Located in Lion Sands Private Game Reserve, Ivory Lodge is the most recent content area addition to TheWildSource.com. After building out the Lion Sands page, I was able to focus on accommodations within Lion Sands – and the accommodations within Lion Sands are luxurious.

Ivory Lodge was constructed right on the Sabie River - just across from Kruger National Park. The Lodge and features great views, and its location in Sabi Sand Game Reserve means that Leopard sightings are frequent.

TheWildSource.com's Ivory Lodge Photos and Details

Remote sensing has become a popular technique for biologists and ecologists to look at satellite imagery and determine habitat types. Each major vegetative community has a ‘signature’ when being viewed from above and it can be useful to determine the best survey area for a certain species as one practical application. It takes a lot of practice and skill to do this well but a quick look at the Lion Sands Reserve and there are obvious features that explain why the game viewing here is so strong. (see interactive satellite photo below)

Interactive Satellite Photo of Lion Sands (including River Lodge, Ivory Lodge)

View Larger Map

The dominant landscape feature is the Sabie River that divides Lion Sands (north side of the river) from Kruger National Park. On the satellite imagery you can actually see Ivory Lodge scenically situated on a southern bend in the river, with River Lodge tucked into dense tree cover as the river heads north. Because this river is a permanent water source it serves as a magnet to draw in wildlife of all manner of species. In the dry times the effect will be magnified but it also maintains nice concentrations throughout the year. It’s also easy to see that the river supports the thickest concentrations of large trees, typical of riparian habitat. The Sabi Sand Game Reserve, within which Lion Sands is contained is famed for leopards and the combination of mature trees and ample prey being drawn to water makes this an excellent location to find leopards. It is possible to see the major driving tracks on the satellite image and there should be no surprise that they run the length of the river to provide game viewing throughout this rich location.

Look for my writeup about River Lodge at Lion Sands soon!