Kearsley Travel & Tours

Sable Mountain Lodge

Location| Accomodation | Facilities | Fact Sheet | Photo Gallery

This is a simple and reasonably comfortable lodge, with an easy-going atmosphere. Here guests and staff often choose to eat together around a single table and there is a nice bar and campfire for exchanging tales of the bush.

One of the nicest features of the camp is this raised platform overlooking a small waterhole, which in dry season attracts a range of animals, especially elephant.

A recent addition is a private outdoor seating area, where guests can slope away from the conversation at the bar to sit in peace and star-gaze ... which is a really nice idea and something not many of us do enough of.

There is also a swimming pool, which helps to make Sable Mountain the kind of place where you could quite happily be holed up for three or more nights.

Sable Mountain Lodge is located outside the Selous Game Reserve borders to the north, well away from the river, but in a pretty, undulating part of the world to the northern end of the Beho Beho mountains.

Being outside the park does have certain advantages. Most importantly is the fact that you can do night-drives here. Additionally you can spend easy days around camp without ticking up park fees all the time

There are eight simple unpretentious cottages, solidly constructed from the local stone. They are pleasant enough, if little straightforward. Only two of the cottages have double beds ... so make sure you specify to us if you want one of them. The rooms are well spaced out across the hillside, with nice private verandahs and with views of the Uluguru Mountains.

The accommodation is comfortable, without stretching to luxurious. The interiors are "interesting" to say the least, with an unusual mix of colours and materials and strange paintings all over the ceiling. We are not completely convinced about this. Perhaps a bit of a missed opportunity here.

All rooms have good, fully-fitted private bathrooms. Showers are no longer the suspended bladder type, but are fully plumbed in, with plenty of head. Lighting is mainly by storm lantern, with the back-up of solar-powered fittings.

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Excursions : Safaris from the lodge seldom encounter other vehicles since Sable Mountain Lodge is currently the only lodge in this north west region. Personalised game drives, foot safaris and an incredible boat safari on Lake Tagalala are all available from the lodge.

Fly Camping : We also organise specialised fly camping expeditions inside Selous Game Reserve from Sable Mountain Lodge. Fly camping is a totally different experience from the lodge based visit. We drive to a predetermined camp area where your camp is established by your personalised team of staff including chef and guide. An armed ranger also escorts all fly camping expeditions.

You sleep on raised platforms 12 feet in the air under the vast panorama of the African night sky - true star platforms. A chemical thunder box toilet and bucket showerare attached to the platform and sheltered from any unwanted visitors. Dining al fresco under the stars in the middle of one of Africa's last untamed wilderness regions is an experience never to be forgotten. The night chorus of the bush seems incredibly close and as you drift off to sleep it is easy to imagine that you are back in the days of the earliest explorers. Guided foot safaris from the fly camp offer a truly personal Selous experience with maximum group sizes of 4 platforms.

Walking Safaris : From the lodge, or combined with a full day game drive inside the reserve, it is possible to venture out on foot, looking closer at the bird life and vegetation as well as experiencing the thrill of following big game and predators on foot.

Boat Safaris : Another reason why Selous is recognised as being able to offer the greatest possible variety of safaris in Tanzania is the Rufiji River and the many lakes inside the reserve. Sable Mountain Lodge operates an incredible boat safari as part of a full day excursion that includes a game drive to Lake Tagalala and a dip in the hot springs.

Night Drives : Sable Mountain Lodge is one of the few lodges in Tanzania able to offer the unique experience of a night safari. Night drives from the lodge provide the opportunity to seek the nocturnal inhabitants of the region such as leopard and bush babies.

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