ABOUT SABI SANDS
The most famous private game reserve of all. Sabi Sands Game Reserve, adjacent to South Africa's flagship Kruger National Park, offers a safari experience found nowhere else in the world. Game viewing possibilities are simply unparalleled, including the much sought after 'Big 5'. Add a fantastic range of luxury lodges suiting all tastes and an African dream safari is born. There are no fences between Kruger National Park and Sabi Sands Game Reserve, so wildlife roams freely in a huge natural environment.
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The Sabi Sands is in particular well known for its amazing leopard sightings. The most elusive animal of the Big 5 is frequently spotted when going on a game drive in the reserve. As such, Sabi Sands offers the ultimate photographic safari one can think of. You can be certain to return home with some absolutely stunning pictures and memories. Besides the Big 5, other game species occur in great numbers, among which are over 300 bird species. Sabi Sands possibly makes the best South African safari destination for wildlife enthusiasts, photographers and bird watchers alike.
So what is the 'secret' behind Sabi Sand's success? For this one has to have a closer look at the reserve's history. Much of of what now is the Sabi Sands Game Reserve used to be agricultural land. As cattle farms occurred in the area, a reliable source of water was needed on the farms. To provide this water, many boreholes were drilled, providing a steady supply of water. After the establishment of Sabi Sands as a game reserve, these waterholes and dams were kept intact and still function as water sources. It is now not cattle that drinks this water, but the many wild animals in the game reserve as the waterholes provide an abundance of water throughout the year.
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In the 1970's and 1980's when the new concept of a luxury safari was being conceptualise and implemented at the Sabi Sands, the marketing teams played on the historical hunting concept of the Big Five; at the time, the five most dangerous animals to hunt, and altered it to become a list of the top, ultimate animals to see while on a safari.Today visitors embark on safaris with the goal of seeing the ultimate of game animals; Leopard, Lion, Rhino, Buffalo and Elephant and the hunting concept has been completely adapted for a more environmentally friendly ethos.
WHAT WE HOPE TO SEE
Sabi Sands Game Reserve boasts some of the most diverse and unique wildlife species in Africa. Mammals you can expect to spot (apart from the Big 5) include the aardvark, African wild cat, hyenas, wild dogs, hippos, jackals, Cape porcupines, pangolins and many more incredible land-dwelling animals.
Lions roaming the open plains in their pride and rhinoceros congregating in front of your eyes are a sight to behold, but there’s one animal in particular that shares a unique bond with Sabi Sands; Leopards, the most elusive of the big cats and normally solitary creatures, are much easier to spot in the brushwood than they are in many other leopard reserves. They still favour a big tree, which they use as an observation platform or a resting place, but you can get within two metres of them before they run away. This unique, relaxed reaction is the result of the ban on hunting, which has lasted for over half a century. Several generations of leopards have never heard a gunshot, or had a reason to fear humans, so their passive attitude is a mixture of indifference and comfort.
