WILDLIFE

Shaws and Lisbon farms, together making up the SGR estate, are situated 18 kilometers west of the confluence of the Sand and Sabie Rivers, on the Sabie River portion. The primary habitat is savannah with diverse microhabitats such as pans, woodlands, thickets, rocky outcrops, seep-lines, and riverine forests interspersed across open grassy plains.

Sabie Game holds a diverse and representative complement of regional savannah biodiversity, sustaining high densities of the “Big Five”, notably leopard, elephant and rhino, with a growing black rhino population. Wild dog are commonly sighted and have denned in recent years on the reserve, and various other threatened species of mammals and birds are known from SGR.

The catchment area of the Sabie-Sand system is 6,320 km2 in extent, and the Sabie River system is of regional significance since it is an artery for the Kruger National Park, and also supplies water for the capital of Mozambique, Maputo. The Sabie is one of the most biologically diverse rivers in South Africa, with generally good water quality, which is harder to maintain as it passes in portions through rapidly developing landscapes to the west of SGR.