Lion Sands River Lodge

Our 3 days at Lion Sands were the last part of our two week visit to South Africa - it was truly the trip of a lifetime! The safari/game drives at Lion Sands were everything we hoped they would be; the genuine warmth and friendliness of all the staff there exceeded hopes & expectations - simply amazing! Really hard to reduce to words how incredibly magical the experience was.

Our expectations for our visit to Lion Sands River Lodge was based on what others including our tour organizer had experienced. What we experienced exceeded our expectations way beyond our imaginations. Everything was absolutely top of the line. The people, the accommodations, the food and drink and best of all our time on safari with Simon, Joyce and Matt. We just can't imagine it getting any better than what we experienced. We will be back!

Amazing safari experience that exceeded all my expectations on my first trip to Africa. Everything from the food to service to the game drives was flawlessly executed and the staff were genuinely excited to talk to us and share our excitement. Our guide Raymond had 20+ years of experience along with our tracker Mpilo which led us to find every animal multiple times during the 6 drives. I’d call Raymond the leopard king since we saw more than 6 in addition to elephants swimming and lions roaring. We came back from each game drive energized and were treated to very fresh farm to table food with a menu that changed daily. If you’re going on a safari, look for a trip to one of these MORE Family lodges on the private Sabi Sands Reserve. The experience is top notch and you’re likely to see a lot without any crowds.

We had the most phenomenal few days at Lions Sands. This was our first safari experience and we made memories to last a lifetime. The staff, hotel facilities, food and drinks were all exceptional and we saw so many animals on the drives (leopards in particular) and even the big 5 and sexy 6 in a single drive! Our guide Barry and tracker Eddie were incredible and so knowledgeable, we learnt a huge amount along the way. Huge thank you to everyone at Lions Sands for the most amazing 4 days.

The most magical, incredible experience. We enjoyed 3 nights on our honeymoon and it was worth every penny. The lodge is beautiful and were treated like Royalty during our time, being fed constantly and any empty glasses were quickly refilled! Elliot was our personal attendant and he was fantastic - we shared drinks with him in the evenings and learnt that he (and some of the other staff such as the Chef) had been there for over 20+ years, which I think speaks volumes about the settup at Lion Sands. Our drives were nothing short of spectacular - we saw the Big 5 in our first morning! Our Ranger was Dumi with tracker Andreis - they were both went above and beyond to make sure we all had a great time- Andreis decided on one occasion to set off on foot into the bush with nothing but a stick to track down a Lion pride. The vehicles accommodate 6 people and are totally open. They are not limited to roads and the Rangers will drive wherever they need to track animals. This said, they are careful that there is never more than 2 vehicles around an animal. The Rangers communicate with one another, but we rarely saw other vehicles on our game drive as there are only a handful of vehicles which cover the Private Reserve. What an experience! It wasnt cheap but as I say, worth every single penny. Thank you all!