With just five weeks to go until we get on our bikes (literally) and cycle South Africa in the Cape Argus Pick n Pay Cycle Tour, I can hardly wait to feel the warm sunshine of the southern hemisphere on my bones after what has been a long, cold, and snow-covered winter in the Austrian Alps!

The training is not going as well as the training for Kilimanjaro went (it’s hard to cycle in a metre of snow!), but we are hitting the gym four to five times a week, and hope that those long hours on the exercise bike will pay off and that we will complete the 109km Cape Argus in the 7-hours allotted…

Fortunately, the Argus forms just one part of our trip to South Africa, and after spending 2 weeks in our beloved second home of Cape Town, we are heading on up to the Sabi Sands Private Game Reserve for a spot of safari action.

Sharing its borders with the world-famous Kruger National Park, Sabi Sands is not only the oldest private reserve in SA, but it is also referred to as “the birthplace of sustainable wildlife tourism in Southern Africa”, and homes a vast population of wild animals, including the Big Five.

While the Sabi Sand Reserve used to be fenced off, it now shares a 50km unfenced border with the Kruger Park, which allows the wildlife to move freely in-between the two areas, and as it is in the process of opening more areas within the Peace Park concept, this magnificent wildlife reserve will soon integrate and amalgamate with protected areas of Mozambique and Zimbabwe.

Taking its name from the two rivers the flow through the game reserve, the Sand and the Sabie, Sabi Sands enjoys one of the highest and most bio-diverse wildlife populations in all Africa, and so it is no surprise that the world’s most luxurious safari properties, such as Chitwa Chitwa, have set up base in this immense reserve to provide travellers with unique game viewing holidays.

So while I count the days until our next South African safari adventure, I will leave you with some pictures shared by the many luxury properties in Sabi Sands to give you some inspiration on this cold February Sunday…