Trip Report- Sabi Sands & Timbavati- July 2007

I had been planning our first safari since fall last year and been researching the many options, including reading a large number of your posts which were extremely helpful. I had wanted to do a family safari with our kids ages 9 and 14, and once our friends learned of this we ended up a big group with two other families- a total of 6 adults and 6 kids ranging in age from 9 to 16. The first big choice was East Africa or Southern Africa. I had originally wanted to do our first safari in Kenya and Tanzania, but ended up choosing South Africa for two main reasons: first, the fact that it was unlikely the kids would happily survive an- all safari vacation with nothing else. East Africa only appeared to have Zanzibar as a practical safari add-on and that was not particularly attractive for us. South Africa added the possibility of one of the world’s great cities- Cape Town. Also, the infra-structure in East Africa appeared somewhat challenging- hot, dusty, drives between destinations or pricey charters. Budget was also a consideration considering the number of people.

In the end we decided on South Africa with a week in one or two of the private reserves near Kruger Park for our safari and the second week in Cape Town. Everyone in our party agreed this was the best choice for us. We all travel frequently and I have never used a travel agent previously. However, in planning the safari portion of the trip and the logistics of moving a large party between camps etc, coupled with the fact the few camps I contacted seemed either full or not very interested with dealing with an individual by e-mail, I realized an agent was absolutely necessary. The next issue was how to find the correct agent. I contacted several in South Africa and the US (where we live) and narrowed it down to two- CC Africa and Wild Wings Safaris. Within a short time it became apparent that Wild Wings was far more responsive and quickly understood what I needed- excellent game viewing and a comfortable, full service camp, a bit of a bush experience, and given the short time we had on safari, time was of the essence and minimizing the amount of time required to get between destinations should be a priority- I wanted to do all 14 game drives!

A large number of e-mails were exchanged in a short period and we decided on two reserves- the Sabi Sands and Timbavati. Given our budget and interest in getting comparative value without sacrificing game viewing or comfort (we could give up on luxury), WW recommended Elephant Plains in Sabi Sands and after much back and forth we settled on Akeru, a somewhat rustic camp in the Timbavati reserve, north of the Sabi Sands. The logistics of moving 12 people from JNB to the Sabi Sands, then Sabi Sands to Timbavati and finally to Kruger airport for our flight to Cape Town were also a major consideration of choice of Agent. The flight from JNB to Kruger would still require a 2.5 hour drive to the first camp, so we decided on a road transfer with an overnight stop in Graskop, and a chance to do the Panoramic route. We would have a 13 passenger bus, with a driver/guide who would overnight with us and then take us to EP the next day. This turned out very well- Neil, our guide for the first 30 hours was great!

A word on travel agents. I was initially nervous about wiring significant funds to an agent far away and I had essentially found Wild Wings with only one recommendation on Fodors, compared to far more discussion on others. But Wild Wing’s clear, straight-forward responses to my many questions made them a clear choice- they never pushed us to any lodge and compared several choices I came up with. Still, due diligence is always required when dealing with agents for the first time. I requested Onne, Wild Wing’s owner, to give e-mails and phone numbers for 2 to 3 previous clients, and I had another request- they needed to be based in America so I could get a point of view I was more familiar with. This was quickly done and after speaking to the references, it was apparent they had a great time with Wild Wings -both told me they too, were apprehensive initially about wiring money to South Africa 6 months in advance, but it all worked out. This was sufficient for me and helped make the key decision in finalizing the right agent for our safari. Wild Wings exceed my expectations, with the owner going beyond what was contracted for, and helping me with the domestic South African airline, Nationwide, that refused to accept a travel agent on the group fare I had directly negotiated. When they stopped responding to my mails, after having received half the money, Onne stepped in and worked everything out with them, without earning anything on the air portion and, for this, I remain very grateful.

The Sabi Sands and Elephant Plains were just wonderful- far better than I had envisioned. The accommodations were well, fabulous. The adults had the luxury rooms and they were well worth it. I credit Wild Wings again with pushing us to take the luxury rooms instead of the regular ones I had initially requested and it made a big difference. After staying in the lion room, complete with faux lion prints in the stone leading into the room, the indoor and outdoor shower, clawfoot tub with views over the plains below, sheer size of the cottage, huge private deck overlooking the dried river bed where you could normally see elephants or buffalo, I am hard pressed to imagine how one could improve on the accommodations without going over the top- there was no private plunge pool for example? The food was fine and far too much- we ate in the outdoor boma with a born-fire at night. The bar was wonderful, they had a lovely wine cellar and we were in heaven.

Now for the most important part- the game drives. I was worried we would be stuffed into a 9 seater and that photography would be difficult. However, we were never more than 6 to a vehicle, the land rovers seemed very new and took off after game deep into the bush with the tracker dodging branches with 2 inch long thorns and the vehicles sometimes climbed amazing 60 degree + slopes with no problems- it felt, at times, like a roller coaster! The rangers were excellent and all communication was by earpiece- no radio crackle to disturb the solitude. Also, the networking between camps was very good – EP has transversing rights with Simbabilli to the north, Arathusa next door and Chitwa Chitwa; however no or very limited access into Londolozi directly south of their border and Djuma also nearby- the northern end of Mala Mala is around 10 kms away. EP’s eastern (?) border is with a large privately owned farm that is not in the safari business but charges camp’s a million rand a year transversing fee. Singita- a very expensive camp that is located just to the south pays this, but EP cannot afford to do so. Also, EP has no permanent flowing river, like the Sabi river just to the south, but has a dried river bed that only flows when there is significant rain. I understand Londolozi is known to be one of the best leopard sighting destinations in Africa and based on what we saw (below), EP’s sharing a border was most welcome!

