Lower Sabie Restcamp
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Lower Sabie graces the banks of the Sabie River, one of the few perennial rivers to flow through the Kruger National Park. Visitors are soothed by the expansive riparian views across extensive lawns and up to the Lebombo mountains beyond.
An endless procession of animals comes to drink at the river, and it is a good place to be at sunrise and sunset. There is a Lounge Bar with an expansive outdoor deck for sundowners.
The camp has been extensively redeveloped in the last few years. It now offers a wide range of accommodation: 2 or 4 bed safari tents, rondavels (many clustered into groups of three to make a great choice for families), guest cottages, camping facilities, and the 7 bed Keartland sponsored Guest House. The Guest Houses have limited DStv, and a TV is hooked up in the old restaurant for major sporting events.
The usual main camp facilities are here, including petrol station and emergency road services, and there is also a restaurant and a cafeteria to choose between. Lower Sabie also has a clinic in the camp.
There is a day visitor area with access to braai facilities, and the picnic sites of Nkuhlu and Mlondozi Dam are less than 20km away.
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GAME
Some of the sweestest grazing in the Kruger is found around Lower Sabie, and this attracts large herds of antelope with their attendant predators. The diversity of game seen at night on drives out of Lower Sabie is hard to equal anywhere else in the Kruger. The area is rich in lion, cheetah, elephant, hippo and rhino, and herds of up to 800 buffalo are not an uncommon sight. There is also a particularly high density of warthog here.
BIRDING
Look out and listen for Mozambiquan and Fiery-necked Nightjars (they call "Good Lord, Deliver Us" after dark in a tremulous voice). The Sunset Dam, close to Lower Sabie, is one of the finer spots from which to observe acquatic species in the park. Cormorants, herons, kingfishers and storks are abundant. On occasion you can simultaneously observe Marabou, Saddlebilled, Woollynecked, Openbilled and Black Storks from the one spot.
The Mlondozi Dam is also worth visiting for birdlife. Look out for Lesser Moorhen in the small pan on the N'watimhiri road.
VEGETATION
Lower Sabie has many riverine trees in camp, and the Sycamore Fig features prominently (see left). The camp is sited in Knobthorn/Marula savannah on basaltic soil. Other prominent species that this yields include Leadwood and Sausage trees.
The grass is sweet, attracting a number of grazing species; there is a delagao thorn thicket zone immediately to the west which supports sweet but short grasses.