A Leading Kruger Park Safari Specialist
Shinzelle Safaris
- Office In:
- Size:
- 1-5 employees (Founded in 2014)
- Tour Types:
- Customizable private tours and fixed group tours
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $413 to $1,063 per person per day (USD, excl. int'l flights)
for a custom tour
Your request will be sent directly to the operator
If preferred, you can contact the operator directly
Reviews
FI
Email Mikko Perttilä | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Perfect Safari
We booked 3 days private safari in Kruger. They arrange everything and it all went as promised. Our guide weesley was great and he knew everything about the animals we saw (and we saw a lot). Higly recomment.
Email Teresa Noad | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great communication, helpful & Friendly, excellent organisation, wonderful trip.
Best Holiday Ever!!! Everything about this holiday was brilliant, wonderful location & accommodation. The communication was excellent & the way the whole trip was organised was fantastic from start to finish. I do not want to do any other type of holiday ever again! The Manor house was wonderful, every person there made our trip what it was, our guides, both from Shinzelle & at the Manor House were great & knowledgeable. Food was delicious, the watering hole opposite the pool was fabulous too. Beautiful place, wonderful people, best trip of my life, cannot wait to come back & I will!
US
Email Gamal El-Masry | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Shinzelle Safaris is a reliable tour operator who provided all promised services extremely well.
We booked the "4-Day Essential Greater Kruger Park and Panoramic Tour Combo" for a party of 5 people. Our liaison person at Shinzelle Safaris was Ms. Danielle Smith, who throughout the planning of the trip was very supportive and efficient. She also regularly checked in on us by email and phone/text message during our safari trip, to make sure that we were OKI and address any problems, which we did not have.
Shinzelle put us up at the “Leopard’s Lair Bush Lodge” in Hoedspruit. The early morning transfer from Johannesburg Oliver Tambo International Airport (JNB) to the lodge in Hoedspruit was very well organized and smooth. The driver, André, was very dependable and friendly, and he drove very safely. The lodge where we stayed at was very comfortable, and clean; and the staff very friendly and attentive.
On the afternoon of our arrival in Hoedspruit the first day, we were taken on our first evening safari tour in a private game reserve, very close to the lodge—complete with sunset drinks in the park—which we enjoyed very much.
Early the next morning, we set off on a full-day safari trip to the main Kruger National Park, which was an absolute treat! Our tour guide and driver, Goodman, was a very responsible driver and great safari guide, and he made every effort to show, and explain to, us all the accessible places and animals. We were very lucky to see a lot of great animals, large and small, including hoards of elephants, giraffes, impalas, zebras, leopards, lions, crocodiles, hippos, beautiful birds, and many more. Goodman definitely made our Kruger safari trip a special experience for all of us to remember, and we commend him highly to any and all of Shinzelle’s guests.
On the third day, we headed off on a delightful tour of nature, including gorges, waterfalls, and spectacular views of mountain and valley landscapes, as part of the Blyde River Canyon tour, in the capable hands of Vincent.
On the fourth day, after a delightful early morning safari tour guided by Helmo, again in the adjacent private game reserve, and a hearty breakfast at the lodge, we were picked up around 11 am, and driven back to JNB, where we arrived around 5 pm.
Looking back, all our excursions and trips were conducted by professional and courteous drivers and guides, and everything was completed very much in line with the advertised plan and schedule, as promised by Shinzelle Safaris. All I can say is: "Well done and keep up the good work!"
CA
Email The Spegels | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Awesome!!!
We had the most incredible time on our safari & we highly recommend it to anyone who is planning to go to South Africa.
Our guide was accommodating, and he tried his best and succeeded in showing us everything we came for. We saw so many animals and that was largely a result of our guid’s expertise. He was extremely knowledgeable and answered all of our questions.
We felt safe, and we were well taken care of. There isn’t anything more that we could have wanted.
It was an adventure that we will always remember.
