Sabi Sabi Earth Lodge, Sabi Sands (Review)

Sabi Sabi Private Game Reserve is part of the popular Sabi Sand Game Reserve (within the Greater Kruger National Park) and enjoys 5,400 hectares of quality game viewing land. We have been keen to visit Sabi Sabi ever since we stayed at Nottens Bush Camp a lifetime ago – the two shared traversing and game viewing was fantastic.

For this trip we were lucky to leave the kids at home so we could enjoy the full luxury 5-star experience at Sabi Sabi’s most exclusive lodge, Sabi Sabi Earth Lodge for two nights. Sabi Sabi has three other lodges – Sabi Sabi Bush Lodge (family friendly), Selati Camp and Little Bush Camp. We visited each of them while there and got a good feel for the character and pros/cons of each, but for this review we’ll focus on Earth Lodge.

Being a true 5-star affair, it comes with all the trimmings including a mosquito net, air conditioning, a bath tub, a fully stocked (and included) mini bar and the plunge pool. Everything you need for an enjoyable stay. We particularly liked the mini bar – probably the most comprehensive we have seen and complete with tools and ingredients to make various cocktails.

They also have Amber Villa, a 2-bedroom villa for families or couples travelling together.

We also love the fact it is completely unfenced – we had to wait when arrived for an elephant to move from the path heading to our room! That may not be for everyone but we love the extra excitement.

There is a gym, a spa & wellness centre, bar and cellar, souvenir shop as well as various areas to eat and relax – including a unique ‘Day Bar’ where you can dine in a shallow pool with your feet in the water! The lodge also has a small waterhole that you can see from the main dining area.

I went for a very relaxing massage while there and thoroughly recommend if you have the time.

As you would expect in a place as lush as this, the food (and service) was excellent. They serve breakfast, lunch and dinner as well as an extensive array of pre-drive snacks for both morning and afternoon drives. What that means is there’s basically food on offer at any time of the day. For all meals you get an extensive menu to choose from, with multiple courses. Breakfast has a comprehensive buffet on top of your hot meal made to order. It was one of the best breakfast buffets we have seen, even including extra touches like a bloody mary station!

Drinks are of course included during your stay. The quality of the food was excellent. The only downside in my opinion was the fact we ended up eating quite late both nights – the second night our main wasn’t served until 9pm, which was just way too late for me! I had even tried to speed it up by not ordering the soup or entrée but unfortunately as I was sitting with others it just meant I didn’t eat anything until all mains were served at 9 – a learning for me! Sabi Sabi do offer in-room dining as well, so I think had we not been invited to dine with the people on our vehicle that night I would have opted for this and been served a lot earlier.

A couple of things to note about Sabi Sabi that help make sure you have a good experience:

1. They use trackers (like most five-star lodges), which increases your chances of spotting/finding game – particularly cats which your tracker sometimes leaves your vehicle to track on foot.
2. They have a smaller traversing area, however don’t share this with many other lodges (I think just one – Nottens). That means that it is not a crazy ferrari-style affair like many other places in Sabi Sands. They do rotate vehicles out of sightings for their own cars to have a turn, but it’s done in a very fair way such that you feel you have a very good opportunity to enjoy the sighting and take lots of photos. 

• The service was very good – staff were friendly and helpful.
• The food choice, quantity and quality was excellent.
• The mini bar in our room was the best we’ve ever seen
• We had our own plunge pool (always something I love)
• The rooms are absolutely huge and include little extras like paints for you to use if the inspiration strikes
• The game viewing is great with a lower density of vehicles compared to many other places in Sabi Sands
• It’s completely unfenced so you can encounter animals (we had elephants in camp a couple of times) – adding to the excitement
• The lodge has an extremely luxurious and earthy/calming feel to it
• Easy to access for those who want to fly in and fly out with options to fly into their private airstrip or to nearby Skukuza airport
• They have a number of different camps to choose from – an option for every taste

• Being one of the higher quality 5-star lodges, the price is obviously on the higher side
• Dinner is served on the later side, however this is something you would be able to control more than we did!
• The main dining area is lovely, but the view is not quite as nice as some other lodges (for example those overlooking a riverbed). There are only a couple of tables that can see the waterhole.
• As they have a slightly smaller traversing area compared to some other lodges, you won’t get quite as much diversity in terms of landscape if you’re staying for a few days – the game viewing won’t be an issue though as animals move around and there are plenty to be seen here