always present and every staff member greeted me personally with my name at any time. The turnaround for the laundry was faster than a lightning and the housekeeping was even been done during my morning game drive on my last day.

All the food and drinks are inclusive - there are just some exclusions of that: Premium champagne and wines - and - believe me or not: Red Bull *LOL. As an IT guy I love to have a Red Bull - especially because I do not like and drink coffee at all. I think this was the only negative thing during my stay and it‘s almost not worth to mention it, because I was even happy that it was available in the middle of nowhere. This was not the case in the other lodges I‘ve visited in the past two years. So my only things on my final bill were the Red Bulls, the laundry and some souvenirs from the little curio shop. And all of that was pretty affordable.

Conclusion

Sabi Sabi was an experience on it‘s own. Delicate food of a fantastic kitchen staff, served by friendly waiters, great game drives with an experienced guide and tracker, spacious room with all amenities I‘ve needed and last but not least great game viewings are possible at this place. The only downside for me was the size of the private game reserve - mainly because of it‘s division into to separate sections. But all in all: I will return back there anytime.

As everytime I‘ve paid in full for my stay at Sabi Sabi and didn‘t get any additional benefits. This trip report is based on my very own experience.

Website: www.sabisabi.com