US
Email Andrew & Debra Cutler | 65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great safari and truly personal service
We enjoyed an outstanding and truly memorable safari with Shinzelle in March 2023. It was five days and four nights split between two lodges in different private game reserves in the Hoedspruit/Balule area. We toured the Blyde River Canyon area one day and another a full-day safari in the Kruger National Park. Otherwise it was early morning and evening safari drives in the reserves, including the evening of our arrival and the morning of our departure. The lodges were beautifully set in wild areas, but yet comfortable, with great service, and great food. Each had its own distinctive character, the first we especially loved the shaded dining area with "infinity" pool on an elevation with a view-to-die-for of the Drakensberg mountains and the sunsets. We found this lodge hard to leave. The second, we loved the separate, private, comfortable, round-cottage-type rooms with airy, high thatched-roof ceilings. Throughout, we enjoyed fabulous game drives, with different types of experiences in the different reserves and Kruger NP. Our first drive, in the light of the early evening, and then into the dark, we spent much of the time following a pride of lions on the move and looking to hunt. In another we found ourselves surrounded by 40 or more elephants for an extended period, with many young, and many large females, all happily feeding. I think the highlight was the all-day Kruger tour, simply for the abundance of wildlife, large herds of zebra, giraffes, buffalo, elephants, impala, and too many others to be listed. (It was March, there had been good rains and things were very green with abundant grass, very beautiful.) Also, birds. The only predators we saw at Kruger were a pack of wild dogs that were resting and relaxing beside the road, and that we sat and watched just a few feet from us for quite a while. But we had already had multiple intimate encounters with lions, so no problem there. Logistically, things were well organized and smooth. Shinzelle had a guide (Johnny, who we loved) assigned to take care of us for other than the safari drives in the private reserves. So he guided our Blyde and Kruger tours. A nice thing about visiting in March (other than the nice weather and the bountiful grass and flowers) was that the lodges were not very busy so we had very small groups on the drives, and it was just us for Blyde and Kruger, so we had a good chance to get to know our guide. We took the transfer van from OR Tambo to Hoedspruit and back. This was efficient and worked out fine. My thought is that the journey is quite long and in some places the road is not great. If cost is not important you might consider flying.
Email Simon | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great tour
Full package tour that worked perfectly. We did a four day tour (one afternoon & one morning on a local park connected to the Kruger and two full days in the Kruger) and frankly it was one of the best experiences of my life.
Everything was done really well by the team, including stressless pickup from the airport, ontime pickups, decent guides and saw way more than we were (or at least I was) expecting. The hotel they arranged was a great mix of small boutique with a great safari vibe and an absolutely banging BBQ.
I can't recommend these guys enough, we were on a tight schedule but were able to do everything we wanted during these few days.
Email Zdenka Rosecky | 65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
Excellent holiday
The operator of Shinzelle Danielle suggested that we change our original plan to spend all our time in Skukuza camp, and it was obvious that she knew well what we might like. This change provided a more diverse countryside and wildlife experience.
However, as Mark mentioned sometime close to the beginning of our holiday, our conversations with Danielle were not as smooth as before, occasionally making us uncomfortable. It was apparent that she had a primary job of communicating with customers herself. The main surprise was that we started in Pretoriuskop Rest Camp instead of Skukuza Camp. It turned out to be a perfect choice, perhaps even better, as it was closer to the airport and very comfortable. Nevertheless, we believe we should have been informed of this change beforehand.
During our 4-night stay in Kruger National Park, we switched between two camps with clean and comfortable accommodations. We spent two nights in Pretoriuskop Rest Camp in the south and two nights in Letaba Rest Camp in the north. Both were good, but we particularly loved the latter because it was situated on the bank of a river, allowing us to see a variety of animals wandering around the water.
For the last three days, we enjoyed private luxury accommodations and an excellent day trip to Blyde River Canyon. This package included three private safaris, which were very enjoyable. We saw a lot of animals, except for the elusive leopard.
Our guide, Rufus, accompanied us for five days from morning to evening, filling that time with his deep knowledge of wildlife and nature. He was always happy, smiling, patient and willing to answer any questions we had.
Would we choose Shinzelle again? Absolutely. Everything worked smoothly, and we loved every minute of our trip, including the food, accommodations, people, countryside, and wildlife. The entire 7-day experience was exceptionally well-organized, starting with our pickup from Nelspruit Airport and concluding in Hoedspruit.
Email Mick R | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Good operator but can improve on comunication
A friend and I did the 5-Day Private Photographic Safari in the Kruger Park. After an initial hick-up with the transfer from Johannesburg to Hoedspruit (we did receive a refund at the end of the safari) and a change of camps from Satara to Letaba and Oliphants (which we were not advised of until meeting our guide) the trip was amazing. Our guide Nick was excellent. Not only was he good at spotting animals but was a great photography teacher as well. The end of the 5 days he had us both using the manual settings on our cameras. There was a lack of cat sightings with only 3 lazy lions seen in the 5 days but that was made up for with lots of hyenas and some great wild dog sightings close to Letaba Camp. Both camps were nice, with accommodations at both clean and tidy. Food at the camps was good but choice limited as it was the same restaurant chain at both camps.
IT
Email Giulia | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Great organization and very good guides
We had a great experience with Shinzelle Safaris, awesome guides and small groups that allowed us to see all the animals in an exciting way
AE
Email Roberto Rubio | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Jeffrey, our Safari driver, was great; the rest of the logistic was below par.
The best part of the tour: Jeffrey, our safari driver, did what he could to show us some good sights. However, there are better months to see the big five at Kruger than September and October.
Good: Dinner at Gecko Lodge was good; the lunchbox they give you for taking early in the morning before your safari, not so much.
Below par: the rest of the logistics, poor communication, pick-up was late, lodge had some issues.
Overall: I would not repeat it, but it was a decent experience.