Sable Sands Safari Lodge & Hwange National Park

Spending a few nights at Sable Sands was one of the most special parts of our trip so far. While we really enjoyed our time in Victoria Falls, it was a bit touristy for my taste. We wanted to get out into the bush and away from the people, and Sable Sands provided just that.

Sable Sands is a safari lodge that is comfortable but rustic. Each hut has it's own wood-burning stove outside to serve as a water heater, white mosquito netting draped over the bed, a thatched roof, and a gorgeous view over the watering hole in the wide-open valley. As we arrived, monkeys were tramping around the edge of the hole having a drink before moving on to let the next parade of animals have their turn.

I fell in love with the lodge right away, and I think part of that had to do with the food. Breakfast, lunch, dinner and "sundowner" drink and snack plates are whatever the cook is making that day on their firepit--no decisions needed to be made on my part. Everything we ate was absolutely delicious.

Plus, since Sable Sands knew this is our honeymoon trip, they went out of their way to make it special for us. For our last dinner, they set up a table for two in the grass away from the other groups, lit only by candlelight and the coals from toasty heaters near our feet. We could hear animal noises coming from the nearby darkness, and watched, motionless, as a huge elephant passed through the camp and by our table on his way to the watering hole. It was intimidating and thrilling to know that if he'd wanted to, he could have crushed us as easily as he could swat a fly.

We spent a day and a half driving in the back of our open-air safari vehicle with our wonderful guide--Munya (pronounced "moon-yah"). This guy was born for the job! Not only did he know everything we could possibly want to know about each animal we encountered, he worked hard to make sure we spotted as many different animals as we could.

And spot them we did! We actually saw an African Painted Dog, which is an endangered species! We got lucky and saw them hunting in a pack together. 

We also saw giraffe "necking," which is how they fight each other--crashing the horns on the back of their head against their opponent's neck, rump, legs, etc. An elephant in "musth" produces about 40 times the normal amount of testosterone, and one of these terrifying creatures charged us and followed our vehicle for a while! Each safari ended with a "sundowner" plate of nuts and cold appetizers as well as beer or wine.

 Munya really wanted us to see lions, since there was reportedly a pack that had between six to eight cubs! We had almost given up hope on the last day of the safari and were driving through the cold dark back to the lodge when we came across the pack crossing the road! Since it was so dark we couldn't really get any photos, but got to see the cubs playing in the road before they disappeared into the night!

It was a magical experience, and Sable Sands was the perfect end to our time in Africa (for now).