In celebration of our 30th wedding anniversary, my wife and I decided once again to go on safari in the Sabi Sand Game Reserve, and this time to stay at Notten’s Bush Camp. Our suite with a comfortable king size bed was extremely spacious and clean, with a relaxing lounge area, en-suite bathroom with an indoor and outdoor shower. Our suite had its own large private wooden deck with beautiful views of the bush.
Notten’s has appealing facilities, including a lounge, library, bar, and a lovely rustic open plan dining/deck area, also with spectacular views of the bush. Both my wife and I had full body massages at the Spa, which we thoroughly enjoyed. Although the only pool was the secluded private spa pool, a large pool with a large undercover area was being built and was almost complete.
Jan the “manager” and chef was brilliant, ensuring that everything was handled perfectly, going out of her way to ensure a memorable stay. The staff were also very attentive, efficient, and friendly, to ensure that we were well looked after at all times. The food was superb, and our specific dietary needs were well catered for. A special mention must be made of the tomato and carrot soup, the chicken salad, the beef fillet with pepper sauce, and the pear with red wine, all of which were absolutely divine. A real treat and surprise was that for our anniversary, Jan arranged a scrumptious lemon cake which was presented to us at lunch by the staff who also sang for us. A special turndown with bubble bath, candles and champagne was also arranged. The tasty braai/barbeque that was arranged for one of our evening meals, in the open-air boma with a roaring fire in the centre, with lanterns and candlelight adding to the ambiance, was also a great experience.
Our ranger Thomas was extremely professional, knowledgeable, and entertaining. During our stay we shared our game vehicle with a couple from America and another couple from the United Kingdom, who were excellent company, and we had lots of fun and shared many laughs. The refreshments and drinks provided on the game drives were enjoyable.
We had fantastic sightings and saw plenty game, including leopard, lion, elephant, rhino, buffalo, cheetah, wild dog, hyena, wildebeest, zebra, giraffe, baboon, monkey, warthog, dwarf and white-tailed mongoose, squirrel, crocodile, chameleon, and vulture. We also saw lots of antelope, including, kudu, nyala, waterbuck, impala, bushbuck, and steenbok. Besides being fortunate to observe the “big five” on our game drives, we were lucky to experience a cheetah kill involving an impala.
We also went on a walking safari which was fascinating, whereby we learnt more about the flora and fauna of the area.
Overall, we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves, and had an incredible safari at Notten’s and definitely hope to be back again.

My wife and I have been together for 38 years and it has been both our lifetime ambitions to visit Africa and go on a safari. So in December 2022, we arranged through a UK based luxury travel company a 2 week trip to South Africa and Zimbabwe. The trip included a 4 night stay at Notten's bush camp in the Sabi Sand game reserve between Saturday 16th September and Wednesday 20th September 2023. I am struggling to find the right superlatives to describe our stay and experiences at this absolutely amazing venue located right in the middle of the African bush. We arrived just after lunch on our first day but we were still provided with a really delicious and plentiful meal which we ate whilst looking over an unbelievable vista where we could see a variety of wildlife including elephants, warthogs, baboons and wildebeests wandering past to a local watering hole. There was just time after our meal to get changed in our beautiful suite with a view over the African bush into our 'safari gear' before heading off on our first of seven game drives. Open top land cruisers provide the transport which are expertly driven by local guides. Our guide for all our game drives was simply a magician and had an uncanny ability to find wildlife almost at will. Within 10 minutes of our first drive he stopped along side one of the literally thousands of small bushes where two magnificent male Lions were enjoying their long afternoon nap! As Lions are one of my obsessions, if we had not seen any other wildlife throughout the whole of the visit I would still have been overjoyed at getting so close to these two boys! However little did I know that this experience was just the aperitif. On this very first game drive and when the bush was enveloped in complete darkness, our magician of a guide not only spotted a chameleon on a bush but then picked out a female leopard crouching behind some bushes eyeing up a herd of impala for her early evening dinner! The leopard was also only 50m from Nottens! Throughout the next 6 game drives we went into sensory overdrive as we had encounters with a one eyed tough old Lion and his pride of four gorgeous lionesses, a group of 4 and another group of 6 white rhinos, a pack of African painted wolves, a beautiful young female leopard, an amazing family of giraffes, a huge herd of feeding elephants of all ages, two adolescent bull elephants one of which nearly sat on my lap in the jeep, a herd of over 200 buffalo, one absolutely magnificent and huge 50 year old bull elephant, a hippo family, a bull rhino taking a mud bath, countless types of antelopes, herds of wildebeests and zebras, a python high in a tree (thankfully), numerous species of birds including several eagles and vultures and to cap it all a mother rhino taking her one month old baby to a watering hole!
We encountered the painted wolves on two other occasions. On the second occasion we witnessed a hunt of a duiker and arrived and at the kill site just as the pack were arguing over the spoils.
The morning game drives started at 6:15am so it meant an early get up time of 5:30am but it was well worth it! On returning after the 3 hour drive we were treated to an enormous African bush breakfast before retiring to our suite to catch up on some sleep. Lunch is served at 2pm and the afternoon drive commences at 3:30pm. There is also an option of a morning bush walk after breakfast but neither I or my wife had the energy reserves to go on one.
A superbly cooked dinner is served around 7:30pm in the candlelit and atmospheric dining area where the days drives experiences can be shared with the other guests.
The whole ambience around Notten's is one of complete relaxation where the staff really make it their mission to ensure your stay is as enjoyable as possible. My wife certainly appreciated arriving back at our suite after the afternoon drive to find a hot bath waiting for her.
This once in a lifetime trip into the African bush has actually not become once in a lifetime as my wife and I are already planning to return Notten's in 2024!

It’s hard to do Notten’s justice in words. We stayed for for 4 nights and wished we could have stayed longer. What a fantastic lodge! We have been lucky enough to stay in a few private reserves in Southern Africa and Notten’s is by far one of the best. The staff are all so friendly and it’s clear it’s a family orientated business with some staff having been there for 30+ years. The rooms are very spacious with excellent facilities and views. The communal area had stunning views of wildlife. The food was excellent with a great variety serviced across breakfast to dinner. The team catered for dietary requirements very well.

Our guide Thulani was exceptional and very knowledgable. Not only did we learn a lot about the animals and the bush, but we had a lot of fun doing it. All the staff, guides and trackers were amazing.

Outside of driving we had the option of relaxing by the pool in the afternoons, having spa treatments or experiencing the bush on foot with Tiniyko and Ben - highly recommend!

We cannot recommend this place enough.

Thank you for making our honeymoon so special!

Serk & Zoë