EXPERIENCE WILD AFRICA IN THE STUNNING SABI SABI GAME RESERVE; LUXURY ACCOMMODATIONS, SUNDOWNERS BY MOONLIGHT AND GAME DRIVES NIGHT AND DAY


It was a late October afternoon when we entered Sabi Sabi Reserve though a gate in a 12 foot high fence and headed down a dirt track to Selati Camp.  Blending into the African acacia woodland, this beautiful secluded bush camp provides an enchanting African wild life experience. 

Warthog in Sabi Sabi Game Reserve

Hurtling along the sand road, dust clouds billowed up behind us.  The appearance of three warthogs emerging from a dense thicket at the roaside brought us to a jarring halt.  One by one, rotund with tails like tassled flagpoles, the trio trotted jauntily across our path.  They were obviously unafraid.

Our accommodation at Selati was in a chalet on a riverbank where bougainvillea scrambled high in the trees, drooping rose-coloured flower sprays from the branches.  Despite the midday heat our chalet was quiet and cool.  A mosquito net caught up in a 'daytime knot' hung suspended over a plush kingsize bed.  On handmade paper crafted from rhino dung, paintings of Bushmen hunters pursuing antelope ranged across the wall.

At an al fresco dinner by candlelight that evening, guests and game rangers dined together at a long table.  An open fire crackled and spat; leaping flames and the light from hurricane lanterns illuminated the scene for the chef as he prepared a lavish meal.  It was a cosy setting within the light, and beyond ... bush, blackness and the cries of the hunter and the hunted.

Game drives were included and we were divided into two groups, each allotted to a large open Land Rover with stepped seats for optimum viewing.  Bruce, our game ranger and driver was profoundly knowledgeable about Africa, the animals and the bush.  Freddy, the Shangaan tracker rode up front.  His job was to find the animals.

James, my husband, who had at one time been a game warden in Zimbabwe's Hwange National Park sometimes displays a macabre sense of humour.  Seeing Freddy our tracker perched alone on a seat above and ahead of the left front fender, he jokingly called out, "Hau Freddy keep your eyes open or you'll make good lion bait".  But Freddy was not perturbed.  He grinned and shook his fist in the air.

More to follow on Sabi Sabi ...

Images copyright Anne Gordon

Posted by Anne Gordon on Saturday, 20th November, 2010