Sun Safaris
- Located In:
- Size:
- 1-5 employees (Founded in 2002)
- Tour Types:
- Custom mid-range & luxury tours that can start every day
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $350 to $1,800 per person per day (USD, excl. int'l flights)
Reviews
Email Matt | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Professional, friendly, and knowledgeable - Michelle's passion for game viewing is infectious
Our first safari experience was organised by the friendly Michelle Astbury - three nights at Naledi Bushcamp in Balule Nature Reserve.
While we were organising our safari two impressive aspects of Michelle's service stuck out - Firstly, Michelle's recognition that my partner and I liked to communicate over the phone rather than over email. Even though there is an 8 hour time difference between Cape Town and Melbourne, Michelle re-arranged her commitments in order to be able to call us multiple times when it was convenient for us, and at short notice. Because of her willingness, we were able gain huge insights into what sort of experiences were available to us, and fast-track our planning. We really felt Michelle shared our enthusiasm for planning our trip of a lifetime, and related to our position as first time safari goers well. Her passion for game viewing is infectious. Secondly, even though Michelle had plenty of recommendations, she never pushed a certain transfer company/lodge on us, and would willingly take on board suggestions for lodges/flights/transfers etc we had found ourselves and incorporated these into our short list of itineraries. Her email communication was frequent, friendly and clear- and continued in this vein after we had paid in full.
The accommodation that Michelle organised for us was in a beautiful setting overlooking the Olifants River with an abundance of game around even just the lodge itself, and had warm welcoming South African staff throughout. The transfers were reliable, comfortable, and safe.
Don't hesitate to reach out to Michelle or Sun Safaris if you are planning a trip to Africa - even if you just want to throw some ideas around and get a feel for your options. Thanks again Michelle :)
CA
Email Bryan | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Excellent Safari Adventure!
My wife and I recently returned from a 2 week trip to South Africa, organized by Michelle Astbury at Sun Safaris.
Michelle was extremely helpful throughout the booking process, offering us many suggestions to create an itinerary that exactly fit our requests. We visited 3 private lodges in the greater Kruger area (Cheetah Plains, Chapungu and Kambaku) and also did a day tour of the Panorama Route. Each lodge was a real pleasure to visit - luxurious accommodations, friendly staff, great food and excellent game viewing!
Michelle expertly organized every aspect of the entire trip, including several domestic flights and many transfers between destinations. There wasn't anything more we could have hoped for from our trip to South Africa!
US
Email Drew C | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
The best planned trip, perfect accommodations, superb staff and locations, Sun Safari is the best!
Liselle,
I, and my party were so impressed. As you know, you never really understand what you might get by booking long distance, not knowing locations and totally trusting you, you could have told me anything and I needed to trust you. I can't thank you enough, it was better than words can describe. You made it fanatic, made me look great too! I hope you use that as a review, or tell where to write that. You did a great job all around.
Did you tell Montidor it was our honeymoon? We had rose petals, and small champagne!!!! Of course I claimed it! What a surprise and felt sorry for the couple that might have be shorted! This place is very good and I would highly recommend use it like you did with us. I would return.
First, we had dinner with Bryce the last night, what a great guy. He speaks very highly of Sun Safari, and so did I.
River Sands is amazing. See Christina S's review on Expedia written yesterday. I won't go anywhere else. Food, comfort, staff, setting, Elephants at the pool several times a day, animals 1 m from our deck and toilet window (now that's a surprise!!) was perfect. Cost was great value and the best!
Did not know that the driver / ranger spent all the meals with us. He was the assigned host. What a great idea! We had Justin, and he made sure we were taken care. (for example no sandals at night to protect against scorpions, and other safety tips). He was most pleasant and knowledgeable.
Luckily it rained 3 weeks prior to our arrival, so the shrubs were in slight leaf so the animals had something to eat. As you may know it is desperate time of drought. So we saw a lot of activity.
We saw the Big five, almost everyday, large herds, multi siting of Leopard, several Rhino's,, female Loins, male Lions, "Wild Dog" hunting Impala, Hyenas, birds, beetles, Tortoise, Elephants, everywhere, in camp, around camp, at night (not recommended, they spooked when we stopped on the road heading back and got in between several young ones!) The question might be, did we miss anything!?
I was lucky enough to do a tracking walk with two rangers that needed time in the bush, over cast and cool weather. I hunt back home, so for me this was so awesome, we got way to close, about 15-25 m, to a Buffalo due to the size of the herd spread out 100 m plus; got about 30-40 m, close to a very large Elephant with impressive tusks, and the final surprise, we "bummed" two female Lions who were sleeping in a ditch 3-4" below us at 10'. OH MY, those big brown eyes were not friendly! They ran off 40-50 meters and stared back at us. Rangers were very upset with themselves, I am to dumb to be scared! Awesome! All worked out, we went got the truck and relocated the Lions for viewing by others.
Email Sally T | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
I always use Sun Safaris!
