Cape Town to Sabi Sands/Idube

On Monday morning, Vineyard Ventures collected us at 7:30 am for our transfer north to the Greater Kruger region. We left Cape Town International Airport on Airlink at 10:35 am for the 2.5 hour flight to Skukuza, a small airport serving the southern part of Greater Kruger.

We had lovely views of CapeTown as we left the airport, but clouds quickly closed in to eliminate visibility.

Kruger National Park lies in an area of South Africa called the Transvaal, nestled in the northeast corner of South Africa, abutting the countries of Botswana, Zimbabwe and Mozambique.  The area was originally inhabited by Bantu-speaking peoples, but in the 1830s they were forced to flee from both the Zulu wars (happening to the north) and from Afrikaner colonizers (aka “the Boers”) migrating from the south to escape British rule. The area was originally rich in wildlife but 100 years of agricultural and industrial developoment combined with Europeans love of sport hunting decimated nearly every species.

In the 1890s, folks begin to realize that there would be nothing left to hunt if animals did not have a safe place to reproduce, leading to formation of the Sabi Game Reserve in 1898.  (The same thinking created Yellowstone National Park in the USA not long before.)  This Reserve was made into a (publicly owned) national park in 1926. It was named after Paul Kruger, Commandant and President of the Transvaal during the three Boer Wars which were fought (and lost) against the British. The landowners who had operated within the Sabi Sand Reserve were forced out of the park, re-settling outside the park’s boundaries. In 1948, fourteen of these landowners put their properties together to create the Sabi Sands Game Reserve, South Africa’s first private reserve. Other property owners entered into similar arrangements over the years, creating a complex of private game reserves tucked right up against the Park’s eastern boundary. 

Kruger Park and all of the private reserves are totally fenced to protect against poaching (an odd feature for Americans used to the wide open spaces of US and Canadian parks). In 1993, the fences separating the Park from Sabi Sands and the other reserves were removed to allow animals free access across the boundaries, roaming now over 695 square miles of conservation lands. This conglomeration of national park lands and private reserves is known as the “Greater Kruger.”

We were very happy to find Barb & Don, our inadvertently globe-trotting friends, waiting for us in the airport’s lobby. They were still smiling, even after nearly 4 days in the air

A dozen camp vehicles were waiting in the parking lot as we exited the airport and collected our bags. Our driver, Geoff (a lovely older gentleman), was pleased – and surprised – at the small amount of luggage we had. Most of the Land/Range Rovers were dragging large trailers to handle the many, many large bags visitors lugged along. (Pro tip: pack light.)

Our first stay was four nights at the Idube Game Reserve, one of the original fourteen properties in the Sabi Sands Game Reserve. Sabi Sands is located about 45 km from Skukuza Airport, but there is no direct road: we had to make a big circle through Kruger National Park to reach the Reserve’s entry.  This was no hardship, as the animals were most accomodating and I snagged the front seat. In addition to the critters pictured below, we saw several warthogs, 5 Impala, 2 Eland, 2 Zebras, 2 Wildebeest, a Vervet Monkey, a Glossy Starling, and – my favorite – a pair of Hoopoes.

Outside Kruger, we passed several villages with houses made of concrete blocks with small fenced yards, some gardens and some goats. Herds of cattle roamed freely along the highway, minded by herd boys who try to keep them out of traffic and round them up at night. Geoff said that living standards haven’t changed much over the last decades: although some houses have electricity, water still has to be hauled by hand. We passed a number of women with wheelbarrows filled with plastic jugs heading off on long walks to the “borehole” to get water.

