Once a neglected hunting property, Sandringham Private Game Reserve has spent six years being transformed into a thriving wildlife sanctuary. For Australians, who are Sabi Sabi Collection’s second-largest overseas market, it offers something far more meaningful than a luxury safari.
Six years ago, the team behind one of South Africa’s best-known safari operators arrived at a neglected private game reserve with big plans and even bigger questions.
They’d been assured hunting hadn’t taken place there for years. Then they walked into an old abattoir and found a freshly butchered giraffe carcass hanging from the ceiling.
Nearby, a white lioness was confined to a cage barely larger than a dining table.
“It was a shock,” recalls Jacques Smit, Director of Marketing for Sabi Sabi Collection, who was in Australia recently on a promotional visit. “We were told no hunting had happened here for 15 years, but when we walked into the abattoir there was a very fresh giraffe carcass hanging there. There was also a white lioness in a cage about the size of this table. Our alarms immediately went off. This wasn’t historical hunting, it was very recent, very unethical activity, and we knew we had an enormous rehabilitation job ahead of us.”
The animals told their own story. Plains game scattered at the first sound of a vehicle, their behaviour suggesting hunting had continued far more recently than anyone admitted. Roads were eroded, grazing land had deteriorated and the reserve itself had been largely forgotten.
Today, that same property is now welcoming its first guests as Sandringham Private Game Reserve, completing a six-year rehabilitation that has transformed a former hunting reserve into a protected wilderness.
Australians have long embraced African safaris, and Smit says Australia has become Sabi Sabi Collection’s second-largest international market, with older travellers among its strongest supporters.
He believes that’s because many visitors are looking for something deeper than spectacular wildlife encounters.
“I’d say this: simply by choosing where you stay, you can change lives and landscapes,” he says.
That philosophy sits at the heart of Sandringham. Rather than erase the property’s controversial history, Sabi Sabi deliberately chose to keep its name and acknowledge what came before.
“It would have been easy to rebrand,” Smit says. “But we felt there was a more important story to tell.”
And that story is one of regeneration.
“We had a long discussion about whether to rebrand,” he said. “It would have been easy to pretend the history never happened and start with a clean slate. But we felt there was a more important story to tell. Every landscape has its dark chapters. If you erase the name, you erase the opportunity to show people what regeneration looks like. We wanted every guest to understand where Sandringham had been and how ethical tourism is helping bring it back.”
Rehabilitating a landscape is one thing, but helping wildlife forget generations of fear takes considerably longer.
“The answer, in one word, is patience,” Smit says. “It sounds very simple, but it’s actually a profound process. You go out, you find an animal and it runs away. You find it again tomorrow and it runs away again. You repeat that day after day until, one day, it doesn’t. Over time, the animals stop associating the sound of a vehicle with gunshots and begin to understand we’re not there to harm them.”
For five years, vehicles returned to the same animals day after day without posing any threat and over time, lions, antelope and other species gradually learned that the sound of an engine no longer meant danger.
Young animals born during the rehabilitation have never known hunting, creating an entirely new generation far more relaxed around safari vehicles.
The reserve also partnered with South Africa’s Tracker Academy, with trainees walking the property daily, quietly observing wildlife while learning traditional tracking skills. WildEarth’s live safari broadcasts added more vehicles to the landscape, further reinforcing that people were no longer predators.
One unexpected reward came after engineers rebuilt a poorly designed dam wall and restored the natural flow of the Timbavati River.
Not long afterwards, 14 hippos arrived entirely on their own.
Nobody transported them… they simply followed the water.
The Sandringham story extends well beyond wildlife.
During the COVID pandemic, while tourism all but disappeared, Sabi Sabi committed to continuing community projects rather than putting them on hold.
One initiative focused on delivering clean running water to villages where many employees lived. Solar-powered boreholes and filtration systems now supply thousands of residents who previously relied on carrying untreated water long distances each day.
Training has become another cornerstone of the business.
Hospitality, chef, ranger and tracker academies prepare local people for careers across the safari industry, with many graduates finding work at lodges throughout the Greater Kruger region.
It’s an investment Smit believes creates a lasting cycle where tourism supports employment, communities support conservation and conservation attracts more visitors.
None of that means guests miss out on comfort. Sandringham opens with two intimate safari camps overlooking the Timbavati River, featuring luxury suites, private plunge pools and elevated sleep-out decks where guests can spend a night beneath Africa’s stars.
A larger exclusive-use villa caters for families and multi-generational groups wanting complete privacy.
Yet Smit says the real luxury isn’t found inside the rooms, it’s what lies beyond the deck.
“I can already picture guests spending time in their incredible suites, out on the decks enjoying the view, taking in the armchair safari made possible by the unspoiled river with the water’s edge right in front of them,” he says.
“Simply by choosing where you stay, you can change lives and landscapes. When you stay at a place like Sabi Sabi or Sandringham you’re helping fund clean water, schools, training academies and the rehabilitation of former hunting land into a protected sanctuary. You don’t have to arrive with a paintbrush or a toolbox. Just by sleeping in that bed, eating that meal and going on that game drive, you’re feeding into a system that’s been carefully designed to give something back.”
For many Australians planning the trip of a lifetime, that may prove the biggest attraction of all.
Not simply seeing Africa’s wildlife, but knowing their visit is helping secure its future.
Imagine waking to the sounds of Africa, watching elephants wander to the river from your private deck, and knowing your holiday is helping restore a once-forgotten wilderness. Whether you’re planning the safari of a lifetime or combining Sandringham with Cape Town and the iconic Kruger region, the team at Travel at 60 can tailor every detail — from international flights and luxury accommodation to unforgettable wildlife experiences. All you have to do is pack your sense of adventure.
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