Overview
Heading to Lions Sands River Lodge — the best hotel and resort tour for a Sabi Sands (adjacent to Kruger National Park) safari, we flew from Cape Town to Skukuza, a two and a half hour flight on Air Link. Once we landed, we were greeted by the Lion Sands Lodge representatives in the Christmas decorated small local airport. The wooden giraffes had Santa hats and a garland scarf, and the rhinoceros had one horn wearing a Santa hat and the larger horn wrapped in garland. While our bags were collected, we checked out the custom Toyota game vehicles. We hopped in, to head to the lodge with our custom water bottles labeled with our names, a gift from Lion Sands.
Animals galore – just on the drive from the airport!
We had just left the air grounds when we saw our first animal sightings. It was magical. We worked very hard to have low expectations as we are there to see wild animals. Who knows if they would make an appearance? We were wowed on just the trek from the airstrip to the lodge. Lots and lots of nyalas, waterbuck, impalas, and kudu showed off to us as we drove to the lodge. Once we arrived, we caught a quick lunch and were shown to our rooms. Each had a decorative welcome designed using fresh native plants.
First Drive
We met in the lobby for snacks and drinks and met our team for our visit. Gus was our driver and Noel was our tracker. We refilled our water bottles (your choice of still or sparkling) and set out for our first safari. As we were leaving the lodge, we saw more impalas and our first zebras.
We continued to see a herd of baboons and then wildebeest. Next was a turtle and then we were off on the quest to see the mama leopard and maybe her cubs.
Each Drive Has Wine!
As the sun started to set, Gus and Noel set up a bar off the front of the truck and we enjoyed cocktails and wine as we enjoyed the African atmosphere. Feature wines included some from Thelema which we had just toured during a private winery tour in Cape Town. After drinks were done, we headed back in the dusk to have a lovely dinner by the lantern light outside on the deck.
The Room
After dinner, we were escorted to our rooms with clear instructions that we should not walk without an escort from the resort for safety purposes. There is a handy phone number to call if you do need to leave your room.
The room is very spacious with a king-sized bed with mosquito netting surrounding the bed when it’s been turned down for bedtime. There are USB plugs by each nightstand. There is a desk with a chalkboard to chat with housekeeping. There was a stocked bar with beers, wines, sodas, Fever Tree tonics, as well as coffee and teas. There were two comfy armchairs facing the sliding doors out to the deck, facing the river.
In the bathroom, there are two sinks, a shower, as well as a deep tub for bathing. Next to the tub is a stand with a candle and bath salts for a relaxing, spa-like experience.
The air conditioning in the room worked very well and cooled it perfectly for an excellent night sleep.
Morning Drive
The next morning, Gus called with our wake up call at 5am just as the light started transitioning to morning. We packed up and headed to the lodge to grab a “to go” coffee as well as filling up our water bottles and headed out for our first morning game drive.
Our morning was amazing. We saw impalas, nyalas, kudus, zebras, a giraffe, a sleeping lioness, and a very alert leopard during our morning drive. Gus explained that the animals aren’t threatened by the vehicle as long as we stay seated. Around mid-drive, we stopped for breakfast snacks, coffee with a little Amarula mixed in, and mimosas of course!
On the way home to the lodge, we continued to see lots of animals but of note was the African Buffalo with their babies. December is baby season and we delightfully watched all the mama’s with their young. Once we returned, we had a lovely breakfast on the patio and saw the vervet monkeys that the staff was trying to run off by loud sounds.
Post-breakfast, we took the opportunity to explore the lodge and enjoy the pool until it was lunch, which was served on the patio. We enjoyed a leisurely afternoon until we met at the lodge at 4pm for snacks before our evening game drive.
Evening Drive
As Gus had told us on the original pickup from the airport, nyalas, impalas, and zebras are very common and we would see them multiple times and he was right.To list each animal each time we saw it would make for some very boring reading. Notable animals we saw on this drive include African Buffalo in the water, giraffe, four lions lying around (2 male, 2 female), and hippopotamus swimming in the water.
The Tree HoUse
Instead of our evening game drive “happy hour,” we were dropped off at the Kingston Tree house, our abode for this evening. With a four-poster bed, surrounded with gauzy mosquito netting, a lower deck with a sofa and chairs, as well as a table, and an attached bathroom, we had everything we needed for a romantic evening in the wild. The guide provided an overview of the amenities and provided safety gear in case we had any emergencies. She also warned us not to leave any food out or the monkeys would be up to the visit.
Once they departed, we were fully off the grid with no electricity. We opened a bottle of bubbly and watched the sun set over the trees and enjoyed the dinner that the guide had packed in (carefully putting it away to keep away any evening monkey visitors!). We had oil and battery powered lanterns for lighting. Once the sun went down, any light drew a lot of bug activity. so we retreated to the bed pretty quickly. It was also a very hot night so we took evening showers to cool down and used towels drenched in ice water to keep cool through the night.
Sleeping in the middle of the trees in the wilderness was quite the experience. Since it was a cloudy night, we couldn’t see the animals but we could hear them and smell them. After explaining the experience to Gus, he suggested that it may have been a herd of hippopotamuses that crashed our evening.
The next morning, we enjoyed the coffee and cookies that were packed in the second cooler and enjoyed the scenery until we were collected for the game drive. They brought us cappuccinos to go that we enjoyed as we left our tree house behind.
The Big Five — and Babies!
The morning brought more giraffes, hippopotamuses, and our first rhinoceros sighting – one on the far side of the river. We continued with zebras with their babies, a dung beetle, wildebeests with their babies, and then an elephant, cheerfully eating some vegetation. We got pretty up close to a hippopotamus in the water and then saw a baby rhinoceros with her mother. We stopped for our morning drinks and saw a giraffe lumbering by us. On our way back to the lodge, we saw buffalo wallowing in the mud. Back at the lodge, we saw a number of animals from the patio deck (buffaloes and hippos) as well as by the pool (nyalas) as we enjoyed breakfast and lunch. You will certainly not go hungry! We also partook of their spa with most of our party having massages.
On our evening drive, we saw more lions. Our earlier lions were more interested in sleeping than posing for our cameras but these lions were much more peppier.
The Final Drive
That evening, the lodge was lit up with lanterns and lights to celebrate Christmas eve. We had a beautiful dinner inside with festive decorations with each of us receiving a Christmas cracker to celebrate the evening.
Our final game drive was a wet experience. The rains of Africa, while blessed, finally caught up with us. Gus and Noel were prepared with rain ponchos. When we returned, a Kudu had made itself at home under the large tree by the lodge entrance, a very memorable end to a fantastic experience.
Lion Sands River Lodge was the perfect way to explore the beauty of Africa. From airport pickup to waving goodbye at the end, our trip was fantastic. We highly recommend Lion Sands if a safari is on your bucket list. After this, we went to the wonderful Wallow Lodge to do some mini safaris and experience the wonderful Victoria Falls! We’ve also included some links below to help book your experience that we found helpful! Highly recommended!
Luxury Nomad Club is supported by our audience. When you purchase through our links, we may earn a small commission at no cost to you. All products and services featured are from those we recommend. Review our About Us page to see why you can trust us.
Here are some Kruger National Park Tours if you are not staying at the Lion Sands that may be interesting
Get Your Guide: https://gyg.me/dWb0Uzl3
Viator: https://www.viator.com/Kruger-National-Park/d776-ttd?pid=P00158413&mcid=42383&medium=link&medium_version=selector
Discover more from Luxury Nomad Club
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.