Reviews of Sand River Camp
Wildlife sightings and reviews
6 independent comments and wildlife information from our travellers who have visited Sand River Camp and kindly agreed to share their thoughts. They do not necessarily represent the views of Expert Africa
83% success
67% success
40% success
20% success
100% success
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100% success
83% success
20% success
0% success
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"Sand River Camp review"
The food at camp was a little variable, sometimes we had excellent meals and other times less so but we felt the hospitality was very genuine and the staff tried their utmost to provide a five star experience with management and the chef coming to speak to us every evening.
The main criticism would be in the overall experience we had with our guide. Overall we were happy with the game we saw (we were very lucky to come across 2 leopards on 2 separate days). However our guide was a rather fixed in his itinerary and probably needed to show more flexibility and communicate more. Our biggest issue was being taken on a very long and rather uncomfortable journey to Mara River even though we had advance notice there were no wildebeest crossings happening that week. Our guide insisted we should still go to see other animals and in retrospect we should have argued harder against that but the experience as a whole showed there needed to be clearer communication between the guide and client.
Despite this issue, overall the camp is good for migration, we saw huge amounts of wildebeest and we saw them cross the Sand River (which was quite dry so it wasn't a dramatic river crossing but still impressive). Unfortunately we were unlucky with the Mara River crossing as the timing was not right but in the right circumstances we suspect it would have been fantastic as there were plenty of crocodiles there. We got the impression the game is harder to find in the Sand River terrain, there is a lot of long grass so we did spend quite long periods looking for cats but ultimately saw a few lions and a leopard (we saw the second leopard on the way to Mara River, close to the Tanzania border).
Overall I would recommend the camp but advise that people will need to be patient when looking for game and also be clear about what they want to see/do when working with their guide." See all these reviews: 7n in Kenya
"Senior Africa Specialist | East & Southern Africa"
Elephant
Multiple sightings
Giraffe
Multiple sightings
Hippo
Multiple sightings
Leopard
2 sightings
Lion
Multiple sightings
Spotted Hyena
1 sighting
Wildebeest
10 sightings
Zebra
Multiple sightings
"Sand River Camp review"
We were there for two nights only and in this time we saw 35 lions and maybe only 5 of those did we see twice. On a couple of occasions we watched them eating what was left of a kill. On a morning drive we had 2 big male lions walking on the track towards us and then just standing inches away from the vehicle before carrying on.
We were fortunate enough to see a serval cat out in daylight." See all these reviews: 14n in Kenya
Buffalo
10 sightings
Eland
10 sightings
Elephant
10 sightings
Giraffe
10 sightings
Hippo
6 sightings
Lion
10 sightings
Spotted Hyena
10 sightings
Wildebeest
10 sightings
Zebra
10 sightings
"Sand River Camp review"
Enoch, our guide, was fantastic - huge respect for the job that he does, his knowledge and understanding of the Mara environment. We has a fair amount of rain during our stay but this did not really impact on our activities - just created a lot more mud for Enoch to drive through!
You need to consider the size of the Mara vs a private conservancy such as Loisaba. You are covering a lot of distance to find animals and whereas a morning game drive in Loisaba is ~3 hours, in Sand River, its ~6 hours! So there is a lot of sitting each day!
Fantastic hot air balloon ride - high recommend that, and a lovely bush breakfast on our way over to the Mara Triangle area." See all these reviews: 8n in Kenya
Black Rhino
1 sighting
Buffalo
10 sightings
Cheetah
2 sightings
Eland
2 sightings
Elephant
10 sightings
Giraffe
10 sightings
Hippo
4 sightings
Lion
6 sightings
Spotted Hyena
3 sightings
Wildebeest
1 sighting
Zebra
10 sightings
"Such a gem!"
Really top notch guiding from Anthony - we had a wonderful Leopard sighting. He was really good at sensing what we were most interested in and adapting, particularly pointing out amazing birds and wildflowers too. Really outstanding. Absolutely fantastic sundowner set up with other interesting guests from camp around a camp fire, a definite highlight.
Beautifully appointed tents, and very friendly staff. We enjoyed a dip in the pool after lunch, which overlooks the river. It would be amazing to be there during the migration." See all these reviews: 15n in Kenya
Buffalo
1 sighting
Eland
3 sightings
Elephant
3 sightings
Giraffe
2 sightings
Hippo
4 sightings
Leopard
1 sighting
Spotted Hyena
1 sighting
Wildebeest
5 sightings
Zebra
5 sightings
"Magical location"
Buffalo
10 sightings
Cheetah
2 sightings
Eland
5 sightings
Elephant
10 sightings
Giraffe
10 sightings
Hippo
10 sightings
Leopard
5 sightings
Lion
7 sightings
Spotted Hyena
5 sightings
Wild dog
1 sighting
Zebra
6 sightings
"Africa's beating heart"
Buffalo
8 sightings
Eland
8 sightings
Elephant
10 sightings
Giraffe
10 sightings
Hippo
2 sightings
Leopard
3 sightings
Lion
6 sightings
Spotted Hyena
3 sightings
Wildebeest
10 sightings
Zebra
10 sightings
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