Incredible; accommodations fantastic and diverse, beautiful, and healthy wildlife on every drive.
Pilanesberg in situated in an ancient volcanic caldera and is surrounded by beautiful hills covered in mixed grassland and woodland. The game drives never disappointed; we saw a diverse range of animals including rhinos, elephants, hyena, ostrich, lions, zebras, kudu, hippo and wildebeest, with many animals being seen multiple times. Food was great, as were the accommodations. Great range of birds too - although our game drives were pretty focused on large mammal viewing, perhaps if your group specifies an interest in birds the guides can accommodate your preferences (I did not try this). Otherwise, there is an underground viewing platform at a water source that was never crowded, and I birded alot using this site. We also were lucky enough to see a secretary bird out on a game drive, that was a treat!
US
50-65 years of age
Review about Mala Mala Game Reserve by Carl (AKA TwinMountain)
It's only by comparison to Mala Mala that I would rate the other game reserves I visited less than five stars across the board. I would guess that Mala Mala is the ultimate in luxurious, African Bush safaris. Not only are the accommodations luxurious and the meals terrific but Mala Mala has no fences. It's HUGE expanse of property runs right into Kruger park and other unfenced game preserves so the wildlife moves freely and you never know what you'll see on any given day. I spent three days at Mala Mala, I hated to leave and I wish I could be there right now.
Review about South Africa by amcnear
Very friendly and diverse cultural vibe. Climate and plant-life also eerily similar to San Francisco-area so as soon as I arrived I felt like I was home.
US
50-65 years of age
Review about South Africa by Carl (AKA TwinMountain)
If you are not from sub-saharan Africa, there's nothing like a South African safari for you and South Africa certainly has plenty of opportunity for you to experience these. There is no feeling that you need to keep an eye on your wallet at these game preserves. You'll enjoy the company of everyone you'll meet once at the preserve, and you'll have that once in a lifetime, dream experience. You'll be IN the African Bush.
NL
20-35 years of age
Review about Tanzania by Timothy Mulder
Tanzania has some wonderful places to see wildlife. Highlights for us where the Lake Manyara Tree lodge, visiting the Ngorongoro crater and Lodge, and especially Klein's Camp. Sure some of the locations can be very busy with tourist (Ngorongoro crater for example), but in almost every case the beauty of the wildlife and nature will overcome this drawback with ease.
50-65 years of age
Review about Masai Mara National Reserve by Clive Cheeseman
The best of all for wide open breathtaking scenery and variety of species. I felt very emotional when leaving with feelings for both the animals and the beautiful local people. The first thing we did on returning home was to seek out a charity for the Masai people.
50-65 years of age
Enormous variety of animals in one relatively small park
Our first trip to Africa and we chose Archers Direct as our tour company. We have found them to be a good choice for other tours in the past. Samburu was the first park we visited on our tourand unknown to us, an amazing variety of animal and birdlife was waiting to be seen.
When we arrived at the Samburu Game Lodge we were delighted with the well appointed accomodation under a canvas roof'. The lodges are located within a few yards of the river bank with a decking verandah to view the animals by the riverside. These include monkeys, baboons, black buck and a large family of elephants (on the other side!) not to mention several species of birds including kingfisher. Our lodge was about 100 yards from the main buildings, restaraunt etc., but after the evening meal we were always accompanied to our lodge by one of the security staff with torch, just in case a baboon might be roaming around. Security staff constantly patrolled the perimeter, which made us feel very safe
The food was buffet style with a variety of cooked meals including good vegetarian choices and was of very good quality. All the staff were extremely friendly and helpful (as we found throughout our tour of Kenya).
When we were there most of the park was very dry and brown (unlike much of Kenya which was surprisingly verdant) but there was plenty of trees and bushes for animal cover. We were very excited at the start of the first ever game drive and were soon rewarded by the sight of several lionesses relaxing in the shade of an acacia tree. On this and subsequent drives we were regularly stopping to take photos of Zebra, Giraffe, Gazelles, various species of antelope, Elephant, Lions patrolling (super photo opportunity), birds (including bee-eater, eagles, goshawk, and various ground birds). It was wonderful to be so close to the animals, which for the most part ignored the presence of the vehicle (a six seat minibus). We saw more and more variety on each game drive and were lucky enough to spot a Leopard on the way back from our very last drive - Wow!
I recommend a long lens for your camera to get those close up and intimate shots and I found a camera bean bag for supporting the lens to be essential to avoid camera shake. All in all Samburu was a fantastic introduction to the Kenyan safari and I highly recommend a visit to this lovely place. We are looking forward to another safari trip in a few years time.
50-65 years of age
Review about Masai Mara National Reserve by joyandtony
The Masai Mara was the icing on the cake following a truly unforgettable holiday. A Lion cub passed our vehicle, we saw cheetahs and a great variety of animals, hippos at Keekorok bathing in a pool. We saw a lilac breasted roller on a game drive, a beautiful colourful bird that looked like a spunk sparrow. Again our guide could not do enough for us and we even visited a Masai village. The only disappointment of a truly memorable holiday was missing out on the balloon ride due to winds. However, we made up for this by flying back to Nairobi in a small plane crossing over the Mara several times for about 2 1/2 hours, stopping to pick up passengers on the way.
50-65 years of age
A truly wonderful experience, which fulfilled all our expectations. It was a holiday of a lifetime!
We thought that the wildlife was superb spotting all the big five including a glimpse of a leopard, the scenery was great and the weather was very good. The accommodation was excellent staying in a lodge in Samburu National Park. We had own our guide who could not do enough for us taking us on extra safaris and we even visited a Samburu village and tasted their way of life. The food was well cooked and we even tried crocodile and ostrich eggs. Cannot wait to go back again
Review about Masai Mara National Reserve by Bill Lateu
This was the ultimate experience at the Masai Mara Sopa Lodge. Excellent accommodation. Saw the big five and more plus a ride in a hot air balloon.