Sabi Sands covers about 17,000 acres. It’s named after two rivers: the Sabi River on the southern border and  the Sand River, which flows through the reserve. All this water leads to a high concentration  of wildlife. The entry to the Reserve is heavily fenced and staffed by armed guards. Vehicles and trailers entering the property are searched for weapons (and illegal hunting trophies on the way out).  Drivers and passengers have their IDs checked and registered. There are alarms mounted on fences, linked to wi-fi, alerting the anti-poaching team if a fence is cut by poachers. Despite all these precautions, poaching still occurs. The rhino population is especially at risk because of the incredible price their horns fetch on the (mostly Asian) black market: anywhere from $4,000-$7,000 per kilo – more valuable than gold, diamonds or cocaine. In 2022, Sabi Sands resorted to dehorning its rhinos to protect them, an effective strategy since the rhino kill rate dropped from about 30 animals in Sabi and neighboring properties to only one in the year after dehorning was completed. (Dehorning is painless, done under veterinary supervision and the horns [made of keratin] grow back. Poachers typically disable the rhino from behind, then chop off the horn and half its face, leaving the animal to slowly bleed to death.)

Once through the gate, we traveled over dirt roads dotted with signposts to the various lodges located on private reserves within the Sabi Sands conclave.

Idube is located in the western part of Sabi Sands, and shares traversing rights with the six other properties in that portion of the Reserve. (More about that later.)

We were met at the gate by the FJ, our guide, and Mike, our tracker. These guys held the keys to our wildlife experience during our time in Sabi Sands, and they were amazing – and so much fun! We also got to meet some of the folks who keep the Lodge humming: the manager, Empress, and staffers BK & Charita. BK also does massages so we promptly booked time for Don & Barb to get some of their airplane kinks smoothed out.

We were bundled off to our rooms to drop off luggage, then whisked back to the dining area for an excellent late buffet lunch.  

Idube features a small wildlife viewing hide located across a gully from the pool and dining area, accessed via a swinging bridge.

Lunch was a lively affair, with Red and Yellow Billed Hornbills providing the entertainment.  These cheeky birds never miss an opportunity to grab a bite.

Lunch complete, we loaded up in the Range Rover and headed out into the bush with FJ and Mike.  And what an afternoon we had!  FJ is Head Guide/Ranger and has been a professional guide for 13 years. Guiding is serious business: it took him 4.5 years to fully qualify, and he is now studying for an advanced diploma that allows him to mentor others. Mike is a newly minted tracker, one month into the job on our visit. His education included 2 years of tracker training, including field experience at 2 other reserves. Mike is from a small village with few resources, and his training was paid for through a scholarship sponsored by an American. They are a great team: it was fun to watch their interaction, and to see FJ’s gentle mentorship first hand. 

Here is what we saw on our first game drive (at least the things I managed to photograph).

Reeshaka the leopard was the afternoon’s star. Sabi Sands is leopard country, and these highly endangered cats have been carefully monitored by Reserve rangers, trackers and biologists for more than 30 years. Their facial markings are unique, each leopard has a name and their genealogies go back multiple generations. Reeshaka is a youngster, as her behavior showed.

Shortly after we encountered Reeshaka,  a puff adder invaded her space.  She was NOT pleased.

Eventually the snake moved on, Reeshaka got bored and moved on to grab a snack.

She had killed a Duiker earlier that day and stashed the carcass in the bushes.

One of the great features of safaris in the private reserves is that vehicles can stay out after dark. (In Kruger Park, everyoine had to be inside by sundown.)  Our clearest view of a nocturnal species was this Scrub Hare.

We had a short time time to freshen up before an excellent dinner in the boma.  (Boma is a swahili term for a circular enclosure used to corral livestock. Tourist sites in South Afica use them to corral tourists for BBQ dinners.)  I was lucky to sit next to Idube’s owner (here on a visit) – a very nice guy who shared stories about the Lodge’s history and issues with overpopulation of some species (notably impala and elephants). We would hear a lot about the elephant overpopulation problem during our stay: Kruger’s elephant carrying capacity was calculated at 7,000 animals and there are now ~ 27,000 elephant in the region.  Existing conservation areas are full, no one is opening new conservation areas (so there is no where to move them), hunting is forbidden, and the landscape is being denuded. (Of course the base problem is that the human population has grown to take over almost all of the habitat over which elephants used to freely roam…)

After dinner, a ranger escorted us back to our chalets. (No one is allowed outside alone after dark since animals have free access to the lodge grounds. We were tucked inside for a good nioght’s sleep, ready for our 5:30 am escort to come collect us for breakfast next day