Sabi Sand Game Reserve

The Sabi Sand Game Reserve (Sabi Sand Wildtuin) is a cluster of privately owned lodges and traversing areas covering roughly 65,000 hectares (about 650 km²) on the unfenced western boundary of Kruger National Park, in Mpumalanga's Lowveld. Established in 1948, it is regarded as South Africa's first private nature reserve. A veterinary fence raised between the reserve and Kruger in 1961 was taken down in 1993, reuniting the land into what is today the Greater Kruger and allowing game to move freely between the two.

All of the Big Five — lion, elephant, buffalo, rhino and leopard — roam here, and the Sabi Sand is one of very few places in Africa where reliable Big Five sightings are the norm. It is best known for its leopards, said to occur at among the densest concentrations on the continent and to be among the easiest to see and photograph anywhere, which has earned it an informal reputation as Africa's "leopard capital."

The dry winter months of May to September generally offer the finest game viewing, when thinning vegetation and animals gathering at water make sightings easier. Note that the reserve lies within Southern Africa's malaria zone — local incidence is low, especially in the dry season — so standard anti-malaria precautions and a doctor's advice are recommended, particularly for wet-season (October–April) visits.