Camping at Lower Sabie - Kruger National Park
My Top Tip: If you are a birding enthusiast, I would not recommend June/July as this is when the birds migrate.
We spent 7 days camping at Lower Sabie, it is one of the smaller rest camps, situated in the southern part of the Park, close to Crocodile Bridge. This area is well known for some of the best game viewing in the Park and did not disappoint. We drove in at Malelane Gate, and it took us about 4 hours to get to Lower Sabie. The game viewing was wonderful along this stretch. We saw 3 of the Big 5, and it was only our first day! 7 days may be a little bit too long for those who struggle with the heat, but it did give us plenty of time for wonderful sightings, and anyway, you don’t have to be out game viewing every day, if you’re lucky, as we were, to have a pool in the rest camp, you can laze in the cool water.
The campsite at Lower Sabie is very well laid out, there are plenty of trees for shade, power points so you don’t need to worry about making food by candlelight, and the ablution blocks are very clean and very close to your site. I just wish they could have an “ice cold” setting on the shower after a day’s game viewing in such heat! The campsites are very quiet, no loud music nor rowdy children. Everyone seems to be there with one thing on their mind – to go to bed as early as possible and get up early enough to be at the gate when it opens at 4.30 am. I am not really a morning person, but I promise you I was out of that tent very early each morning, sometimes to admire the sunrise and tranquillity from the deck of the restaurant, other times in excitement and anticipation of spotting lion on our drive as the sun rose.
The Park is very well signposted, a GPS in your car would be useful, and I would suggest buying a map from the rest camp. I would have liked to have bought a map as I entered the Park (as our car does not have GPS) but these are only sold at the main rest camps and not at the entrance to the Park.
On one of our longer days (we covered 300km) we drove up to Skukuza with the intention of having lunch at the Skukuza Golf Club – apparently, their burgers are yummy – but we ended up exploring the Skukuza Wetland Boardwalk, which is a 260m boardwalk through the wetland, close to the golf course, and high enough for hippo and buffalo to graze underneath. This is a real must as there is also a lovely nursery at the end of the boardwalk for all the plant lovers. Just a way down from Lower Sabie is Sunset Dam, our “go-to” place for sundowners at the end of a full day. We would just sit on the edge of the dam (in our car of course) and watch the hippos, crocodiles and birds, and the odd buck that would venture to the water’s edge for a drink. It is a peaceful place!
My favourite part of the trip was watching an Impala give birth – it was a very special experience!
Lower Sabie has a Mugg and Bean situated on a deck overlooking the river, a very tranquil place at 5 am when the sun rises. There is a very big curio shop and an ablution facility for Muslims situated at the main reception area.
The Kruger Park is on a level of its own, it does wonders for your soul. If you would like to plan a trip to the Kruger then please get in touch.