Sable Mountain Lodge, Tanzania

...Game Reserve in Tanzania and Sable Mountain Lodge was the base for four nights.


==Location and getting there==


Sable Mountain lodge is situated just outside the Selous Game Reserve, I saw no disadvantage to being just outside the game reserve rather than being in it, so nothing to get hung up about here. It is a short and enjoyable drive to the park entrance and we usually saw wildlife along the way. ...
...I couldn?t see) to the Sable Mountain vehicles which were there to pick us up. It certainly was adventurous but I wish I had been told to keep a torch handy. The lodge provides free transfers for all guests.


For those that don?t like train journeys or want to travel on one of the five days of the week that the train does not operate, then it is possible to fly from Dar es Salaam, Arusha or Zanzibar. The planes will be small, ... more

I recently travelled to Tanzania on an Adventure Company organised tour and accordingly did not have a say in choosing the accommodation. In fact I did not know where I would be staying before booking as it is Adventure Company?s policy not to reveal this in case there are changes for operational reasons. My trip included a safari in the Selous Game Reserve in Tanzania and Sable Mountain Lodge was the base for four nights.

Location and getting there

Sable Mountain lodge is situated just outside the Selous Game Reserve, I saw no disadvantage to being just outside the game reserve rather than being in it, so nothing to get hung up about here. It is a short and enjoyable drive to the park entrance and we usually saw wildlife along the way. I travelled to the lodge from Dar es Salaam by train which took four hours and cost $25 in a comfortable first class compartment. The train operates twice a week, I always enjoy a train ride and this was no exception, the last two hours are through the reserve itself and I enjoyed looking for animals for the first hour before darkness fell.

We disembarked from the train at Kisaki, the step from train to the ground was a big one, at least hip height for me and I am 5 foot 8. We then had to make our way in pitch black across a field or something (I don?t know I couldn?t see) to the Sable Mountain vehicles which were there to pick us up. It certainly was adventurous but I wish I had been told to keep a torch handy. The lodge provides free transfers for all guests.

For those that don?t like train journeys or want to travel on one of the five days of the week that the train does not operate, then it is possible to fly from Dar es Salaam, Arusha or Zanzibar. The planes will be small, about twelve seats and the flights cost around US$150 - US$200 one way. It is also possible to travel by road and this takes six hours. At the end of my trip, I took the flight to Zanzibar which takes about an hour.

Lodgings

There are three types of accommodation available; stone cottages, tented rooms and honeymoon suites which are larger and more luxurious tented rooms. I was in one of the stone cottages, which are apparently slightly more basic than the tented rooms but from the descriptions and pictures I have seen I don?t think there could be much difference.

The camp is spread out over a large area and our group occupied each of the eight stone cottages. My husband and I were in number seven which is quite a long walk from the restaurant, bar, swimming pool area and was a bit of a slog up a hill. On the flip side, we did find it peaceful and private.

The bedroom was a decent size, it contained a double bed with a mosquito net over, table, chairs, dressing table and some storage space for clothes. The bathroom was adequate, there was a curious indoor rock garden around the loo, a sink and a basic shower. The lodge purports to provide hot water but we did not get any, in fact all we got was a very slow trickle of cool but not freezing cold water. It was not something that unduly troubled us, although when I heard that others had plenty of hot water I felt slightly envious. Outside we had a small veranda and two chairs, we had some far reaching views over a lot of trees. I understand one of the cottages overlooks a watering hole which sounds nice, although I don?t think the people staying there saw any animals.

The camp is powered by solar energy, which meant lights in the rooms but no power sockets. We knew this in advance and came prepared by charging up what we needed to charge before we got there. So I didn?t miss sockets but I would have liked a slightly brighter light as it was impossible to read in the room after sunset. Also with the grey brown stone walls, the cottage felt a little bit gloomy at times. The missing item that I would have really appreciated was air conditioning or even a room fan. It was very difficult to cool down after a day out and even at night it was still muggy and clammy.

