Lower Sabie is one of Kruger National Park's Main rest camps and is situated on the southern bank of the

Sabie River The Sabie River is a river in South Africa that forms part of the Komati River System. The catchment area of the Sabie-Sand system is 6,320 km2 in extent. The Sabie is one of the most biologically diverse rivers in South Africa, with genera ...

, in the southeastern section of the park. It is connected to the main

Skukuza Skukuza (formerly Reserve, Sabi Bridge and Sikhukhuza), a town in Mpumalanga located 57 km east of Hazyview at the confluence of the N'waswitshaka River, N'waswitshaka and Sabie Rivers, is the administrative headquarters of the Kruger Natio ...

camp by the H4-1 tarred

road A road is a thoroughfare used primarily for movement of traffic. Roads differ from streets, whose primary use is local access. They also differ from stroads, which combine the features of streets and roads. Most modern roads are paved. Th ...

( apart), which is often considered to be the busiest road in the park.

History

When the Sabie Game Reserve was first proclaimed in 1898, the area around where Lower Sabie now lies was undeveloped. The initial road to the area was a two-track gravel road running up from Crocodile Bridge and continuing to Skukuza, built in 1926 and 1927 after the park was re-established as the Kruger National Park. The Gomondwane Road (H4-2) and the Mativuhlungu Loop (S82) roughly follow this route today. In 1930, the quarters of ranger Tom Duke were converted into a five-bedroom wood-and-steel guest house, made available to tourists. Between 1928 and 1931, the Sabie River Road (H4-1) was built between Skukuza and the site of what is now Lower Sabie. This guest house was a financial failure and was demolished in 1932. A set of 3 six-bedroom units was built to provide replace the guest house and provide accommodation in this region of the park. In 1935 a portion of a £50,000 grant was used to expand Lower Sabie to accommodate 200 visitors, which included retrofitting the old huts to be made mosquito-proof. The first camp supervisor was appointed in 1936.

Facilities

As with all major rest camps in Kruger, Lower Sabie provides a park shop, restaurant, braai and communal kitchen facilities, a first aid station, laundromat, and filling station.

General facilities

Lower Sabie has a single restaurant, franchised by Mugg & Bean. The restaurant has a large seating area overlooking the river and is often the location of game sightings. Near the restaurant is a shop, which sells reference books, maps, food and drinks (including beer, wine and spirits), as well as a variety of clothing, collectables, and curios. Other general facilities include: *

Swimming pool A swimming pool, swimming bath, wading pool, paddling pool, or simply pool, is a structure designed to hold water to enable Human swimming, swimming and associated activities. Pools can be built into the ground (in-ground pools) or built abo ...

Laundromat A self-service laundry, coin laundry, or coin wash, is a facility where clothes and some household textiles are washed and dried without much personalized professional help. They are known in the United Kingdom as launderettes or laundrettes, ...

* Public telephone, as well as

cell phone A mobile phone or cell phone is a portable telephone that allows users to make and receive calls over a radio frequency link while moving within a designated telephone service area, unlike fixed-location phones ( landline phones). This radio ...

reception *

Filling station A filling station (also known as a gas station [] or petrol station []) is a facility that sells fuel and engine lubricants for motor vehicles. The most common fuels sold are gasoline (or petrol) and diesel fuel. Fuel dispensers are used to ...

Day visitor area

Lower Sabie has a designated day visitor area with picnic sites and a swimming pool.

Nearby facilities

250px, Sunset dam, situated just west of the camp Near to the camp, but outside of its gates, are the picnic areas at Nkuhlu (± ), Mlondozi Dam () and Tshokwane (). Sunset dam is a 1 km drive from the camp and often features large numbers of animals in the morning and evening. Nthandanyati Bird Hide is about 11 km from camp.

Accommodation

Accommodation is available on a self-

catering Catering is the business of providing food services at a remote site or a site such as a hotel, hospital, pub, aircraft, cruise ship, park, festival, filming location or film studio. History of catering The earliest account of major service ...

basis, in 30 huts and 62

bungalow A bungalow is a small house or cottage that is typically single or one and a half storey, if a smaller upper storey exists it is frequently set in the roof and Roof window, windows that come out from the roof, and may be surrounded by wide ve ...

s, as well as one large

guest house A guest house (or guesthouse, also rest house) is a kind of lodging. In some parts of the world (such as the Caribbean), a guest house is a type of inexpensive hotel-like lodging. In others, it is a private home that has been converted for the e ...

