Kambaku River Sands

“Wow....just wow!!! Highly recommend!”

What a place! Amazing and spectacular from start to finish. Staff are incredible and so attentive. Lodges are beautiful and feel very private and remote. Food is fabtastic and always shared with a smile. Our game drives were incredible - our guide Mbongeni and tracker Jerry were absolutely amazing … more

What a place! Amazing and spectacular from start to finish. Staff are incredible and so attentive. Lodges are beautiful and feel very private and remote. Food is fabtastic and always shared with a smile. Our game drives were incredible - our guide Mbongeni and tracker Jerry were absolutely amazing - they were so passionate sharing their knowledge, experience and stories - they were so attentive to our needs, really listening to understand our wants and tailoring our adventures accordingly. They worked so hard to make the experience incredible - their hard work was our reward with some magnificent sightings from all wildlife large and small to tress, birds and plants too. Thank you for such an inspiring experience with you. The lodge is beautiful - we would highly recommend it with the fantastic views, amazing staff and outstanding game drives - an adventure to remember forever. Thank you all!

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“Wish we had stayed longer”

We spent 2 nights at Kambaku and wished we had planned longer. The staff were super friendly and helpful. Our rangers Jaryd and Chad were passionate about sharing their knowledge and we learned so much about the animals as well as the plants and surroundings. Douglas the tracker was amazing at fi… more

We spent 2 nights at Kambaku and wished we had planned longer. The staff were super friendly and helpful. Our rangers Jaryd and Chad were passionate about sharing their knowledge and we learned so much about the animals as well as the plants and surroundings. Douglas the tracker was amazing at finding animals and had a wonderful sense of humour. Within the first 24 hours we had seen elephants, buffalo, giraffe, rhino, hyenas, a leopard and a rare white lion cub! The cottages were very well equipped and meals were enjoyed communally. It felt very authentic and unpretentious.

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“Safari Tastic!”

Just back from the most incredible safari experience and I honestly can’t recommend it enough. From start to finish, everything exceeded expectations. We were lucky enough to see the Big Five, which was truly unforgettable and something our family will cherish forever. The food was consistently e… more

Just back from the most incredible safari experience and I honestly can’t recommend it enough. From start to finish, everything exceeded expectations. We were lucky enough to see the Big Five, which was truly unforgettable and something our family will cherish forever. The food was consistently excellent, the accommodation was spotless and very comfortable, and every single member of staff went above and beyond to make us feel welcome. A special thank you to Jared and Dougie, who really made the trip extra special – their knowledge, enthusiasm about the natural environment was second to none and they made it fun and interesting for my two young adults! If you’re considering a safari, do it – it’s an experience like no other!

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“Pleasant staff, good food, but less than adequate guiding”

We spent three nights at this lodge, which we consider the perfect number of nights to stay at a lodge to get the full experience. The lodge is easily accessed by about a 30-minute ride from the Hoedspruit airport, which is about 1 hr from JNB airport. The strength of this lodge is that the maximum… more

We spent three nights at this lodge, which we consider the perfect number of nights to stay at a lodge to get the full experience. The lodge is easily accessed by about a 30-minute ride from the Hoedspruit airport, which is about 1 hr from JNB airport. The strength of this lodge is that the maximum number of visitors per Toyota Land Cruiser is 6 so that no one must sit in the middle seat. Everyone who worked at the lodge was super pleasant and clearly wanted guests to have a good time. The room was quite substantial, and it was nice to have air conditioning and heat since the temperature varied a lot from morning to evening. The food was excellent and we enjoyed the fact that the menu included a lot of game meat (Kudu, Impala, Eland). The manager closely watched over things to make sure everyone was happy. The common area faced a dry riverbed, and we were fortunate to be there when, on different days, a small herd of elephants came to drink from the pool, a large tusker elephant and a small group of Nyala wandered by. It was terrific seeing animals so close while not in a vehicle. That said we have gone on quite a few safaris and had a few issues with this one that reduced our enthusiasm. This was probably the first lodge that did not offer a snack or cookie or pastry prior to the morning drive- all that was available was coffee and tea. There was a brunch at 10:00 AM but no lunch served which was disappointing because one of the pleasures of being in a fine lodge is enjoying a nice lunch. At 3:00 PM a few pastries and coffee were available prior to beginning the evening game drive. The food was excellent, so we were especially disappointed that there was no lunch. Lodges include complementary alcoholic beverages. This was the only lodge we have ever been to that only offered only a single house red (Merlot) and a single house white (Sauvignon Blanc). Fortunately, there were however excellent wines for purchase at reasonable prices that we bought each day. We have never needed to buy wine at any of the other 14 lodges we have stayed. If the food had not been so excellent this would have reduced our overall rating. We liked the fact that the guides joined guests for brunch and dinner. Sadly, our guide was not as good as most we have had in the past. He was an excellent driver per se and did a wonderful job when going off road, so it was not his driving skills that were problematic, it was his people and guiding skills. Unless you asked he provided no information about birds, the local ecology, bushes or trees and did not make any attempt to stop for the wonderful African sunrises and sunsets. The first morning it was very cold and the six of us in the vehicle were all freezing. Before the afternoon drive, I discovered there were warm winter ponchos available for each member of the drive which the guide had not thought to mention when we were all super wrapped up in blankets. When I pointed this out to the guide, he quickly answered that he had already told us about it. Later that day he did apologize as he realized that he had not told us about it. His descriptions about the wildlife were also not ideal. At one point someone asked about leopard behavior, and we were told what wild dogs do instead. We did see some very nice sightings including a white lion cub so overall the animal sightings were terrific and would have been outstanding if we had a more attentive guide that engaged with the people in the vehicle. One non-guide-related issue is that to move quickly along the large reserve the guides do resort to a paved road. Driving on a paved road feels like you're going to a local supermarket not like you're on safari so I did suggest that the guides should point out that taking the road saves time and gives us a better opportunity to see a sighting that is far away. All told this is a beautiful camp, easily accessed from a largish airport, with excellent food, and beautiful accommodation so it was disappointing that the guiding did not match the other positive aspects of our stay.

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