BG
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Magical land of extraordinary wildlife and wonderful people who showed us what Ubuntu means
During our five-day trip in Kenya, we visited Masai Mara, Lake Nakuru, and Lake Naivasha. It was an inspiring experience for me and my family.
We landed in Nairobi and started our safari experience from there. Nairobi is a vibrant, multicultural, and fascinating city. Many people told us to be very careful when walking around Nairobi, but we felt safe everywhere and walked around a lot. The people were always friendly and helped us understand Kenyan culture and how things work in the city.
On the safari, we were pleasantly surprised by how everything was organized. No single tourists were wandering around. Only groups with dedicated guides with special vehicles. I think this helps preserve nature as it is now and provides a quality experience for all the tourists. We chose to go on a budget safari, meaning we stayed in ordinary places, not posh ones. They were all very comfortable and showed pieces of Masai culture.
The experience with the animals was unique. We saw everything we knew only from National Geographic videos - elephants, zebras, giraffes, hippos, rhinos, lions, cheetahs, crocodiles, flamingos, and many more. Everywhere we went, some local people helped us understand what we saw, taught us a lot about the animal's behavior and the people's culture, and helped us take excellent photographs
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Driving holiday in Botswana
We started our holiday in Victoria Falls and drove through Botswana and Namibia to get to Windhoek. We hired a Nissan Pickup with a roof tent, which is the perfect way to explore this part of the world at your own pace. The part of the Okavango Delta that we saw was beautiful, we stayed at Swamp Stop and Drotsky's camp. Both come highly recommended, but watch out for the cheeky vervet monkeys - they steal anything.
An Okavango highlight was going on a river cruise where we saw many interesting birds such as fish eagles, Jesus birds, bee-eaters as well as reptiles including monitor lizards and crocodiles. At the time of year we went, there can be heavy rainfall, so we visited a world heritage site at Tsodilo Hills where we saw ancient cave paintings. The heavy rain meant that the road/track was very muddy and it was necessary to have a 4x4 in order to access the site.
This part of Botswana is certainly off the beaten track with hundreds of kilometers between food and fuel stops, so make sure you go prepared! Highly recommended. Check out some of my photos here:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/76566612@N03/
IN
35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
snow capped Kilimanjaro
Very Beautiful National park with view of mount Kilimanjaro........Sight of grazing elephants in the grass land with scenic background. it has beautiful birds like crowned crane, Kori bustard, white bellied bustard and many birds....a lovely place indeed. Ol tukai......is nice place to stay in Amboseli NP
Bush Paradise
We have just returned from our third visit to Mala Mala & as usual, cannot speak highly enough of of our experience. Special mention must be made of Leon, ranger Adi ( previous Rangers Jonno & Paul) & indeed the entire staff who were courteous & friendly. The accommodation is clean, comfortable & attractive, the food is good & lots of it! Only wish was that the orange juice could be freshly squeezed & alcoholic drinks could be complimentary till say 8 pm!!
US
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
An adventure everyone should do!
South Africa was more than we had expected, absolutely beautiful! This was a bucket list trip and South Africa did not disappoint us.
Umkumbe Lodge was very nice and the people who work there were very nice and accommodating. The safari tour guides were extremely knowledgeable which made the trip even better.
65+ years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Beautiful country with so much to offer tourists
On our second visit to South Africa we stayed a week in Franschhoek in the Winelands area. This is a lovely large village with many excellent restaurants, a fabulous Saturday market with lots of craft and local food stalls, and of course many local wineries to visit. We absolutely loved our time there and felt very safe walking to and from restaurants in the evening. We then moved on to Hermanus on the coast to do some whalewatching. This is a much larger town but again with many good restaurants and safe walking at night. it was coming to the end of the whale season but we saw several, firstly on a trip with Southern Right Charters who we would recommend, and then from the clifftop walks which are very accessible.
The food in restaurants is really good and extremely reasonable, aided by the favourable GBP/Rand exchange rate.
From Cape Town we then flew up to the Timbavati Game Reserve for a 4 night safari arranged by Indigo Safaris, who we would also recommend for their organisation of our trip. Timbavati is at the edge of the Kruger and is home to the Big5 all of which we saw. Have only given the Wildlife 4 stars though as animals were rather scarce we felt, but as I have said, we did see all the Big 5 and a lot of other animals too as well as some beautiful birds (though we are not birders). Everywhere was very dry while we were there, but they had had a few days of heavy rain just before we arrived and the rainy season was about to start when apparently the rivers would be full, whereas we were driven along the sandy river beds!
Everywhere we went in SA we were impressed by the smiles on the faces of all the local people, who were very friendly and welcoming.
We can't wait to return, in hopefully two years time.
One of the most spectacular trips I have ever done!
Communications to organise the itinerary and finalise the bookings, were prompt and efficient, and everything went according to plan during the trip which was absolutely fabulous. The guide's knowledge of all the tracks was remarkable and as a result we saw loads of birds and wildlife.
AT
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
We will think of this outstanding and very successful safari for the rest of our lifes.
We were greeted by our excellent driver Confidence, who went out of his way to please us. A very safe driver, too. The accommodation and food were very good and the game drives very successful. We did see the chimpanzees and the gorillas both after one hour walk. Everything was well organized and the day drives not too long. We can only recommend Matoke tours!
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Beautiful scenery with friendly and knowledgeable locals
I completed a 3 day safari following a trip to Mafia and enjoyed every minute of our trip. The tour driver was knowledgeable and made the trip more enjoyable. Whilst the weather on the drive to and from Dar to Nyerere National Park was rainy, that didn't take away from the beauty of the country and the wildlife we were able to see on our boat and walking safaris. The game drive round Nyerere was incredible, we were lucky to see a whole host of wildlife including giraffes, elephants, zebra and hippos.
The lodge we stayed in was beautiful and the staff were helpful.
Tanzania is a beautiful country with such a vast range of wildlife encounters available
DE
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Honeymoon in Tanzania
It Started in Africa organized our honeymoon in Tanzania. We did the south of the country and visited Selous game reserve and Zanzibar. Joao was very prompt to reply to all our emails and phone calls, we were received by a lovely driver in the airport and the safari guide was awesome. There was some confusion regarding the hotel where we were supposed to stay in Dar es Salaam but apart from that minor issue, everything was flawless and the zanzibar stay was unforgettable. Thanks Joao, Baraja, Martin, Sylvia and Lawrence for making our dream honeymoon reality.