Reviews of Sable Alley
(95%) From 22 travellersThey do not necessarily represent the views of Expert Africa.
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Extremely Comfortable Camp
The camp was a very high standard and so were the staff. They looked after us extremely well - for example our flight was late so we arrived late at camp and our jeep had already set off for the evening game drive and so another drive rushed us out to join them.
I loved the tented ‘rooms’ - they were very comfortable and had everything we needed (inc. sherry!). The communal areas were also lovely. The food was good given that we were in the middle of the bush and it was c40C and there was lots of choice. The highlight for me was when we were woken up by elephants crashing through the camp and bumping into our tent.
I also enjoyed sitting out watching/listening to the hippos which live in the waterhole at the camp. We were there at the very end of the dry season but there was still enough water for the hippos.
The game drives were very good and in very new jeeps. On the drives there was no tracker just the driver/guide. Obviously, i don’t know if we would have seen more if we had had a tracker but at our second lodge we did see lots more game and we did have a tracker.
Wonderful wild dogs
After Gomoti Plains, where our game total was 18 species, we were keen to see four in particular: Hyena, sable, roan and wild dogs.
We had a good guide, though not as good as Carl at Gomoti, and we failed to see either of the antelope. But we did have several viewings of three different packs of dogs including one family of 18 at very close range, so tat was a real treat.
The accommodation was excellent and the ambience very good. We had one day of rain when the temperature dropped from 40 to 20, but that'd to the bonus of the Termite Emergence, which was very exciting, so long as you are prepared for clouds of large flying beasties while eating dinner!!
Luxury on the bush.
A very welcoming team. The staff were extremely attentive and our rooms were stunning. What luxury.
The game drives were amazing and the wildlife was in abundence. The photographic opportunities were made better by our guide Ocean's keen interest in photography.
An overall very enjoyable experience.
Two Nights in June at Sable Alley
Saw large groups of elephants, hippos, and zebras. One cantakerous elephant blocked our return to our tent one afternoon for about five minutes until a very tall staff member "explained" to him that he needed to go back into the bush.
Saw a leopard mother and daughter working on a "stashed" impala for two days. Saw a lone sable whilst having lunch in the camp and a sable family of three arrived concurrent with us at the airstrip as we were leaving Sable Alley.
Spectacular Sable Alley
Sable Alley is by far our favourite lodge - ever! We received a very warm welcome from Hector, the manager, who runs a very tight ship. He can always be seen in the background, keeping an eye on the little details that make this lodge so special, be it the food that is served, tidying up after guests, and taking the time to chat to all the guests. The communal area has a very luxurious, yet comfortable look and the rooms/tents continue this. We enjoyed that dining was not the communal affair that most lodges offer, but individual tables. There was still time to mingle with other guests after dinner, sitting around the campfire while sipping a glass of Amarula.
We very much enjoyed our excellent guide, Zambu. He was a mine of knowledge about the African bush, and managed to make every game drive interesting with his snippets of information. The game viewing lived up to expectations. We had beautiful sightings of leopard, hyena and elephant.
superb safari and accommodation
Excellent service and accommodation in camp.
Safari was high quality seeing animals we didn't expect to.
Atmosphere very good.
Wonderful Camp
We travelled as a party of 8 and had a great time at Sable Alley. The camp and rooms were above our expectations after just having spent 2 days / nights at Hyena Pan. We thoroughly enjoyed the camp, food, game drives and friendly staff. We would definitely recommend this camp to other travellers. The games drives, Mokoro boats and abundance of game and bird life made for a really enjoyable experience.
We struggled with food at Hyena Pan in terms of availability and quality and by comparison, Sable Alley was substantially improved. The food was table services rather than buffet and the food was of a really good standard. Well prepared, well presented and a joy to eat. We would honestly recommend that Hyena Pan follows a similar approach to serving food to their quests.
As a pure safety note, we would say that our last day was more exciting but could have ended in tragedy. Our truck followed 2 lionesses with 3 cubs and in trying to get as close as possible became stuck in the boggy mud. Luckily a second safari truck was close by to assist but when it arrived neither safari truck had any tow ropes???
Our tourist group was then asked to transfer to the second safari ruck to lighten the load to see whether this would help but unfortunately the safari truck was stuck deep in the mud.
A third safari truck after some 30 minutes arrived with a tow rope and proceed to hand the tow rope over to their colleagues and then drive off??? All of the safari tourists were then asked to stand in the open field unattended in pretty close proximity (circa 30 metres) to the 2 lionesses and their cubs. The safari truck was eventually towed out (circa 20 minutes later) and we then managed to all get back into the trucks and proceed with the safari tours.
In hindsight, we should never had agreed to leave the safari truck and stand in the open fields. This is incredibly dangerous especially with 2 lionesses that could have attacked us at any stage.
We would honestly recommend that all safari trucks carry tow ropes, the staff are trained in how to tow vehicles our of deep mud or perhaps avoid the mud in the first place and that tourists are never allowed to leave the safari trucks and stand in open fields unattended within such close proximity to wild dangerous animals. We would also recommend that the third safari truck should have stayed around to help and not leave tourists vulnerable.
Despite the above adventure – we really did enjoy the camp and our experiences and would recommend this camp.
Expert Africa comments
Although it is clear that these travellers had a wonderful time at Sable Alley overall, we were concerned about their feedback on their game drive - safety is paramount when out on safari. We know the owners of Sable Alley (Natural Selection) and also know that they take feedback like this very seriously, as do we.
They have replied with a sincere apology for the way the guide handled the situation on the ground and completely understand why these travellers would have felt vulnerable and unsafe. Their philosophy is that it is a requirement of guides to not only be educators and entertainers but to be safety conscious at all times too.
Sable Alley has a team of mechanics in camp with recovery kits on hand and it is the norm for a guide who has trouble with their vehicle to immediately radio for help. This did not happen on this occasion and this incident has been addressed by management, with the guides, to ensure that this does not happen again.
Natural Selection commented that guest safety is their number one priority and an area of their service that should never be compromised. They have sent their sincere apology to our travellers for any unpleasant feelings they may have experienced during this incident.
Lovely surroundings & safari at 1st rate camp
We (mother and I) enjoyed everything about our stay and safari at Sable Alley.
We found the camp itself luxurious, staff attentive, the meals superb and our guide 'Shakes' excellent. We did not want for anything.
We especially loved the outdoor shower!
Sable Alley review
Very comfortable camp and great after 4 hot days on a mobile safari.
Tony was a superb guide and made this an excellent experience overall
This was the only camp where the service was mixed. Of the 3 managers Molly and Mrs P were great but in general some of the staff were a bit aloof, keen to get your evening meal finished with a sense that if they didn't offer you much wine you might go to bed sooner. Variable , always polite but did not give the impression they were all that interested and left guest to themselves more than happened in other camps.
This was the only time one of us was ill with what we think was food poisoning and the managers couldn't have been more helpful but also raises the issue over how Hygiene- it was likely just an unfortunate event but worth seeing if you get other incidents reported
However excellent guiding , great game viewing and would still highly recommend the camp but with just a few small adjustments it could be excellent all round . Mocorro not really worth doing at this time of year as water levels very low , guides not that knowledgeable and talked about shooting wild dogs to stop them getting farm animals so can see the need to for on going education!
Sable Alley
Lovely accommodations. Great walking safaris with Russell
Read more about the whole safari
