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Game Viewing, History, Properties, Wildlife

History

The land that makes up the Sabi Sand Reserve was originally part of the larger Sabi Game Reserve, which was proclaimed in 1898 to control the unregulated hunting that was decimating the region's wildlife. The huge reserve included what is today the Kruger National Park. More land was added to the growing reserve over the ensuing years and in 1926, the Kruger National Park was officially proclaimed as South Africa's first national park.

The privately-owned land to the west of Kruger, including the Sabi Sand land, was excluded from the new national park. The Sabi Sand land was surveyed and sold off in 'plots' to wealthier South Africans. This was wild bush country and these land 'farms' were mostly used for getaways and winter hunting resorts by the owners.

In 1948, a group of fourteen of these landowners decided to combine their properties into the first private nature reserve in South Africa, the Sabi Sand Wildtuin. Several lodges were opened to the public for game viewing.

Kruger National Park had been fenced since the early 1960s (in a failed attempt to prevent the spread of foot-and-mouth disease) to cattle living outside the national park. The 50-kilometer-long fence between Kruger National Park and the Sabi Sand Reserve was removed in 1993, so that wildlife in the two nature sanctuaries could roam freely.

Properties

The various properties within the Sabi Sand Game Reserve are unfenced between one another and are separated by unpaved roads or rivers as their boundaries. The properties manage their own land as individual private reserves and staying at one of the lodges in the reserve, generally means that your game drives are conducted exclusively within the boundaries of the land for that lodge.

The largest properties are those of MalaMala, Londolozi and Singita. Other significant properties include Nottens, Sabi Sabi, Lion Sands, Ulusaba and more. 

MalaMala is the largest single private reserve within the Sabi Sand and the first to accept paying tourists. MalaMala enjoys 130 sq kms of land, including 20 kms of prime Sand River frontage on both side of the river. It is also one of the few reserves in the Sabi Sand with no fences on any of its boundaries.  MalaMala has two safari camps.

Singita and Londolozi also enjoy large prime wildlife locations straddling the Sand River and both offer exclusive wildlife experiences and several lodges on each property.

The excellent wildlife experience combined with the exclusive accommodations results in untold numbers of loyal guests returning to their favorite safari camps in the reserve year after year.

Game Viewing

The high density of wildlife combined with the excellent guiding in the Sabi Sand means that the quality of game viewing experience is arguably unmatched anywhere in Southern Africa.

The experience in the Sabi Sand Reserve is in sharp contrast to that of guests staying in the Kruger National Park to the west, where off-road drives are prohibited, paved roads become congested with self-driving tourists, and the camps are far more humble.

Facilities and guiding at the safari lodges in the reserve are top-notch and because the lodges and land are privately owned and managed, there are no reserve restrictions in terms of off-road driving or night drives. Following a leopard as it hunts through the bush while your ranger/guide carefully navigates the 4WD vehicle around trees and other obstacles is a memorable experience!

Wildlife sightings within the entire reserve are strictly managed, so that the number of vehicles permitted at an individual sighting is restricted (generally three vehicles max for a big cat for example). This reduces stress for the animals and also makes for a more enjoyable experience for guests.

The guides at the various properties communicate with each other via headsets and thereby manage game sightings in a fairly unnoticeable way to guests. In fact, the high density of wildlife in the reserve means that guests are often taken from one sighting to another and sightings of all five of Africa's Big Five (lion, leopard, elephant, buffalo, rhino) in a single game drive is not uncommon.

Many of the smaller properties, especially those in the western and northern sectors of the reserve have agreements with their neighboring properties to allow traversing rights on each other's land. This in effect increases the game viewing area for their guests.

Generally speaking, the density of guests and safari vehicles in the west and north sectors of the reserve is higher than in the larger properties located in the center and south sectors of the reserve.

Wildlife

The Sabi Sand is renowned for its abundant leopards and is undoubtedly the most reliable place in Africa to see and spend time with these beautiful and usually elusive cats. The reserve is also home to numerous prides of lions and witnessing lion pride dynamics is one of the highlights of a long stay here.

The endangered African wild dogs are seen occasionally, especially in the central and eastern side of the reserve as the packs move between Kruger and the Sabi Sand and sometimes den inside the reserve.

Spotted hyena are here in good numbers, as are both black-backed and side-striped jackal. Cheetah are seen on occasion, but numbers are not high due to the high density of lion.

There are thousands of elephants that move between the Sabi Sand and Kruger and impressively large bulls and breeding herds are almost a sure bet on every game drive.

Both black and white rhino species are here in good numbers, but white rhino are the most commonly seen. Other herbivores with healthy populations in the reserve include zebra, giraffe, buffalo, nyala, waterbuck, reedbuck, bushbuck, impala, klipspringer, and warthog.

Crocodiles are hippos are found in the rivers and sometimes in the larger seasonal rain pans.

Birding is superb, especially during the spring and summer (November thru March) when numerous migrants arrive to breed in the region.

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Game Viewing, History, Properties, Wildlife