Leopard Sands, Kruger Park — Hotel in Bushbuckridge

Quite literally one of the best hotel and safari experiences you can have. I'll do my best to describe everything that went well but I can't capture it all.

The food is absolutely top notch, given what the team in the kitchen is doing, you're going to have excellent food for every meal. They bring South African flavors and local creativity into all the dishes, and everything is just so incredibly flavorful. Every Wednesday and Saturday night, there is dinner in the boma (firepit), where a local dance group from Belfast (town next to the hotel) comes and performs (and sometimes invites guests to dance with them!) The food at boma night (braai, roosterkoek, and other ZA specialties) is just top notch as well. Also, the entire property is halal.

The service, from everyone not just at meals, is world-class. I've had my fair share of 5-star hotel stays and Leopard Sands provided the greatest service we've ever had the pleasure of experiencing. Note that there are only 18 villas on the property so they really personalize it to you and can work with you to make your stay even better.

The rooms (suites) are just so nice when you're on a safari. Modern hardware, really really nice water pressure, and a private patio/plunge pool make the experience of staying at this hotel that much better. The housekeeping I swear comes more than 4 times per day, constantly refilling your water, opening/closing mosquito nets, putting slippers and robes on bed for night, and turndown while you're at dinner. Like I said, exceeds what I've seen at 5-star hotels.

Some recommendations / pro tips for future guests: Instead of doing a morning and afternoon game drive, consider doing a morning half-day drive. This works out if the afternoon is really hot, because if it's hot in the afternoon, the animals are less active, and you're riding around in a hot open safari vehicle. Work with the front desk because half-day drives are not available every day. Also you can go deeper into the park for higher chance of seeing more animals and different biomes You can tip via room bill. If you're like me and couldn't get ZAR in time before arriving, you can either get ZAR at the ATM at Skukuza airport (~15% fee), or just simply tip anyone you want (drivers, activities, etc.) by working with the front desk to add onto your room bill Check with the front desk on what excursions/activities they have. We did a spa treatment, the Panoramic tour, Elephant Whispers, and a Bushwalk. Highly recommend all of them You can see hippos, buffalo, and elephants (and probably more!) literally in the river outside the hotel. One of our mornings, we were woken up instead of our alarms by hippos fighting in the river. And, towards one of our last days, an elephant came within 50ft of the hotel! Try a LOT of the wine on the menu. The staff cater the selection of excellent South African choices, and I can assure you all the ones we had were great with and without meals. Especially chenin blanc and pinotage if you're unfamiliar with South African wines. Also, amarula and espresso is delicious If your flight is after 11am on the day you check out from Skukuza (like most people taking Airlink to Cape Town or Joburg), you can actually do one last morning game drive. Instead of returning to the hotel, you will meet a Leopard Sands staffmember at the Kruger gate and they bring you to the Skukuza airport. You leave your bags in your room and the staff will bring them all to meet you at Kruger gate.

One final shout out to Van, Anita, Shelton, McNeil, Pastor, Veronica, Melissa for coordinating everything (seriously they do a ton behind-the-scenes to make your stay as enjoyable as possible), Jimmy/Fufu/Becky/Sedros for the amazing drives (and animal facts!), Cossy, David, Agreeable, Ernest, Glascia, Chef Kevin, Mama Fran for the amazing food and service, Thembalami and Siya for driving us around on excursions, and everybody else I may have missed behind the scenes making this such a...

