Christine Sales Office
Wildlife Safaris
- Office In:
- Size:
- 5-10 employees (Founded in 1971)
- Member Of:
- Southern Africa Tourism Services Association
- Tour Types:
- Small & medium group tours (Mid-range)
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $209 to $233 per person per day (USD, excl. int'l flights)
Reviews
Incredible South Africa Honeymoon With the Help of Wildlife Safaris
My wife and I were celebrating our honeymoon in South Africa, and wanted to cap it off with a 4 day safari in Kruger. We selected Wildlife Safaris, and were not disappointed. We spent 4 weeks in Tanzania prior to South Africa, and went on several shorter safaris, so our expectations were rather high. We made our reservations pretty far in advance, and there was occasionally delays in getting responses to our questions, but everything went without a hitch. Our guide was Nik, and he's been going to Kruger for his entire life, and spent most of those years as a guide with Wildlife Safaris. We were picked up promptly at our hotel when communicated, and made the 5+ hour drive to Kruger, though there were a couple breaks built in, so it wasn't a bad drive. It was actually quite interesting to see the terrain changes throughout the drive.
We arrived to the park around 1:30 pm, and an afternoon game drive revealed lions and a leopard; not bad for the first few hours. It should be said that February is possibly the worst time to go to Kruger, as it is very hot, rainy, and the grass is high. A drought made conditions the opposite, so we were able to see lots of wildlife. In fact, we saw all of the Big 5 on our second day, all before lunch! (Warning: Results not necessarily normal and guides can't make animals appear, even if clients wish it, though Nik seemingly had Superman powers and could see through trees to spot game). We did the safari in an air conditioned minivan. At first I was skeptical, and worried it would constrict views, but that was not the case at all and the AC was a nice bonus (Nik said something about larger groups using the traditional open trucks). Just open the window to take a picture, and then close it after. An evening game drive was included in the price for the second day, which is put together and operated by Kruger staff with 20 or so passengers. It was ok, though we didn't really see anything new, and the night viewing was mostly a bust (a few passengers were given a spotlight to find animals, but it's hard).
The schedule was typically a very early morning game drive for 2-3 hours (we started at 5:30 am, though it can start as early as 4:30 am, or as late as 6:30 am, depending on when the front gates open), breakfast at a camp restaurant, a game drive until lunch, a "siesta" for a couple hours, then an evening game drive for a couple hours before the gates closed at 6:30 pm. Dinner together followed at around 7 with the group at the camp restaurant.
We stayed two nights at the Skakuza camp and one at Berg-en-dal. Skakuza was larger with more amenities, including free Wifi at the restaurant. It is also very centrally located and lots of drives can start from there. Berg-en-Dal was at the far Southern end and more remote, but the bungalows were larger and made the drive back to the airport quicker. But, it had no Wifi. Both places had AC and en suite bathrooms. Overall, the food and the accommodation was better than expected, and we were both very pleased. From what I gathered, Skakuza is often utilized, with the second site more variable, though it's all based on park availability. Staying inside the park was key, since we got such an early start and beat everyone coming in from outside the park. Our favorite early morning moment was coming across a pack of wild dogs in the middle of the road and watching them play with each other for 10 minutes, without another car in sight.
On the last day, we left the park around 9:30 after an early game drive and breakfast, and got to airport pretty quickly, no later than 3 pm. They advertise a 4-4:30 arrival, but we had no problem with the early arrival. So, no worries if you have a flight to catch in the evening.
Nik was a fantastic guide; a true animal lover who had great information, not only about the animals and the park, but anything else about South Africa we had questions on. We had a nice small group for the 4 days, and had some fun and enjoyable meals and conversations together. We can't speak highly enough of Nik and the whole team at Wildlife Safaris, and want to thank them all for helping create a wonderful finale to our honeymoon in South Africa. We'll be passing their name along to anyone we know that heads to Kruger, which was by the way, the best and our favorite park we saw in our journeys across Tanzania and South Africa.
Email Lisa and David Algie | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Excellent safari and brilliant guide!
We went on a 3 day safari over New Years Eve 2015. Hoppy was the name of our guide, he was so knowledgable about all the different animals, birds, creatures. He was also so patient with us and great company, we were very sad to leave him after spending 3 full days with him, he is such a great person all round, a pleasure to have met him. We seen all of the big 5 in our time there, even on the first day we seen nearly everything we needed to, so the other days were just an added bonus. The communication from the office staff was great, they arranged to pick us up at an address where we were staying with friends instead of the airport and called a few days before, then a day before to confirm everything. I can't reccommend this enough, we expected the food would be a canteen with "self serve" basic lunch/dinner but actually it's a lovely restaurant where you can chose whatever you like from the menu for dinner, lunch is at any other place you stop at whilst out on the safari, again you order what you want and it is included in the price. We were also the only two on our trip, in a dedicated air conditioned van, where we expected to be amongst a large group, another bonus. We did go out on a safari one night with the resort in an open top bus and a guide who works at the resort, this was pretty awful, the guides have no respect for the animals - racing around at high speeds just trying to get from one place to the next to enable a "big 5 spotting" regardless of any other animals you could see on the way. It made us realise how amazing our guide and safari trip was, and also how grateful we were!
