The most action-packed safari of life: Manyeleti & Sabi Sands, Kruger
Disclaimer: This blog post is LENG-THY. It might as well have been an ebook. Maybe it will one day. I wanted to give each encounter the description it deserves, cause each could be a blog post on its own. Maybe some safari enthusiasts like me will enjoy it and be able to relate, and maybe the rest of you will just enjoy the pictures. Either way thanks for checking it out! :)
ok here we go.
By some stroke of the universe, the safari of my dreams that I experienced last year at this exact time, with the exact same safari guru Brett Horley Safaris, has happened again. But… as the universe would have it, this one was even BETTER.
Brett and his team curated an absolutely epic whirlwind of an itinerary that allowed me and my friend Evie to experience 4 different properties in the Greater Kruger Region, which each cater to different budgets and types of travellers and showcase different landscapes and wildlife sightings.
Each one brought something so unique, so special, so incredible. The sightings we had were truly next level, I am still processing. I know I ALWAYS SAY THIS YOU GUYS, but I am pretty sure this was the best experience of my entire life. Safari is my favourite thing to do in life, and this was my best safari. So that makes this the best experience of my life. Plus I was so fortunate to be able to collab with Brett and these incredible lodges in a time where the demand and crowds made it possible to do so.
As I’ve learned along the way, nothing will compare to this safari. But I do know that every safari will bring its own different type of magic, so I’m staying along for the ride :)
Day 1: Joburg - Hoedspruit / Nourish + Sigagule / Arrival at Pungwe
Evie and I flew into Joburg and stayed overnight at the airport, departing at 6:45am the next day for Hoedspruit. We were transported by our friendly driver Steve from Buya Buya Travel & Tours, on a 6-hour drive that flew by and, dare I say, was too short. The views were amazing, the drive was smooth and enjoyable, and tbh 6 hours of straight tswift on my AirPods is my form of therapy okay, sue me.
Upon arrival in Hoedspruit we were picked up by Brett’s trusted driver Vince, who is awesome and knowledgeable and punctual and made sure we got to each of our destinations safely and on time with plenty of interesting local insights shared along the way. If you are looking for transportation within the Greater Kruger, I cannot recommend Vince enough!
We stopped at an eco-village called Nourish and its neighbouring village Sigagule, to get a sense of the local community before heading into the bush.
Nourish is focussed on creating a resilient and sustainable community with after-school care programs, education, conservation projects, a craft shop, and play areas for the kiddos. The village is set up cleanly and efficiently, recycling tires to use as seats and playground equipment, bottlecaps as floors, bottles as wall bricks, and cardboard boxes as chairs. There is a fresh garden and moringa trees to keep the team nourished (get it — nourish) and it was lovely to see so many smiling faces even during a time where COVID is limiting interactions and volunteerism. If you are interested in helping out — volunteering, donating, helping send a child to school, or doing a day tour like I did, please check them out!
We then went to tour the nearby village Sigagule where the kids live, where we saw a local lady creating mats out of grass and recycled chip bags, tasted some delicious peanut butter, got our fortunes told by the local medicine man Moses, and tasted a traditional feast prepared by his wife which included creamed spinach, pap, marula beer, and — my personal fave — mopane worms!
From there, Vince drove us to our first accommodation of the trip, where we spent nights 1 and 2: Pungwe Safari Camp.
Located in Manyaleti Private Reserve, which borders Sabi Sands and Kruger National Park, Pungwe is an intimate, environmentally friendly bush camp. It is off-the-grid (you can charge your devices during the day) and authentic, fully immersed in the fenceless bush where we had seen some of the most incredible wildlife sightings of my life.
On our first game drive, we saw a sunset that lit up the whole sky and made me and Evie cry.
Then we pulled into an open field for sundowners. G+Ts and some delish biltong. As we’re chomping away and chatting, we hear the bushes crushing and the silhouette of an elephant emerges in the distance. It’s dark but we can see it. From there, another, and another elephant. We move close to the vehicle: to the elephants, we are just part of its shape and we are not moving into their space, although they do have the freedom to move into ours.
Which they did.
