01 
Lion Resident prides 
Waterberg, Limpopo · Malaria-free Big Five
Where the bush
still feels wild.
An owner-run bush lodge on a private reserve in the Waterberg. Five suites, two game drives a day and the kind of quiet you only find this far from the tar.
Lion Resident prides 
Elephant Daily on the drives 
Rhino Both black & white 
Leopard Strong population 
Buffalo Big herds 
About the lodge
Five suites.
One vehicle.
No crowds.
Sable & Thorn is a small owner-run lodge on a private reserve in the Waterberg, two and a half hours north of Johannesburg and a world away from anywhere. Malaria-free, big-game country, with the kind of quiet you only find this far off the tar.
We keep it to five suites and one vehicle on purpose. It means you are never sharing a sighting, dinner is around one table and the guide knows your name by the second drive.
Pieter & Anja
The spectacle
Elephant before
breakfast.
Herds move through the riverbed below the camp in the dry months. Some mornings you do not even make it to the vehicle before the first sighting finds you.
The suites
A bed for every sort of safari.
Five suites, from a flagship thatch suite with a plunge pool to a canvas tent deep in the riverine bush. Rates are per person, all meals and two drives a day included.
Out in the reserve
Two drives a day,
and the hours in between.
01 
02 Sundowners in the bush
03 Guided bush walks
04 Plains game & the Big Five
Sundowners
The light goes gold,
then the bush goes quiet.
The afternoon drive ends on a koppie with a drink in hand and the whole reserve turning pink behind you. It is the part guests talk about for years.
Where we are
Deep in the
Waterberg.
On a private reserve off the Melkrivier road, an easy self-drive from Gauteng on tar most of the way. We send directions and a gate code with every booking, and can arrange a road transfer from Lanseria.
- Welgevonden gate 20 min
- Vaalwater town 35 km
- Lanseria Airport 2.5 hrs
- Johannesburg 3 hrs
Guests
In their own words.
★ ★ ★ ★ ★“Three leopard sightings in two days, and a guide who could find a chameleon in the dark. We have done the big-name reserves; this small one beat all of them.”
★ ★ ★ ★ ★“Wir saßen am Wasserloch und die Elefanten kamen zu uns. Kein Gedränge, keine anderen Fahrzeuge, nur die Stille des Buschs.”
★ ★ ★ ★ ★“The tent spoiled us for ordinary hotels. Falling asleep to lions calling and waking to that first cup of coffee on the deck. I would go back tomorrow.”
From the reserve
Follow along on Instagram.
Ready for the bush?
Tell us when you’d like to come and how many you are. We’ll check the diary and come back within a day.
Send an enquiry