We will never forget Hoppy our guide, he was just brilliant, we have such great memories of our trip with him :-)
Email Leanne Johnson | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Amazing African Safari
From the time we began our booking enquiry to the time we returned from our trip the customer service with this company was outstanding. Christine was very responsive, helpful and insightful about what to expect, what to bring, where we were going and assured us that we would enjoy our trip – my gosh she was right! Our guide Anthony ‘Hoppy’ was a wonderful man who made sure we made it into the Kruger Park when our flight was delayed into Jo’berg on the first day, and his knowledge of the local area and the Kruger Park itself was amazing.
We were a family of 5 from Australia travelling together and luckily ‘Hoppy’ was our personal tour guide over the next 4 days. Hoppy was up first every morning ready with coffee and biscuits for us before the early morning drive, and breakfast, and would teach us something new each day. Hoppy has been a tour guide in the Kruger for some years and this was evident as he knew all the spots of where to find the animals and would allow us time to stop for photos whenever we wanted. We saw all of the Big 5 on numerous occasions, except for the Leopard which eluded us, however we saw many other animals which amazed us, including two rare white rhino – Hoppy even gave us a check list to mark off the animals which was great!.
We stayed at two rest camps over the four days, and they were both clean, had good facilities and were of a decent standard (aircon, fridge, shower and little balcony) – they were not 5 star but I didn’t expect that either, you are in Africa after all. The dinner at the restaurant at Skukuza camp was very impressive and the selection was endless, additionally all other camps were serviced by a ‘Mug and Bean’ which was also very good, believe me you won’t go hungry!
Thank you Wildlife Safaris for being a wonderful ambassador for tourism in South Africa, I would recommend your company and ‘Hoppy’ to everyone. We will be back some day, hopefully sooner rather than later!
Thanks – The Johnsons (Leanne, Gab, Charmaine, Charles and Bianca)
SE
Email Maria Olwæus | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Wonderful experience
We are very pleased with the service during the safari, from the pick-up at the hotel through out the 4 days to the drop off at airport. The guide and rangers were very knowledgeable and competent and were very dedicated to giving us the best experience possible. Wildlife Safaris certainly lived up to our expectations during the tour. Apart from som slow response time while booking and getting confirmation the overall rating is excellent.
CH
Email Sue | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Awesome Kruger experience
The trip was organized trip perfectly! Everything was perfect and Mike was a wonderful guide who went out of his way to make everything comfortable for us. In addition, he knows a lot about the animals
and also how to find them. We had amazing animal sightings in Kruger.
Christine was most helpful and very patient in the phase of "designing" our private customized trip.
US
Email Teja, B | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
One of the best experience's of my life
I choose Wildlife Safari's after a thorough research, because this was my first time and also because I usually don't go to the same country twice, so i made sure I got the best experience and boy was I right. I had such an amazing time. Hoppy Howell was our tour guide and I joined a couple from Australia and one gentleman from England. Mr. Hoppy picked me from the hotel at exactly the time, the company told they'd. It was such an amazing tour. I spotted so many animals in the wild and it was everything and more than what I had expected. Hoppy was also extremely friendly and patiently answered all my questions, his expertise and knowledge on the wildlife is pretty deep. He was extremely accommodating in a lot of ways, he'd wait patiently till everybody in the tour group got a full view of the animal we would try to spot. Overall such a wonderful. I'd definitely recommend. Worth every dollar I spent. If I ever be in SA again, I'd definitely choose them and do a safari with them again.
Email Narelle Walker | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Life memories began here.
I cannot thank Wildlife Safaris and their wonderful guide Sue Wilson enough for my wonderful time in Kruger National Park. I went on a 4 day safari. I was picked up and dropped off at my lodgings in Johannesburg. Great accommodation and meals included. Very good value for money. The company was very professional. The guide was fantastic. I traveled ion my own and joined another 6 people for my safari. I recommend this Safari and this company to any one who wishes to have a unforgettable time with true value for money.
CA
Email Chris | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Excellent, knowledgeable guide, fantastic experience!
We were picked up from our hotel promptly by our guide, with whom we spent the next 3 days. He was very friendly, helpful, and most important, he knew his stuff when it came to animals. He looked after us really well, everyone on the camp knew him. When we hadn't seen one of the Big Five, he made a special effort to find us rhino, and you could tell he really wanted us to have that experience, and boy, did we have an amazing close-up with a white rhino. The only thing he couldn't arrange for us was a lion chase. Oh well, next time!
Email Dan | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Outstanding
Tour was excellent and guide (Sue) was brilliant - she knew exactly where to go and tried her very best to ensure we had the best experience possible.
Would highly recommend.
US
Email Godfrey | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
The big 5 and more!
The safari was amazing! We saw every animal we wanted (lions, leopards, cheetah, rhinos, zebras, elephants, hippos, giraffe, hyena, ect). Our guide (Hoppy) was really friendly and helpful. We took the 5 day safari and got to experience both Kruger National Park and a private reserve. It was great to experience both options. Kruger was better in my opinion, less hokey. But the private reserve was able to show us the animals we hadn't seen yet. The food was excellent and there was always plenty of it. The beds were nice too. We felt safe the entire time if that's a concern. I would (and have) totally recommend to anyone. If you're looking to go on a safari, this one is worth the cost and time.