Five years ago, the land that is now Sandringham Private Game Reserve was a hunting concession in South Africa’s Limpopo province. Today, it is a luxury safari destination, and the nearly 5,000-hectare property is drawing attention as a case study in what conservation-focused tourism can look like when it replaces extractive wildlife use.
The transformation was not quick or easy. Operators spent years removing old fencing and man-made barriers that had fragmented the landscape, repairing eroded soil, and restoring the reserve’s water catchments, the natural systems of land and vegetation that collect rainfall and feed it into rivers, in this case the Timbavati. Taking down those fences reconnected Sandringham to the wider, unfenced Greater Kruger Protected Area, allowing predators, elephants and other wildlife to move freely between reserves. Four rivers cross the property, keeping water available year-round. Even during the dry season, animals gather to drink, swim and cool off, giving visitors consistent opportunities to observe them in the wild.
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Jacques Smit, Sabi Sabi’s marketing director, described what it felt like to watch that process unfold. “Watching the land recover and wildlife return has been one of the most rewarding journeys in our history,” he said. Smit explained that the company was drawn to the project by the chance to nurse an exceptional landscape back to health while building a safari business with staying power, one that could create lasting value for wildlife, local communities and future generations of travellers.
Sabi Sabi, a family-owned hospitality group that has operated safari lodges since 1979, borders the Timbavati and Thornybush game reserves in the Greater Kruger region. The reopening of Sandringham represents a deliberate pivot, and a pointed one. Hunting concessions continue to operate in South Africa, which makes the reserve’s bet on eco-tourism all the more consequential. The model suggests that rewilding degraded land for high-cost, low-density tourism can generate more revenue than hunting while advancing conservation goals.
Meanwhile, the project extended beyond the reserve’s own boundaries. Sabi Sabi partnered with the Tracker Training Academy, which trains young people from neighbouring communities for careers as professional wildlife trackers. That partnership reflects the company’s stated commitment to building lasting value for local communities alongside its wildlife and conservation objectives.
The reserve itself is built around two camps of six suites each: N’weti, named for the Drakensberg Mountains, and Shisaka. The newly built suites come with private infinity pools, indoor-outdoor bathrooms and nest-like relaxation decks drawing on Tsonga architectural heritage. A central lodge houses a spa, gym and children’s education centre, while meals are served in an open-air boma complete with a wine display showcasing South African estates. Guests can fly in via the reserve’s private airstrip. For those seeking greater privacy, Shisaka offers two private villas, and the four-bedroom Sandringham House, set upstream from the main lodge, provides an exclusive 1,100-square-metre residence for up to eight guests, with a dedicated chef, butler and ranger, as well as private safari vehicles.
Guests can explore the reserve on game drives and walking and birding safaris. Part of what makes that possible is a quieter, harder-won achievement: conservationists working to rebuild trust between humans and animals, helping wildlife relearn that human presence no longer necessarily signals danger.
The rewilding effort at Sandringham demonstrates how a shift toward sustainable, unfenced wildlife corridors can align commercial interests with ecological restoration. Operators in places like Kenya’s Maasai Mara and Laikipia Plateau are grappling with similar pressures on land and wildlife, and the question of whether Sandringham’s model can travel, and hold, will be worth watching. More information about the property and its conservation approach is available at traveltomorrow.com/former-south-african-hunting-reserve-reopens-as-luxury-safari-retreat/.