I CANNOT. TELL YOU. The adrenaline rush of being on foot as a herd of elephants slowly approaches you, feeding on the trees and grass, lifting their trunk up as they smell and sense you’re there. They came within 10 metres of us, so relaxed, this is so rare. One mom and her baby even came up to us, which gave me QUITE a fright and I slid into the vehicle at this point (lol) because mamas are v protective and I wasn’t keen on taking my chances on foot. She gave us a warning flap of the ears but no one was overly threatened and eventually the elephants moved on. WILD WILD WILD to be in their presence like that.
Day 2: WILD DOGS. And then more wild dogs.
We got up at 5:30 for our morning game drive. Drove around in the brisk morning air, bundled in our blankets. Didn’t see anything for awhile aside from some zebras, impala, and pretty birds.
We were coming up on a path when Pungwe’s owner, Tim, goes — “Is” (for our guide/driver Isaac). His voice was calm but a clear symbol to STOP.
When this happens, you just get butterflies in your stomach. If you’re stopping, it is probably because something is there that you will want to see.
My eyes darted to the path in front of us, and I saw them. Mickey Mouse ears. Laying down on the dirt road.
WILD. DOGS.
Guys. I cannot explain this feeling. I wish I could feel it again and tbh immediately after panicked that I won’t. This was the last major African safari animal that I hadn’t seen yet, and I was NOT expecting it, not at that moment. Now I’ve seen pretty much every animal here I think I would really consider to be epic. So my panic is not feeling that feeling again. But Tim assured me that I would, it would just come from different encounters now. Kills, action, unexpected sightings. That adrenaline rush is not gone forever, it will just come in different forms.
Anyway, ya I cried for about 10 minutes after that. It was just so special and unexpected and rare and I felt like I could die happy. ok moving on.
Further into that game drive, Tim had gotten a heads up from another vehicle on his phone. I thought it was lions because we were trying to track down this tribe that had left footprints. But nonono, we pulled up on the path and… cheetahs.
3 males. So stunning, so perfect, again so unexpected. One of them walked over to the clear-cut patch right beside us and laid down for us to soak in his beauty.
We kept going and then… boom. Of course. Lions. Including an adult male, full mane, which I had NOT SEEN BEFORE. There were 7 adults laying in the grass, and we watched them for awhile. Incredible.
Then we moved our vehicle up a couple metres to look at the cubs, about 7 of them as well. Just little Simbas, so handsome, glowing turquoise eyes. One of them had a snarly mouth. They were posing for us on a perfect dirt mound.
One of the females sauntered over and they all nuzzled hello, settling back down. Then the male came over in all his mightiness, and laid down in front of the tree.
Crazyyyycrazycrazy. And that was just our first morning!
We went back to the camp to chill, I did yoga and danced to Taylor Swift, you know, all the usual mid-day safari activities.
Day 3: Pungwe to Umkumbe & some spunky elephant friends
The next two game drives at Pungwe were more on the chill side, if you don’t count our second sighting of the wild dogs that same day — a more intimate and lengthy encounter this one — and the cutest little baby zebra running along the trail in front of us, bucking and trading places with its caretaker zebras, on the way back. :):):)
Next up, Vince came to fetch us, we said goodbye to our idyllic off-the-grid paradise at Pungwe, and were off to Umkumbe Safari Lodge in the Sabi Sands Reserve!
A beautiful and homey vibe, Umkumbe is one of the lowest budget accommodation options in the iconic Sabi Sands Game Reserve, which is known for having one of the highest concentrations of LEOPARDS in the world (just after Mumbai?). This is no coincidence, as Brett knew I wanted to see leopards and if you keep reading, you’ll see that the Sabi Sands DE-LIV-ERED!!!
Umkumbe has a gorgeous set-up right on the river, and I saw elephants as I was lounging by the pool pretty much as soon as I arrived. This made me emosh of course. I also loved the dining area and we had epic game drives with our awesome guide Ryan there.
Pretty much straight out the gate on our first drive we saw the most beautiful rhino and her baby. It’s rare to see them with their horns out in the wild and feels like you’re looking into the past, because they are so prehistoric looking and their future is sadly so uncertain. Note to please not post about rhinos in real-time because poachers may use the geotags for tracking.
We then had an incredible encounter with some very spunky little elephants that kept on pretending to be tough (jk I know they could smush me with their trunk), trumpeting, and waving their ears at us. It was soso cute, elephants are so playful and FULL of personality.
