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Sabi Sabi Bush Lodge

Skukuza, Mpumalanga, South Africa

Sabi Sabi Bush Lodge

Sabi Sabi Bush Lodge is one of a few luxury safari lodges located in the Sabi Sands game reserve. The Sabi Sands game reserve is a private property that connects to the Kruger National Park in South Africa. Because it is a private property, the 4x4s can drive off road during game drives for sightings of the big 5 (elephant, lion, leopard, rhino, and buffalo). This pretty much guarantees that you will see the big 5 during your stay at Sabi Sabi.

The flexibility of driving off road also guarantees that you'll get some amazing close-up views and photo opportunities. If appropriate, the guides are able to position the 4x4 to provide great perspective and lighting. This was our first time on safari, and I think it's a good way to start and get an introduction to all the big animals.

Staying at Sabi Sabi was very comfortable. This is far from "roughing it". The accommodations were luxurious, the food was incredible, and the staff were all friendly and polite. Staying here was like staying at a resort with safari game drives. The only limitation at the lodge is that all the animals, except elephants can come and go through the lodge at their will. This means that you can't walk far on your own, and you need an escort to go anywhere at night.

Accommodations

The bedroom

Each room was a private building that looked out over the watering hole beyond the bushes. The rooms had a private enclosed yard and open patio. All the windows were facing away from the path for extra privacy, although I didn't feel comfortable enough to use the outdoor shower with the neighbors being not too far away.

The bedrooms were more like suites with an entrance, a sitting room, the bedroom and a changing area. The beds were large and comfortable and protected by a bug net, although there were almost no bugs when we visited in the winter. The rooms were equipped with heating, which was turned on for us as part of our turn-down service so the room was nice and warm when we returned from our evening game drive. The rooms were also equipped with electrical outlets, phones, and free internet.

The bathroom was also huge and held two sinks, a separate toilet room, a bath tub, a shower, and an outdoor shower. The stone floors were a bit cold, but we were provided with free slippers to use around the room.

The turn-down service each night included hot water bottles in our beds. One evening we had a romantic turn-down service where the bed and bathtub was filled with flower petals and candles were set around the bathtub.

Daily Itinerary

The bathroom

The schedule when we visited in the winter consisted of a wake up call at 6am, followed by tea and snacks at 6:30am. We left for our morning game drive in a 4x4 at 7am, returning to the camp around 10am in time for breakfast. At 11am there was an optional walking safari with your guide, or a visit to one of the local villages for an extra 500 Rand fee per person. Lunch was served at 1:30pm, followed by an afternoon siesta. At 3pm tea and snacks were served, followed by our evening game drive at 3:30pm. The evening game drive included a sundowner stop to stretch our legs and have a drink at sunset. We returned from our game drive around 7pm, shortly after it had become completely dark. You then had the option of going to the bar, or returning to your room and calling for an escort back for dinner at 8pm.

Food

A breakfast buffet

The food was a little over the top. It can be very easy to gain a lot of weight on vacation here with little exercise and great food five times a day. For the breakfast buffet there was a variety of fresh fruit, cereals, cheeses, meats, and a hot buffet that included baked potatoes, beans, tomatoes, mushrooms, sausages and an omelette bar and made to order eggs.

The lunch buffet consisted of some excellent salads, including a make your own salad, some quiches, and some hot food that changed daily. For lunch and breakfast we sat at our own table in the covered dining area that is still very open with no walls, and overlooks the watering hole.

Dinner is either served around the campfire or in the same covered area as breakfast and lunch. For dinner, we sat with our guide and the other people who we shared the game drives with. Although dinner was a buffet, all the options were formally announced by the chef. An appetizer was served first, and then the buffet was opened. The dinner buffet consisted of a selection of salads, four meat options and several hot vegetable items. The food was all excellent and quite fancy. Some of the more exotic items we had was ostrich neck boiled in a red wine sauce, and Kudu steak which was some of the best steak I've ever had.

Spa

Dinner by the Campfire

The spa at the Sabi Sabi bush lodge is located just in front of the main lodge. The staff from the spa came around a couple of times offering their spa menu. We were only staying for 3 nights and there was almost no availability for us to schedule in a massage between all our daily activities. We booked a couples massage for 500 Rand each. The spa is in a quiet place surrounded by the bush and has a peaceful water feature in the center. The massage room had a big window that looked out into the bush, but otherwise it was a very typical luxury spa massage experience. The staff was very kind and we had a very relaxing massage.

Activities

Game Drives

Following a leopard on a game drive

Elephant on a game drive

The activities at Sabi Sabi were mostly game drives in an open 4x4 with our guide (who both drove the vehicle and provided a lot of information) and our tracker who sat in front of the vehicle and spotted tracks and hidden animals. The vehicles had stadium seating for 9 people, so pretty much every seat had a good view. Most of the driving is on small dirt roads, but we went off road to see the big 5. Driving off road gave us some of the best animal viewing we had on safari. We were able to park the truck in the path of a leopard who then approached us and stopped for a rest on a termite mound about 2 meters away from our heads. We also pulled right next to a few different dead buffalo that were being feasted on by lions. We were amazed by the game sightings we had - we saw all the big 5 plus zebra, giraffe, and several types of antelope in our first 3 game drives. We didn't see very much on our night drives (returning back to camp after sunset), but the star viewing was spectacular.

Our guide was very enthusiastic about birds and gave us an appreciation of the birds in the area that we would not have had otherwise. He also provided a lot of information throughout the drives about the animals, their activity, or the environment that made it always interesting no matter what we saw. Our tracker was incredible at spotting things. On our way back at night, he spotted a small chameleon resting in a tree about 5 meters away from the road in the dark!

During the winter, we were equipped with warm blankets and hot water bottles for our morning drives. We stopped for 15-20 minutes to stretch our legs and have tea/coffee/hot chocolate and cookies in the mornings and alcoholic or non-alcoholic beverages and snacks at sunset in the evenings.

Walking Safari

For all our game drives and walking safaris, our guide had a rifle with him, which I think was just for show. Our guide claimed he never had to use it, and on safaris at other lodges, in car or on foot, our guides did not have any weapons. The walking safari allowed us to make use of our legs and get up close and personal with some of the plants and insects in the bush. We saw some impala and a buffalo from a distance.

Village Tour

Bone reader at the village tour

Upon arrival we were asked if we would be interested in going on a tour of a nearby local village. The cost of the tour was to go to donations for the village and the school there. The village was about 45 minutes away by car. We were picked up from the lodge along with about 10 other people. We had two guides that spoke English clearly and provided all kinds of information about the local life. The village seemed fairly modern, but very basic. The homes were mostly built by their owners from concrete blocks and corrugated tin roofs. Our tour stopped at the primary school which had just gone out on holiday. Instead of visiting with the children, we had a performance by a local marimba band that was actually really good. We had another performance by a local girls choir and visited a healer and bone reader. It felt like a very touristy way to safely see and talk to some of the other people in south africa.