Kirkman's Kamp

Sabi Sands, Kruger NP

GENERAL SCORES /5:

Lodge/Hospitality: 5

Rooms: 4

Food: 4

Guiding: 5

Game Viewing: 5

OVERALL: 10/10

Vital Statistics:

Country: South Africa

Game Reserve: Sabi Sands

Management: And Beyond

Year we stayed: 2009

Approx price pppn then: $800

Summary

A quietly attractive lodge with excellent service and comfortable rooms (our balcony had a superb view too). The hospitality is very good and the quality of guiding is outstanding. We had superb game drives and an excellent walk. Hard to fault anything at this lodge.

Kirkman's Kamp Review:

Kirkman's Kamp is quite unusual in that it doesn't try to look like an African game lodge with wooden beams and thatched rooves. In fact the main lodge was the original homestead of Harry Kirkman, who moved there in the early 1900s to farm. He was a hunter (who later became a conservationist) and the lodge reflects this - it is decorated with horns, rifles and photographs from those early days. Basically, this is a traditional colonial lodge. The decor is understated and comfortable and it has a very "civilised" feel. Eating on the deck or the lawn has a feel of "tiffin" as you look over the grass to the bush the other side of the valley. The swimming pool is cleverly hidden just out of view down the sloping lawn.

Our welcome was nice, with one of the managers taking us through the main lodge telling us about its history before checking our dietary requirements and introducing us to our butler and our guide. Our butler, Simon, took us to our room. The rooms are all in pairs of semi-detached cottages. They are quite square, with understated decor - not boring, just plain and colonial and very comfortable. We really liked the feel. Our balcony looked over the valley of the Sands River, where we could see a family of elephants in the distance.

Lunch was very good and plentiful. A lovely cold soup (the temperature, it being October, was starting to rise) followed by a huge tray brought to our table piled high with cold meats and salads. Dinner, later (after cocktails at the bar), was generally a choice of two starters and two mains. This, too, was excellent quality and the breakfast was a large buffet and a choice of hot breakfasts. Generally everything was served to us by Simon which made for nice continuity.

So, the lodge was lovely, the hosting excellent and the food also very good. Could the guiding match up? Two guides we had been lucky enough to have guiding us at other lodges (Steph and Markus from Phinda) were now at Kirkman's so we were hoping one of those would be our guide, but unfortunately they were not. However, we were certainly not disappointed - our guide was Mark and he was outstanding. So too was our tracker. We had some absolutely phenomenal drives with amazing sightings of leopards (the banner photo above is from one of our drives here) and a thrilling time following lions (or, rather, anticipating the lions, getting ahead of them and watching them saunter past a metre from our vehicle)! Mark was content to stay with animals as long as we wanted, even if that meant missing tea-break or getting back to the lodge late. He was interesting to chat to and happy to impart his great knowledge about the area and the wildlife. We couldn't have been happier with him.

One morning we asked about doing a walking safari and were told simply "Of course. What time would you like to do it?". Nothing was too much trouble (and, of course, it was a lovely walk - not too long as it was very hot, but lovely).

Something I was surprised about was that we had our guide to ourselves for a couple of drives even though all the other guides had 6 guests per vehicle and the lodge was full. It turned out to be because Mark was leaving (a great loss to the company I believe) the next day. The policy is that guests have the same guide for the duration of their stay and so they couldn't have anyone starting with Mark, then him leaving so they have to join another guide. I knew there was a general policy in place, but didn't know the lengths they would go to to enforce it - very, very impressive.

We were supposedly on a rate (very last minute booking) which meant that drinks were not included. However, we were not charged for any water, soft drinks or our safari drinks. I believe this was because they are considered "part of the safari experience" rather than extras and was not so much a mistake as simply a symptom of the great service provided by And Beyond at their lodges.

We had an amazing time at Kirkman's Kamp and cannot wait to go back there. Sometimes I think about the extraordinary service we experienced (there and at other And Beyond lodges), then I think, "yeah, but with a rack rate of $800 per person per night, I should blooming well hope so!". But there are many other lodges out there charging similar amounts and not giving the same service.

Kirkman's Kamp, if you can afford it or if you can get a good last minute deal, is an outstanding safari lodge and I cannot recommend it highly enough.