Regardless, EP’s location in the Sabi Sands is undoubtedly excellent based on personal experience and we were able to see a tremendous amount of game. Just a sample- eight leopards in 3.5 days, over a 100 elephants (the place is aptly named and the elephant over-abundance is actually a problem as they strip and tear down trees and make bush walks somewhat dangerous), excellent white rhino sightings- two bulls, one of whom we followed up a steep slope and a female with a calf- relaxed close encounter; 3 different prides of lions including over 45 minutes spent at a fresh (maybe an hour old) kill of a baby giraffe by the Styx (sp) pride from Mala Mala- we did not see a male lion however, as a group of 6 males had recently killed EP’s dominant male and was causing general havoc in the Sabi Sands- the intruders were seen getting comfortable in Ulusaba, Richard Branston’s lodge, during our stay, according to the rangers.

A highlight was we saw a vehicle from an adjourning camp- Londolozi, parked with only guests, both the ranger and the tracker had gone into the bush after a leopard kill. We stopped and they soon emerged- jackpot- they found the kill with a young male (it was a very small antelope) and the male’s mother nearby as a bonus. As it goes, Londolozi’s vehicle’s got the first look for 30 minutes while we had coffee. Then we were allowed in- this was a drive into dense bush for about 500 yards- they left just as we came (another example of great co-operation between camps- we were never with more than one max. 2 other vehicles anywhere and say at a kill, it was typically our two vehicles alone with only our party!). The male leopard had enough of vehicles and was snarling and agitated, causing some consternation in our vehicle as he made a short, mock charge. The mother had one milky eye with possible loss of vision, due to an unfortunate encounter with a Mozambique spitting cobra.

Saw herds of giraffe, zebra, wilderbeest, pods of hippos, a couple of hyena’s at night going after a leopard kill, Kudus, waterbuck, various other antelopes, springbok in abundance, cape buffalo in small herds or solo males, lots of birds- African fish eagles, owls, vultures in a nest, various hornbirds etc. The game viewing was fantastic. Drives started at 6 am in the winter (5.30 wake-up) and it was cold, but we were well prepared with fleeced, hats and gloves and by 9 am it became warm and we were in t-shirts. Evening drives started at 3.30 pm- both were about 3.5 hours (with the last 2 hours of the evening drive in the dark by spotlight) so 7 hours of game drives daily and a one hour and a half bush walk. Game walks, however, were limited- the rangers seemed nervous due to all the elephants in the area that can be dangerous when on foot and sent a vehicle a few minutes ahead of the walk to watch-out. The result was we saw no animals on foot, only birds and the bush.

Timbavati had a surprisingly different feel to the reserve- vaster and more scenic, I thought, than the part of Sabi Sands EP is located in. Akeru was wonderful, a true rustic bush experience. Extremely comfortable cottages, much smaller than EP luxury rooms, about equal to EP’s standard rooms, but the lodge was beautiful and at night the kerosene lamps all over (they have limited electricity for charging stuff and one fan per room only). The food was fabulous- better than EP- overall a wonderful experience. Now to the game drives- not in the same league as the Sabi Sands. They only had two vehicles and here it was pretty full each day, no earphone, limited networking with other camps, a much larger area to cover. On the first day we saw a huge herd of over 500 cape buffalo and maneuvered the vehicle into the middle of them- it was magical. In general, the animals seemed less accustomed to vehicles, more skittish, the trackers had to work real hard- one even disappeared into the bush for 2 hours after a leopard without a gun and only a radio, but no cigar. We saw one pride of lions, but it was on another camp, Kings Camp’s land and they had two vehicles there already. Lights were fading and strangely no spotlights were allowed as there were cubs and the light could affect them (?). They were feasting on a baby giraffe (again, strange co-incidence) and we did see a big male lion, but he had just gorged himself and was lying down and paid us no attention. The next day the pride had moved on. So while we saw plenty of herbivores these were the only predators we saw. Only one of our vehicles saw a rhino, but after having seen three different ones, including a mother and cub really close-up at EP, we were fine.

The gamewalks at Akeru were very good- two rangers with guns front and back- saw and learned about trees, various bushes, learned about tracks and one day were followed by three warthogs- they have fairly large tusks! The kids who were not allowed on gamewalks here were taken on their own drive to a waterhole with a ranger where they made plaster imprints of various animal tracks and even had to go back to get the hardened plaster!

In our week, then, we saw everything we wanted but cheetah and wild dog- the kids petted cheetah’s at Spier’s in the winelands later. Cape Town was wonderful, we stayed at Romney Park suites in Greenpoint and our luck with the weather continued- 6 straight sunny, warm days at the cape in July! We had met people at the camps coming from steady rain at the cape so rushed to Table Mountain and Cape Point on Day 1, and the winelands on Day 2, till we realized our luck with great weather is not going to end and spent a lazy afternoon at the 12 Apostles hotel over a long lunch one glorious day, even went to the beach, warm sand and freezing water! Spent the obligatory time at the V&A waterfront, the Aquarium, went to Robbin’s island- saw the actor Danny Glover going over as well, went to the Gold museum which was walking distance from our hotel and is a jewel- highly recommended for a couple of hours, strolled on Long Street and the outdoor markets, saw the Malay quarter (just OK) etc. We found having a car was critical as we drove everywhere- only had to pay for parking at the waterfront.
Romney Park was excellent – each of our units had two bedrooms, two full baths, living room, full kitchen, dining area and a balcony overlooking Cape Town. Great for families, even had parking on site for our cars!

In sum, an amazing, truly memorable trip.

I will be happy to answer any questions.