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The owners are quick to point out that Sabiepark is NOT a holiday resort, but rather a bushveld retreat where life follows the leisurely rhythm of nature.
Access is strictly controlled and limited to members and their bona fide guests to ensure complete privacy, security and exclusivity.
An impressive total of 16 common large mammal species and at least 2 small mammal species occur here, including leopard, hyena, zebra, wildebeest, impala, kudu, waterbuck and giraffe. The park is also occasionally visited by eight other mammal species, including lion, elephant, buffalo and wild dog.
The bird checklist has grown to about 300 species. Although the Kruger Park records just over 450 bird's species, Sabiepark represents only a portion of one of the 34 landscapes to be found in Kruger.
Altogether 34 reptiles and eight amphibians have been recorded. More than 116 tree species are found.
Sabiepark is only 460 km from Johannesburg. The Panorama route and its myriad attractions, including Sabie, Graskop, Pilgrim's Rest, God's Window, The Mac Mac and Lisbon waterfalls, Moholoholo Wildlife rehabilitation centre and Kapama cheetah breeding centre, are all within an easy drive. It is also only a short drive from a number of premier golf courses.
The novel and natural Skukuza golf course is only 11 km away. Sabiepark is within and hour's drive of two airports - Kruger Mpumalanga International outside Nelspruit and, to the north, Hoedspruit. Modern and varied shopping centres, restaurants, medical doctors, clinics and hospitals are also no more than an hour away.
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Sabiepark provides limited recreational and leisure opportunities for its members, in keeping with the preservations of the natural environment and peaceful atmosphere. Club facilities include an immaculate swimming pool, tennis court and clubhouse with TV.
Members also have access to a picturesque picnic site on the banks of the Sabie River overlooking the Kruger Park and the animals-including the Big Five-coming down to drink. Even lion kills have been observed from this unique vantage point-regarded by many owners as the heart of the park.
There is a small curio shop and a kiosk that sells basic essentials such as gas, firewood, milk and soft drinks. A number of services are offered to members, including minor maintenance, house cleaning and laundry.
Sabiepark lies between 24 57 and 24¼ 59S, and 31¼ 25' and 3¼ 29' E at an altitude of only 320m above sea level. Hot summers and mild winters, with an average maximum temperature of 32.9¼ C and an average minimum temperature of 16.2¼ C characterize the climate. The mean daily temperature is 22.18¼ C, which is 1,5% cooler than that of Skukuza. Rain occurs mainly during summer (September to April) with a mean annual fall of 567.1 mm.
The park is part of the Greater Kruger National Park, the UNESCO Kruger to Canyons (K2C) Biosphere reserve as well as of the still larger international "Peace Park" entity, the great Limpopo Transfrontier Conservation Area. The Kruger National Park veterinary boundary fence effectively encloses Sabiepark within the Kruger National Park.
The Sabie Sand Game Reserve across the road is famous for its international-class game lodges such as Mala Mala, Londolozi and Singita.
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Sabiepark was established in 1972 to provide an affordable private holiday destination in a tranquil bushveld setting where the natural environment, peace and harmony provide a haven for the harassed suburban dweller.
To maintain the Nature Reserve status of Sabiepark, permanent residency is not permitted and occupation of any property is limited to 122 days per year. Without this important restriction, Sabiepark would revert to township status and would be excised from the Greater Kruger National Park and be incorporated within the Bushbuck R Ridge Local Municipality.
Sabiepark has no ESKOM electricity supply, in keeping with the spirit of the establishment and to maintain the pioneering bushveld atmosphere. In 1998 the overwhelming majority of property owners voted to maintain this status quo with regard to the electricity. Solar power and gas appliances provide acceptable alternatives, yet many owners still prefer the unique atmosphere created by candles and paraffin lamps.
Building plans must be approved by the reserve management to ensure that any development fits in with the spirit of the park and blends with nature.
Wildlife is professionally managed in terms of an Environmental Management Plan and the game population is manipulated in line with prevailing veld conditions.
The ownership is predominantly from Gauteng ( 152 or 56.3%) with Mpumalanga a distant second at 14.4% KZN (6.7%), Free State (6.3%) and North-West (4.4%) are about equally represented but there are only a few owners from the Western Cape (2.6%), Eastern Cape (2.2%) and Limpopo (1.9%). The Northern Cape in not represented at all. There are 14 international owners (5.2%) from four continents. Countries represented are Australia, Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Luxembourg, Namibia, EAE, UK, and USA.
Only 2% of current property owners have been with Sabiepark from the early establishment years (1970's). More than one-third of property owners (37%) bought in the 1980's while a little fewer that one-third are from the 1990's. This turnover of about one-third every decade changed in the 21st century with on third (21%) of new property owners in the first four years since 2000.
In 2003 only nine (3.2%) of all property owners used more than 100 days while more than half (161 or 57%) used their property less that 30 days in the year.
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Two major geological types underlie Sabiepark, coarse-grained granite and the medium to course-grained gneiss of the Swazian era. The lithology is granite and minor doloritic intrusions (dykes and sills) occur.
The soils derived from this base are largely glenrosa form, although there is good diversity in that 10 different soils have been identified in Sabiepark.
Sabiepark falls within the Savannah Biome and is in the Lowveld veld type (Veldtype 10) and more specifically in the vegetation landscape known as the Sabie/Crocodile riverine thickets. The Sabiepark vegetation, typical and indicative of the topography and soils, is a mixture of relatively open, mature Combretum apiculatum woodland and Acacia nigrescens-Sclerocarya birrea woodland. Communities of Terminalia sericia occur on seep lines and termitaria, with their associated vegetation, are conspicuous features.
The park has been active since 1975. Infrastructure such as roads and water supply were provided after all the properties had been sold in 1979. Certain additional game species such as wildebeest, giraffe and zebra were introduced to the park during this period.
It is being managed by the property owners through a property management company subject to the wishes and decisions of the owners.
The challenge is to determine a balanced management model that will protect the integrity of the park as embodied in the vision of the founding fathers while also taking into account the needs of the owners and making sure that owners' investments are protected and enhanced. A further aim is that the management model should keep up with modern conservation trends and that alignments should be made where required without compromising basic conservation principles.
It is widely agreed that the non-negotiable basic principles of the park management model should be established and agreed. It should be accepted that Sabiepark cannot be everything to everybody. It should rather strive to remain something special for the special person and family.
A task team consisting of representatives of the management committee and property owners met on 18 September 2004 to develop a framework to realign and, where required, to reconfirm the profile/image of Sabiepark. The principles set out, more or less represent the results of their deliberation.
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