. Last, but not least, for visitors wanting to enjoy the outdoor, there are

camping Camping is a form of outdoor recreation or outdoor education involving overnight stays with a basic temporary shelter such as a tent. Camping can also include a recreational vehicle, sheltered cabins, a permanent tent, a shelter such as a Bivy bag ...

sites for 33

caravan Caravan or caravans may refer to: Transport and travel *Campervan, a type of vehicle also known as a motor caravan *Caravan (travellers), a group of travellers journeying together **Caravanserai, a place where a caravan could stop *Caravan (trail ...

s or

tent A tent is a shelter consisting of sheets of fabric or other material draped over or attached to a frame of poles or a supporting rope. While smaller tents may be free-standing or attached to the ground, large tents are usually anchored using g ...

s, all equipped with electrical power. The camp also has 25 fully-equipped safari tents, giving it an ''African bush feeling''. The camp is laid out on the Sabie River banks, visitors can be seated on the restaurant's wooden floor ''stoep'', having a cold beer and viewing the plenty game wandering in the river bed below.

Activities

Guided bush walks, game drives, breakfasts in the wild, and the Kruger Park "Bush Braai" (a barbecue-style dinner) are all available from Lower Sabie, but are subject to availability.

Game viewing

Lower Sabie is within the range of all of the big five game animals. Genet,

serval The serval (''Leptailurus serval'') is a wild small cat native to Africa. It is widespread in sub-Saharan countries, where it inhabits grasslands, wetlands, moorlands and bamboo thickets. Across its range, it occurs in protected areas, and ...

, cheetah and

porcupine Porcupines are large rodents with coats of sharp Spine (zoology), spines, or quills, that protect them against predation. The term covers two Family (biology), families of animals: the Old World porcupines of the family Hystricidae, and the New ...

also frequent the area.

Hippos A hippo or hippopotamus is either of two species of large African mammal which live mainly in and near water: * Hippopotamus * Pygmy hippopotamus Hippo or Hippos may also refer to: Toponymy * The ancient city of Hippo Regius (modern Annaba, Alg ...

are often visible on the river banks, even from inside the camp.

Bird viewing

Kingfishers Kingfishers are a family, the Alcedinidae, of small to medium-sized, brightly coloured birds in the order Coraciiformes. They have a cosmopolitan distribution, with most species living in the tropical regions of Africa, Asia, and Oceania, ...

storks Storks are large, long-legged, long-necked wading birds with long, stout Beak, bills. They belong to the family (biology), family Ciconiidae, and make up the order Ciconiiformes . Ciconiiformes previously included a number of other families, suc ...

and

cormorants Phalacrocoracidae is a family of approximately 40 species of aquatic birds commonly known as cormorants and shags. Several different classifications of the family have been proposed, but in 2021 the International Ornithologists' Union (IOU) ado ...

are often visible from the restaurant deck, which overlooks the river. Southern masked weavers,

bulbul The bulbuls are members of a family, Pycnonotidae, of medium-sized passerine songbirds, which also includes greenbuls, brownbuls, leafloves, and bristlebills. The family is distributed across most of Africa and into the Middle East, tropic ...

s, Cape glossy starlings, Natal spurfowl and several types of

hornbill Hornbills are birds found in tropical and subtropical Africa, Asia and Melanesia of the family Bucerotidae. They are characterized by a long, down-curved bill which is frequently brightly coloured and sometimes has a horny casque on the upper ...

can often be seen within the camp. Ntandanyathi Bird Hide is about 12 km southeast of the camp and offers good viewing, including marabou and

black stork The black stork (''Ciconia nigra'') is a large bird in the stork family Ciconiidae. It was first described by Carl Linnaeus in the 10th edition of his ''Systema Naturae''. Measuring on average from beak tip to end of tail with a wingspan, t ...

References

{{reflist, 30em Kruger National Park