From the Big Five to
the Indian Ocean

Arrive at Johannesburg O.R. Tambo and connect to Skukuza Airport, inside Kruger National Park and the most convenient gateway for the Sabi Sand — roughly an hour in the air, on scheduled daily services. The lodge handles the 25 to 40 minute road transfer from there.

Settle into your suite above the Sabie River and take lunch. The afternoon brings your first game drive in an open vehicle with a ranger and a tracker. Lion Sands is the only private reserve with direct access to the perennial Sabie River, shared with Kruger, and its traverse is one of the world’s premier leopard-viewing areas.

Stop in the bush for your first sundowner as the light goes, then return for dinner in the boma or on the deck above the river.

Wake before sunrise. The bush is at its most active around dawn and this is the prime window for predators. Sabi Sand holds all of the Big Five — leopard, lion, elephant, rhino and buffalo — alongside cheetah, hyena, jackal and, with luck, wild dog. The leopards here are deeply habituated, which is why sightings can run long and close rather than being a glimpse through scrub.

Stop somewhere scenic for a bush breakfast cooked in the open, then return to the lodge for the middle of the day: the river, the pool, the spa, or a book on your private deck.

The afternoon drive goes out again as the animals become active and the light turns gold. Sundowners in the bush, then a three-course dinner back at the lodge. Some evenings there is the option of a night drive for serval, genet and African wild cat.

The morning is a guided bush walk, minimum age 16. Instead of looking for large animals, your guide works at ground level: tracks and signs, and reading what passed through and when; plants and their medicinal and practical uses; the insects and birds that hold the food chain up; the ancient geology that shaped the reserve; and how to interpret behaviour rather than simply spot it.

A leisurely breakfast follows, then a slow midday. The afternoon drive goes looking for whatever has stayed elusive so far, and where conditions allow, a night drive afterwards shows a completely different reserve.

An early private safari dedicated to tracking whatever has not yet appeared. Breakfast back at the lodge afterwards.

The afternoon is yours to shape: the health and beauty spa, the gym and the pool; a second private drive; or a scenic helicopter excursion from Lion Sands’ own airstrip, subject to availability and weather.

The evening is a private bush dinner — a table set out in the wilderness with the sounds of it all around you.

The last full African day begins with an early drive and, importantly, several unhurried hours rather than a rush between activities.

The afternoon belongs to the Sabie River, watched from your own deck — elephants regularly come down to bathe within sight of camp. A final drive follows, then a last sundowner at a viewpoint as the sun goes down over the bushveld, and dinner beneath the stars.

Breakfast, then the transfer to Skukuza and the flight to Johannesburg, connecting onward to Mahé. It is a long travel day and we schedule nothing else around it.

Your private representative meets you on arrival for the transfer to AQUA Boutique Hotel in Glacis, on the northern coast. The contrast is intentional: yesterday was bushveld, game drives and lions; today is granite, turquoise water and the Indian Ocean.

The evening is spent adjusting to the slower rhythm, and nothing more.

A private morning in Victoria: the market, the Hindu temple, the 1903 Clock Tower and the National Botanical Gardens with their giant tortoise enclosure. Continue up to Mission Lodge at Venn’s Town for the view west across the coast and the history that sits behind it.

The afternoon boards a private boat for Sainte Anne Marine National Park — snorkelling, swimming and island exploration across six islands in exceptionally clear water — and stops at Moyenne, famous for the giant tortoises that wander freely across it.

Dinner is Creole, back on Mahé.

A short domestic flight to Praslin, roughly fifteen minutes, then the transfer to Constance Lemuria on the northwest coast.

After check-in and lunch, Vallée de Mai: a UNESCO World Heritage forest of ancient palm, home to the Coco de Mer and its record-breaking seed, and to the endangered Seychelles black parrot found nowhere else.

The late afternoon continues to Anse Lazio for swimming and snorkelling in turquoise water, before dinner back at the resort.

A private boat to Curieuse, a protected marine park twenty minutes off Praslin, where roughly 250 Aldabra giant tortoises range freely. A guided hike works through mangrove ecosystems and Coco de Mer forest to viewpoints across the island. The marine park fee is SCR 300 per person, and this is observation only.

The afternoon returns for Anse Georgette, beside the resort and reached through it — on foot across the golf course or by buggy. It is regularly named among the most beautiful beaches in the world, and it is almost always empty.

A private boat to La Digue, an island where bicycles are the main mode of transport. The route runs Anse Patates → Anse Source d’Argent, inside L’Union Estate and among the most photographed beaches on Earth → the colonial plantation house, coconut mill and vanilla plantation → Anse Pierrot → Grand Anse.

From Grand Anse, the coastal trail to Anse Cocos — 25 to 40 minutes each way, moderate, and sturdy shoes essential. Creole lunch on the island.

The afternoon is crystal kayaking along the coast, before a private boat continues to Félicité and Six Senses Zil Pasyon, which occupies less than a third of the island.

A leisurely breakfast over the ocean, then a private marine expedition shaped by conditions and interest: snorkelling the inner-island reefs, diving for certified divers, crystal kayaking along the granite coastline, hopping to nearby islets, or looking for the spinner and bottlenose dolphins that live in these waters year-round.

The afternoon is deliberately slow. After five days of safari and five of boats, hikes and islands, this is the day to use the villa, the pool and the spa and go nowhere at all.

A private sunset dinner over the Indian Ocean closes the journey.

Breakfast over the Indian Ocean, then transfer for your international departure — either by private boat via Praslin to Mahé, or by direct helicopter from Félicité to Seychelles International Airport, around twenty minutes and subject to availability.