The main reason we made this trip to South Africa was so my boyfriend, Peter could attend a reunion his friends have every couple of years. One of his lifelong friends invited us to join them for what he called “bush camping”. We are up for everything, especially any kind of camping so we accepted! Come to find out this wasn’t tents on the ground with lions and hippos all around (which is what I was picturing). It was the ultimate of luxury not roughing it in the bush.
The Jacana Camp is located in Sabi Sands Game Reserve, Mpumalanga, South Africa. It’s located inside the reserve, so you can look out the window or sit on the porch and see hippos, impala, hyena, etc. It’s surrounded by electric fencing to keep the critters out but gives you the best wildlife viewing.
“The Sabi Sands Game Reserve is a 65,000 hectare reserve, pioneered by local landowners in the 1950s, and shares a border with the world-renowned Kruger National Park. Today, many of these families are now third and fourth generation land owners, their legacy being the successful conservation of the highest density of big game in South Africa. Even though there is a 50 kilometre unfenced boundary with the Kruger National Park, wildlife in the Sabi Sands Reserve is well habituated resulting in extraordinary close encounters and prolific sightings, particularly of the elusive leopard. The Sabi and the Sand Rivers run through the reserve, which add further dimension to the bio-diversity of this area.” LEARN MORE
We were able to go on two daily private game drives, morning and evening. Unlike our trip to Kruger, this guide was able to go off road and take us right up on the animals. Unreal.
We saw two different prides of lions, doing what kittens do… napping all day long.
Luckily for this mycophile, I even spotted some fun mushrooms!
I was able to “shoot” a few more birds on these drives. The weaverbirds had their cool nests hanging everywhere. Little feathered architects…
We also spotted a couple of turtles, hippos, impala, and some little “muskrat” things… they were too fast to see clearly let alone capture.
This was an experience I won’t forgot. Amazing people, scrumptious food, warm fire, animals and nature as they should be. So thankful for the invite and our gracious hosts.
Here’s a compilation of some of the video I was able to capture.