I discovered Sun Safaris some years ago when booking my first safari in South Africa. I have used them quite a number of times now, in South Africa, Botswana and Kenya and wouldn't think to use any other agency for safari in any part of Africa that Sun Safaris can organise travels in. Plus they can organise other parts of your holiday, not just the safari part. Brett, the owner, and his staff are very knowledgable on pretty much all the safari lodges and so you get great advice from their first hand experience. So very glad that I discovered Sun Safaris all those years ago and hope to travel with them for many more adventures in the African bush!
Email Daniel | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Finally, we've found our "go-to" Africa agent!
After years of trying to find the perfect Africa travel agent, we finally came across Michelle from Sun Safaris.
From the first email, Michelle was friendly, knowledgeable and upfront. She worked hard to establish exactly what we wanted, offer suggestions and find a way to make sure our trip would be absolutely perfect. Communication was first class, I was never wondering what was happening and all billing was clear and transparent. She was on hand while we were away to address any queries.
I will be recommending Sun Safaris to everyone looking to travel to Africa. This can be a confusing place to make bookings yourself and it really helps to have somebody on the ground who you can trust.
We're already planning our next Sun Safaris trip!
BE
Email Ellen | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Extremely responsive, very flexible, unbeatable rates and so friendly!
I absolutely recommend sunsafaris and Natasha in particular! She's extremely responsive, answers all your questions literally within minutes. And nothing is too much to ask, you decide what you want and they get it done for you. They also showed us very kind flexibility when we wanted to make some changes later to both camps and transfers, much appreciated! People often think you pay for using an agent but the opposite is actually true, we got better rates than if we had booked the lodges/camps directly and you get the dedicated help of an experienced on the ground agent on top. Plus, Natasha is just very friendly, a pleasure to communicate with! Don't hesitate to send them your business!
Email Gayl | 65+ years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
It was an amazing experience in all facets
I found the Africa on Foot camp so wonderful. The staff were fantastic, I liked the fact that we blended into the surroundings (the cabins and layout)without the five star fanfare. And the food was very good without being lavish, satisfying and plenty of it. The size of the groups was also very enjoyable.
I saw four out of five of the big ones, no elephants sadly but I had seen them on my previous trip in their natural habitat.
I did a walking tour which was amazing, I learnt so much. No one else wanted to walk so it was just the guide and myself. We didn’t see any big animals, I had already seen them the previous day, but I learnt a lot about critters, the trees, the patterns of the animals.
I really had a wonderful experience with nothing to criticise.
CA
Email Alexandre and Marie-Pier | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Perfect safari
My girlfriend and I had a amazing safari and this is thanks to Natasha Allen from Sunsafari. After listening to our needs, she found a nice camp for us in the greater Kruger (Shindzela camp). The camp had everything we wanted and fits our needs perfectly. The communications with Natasha was clear, and we always had wuick and professional reply. We would deal with her again anytime.
Thanks to her
US
Email Peggy | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Wonderful Team to Find Just the Right Safari!
In 2015, friends and I decided to go on safari, found the Sun Safaris website, booked with them, and have worked with them ever since. Their team of experts works quickly to find us just the right safari that fits our budget. What I really like about this team is that they send along a number of different options for lodges, ensuring that the criteria of the lodges are met (e.g., Internet access, credit cards, good game viewing, excellent accommodations and food, etc.). Specifically, once we booked a lodge, Sun Safaris worked extremely well with us to communicate to the lodges requests that we had. For example, we requested a particular game ranger and specific rooms, both of which Sun Safaris requested of the lodge. Any questions we had about individual lodges was immediately answered. A friend and I recently booked a two-lodge safari with Sun Safaris--both of which amazingly wonderful and fit our expectations (and budget!) completely. As return customers, the Sun Safari team knows the criteria around which we select our lodges, and they are extremely efficient in organizing all details from transfers, to specific rooms, to specific game rangers. They know the lodges well as they visit them to ensure the quality of the experience is top-notch. I want to give a big shout out to Natasha Allen and Michelle Astbury, both of whom who worked so professionally with us across the years. I really appreciate how the booking and payment are easy, and the details around arrival/departure, package details, etc. are fully explained. In future safaris (and there will be a number more), the Sun Safaris team will be the first I will contact!
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Email Kevin | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
No Worries !!!!!
Recently worked with Natasha from Sun Safaris on booking two camps, Africa on Foot and Senalala. I simply cannot say enough about Natasha. She truly handled everything at no extra cost! Booking a safari can be a daunting experience but I can assure you it is totally worry free with Sun Safaris.
Africa on Foot was very nice for what it is, which is an older camp offering "on foot" walking safaris. The food was good the staff was very responsive.
Senalala was excellent!!! You can tell the staff really enjoy working with each other, the fod was excellent and the guides were great. This is a very nice camp with a water hole just across an dried river bed (at the time). Both nights we were there the lions serenaded us to sleep. A great bunch of people here.