We cruised around, had some super fun sundowners, saw more rhinos and elephants, and fell in love with the landscapes here. It’s open with hilly bushy bits, with beautiful horizons and the trees and the birds that make you fall in love with Africa again and again and again.
Came back to the lodge for a beautiful dinner set-up and went to rest for the next morning’s adventures :)
Day 4: Umkumbe to Dulini & the most epic game drive of life (until Day 5)
Nothing super major from this morning; kicked off the game drive with an epic beamy sunrise, had some lovely elephant encounters including babies of course, had a yummy breakfast, and had to get on our way!
Vince picked us up and we drove to Dulini River Lodge, which was… stunning. To put it lightly.
Some lodges are just next level luxurious, and this was definitely one of them. From our yummy welcome drink to the beautiful neutral modern safari decor in its open-air lobby and dining area with deck over looking the river, it was so so so beautiful.
Then we got to our ROOM. Ridiculous. Standalone bathtub (which required a much longer bubble bath but I worked with what I had), indoor and outdoor shower, deck overlooking the river with private plunge pool. We were pinching ourselves over and over, we never wanted to leave! The meals were exquisite as well.
We set out on that evening’s game drive with a call for a leopard, and we did find her. MY LEOPARD, GUYS. THE THING THAT I’VE BEEN GOING ON AND ON ABOUT FOR A YEAR AND A HALF. (I saw one in the Masai Mara but that didn’t count). Yes it was amazing and yes she was beautiful, but she was quite far away and also I really only get emotional when it’s an animal or encounter I didn’t expect lol. But she had a little cub that was hiding in the grass that was so cute.
Then we moved onto one of the most moving parts of my experience. It was just an open field with tons of impala and wildebeest, running and bucking about, 2 giraffes moving slowly and gracefully through the crowd. There were babies and everyone was interacting and moving; honestly this is what I think of when I think of Africa. Scenes like this. It was so magic to be surrounded by them going about their lives as we headed into golden hour.
We stopped for sundowners near a clearing, which were so yummy (that G+T though) and as we’re munching on our biltong: lions roaring in the distance. I restrain myself from jumping in the vehicle, as our guide and tracker Dave and Chris estimate them to be a couple km away. They roared a few more times during our sundowners. A curious (/sketchy — all hyenas are sketch balls) hyena came to check us out, and we wrapped up our sesh shortly after — to go track down these lions.
We saw a giraffe that was standing on high alert, it looked petrified and I was petrified for it. It had OBVIOUSLY been hearing what we’d been hearing. CAN YOU IMAGINE??? Just going into the night like that while your potential murderer is announcing his nearby presence??? After that I bid adieu to most of the animals with a “good luck out there!” Ugh so stressful.
Our tracking team was crazy skilled because while I didn’t think it could happen, we did find them: two adult male lions, brothers. WILD. They were walking along the path, marking their territory, leaving their scent. Their 3rd brother occassionally roared in the distance. We followed them long past dinnertime, into the night, I could’ve followed them forever. One time one of them walked past the vehicle and stared straight into my soul and I had a mini heart attack, I was literally like this is it for me, this lion is gonna pounce. That’ll get your heart pumpin’.
Day 5: The adrenaline continues, + all the leopards! Dulini —> Savanna
Riding off of the adrenaline high of the male lion stare-down, we woke up so giddy for our morning game drive. Immediately we got a call — fricken wild dogs. Hadn’t seen them in my whole life, and now I was spending more time with them than with giraffes.
They were crunchin’ on a bone from a recent kill. I think there were about 12. One alpha female had a snaggle tooth. They were just trotting around against this incredible scenery in the Sabi Sands which looks like a magical utopia.
And then… an implala got too close. The dogs perk up, and are immediately mobilizing. You could feel the energy shift and I was obviously losing it because I had never seen a hunt before and imagine the first one was wild dogs??? (who are the most successful predator by the way, with an 85% kill rate). It was so crazy to watch them all spring into action like that based purely on animal instinct to kill.
Dave and Chris were a dream team, steppin’ on the gas to follow them with our vehicle, Chris navigating through the bushes on the way as we tried not to lose them. We eventually did lose them, and they lost the impala (we would have heard them, and also we saw them later with no blood) but omg that was INTENSEEEEEE AHHHH.
