Mala Mala and Sabi Sands Safari Holiday
If you’re planning a bushveld rendezvous in South Africa soon, then scroll down to find out more about the best Mala Mala and Kruger National Park holiday safari in 2025. These two famous game reserves in prime South African wildlife territory promise some of the best game viewing opportunities in the world. Unfenced boundaries have allowed wildlife to run free since the late 1990s with the additional 400,000 ha added from private landowners to Kruger. The best MalaMala and Sabi Sands Kruger National Park safari holidays take place in this enormous wildlife sanctuary. Find the best Kruger lodges and camps in the Sabi Sand Game Reserve!
🌿 Key Takeaways
- Mala Mala and Sabi Sands form part of the Greater Kruger region, offering some of the best game viewing in South Africa, especially for spotting the Big 5 and elusive leopards.
- Unfenced boundaries between reserves and Kruger National Park allow wildlife to roam freely across more than 2 million hectares of pristine bushveld.
- Expect luxurious, eco-conscious lodges like Mala Mala Main Camp, Kirkman’s Kamp, Lion Sands, and Rhino Post Safari Lodge — all offering private safaris, spa treatments, and bush experiences.
- Sabi Sands is known for its exclusive experiences, expert rangers, and high-quality accommodation — ideal for couples, families, and photographers alike.
- Combine your Kruger safari with a beach extension in Mozambique for the ultimate bush-and-beach holiday.
Sabi Sands is a luxury private game reserve offering expertly guided drives and walks, and 5-star lodges. It’s part of the Greater Kruger region, a zone as big as a small country and presenting richer wildlife viewing than many other famous African game reserves. Kruger safari itineraries are hassle-free and include transfers, accommodation and game viewing from open 4×4 safari vehicles with top nature guides. Private lodges add on sublime activities both in the bush (such as romantic sleepouts in luxury tree houses, fly camping expeditions to find leopards, and bush dinners under a full moon) and within the lodge (such as spa therapies, gym workouts and wellness retreats).
World-Class Safari Lodge Accommodation in Kruger Sabi Sands
Welcome to 2 million hectares of unrivalled biodiversity, hundreds of historical and cultural landmarks, and world-class safari lodge accommodation in Kruger Sabi Sands. Private landowners joined hands with the South African National Parks (SANParks) to conserve this greater Kruger region merging extensive private game reserves with the Park to create additional wildlife terrain. Unforgettable safari holidays in this superlative safari region are the name of the game. Classic special package deals apply to specific camps, bungalows and lodges for life-changing breaks in 2024.
Kruger National Park is bigger than the whole of England put together and it’s wild! It’s a haven for biodiversity where intrepid travellers can view the Big 5 (lions, leopards, rhinos, elephants and buffalos), African wild dogs in packs, hyenas scavenging, hippos wallowing, giraffes browsing, zebra grazing, and huge herds of antelope on the move. Proclaimed in 1898 to protect the wildlife of the Lowveld in South Africa, today Kruger leads the way in conservation management, wildlife biodiversity and protection.
Top game lodges in the Kruger Sabi Sands include deluxe accommodation in camps like Londolozi Pioneer Camp and Tree Camp, captivating &Beyond Kirkman’s Kamp, and magnificent Mala Mala Main Camp. These ‘camps’ are often lavish canvas chalets packed with mod cons, or they are solid stone and wood safari suites scattered along beautiful riverbanks beneath indigenous bush trees.
More opulent safari lodges include places like Sabi Sabi Earth Lodge, Ulusaba Rock Lodge, Leopard Hills and Cheetah Plains. These top lodges are award-winning, state-of-the-art safari venues and many of them are eco-friendly with sustainable tourism ethics. Where would you choose to go on your dream safari to Africa? The top game lodges in Kruger’s Sabi Sands promise the highest standards of wildlife viewing in the world thanks to their professional game rangers and trackers, their commitment to environmental preservation and their freedom to drive offroad when the timing is right.
Mala Mala Game Reserve is one of those legendary safari destinations that set the pace for unrivalled luxury and sensational facilities on the captivating banks of the Sand River. This camp is a place of elegance and fabulous service, a place where artists and celebrities come to find solace in nature and where loyal South Africans return every year to see their favourite predators on the prowl. It is worth exploring the unfenced haven that is Mala Mala with friendly local game rangers and trackers who know the bushveld like the backs of their hands. Bordering on Kruger National Park, Mala Mala Sabi Sands spans over 13,000 ha of diverse riverine forests, grasslands, and dry woodlands.
