Comparing Sabi Sands, Kruger National Park and Chobe National Park

Traveling through 4 countries and doing 3 different safaris, I have witnessed the unique qualities each park has to offer.

Zebra at Sabi Sands

Sabi Sands Private Game Reserve, South Africa

Pros:

• We saw more predators including leopard, lions, wild dog and hyena than in any other park

• Animals seemed very comfortable with the jeeps and were not shy

• In addition to a guide there was also a tracker

Cons

• The parked seemed very commercial

• You could see many man made objects such as intenas, private houses, and an air strip

Kruger National Park, South Africa

Cape Buffalo

Pros:

• Largest park out of the three

• Saw the most variety of animals and birds

• Felt like you were actually in the Bush because there were just miles and miles of untouched terrain

Cons:

• More bugs

• Did not see any big cats here

Chobe National Botswana

Crocodile

Pros:

• Beautiful landscape with a major river alongside of it

• This park has over 200,000 elephants holding 80% of the entire elephant population in the world

• You will also see many hippos

• Opportunity to do a boating safari

Cons:

• Located in Botswana which is less developed than South Africa and not that easy to get to. We flew into Livingston, Zambia, drove across the border to Zimbabwe and then into Botswana. Recommend staying in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe for 2 nights and see the waterfalls and then do a day trip to Chobe

Border between Zimbabwe and Botswana

• Not a lot of variety of animals(we only saw elephants, hippos, crocodiles and buffalo)

Summary:

Overall, each park has its pros and cons but Kruger was my favorite because it felt the least commercial and we had a great guide. Sabi Sands and Choebe were nice because we saw lots of animals but the mentality of our guides were more of a check list safari-saw that animal, took a picture, done. My experience in Kruger was more let’s go out and see what we find and learn the importance of that animal, tree or bird and really appreciate the beauty. Your guides really contribute to your safari experience. I recommend asking them as many questions as you can to learn the most. Sabi Sands was nice because the guides and trackers worked hard to find the big animals but you did not learn as much. Sabi Sands also felt more like a theme park because the animals were just so comfortable around humans as if they were trained. Chobe had the most beautiful landscape but after an hour we did not see anything we hadn't already seen.

Our guide at Kruger preparing coffee for our group

If you go to Africa on safari don’t expect to see a lion the first time you go out or that your “luxury” accommodation will be equivalent to the U.S standard. I recommend you go just to have a new experience and get more acquainted with nature and the culture. Some days we barely saw any animals other days we saw loads. There will be bugs, the weather isn’t always perfectly sunny and you could have no WiFi nor cell signal. If you come prepared, informed and ready to see nature with no expectations you are guaranteed to have a wonderful time at any of these parks.