ENCOUNTERSAFRICA
7-Day Sabi Sabi Earth Lodge Safari

South Africa - Fly-in safari

7-Day Sabi Sabi Earth Lodge Safari

Duration
7 days
Countries
South Africa
Suited to
2-8 guests
Pricing
From USD 18,680

The journey

Updated on 23 August 2026

Earth Lodge does not sit on the landscape; it is buried in it. Sabi Sabi's flagship was carved into a natural slope and roofed with earth and grass, so from fifty metres away there is no lodge at all, just bushveld. Inside, the surprise inverts: thirteen suites of sculpted concrete, raw timber and enormous glass, each with a plunge pool and outdoor shower, an art collection worth touring in its own right, and a wine gallery sunk deeper still. The reserve around it is the southern Sabi Sand, fence-free with the Kruger system, and Sabi Sabi's fifty-plus years of continuous operation show in the game viewing: leopards habituated across generations, lion prides whose lineages the guides recite like family trees, and wild dog and cheetah moving through on their wide rounds. Six nights makes room for everything the lodge does well: twice-daily drives, walking safaris among the year's tracks, long lunches that slide into siesta, the Amani spa, and a night in the bush-facing bath with the frogs providing the soundtrack. One address, properly lived in.

Your camps, day by day

Stay 1

Into the Hillside

The 55 minute Airlink flight from Johannesburg lands at Skukuza, and 45 minutes of game-viewing road later Earth Lodge simply appears out of the slope in front of you. Descend past the sculpted entrance wall, meet your butler, and take lunch above the waterhole. The afternoon drive rolls out at four into leopard country.

Stay 2

The Leopards' Neighbourhood

Fifty years of habituation means the leopards of this traverse treat the vehicle as furniture, and the morning drive works their riverine corridors accordingly, often ending beneath a cat compressed along a marula limb. Brunch, siesta in the cool of the suite, then an afternoon drive that stays out past dark with the spotlight.

Stay 3

Reading the Ground

This morning goes to an environmental walk: two hours on foot with guide and tracker, unpacking the night's news written in sand, dung beetles at work, and the polite protocols of approaching giraffe on their own level. The afternoon returns to the vehicle to follow the lion prides as they wake, stretch and start the evening shift.

Stay 4

Big Herds, Small Wonders

Dry-season mornings bring the elephant and buffalo herds down to the waterholes in processions a hundred strong, and the drive parks in their path to let the traffic flow around you. The middle of the day belongs to the Amani spa or your plunge pool. The evening drive hunts smaller quarry: honey badger, civet, and owls on the warm roads.

Stay 5

The Wide Circuit

Today pushes the traverse's far corners, open crests where cheetah scan from termite mounds and the wild dogs surface on their unpredictable rounds. Lunch is laid in the bush under jackalberries, linen and silver in the middle of nowhere. Dinner tonight moves underground to the wine gallery, the sommelier steering.

Stay 6

Last Full Day in the Sand

The final full day finishes what the week started: one more dawn with the leopards, a follow-up on the pride's new cubs, or simply the drive going wherever the radio and the trackers' instincts point. The farewell dinner is in the boma, fire-lit against the sculpted walls, with the southern sky doing its enormous quiet work above.

Stay 7

Earth Lodge to Johannesburg

A last coffee watching the waterhole, then the road back to Skukuza for the midday Airlink flight to Johannesburg, in time for evening international connections. You leave a lodge that most guests describe the same way: the bush swallowed it, and for six nights it swallowed you too, in considerable comfort.

Safari highlights

  • Six nights at Earth Lodge, sculpted into the hillside
  • Southern Sabi Sand traverse, open to the Kruger
  • Generations of habituated leopards
  • Thirteen suites with plunge pools and outdoor showers
  • The underground wine gallery
  • Walking safaris and the Amani spa

What is included

Included

  • 6 nights accommodation, per person sharing
  • Return scheduled flights Johannesburg-Skukuza in economy class
  • Road transfers between Skukuza Airport and Earth Lodge
  • All meals, house wines, local spirits, beers and soft drinks
  • Twice-daily game drives with guide and tracker
  • Guided environmental walking safaris
  • Sabi Sand conservation levies, government taxes and VAT
  • Laundry and emergency medical evacuation cover

Not included

  • International flights to and from Africa
  • Visas and entry permits
  • Comprehensive travel and medical insurance
  • Amani spa treatments
  • Premium spirits, champagne and imported wines
  • Gratuities for guides, trackers and lodge staff
  • Items of a personal nature, curios and telephone calls

Frequently asked questions

How much does a 7-day Sabi Sabi Earth Lodge safari cost?

From USD 18,680 per person sharing, rising to about USD 19,880 in peak season. The price covers six nights in a plunge-pool suite, all meals and house drinks, twice-daily game drives, walking safaris, conservation levies and the return Johannesburg-Skukuza flights with road transfers. Spa treatments and international flights to Africa are excluded.

What is Earth Lodge actually like?

Unlike anywhere else in the bush. The lodge was excavated into a slope and roofed over with soil and grass, so it reads as landscape until you descend into it. Suites are sculptural, cave-cool spaces of polished concrete, carved wood and glass walls opening onto private plunge pools; the bar and wine gallery sit underground. It is frequently listed among the most architecturally significant lodges in the world, and photographs undersell it.

How is the game viewing in the southern Sabi Sand?

The southern sector shares the same open system as the rest of the reserve and the Kruger beyond, and Sabi Sabi's traverse has held habituated leopards for over five decades. Expect leopard on most days, multiple lion prides, big elephant and buffalo movement in the dry months, and regular cheetah and wild dog. Vehicle limits at sightings keep the experience quiet.

How do you get to Sabi Sabi?

Scheduled Airlink flights from Johannesburg reach Skukuza Airport, inside the Kruger, in about 55 minutes; from there it is roughly 45 minutes by road to Earth Lodge, and both legs are included. Charter flights direct to Sabi Sabi's own airstrip can be arranged. Self-drivers can arrive via the reserve's Gowrie or Shaw's gates.

When is the best time to visit the Sabi Sand?

May to September is the dry season, with sparse bush, animals concentrated on water and mild, clear days, the classic choice. October to April greens the reserve, brings the impala lambing and the migrant birds, and cuts rates in the deep summer. Leopard viewing, the region's speciality, is reliable in every month of the year.

Are international flights included?

No. International flights to and from Africa are excluded and booked separately, with Johannesburg the natural gateway; it receives direct flights from London, New York, Sydney and the major Gulf and European hubs. Everything from Johannesburg onward, the Skukuza flights and road transfers, is included in the price.