AndBeyond Kirkman’s Camp Mala Mala
The famous Kirkman’s Kamp is Mala Mala Camp’s sister safari venue and it’s perched on a hill within the Mala Mala Private Game Reserve as one of the few remaining classical colonial lodges still popular in Southern Africa. It’s reminiscent of an upmarket museum, a classic safari lodge from the turn of the century when hunting safaris were fashionable and the bushveld was packed with wildlife. Now, conservation is the way to do it, and ecotourism principles bring guests like you to enjoy a timeless landscape.
Leopards are the big attraction at andBeyond Kirkman’s Kamp and most guests get to see them because the trackers are so good. Tracking the Big 5 is a thrilling part of superb game drives off-road into the heart of the Sabi Sands Game Reserve. Premium Kruger Park safari accommodation at &Beyond Kirkman’s Kamp promises extraordinary deals and rates for that dream luxury family safari. Bush breakfasts and sundowner snacks add flavour to awesome safari activities in the Greater Kruger area of the Sabi Sands where game rangers don’t miss a thing!
Planning a thrilling safari adventure to Mala Mala and Kruger National Park in a combo tour of unforgettable wildlife viewing this 2024 is a great idea!
Rhino Post Safari Lodge
The Greater Kruger region features classic safari lodges with classic names and classic luxury facilities. One of these is the legendary Rhino Post Safari Lodge tucked beneath brilliant Tamboti trees on the banks of the Mutlumuvi Riverbed. It’s named after the iconic and critically endangered white rhino and built entirely from natural materials to minimize impacts on the environment. The eco-friendly chalets boast wooden floors, fans, outside showers, private decks and deep baths with a view of the river and undulating landscape.
Join the Rhino Post team on a life-changing safari into the Kruger National Park to find rhinos, the Big 5, and to learn more about participating in biodiversity conservation. Guests are treated to a night out under the stars at Plains Camp, more rustic, in a grassland setting, where walking safaris are the focus in a sensory explosion of immersion in nature. This premier sleepout experience under the stars on the tree-top platforms is just sublime – cook on an open fire, watch animals at the waterhole and meditate in the intense silences of the night.
Jock Safari Lodge
Part of the southern region of Greater Kruger National Park, Jock Safari Lodge stands in a private concession halfway between Kruger’s Skukuza and Malelane gates. It’s part of the more than 344,000 ha of extraordinary ecosystem wealth and home to herds of elephants and prides of lions. Regal safari accommodation at Jock is carefully screened by lush trees and reed walls, offering 12 individual thatched rooms, radiating a sense of aloneness and oneness with the landscape.
Jock Safari Lodge was one of the first private lodges and concessions permitted inside the Kruger National Park, and they chose to place it at the meeting of the Mitomeni and Biyamiti rivers offering just beautiful views. Many decades ago, Sir Percy Fitzpatrick and his dog, Jock, trekked to Pilgrims Rest as part of the heady gold rush and the lodge has been styled to reflect South African colonial days. The eco-conscious Niven family, who is Sir Percy’s descendants, established the lodge close to where Sir Percy and Jock made history.
Lion Sands Sabi Sabi
Lion Sands is another Greater Kruger wilderness destination south of Sabi Sands and Mala Mala that offers guests a choice of four exquisite private safari lodges for constant soul-enriching moments and opportunities. It is interesting to note that Lion Sands Private Game Reserve, a smaller wildlife sanctuary, shares wildlife habitat and conservation visions with both Sabi Sands Game Reserve and the famous Kruger National Park.
River Lodge is modern and eco-friendly, light and bright and a heaven for families with kids aged 10 and older. Guests walk on wooden walkways over soothing water features that run between 20 thatched chalets and designer main areas. River suites on the Sabie River are extra roomy for family fun and boast chic private decks, minibars and air-conditioning. Lion Sands River Lodge nestles on the edge of the surreal Sabie River and looks east over South Africa’s famous Kruger National Park which lucky guests get to explore in 4×4 vehicles, as well as the neighbouring Sabi Sands.
A good way to see more of Kruger and get some beach time in too is to organise that dream bush beach safari in South Africa and Mozambique. Lion Sands River Lodge safari holidays go hand in hand with Azura Benguerra Island villa vacations in Mozambique. Take your family on our dream Gold standard combo safari to Lion Sands and Benguerra Island for a few days longer.
As the seasons roll by and the days change from very warm to dry and cooler, it’s time for the best safari holidays in 2024 to Mala Mala Sabi Sands, Kruger National Park and Lion Sands. It’s time to explore the greater Kruger region and see how wildlife is thriving and luxury lodges are the best destinations for avid safari enthusiasts.