We stayed at the lodge on an all inclusive basis and our meals were taken in the restaurant at the bottom of the camp. Breakfast comprised fruit, fruit juice, bread and any or all of eggs, bacon and beans. Everybody seemed to enjoy breakfast very much. The standard of food at dinner was also very good, meals were three courses followed by coffee. As we were a group we ate together at a fixed time and I possibly would have liked a bit more flexibility which an independent visitor would have.

One evening it was pouring rain at our fixed dinner time and we decided we could not make it down the hill on a path that had become quite treacherous. It was not long before one of the staff came to get remind us that it was dinnertime but we explained we did not wish to make our way down in these conditions and we would skip dinner that night. Shortly afterwards, he returned with some dinner on a tray for us. We had not asked or even hinted for it but were very grateful and pleased with this service.

It is a bit of a trek up to the swimming pool area but well worth the effort, the pool is quite large, freshwater and covered which I thought was an excellent idea as I find it too easy to not notice the heat and get burned whilst in a pool. There are a few sun loungers near the pool, a bar and a large open sided lounge area with lots of extremely comfortable sofas and chairs. I loved it here, it was one place I managed to keep cool with the lovely breeze and could easily have sat here all day reading.

Activities

At risk of stating the obvious, activities on offer include game drives which can be full or half day. Additionally there are walking safaris and a visit to a nearby Masai village. On my first day I did the full day safari. We departed around 7 or 8am after breakfast in three separate vehicles with between four and six people in each. There were six in my vehicle which was an open sided land rover, we sat in two rows of three, the front row was higher up than the driver?s cab and the back row was higher than the front row so we all had very good views. I really liked the vehicles in use, we saw few other vehicles on our drives but I did see one that was like a small bus, was not open sided so the people were looking and trying to take pictures through slightly murky windows and it just did not look as good as ours.

I am not sure it is beneficial for me to go through everything we saw as I think every game drive is different, but we were very lucky and had a great day?s viewing. After a couple of hours viewing, we drove to a lake and enjoyed a boat safari for about an hour, we then found some shade for a picnic lunch before resuming our viewing until late afternoon.

The next morning half of the group went on a walking safari and the others another game drive. I was on the walking safari but did not enjoy it at all, we spent most of our time gazing at animal dung and ants which some seemed to find interesting but it did not float my boat and I wished I had stayed in bed. It was also incredibly muggy although not hot. In the afternoon the idea was to swap over but the lightweights chickened out of their walking safari and opted for another game drive instead. I don?t blame them, I would not have wanted to walk around for a couple of hours in that heat either. Game drives this day were not as successful as the day before as there had been rain which meant that animals did not need to wander far to find water. On my final full day, I spent the morning lazing around the pool and the afternoon I opted for the Masai village tour. It was a short tour and I found it very interesting to see the village and meet some local people.

Prices

Accommodation can be booked without activities for between $145 and $195 per night full board. Activities can then be booked separately and for example a full day safari costs $155 and my Masai visit cost $25. Alternatively it is possible to book on an all inclusive basis which means that each day a full day safari or two half day activities are included and this will cost between $295 and $345 full board. Clearly the two bases are consistently priced and it does not seem to matter which way you do it.

Before we booked the organised tour, we carried out some research into travelling independently and received some extremely expensive quotes, for example £3,600 for a five night safari for the two of us. Thus, Sable Mountain Lodge would appear to be a very affordable option if visiting this area and represents excellent value for money.

Conclusion

I was very satisfied with my stay at Sable Mountain Lodge and if I were to return to Selous, my only hesitation would concern the lack of air conditioning or room fans and I would firstly like to see what else might be available with this creature comfort. If I had been able to get cool and comfortable after a day?s viewing then certainly I would say this camp had everything I needed and I would see no reason to investigate the more expensive options.
 

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