Next up, we tracked down a casual male lion slumbering in the grass. Oh I forgot to mention the night before we saw hippos, including one out of the water on the path at night. These sightings are amazing but this safari was so action-packed that these weren’t even stand-out moments, as crazy as that sounds.
We watched some playful mongooses in a headlock, had the loveliest coffee stop with Chris’ special concoction of amarula, coffee, and hot chocolate (omg could go for one right now), and then we headed back to the lodge, where I had my next teary-eyed encounter…
A perfect full view of a leopard gracefully draped over a tree branch, completely unexpected to me, no other vehicles around, so close and so clear and his beautiful green eyes, while his impala kill lay over the branch next to him.
THIS is what I’m talking about!!! They are the most stunning creatures. It took me by surprise and that rush is what I love most about safaris. This was the BEST.
Then we saw the wild dogs again, and they were so close they were basically on my lap this time. By this point I couldn’t even. Drove past some sleeping giraffes (also, casual), and back to Dulini to check out ugh WHAT A RUSH. Those 2 game drives were next level.
We arrived at our 4th and final accommodation, Savanna, and fell in love immediately. It’s also a 5 star lodge in the Sabi Sands, about a 20-min drive from Dulini so we could traverse the same area, with a welcoming and homey vibe. There were so many thoughtful touches, from customized bottles and a journal and hat waiting for us in our room, to when we got back from the game drive there was a warm bath, towel animal, and a glass of sherry waiting for us. The staff was so lovely and the food was amazing, and I would love to go back!
Our first game drive was a rainy but EPIC one. All our Sabi Sands leopard dreams came true.
We headed straight off to where a tracker had located a big male, and he was incredible. Walking through the grass, scoping out the open grassy area of impala and zebra — I thought (was praying) he was gonna hunt!! But he laid low. He walked straight past our car and we were so close, it was amazing to be in his presence.
We kept driving and by this point it was POURING rain btw, but found a family of elephants joyfully playing in this puddle of mud. The baby kept climbing on its mom and siblings, they would get on their knees and even lay down, push their trunk into the mud, they were LOVING IT. Elephants have so much personality and it was so cute!!!
Then we kept going, and on the path saw — another powerful male leopard, walking around, marking his territory. So close to the vehicle. Happy Kellie. Good night world.
Day 6: Magical moments with elephants + a grand finale
OUR LAST GAME DRIVE :(:( As giddy as I was, I wasn’t sooo sorry this would be our last 5am wakeup for awhile. Had been running on overdrive this entire time and was probably most definitely EXHAUSTED.
BUT let’s be real I am all about early mornings, and game drives are my fave thing in the world, so of course I was stoked. Let’s go see what we can find!!!!
This drive brought some incredible elephant encounters. First we were on the path, and they soon surrounded us. Then we moved forward to the clearing, and there were about 100 of them, all around, they just kept coming. It was CRAZY. Usually you see maybe 1, maybe 3, maybe 10. They came right past the vehicle and my heart jumped to my throat when a big bull walked past me. I don’t worry about these things but there is something about the presence of a BIG elephant, or a lion, or a leopard, where you’re like oh ya you could easily kill me. I bow down to you.
We had such a beautiful coffee stop by the river, Sabi Sands is honestly ridiculously beautiful. And then on the way back to our lodge, as we were heading back to finish up our entire trip, our tracker spots a flash of red in the tree — a kill. With a leopard.
This one was going to WORK on it. You could hear the flesh ripping, bones crunching. Pretty epic way to end things off. That’s 4 for 4 on leopard game drives in the Sabi Sands — can confirm it lives up to the hype.
Final thoughts
(by the way, is this my longest blog post ever or what)
So many thoughts and moments from this safari that I am still processing, but will be forever grateful for this experience. A safari is an incredible way to disconnect from real life, and just spending your time observing these beautiful animals. It really does put our silly human lives and problems into perspective. I loved every second of it and am still pinching myself with everything we saw (please don’t think all this is normal for a safari people!! You may be disappointed). But remember every safari is magical in its own way and the magic presents itself different every time.
Thank you to everyone who made this happen and watched along the way <3 Till next time!!