While the resort is modern and what you would expect in your room for the price you pay, unfortunately the service is very sub par.||I did reach out to the resort once we checked out, to provide them with the below information and just as I thought would happen no one bothered to reply.||when we paid over $25k for 2 rooms over Christmas we would have expected at least a reply, given it is stated as a 5 Star Resort.||these are the issues we faced, while nothing was life changing with all of this on a daily basis, it ended up being a bother being here in the end.||- [ ] Christmas Eve dinner, sat at 6;40 and had to go to the bar to order drinks as no one served us. Then the drinks were forgotten and we had to recorder after 20 mins [so 40 minutes after seated we finally got our drinks which was only Coke Zero], mind you there was only a few other couples in the place when this happened.||- [ ] Food came out after chef said he made sure my meal had no spice. Cauliflower and potato had chilli. Chef came out and I told him my steak was amazing but the potato and cauliflower had spice and he said oh yeh they both do have spice. I am confused why I was still served spice when only 20 minutes before I told him I don’t even eat pepper So the following night I only had Pumpkin Soup as an option in the middle of summer.||-[] The menu was extremely limited when you are only offered 3 options for main, 2 for entree and a couple of items for desert. I assume this was because it's an all inclusive resort. The menu is on rotation every few days also.||- [ ] Our laundry was taken without the sheet filled out, as normally when you have a washing basket it is not taken until you fill out what’s in there. The following night laundry was returned and wasn’t ours. I guess someone may have got our laundry, and took a further 36 hours to get ours back.||- [ ] While the staff are all lovely you can tell they don’t have great training for what is expected in a 5 star resort. Both my husband and myself travel extensively and have stayed in a lot of 5 star hotels around the world. We know what to expect with a rating of 5 stars. The staff when the restaurant had more than 20 people were in a state of unorganised which we saw on Christmas Eve.||- [ ] Many meals we had items forgotten, and we simply didn’t say anything in the end, as it looked like we were “just complaining” small things like breakfast ordering avocado and being forgotten when it is written down.||- [ ] After saying no spicy food at all I was served up the chicken Kiev with chilli on top and in the sauce once again and there was no other non spicy options on the menu. I also heard a mother complain as there was no actual kids menu offered.||- [ ] We paid for all guides, to be private in a private vehicle, and had to repeat ourselves several times when asked if we were joining for the next day or afternoon drive. We would say oh we have a private tour, and was asked “oh did you book it” and I had to say yes for the entire stay. One morning we arrived at the gate to be told we had to join a car full of people as I guess they didn’t reserve a car for us. I said we have bookings for a private car, and after a few minutes of back and forth, they asked people to go into the other car, and we had our own.||- [ ] Day 1 of our outing our guide drove back in the rain below speed, maybe 30 kms in a 60 zone, while we got soaked, he was on the phone texting and swerving all over the road.||- [ ] Day 2 our guide got into a small car accident when he forgot to put the car in gear. Not sure if you are aware they were in the car when this happened as nothing was even mentioned.||- [ ] I believe all staff need proper training as they were lovely, but not trained, not even to a cafe standard, and every meal I would have to...

In August 2025, I had the opportunity to spend 24 hours (I think that's exactly right) at a luxury safari lodge called Leopard Sands on the banks of the legendary Sabie River, which flows through the South African wilderness. I must say that I really liked the hotel in every way – from the accommodation in beautiful chalets, to the services, including game drives, to the cuisine and the staff. I travel to South Africa often and enjoy it, so I could perhaps say that nothing there can surprise me anymore, but I know very well that this is not the truth. That's why every stay in this country is unique for me. This time, Leopard Sands made it even more special. The pleasant environment with the Sabie River constantly in view suited me perfectly. And for anyone who wants to enjoy authentic African wilderness along with great accommodation, I can only recommend Leopard Sands. The Sabie River is the border of Kruger National Park, so it is quite common to see iconic African animals in the river and on its banks. And you don't even have to leave your luxurious chalet (i.e., hotel room), which faces directly the river. Well, you can, if you want to go out onto the deck in front of it and into your private pool 😊. Or, if you feel like it, you can walk over to the restaurant (also with a deck and pool, of course), where you can relax undisturbed and watch the wildlife while enjoying good food and wine.|I "only" saw hippos, but that doesn't mean that with a little luck, visitors can't see other animals there, including the famous African Big 5 – elephant, rhino, buffalo, leopard, and lion. OK, I take that back, seeing a rhino requires more than just a little luck. Poaching for the horns of these animals has taken its toll ☹.|What I missed from the deck of my room or the restaurant, I made up for on the game drives organized for guests at Leopard Sands. The destination is, of course, Kruger Park. I took part in two – one in the afternoon and one in the morning – and except for the rhino, we actually saw all the other members of the Big 5. The entrance to the park through Paul Kruger Gate is located 13 km from the hotel. An air-conditioned bus took us to the gate, and I would like to say hello to the driver, Ben, with whom I had a good chat both times. At times, I was sorry that he didn't drive us around the park itself, both because of him and because of the air-conditioned bus. I've never had a game drive like that before. But other types of transportation are more suitable for this purpose 😊. So we were always picked up at the gate by our guide Jimmy, whom I also greet here. Jimmy was great. Friendly and always kind and thoughtful, but above all knowledgeable about the wilderness. Conversing with him (I deliberately sat right behind him) was informative, and his answers to my questions were clear and precise. I have experienced many game drives in Kruger Park, but I will certainly never forget these two with Jimmy. Perhaps I will be able to go on another one with him someday.|What else can I say? The staff in general. I have had the best experiences with them, from management to maintenance and cleaning staff. Everyone is always ready, friendly, smiling, talkative, and attentive. I apologize, however, that I did not remember their names except for Ben and Jimmy. After all, I only stayed there for a short time. In any case, I am looking forward to my next visit 😊.||Radoslav...