Review about Addo Elephant National Park by Massai_1 (Carsten M.)
Nice area close to Cape town and the Garden Route, mostly Elephants (never seen any other Big 5 animal there).
A few days in paradise - or at least as close as you can get.
I've visited the Sabi Sands Game Reserve three times yet (different lodges every time) and, compared to the other Game Reserves I know, it's probably the best. The game viewing is top notch, mostly due to the fact that there are two rivers crossing the reserve. In the Greater Kruger Area it's the best chance you get to meet the African Wild Dog, one of the highlights besides the Big 5. The scenery is great as well, sometimes in this area the bush gets a little thick but that gives you the best experience, nothing can beat a rhino behind the next corner you're not seeing well in advance. The Lodges are among the best I've seen, sometimes it's almost a little bit too much. All the guides I've met were experts and took all the time necessary to explain whatever you ask them (it is important that you ask as they don't push their knowledge at you as they sometimes do in other areas). Food was great as well, but there's one thing I liked a little bit better in other game reserves. Often in South Africa you have your dinner with the people your spending most of the day on game drives with and - most important - your guide, which leads to many interesting conversations. They don't do this at all the Sabi Sands Lodges I've visited which is a bit of a small minus for me, but everything else makes up for this. If you go there and you meet Surprise, Ferdi or Fritz - plese say hi from me!
NL
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Review about Okavango Delta by michielbesseling
In april 2015 i enjoyed two night in a mobile bush camp in the Okavango Delta. Local people brought us with a mokoro, a small canoe with two guests and a poler, to our camp site in the delta. They had put up ten tents under the trees on a island in the delta. There were two bush toilets, two bush showers and a big party tent for breakfast, lunch and diner.
We did two bush walks with guides. Topgun, our main guide at the head of the line, then six tourists and a guide at the back of the line. Topgun told us a lot about wildlife in the delta. We had a close encounter with a herd of elephants. We saw lion foot prints. An lot of wildebeest and zebra.
The last night in the camp, the guides and polers performed for us. They danced and sang local songs. Camping in a mobile camp in the Okavango Delta is a wonderful experience!
NL
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
An amazing park,
In april 2015 i had the opportunity to visit Chobe National Park on our trip to Victoria Falls. It has been a amazing experience. We first did a river cruise and after that a game drive from Kasane.
The most popular way to visit Chobe is a river cruise. The boats are huge, but believe me, that doesn't matter.
The boats leave Kasane in the early afternoon. You can bring your own drinks. Enjoy the sun, scenery and wildlife.
You'll see mostly elephants, hippo's, crocodile's and buffalo's. In the dry season herds of elephant and buffalo come to the river side to drink. It's amazing how many animals you'll see. I highly recommend this cruise to everyone.
In the early morning we left for a game drive through the park. We saw the sun rise. The park has beautiful small dirt roads on the river banks, hills and plains. We saw a lot of small game and birds. Springbok and Kudu's. Fish Eagles and Vultures. Mongoose and Baboons. Hippo, Buffalo and Giraffe.
On a game drive you must be lucky to see the big cats. We were not that lucky.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Review about South Africa by Jaco Beukman | www.go-nipper.com
South Africa is an all in one destination offering various wildlife, bird life and natural beauty in a colourful package
Review about South Africa by Massai_1 (Carsten M.)
In my opinion South Africa is perfect for safaris especially if it's your first or second time in Africa. You have the wildlife mostly intact and often pretty close (compared to some Eastern African Countries), usually it's not to crowded and you get the same standards in food and accomodation you're used to, often even better.
UY
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Good Service
Our tour leader Roger was top class with a great sense of humor, needed to keep our mind off some of the bumpy roads. The lodges chosen in our itinerary were in great locations my favourite being the Pioneer Camp in Serengeti - The candle lit dinner was fab. The vehicle used was comfortable and I was glad to have a power socket to charge my camera and phone. I used her tracker to follow the migration path and the driver was kind enough to explore new roads so that we could get close to the massive herd. We saw the lions on the Serengti lion rocks, the rhinos in the crater, the big elephants in the tarangire river and an elusive leopard in manyara.
RU
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Very good organization of safari trip and friendly guide
This safari tour was very good. Thanks all employees of Jockytours! No complaints! Interesting trip with many animals and good weather! Our guide driver fulfilled all requests and told us many things about animal world! With the camps and meal we had no problems. Everything was in order! We can say, our safari tour has been well planned.
FR
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Excellent three-day safari to Ngorongoro Wildlife Conservation Area
My short safari with High Peaks was perfect from all points of view. I arrived in Tanzania in late April and was met by my High Peaks driver, Livingstone, who speaks excellent English and was an informative guide to the flora and fauna we encountered. Because archaeology is one of my interests, we first drove to the Olduvai Gorge where our guide, Ms Chalangi, a university graduate student, gave a thorough explanation of the site first excavated by Louis Leakey and where some of the first traces of early hominids have been found. Then we continued to the Ngorongoro Wildlife Lodge, my hotel for the next two nights, a very good choice for its courteous staff and fabulous views over the Ngorongoro Crater. The next day we visited a Masai village where we were warmly greeted and I was shown the kindergarten building of which the village is rightfully proud. From there we descended into the Ngorongoro Crater and, because the day was sunny and warm, were treated to sightings of nearly all the birds and mammals that romp there, including, I counted them, thirty lions! The last day we drove slowly back to Arusha, passing by the park at Manyara Lake. My guide was always patient with my questions and requests and deserves much credit for the pleasure I got from this safari. The rest of the credit goes, of course, to High Peaks itself and to Hans Kitungu for his clear and prompt responses to all my questions before the trip. He always listened to me and respected my preferences so that we could design a fully satisfying safari according to my interests.
This is what every visitor wants, a flexible, communicative, attentive, and respectful tour operator and staff. I am very happy I found High Peaks.
35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
An amazing experience
The tour was booked for us so we didn't have any direct contact with the office although I have contacted them since and have been impressed with the prompt reply. Our tour started and finished at the Zambia/Zimbabwe border and transfers were in place as promised and efficient.
We did the 'Tamarind' 3 day canoe safari. It was an amazing unforgettable experience from beginning to end. We travelled off season and I think this worked in our favour. The group was smaller as a result, in our case there was only us with our two guides so the full VIP treatment. During the three days we canoed at a lovely leisurely pace and we didn't see any other canoes at all during that time. We did see a little game on the riverbanks including an unforgettable herd of elephants washing and playing in the river. The guides were able to control our boats to maximise the viewing experience , it was amazing.
Our nights were spent on islands with nobody else around. We slept in open dome tents with the stars as our backdrop and the noise of the wild as our soundtrack. During the day we would stop for regular breaks and have a lunchtime siesta to avoid the heat. We were visited by a Bull Elephant during one of these stops and he was so close. It was a real privilege to be so close.
We were lucky as we had 'The Dream Team' as guides, Norman and Takesure. We certainly made them earn their money. They answered our never ending questions showing real depth in knowledge. They were good fun, very capable and Takesure's cooking was superb. How he managed to cook such a variety of tasty and healthy food using basic equipment is beyond me but we loved it all. We've now learnt all about the star constellations which are so clear due to no light pollution and we were gazing up at them whilst drinking our bottle of wine that was provided with our meal (nice wine which was a pleasant surprise). We finished our trip at Mana Pools and stayed there for our last night. This wasn't as private but the next morning we got a game drive and saw a pack of Wild Dogs which is quite a rare sighting, very happy with that. We would recommend this trip to anybody, it was wonderful.