50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
The Wisconsin Dells of Safari operators - a bit of what was promised, but not much. Disappointed.
My wife and I completed the 5 day Kruger safari. We are seasoned safari tourists and have been blessed to go on safari in Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania. We have never been left dissatisfied until now. The accommodations were fine and the food was as well. But that’s not why most of us go on safari – it is the game drives after all.
Every game drive was shorter than advertised. Day one night drive was two hours instead of three. Day two four-hour Bush walk was just one hour of bush walking. When we got in the vehicle, we were told it was really just three hours including drive time there and back but overall it was about 2.5 hours. Worse, the 3 hour afternoon game drive started an hour late and was only two hours. Also, how many tourists who spend thousands to come all the way to South Africa really want to receive a pitch to allow elephant culling when they are viewing elephants? We've gone from 600,000 elephants to 450,0000 in seven years according to the 2015 Great Elephant census across the continent. We are in the midst of elephant genocide. We see our first elephant and the arrogant young guide starts talking about culling them and feeding the meat to local villages. Not exactly what we expected to hear. Day three - all day at Kruger National Park - no complaints. But geez, we thought this was a 5 day Kruger trip. Only one day was spent there – the rest in reserves, some of which allow hunting. Day 4 - a major disappointment. The Moholoholo Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre did not espouse conservation. In addition to culling and legal ivory sales, we were told that rhino horn should be legalized to discourage the black market. Really? Rhino horn? I still can't believe we heard that. Back to Mark's Camp by noon. Yummy lunch. But no afternoon game drive. Our itinerary showeda 3 PM drive. Nope due to reserve restrictions, it was a 5 pm drive. Actually 530 as driver had to wait for more customers coming in from Johannesberg. Big difference in night drives versus day drives – photos aren’t good at night, and many animals are stressed especially since it is a hunting reserve. This last drive was also just two hours. Driver didn’t speak to us, and drove incredibly irresponsibly into a thicket of acacia thorn trees in the dark. I was actually injured and had to get antibiotics for a needless eye injury. Last day we spent $400 to spend the entire afternoon at Mark’s Camp. Pathetic. We did our own bush walk that was longer than the ones Viva did. And we didn’t need guns.
My advice is focus on quality game drives. No bait and switch on what you advertise. There are far better safari companies in Africa. I highly recommend Kenya’s Gametrackers for a genuine safari experience or any Exodus trip. Very disappointed. Emailed owner of Viva safaris and no resolution. Don’t get suckered.
IN
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Review about Etosha National Park by Anil Sunkara
One of the best Safari Destinations
IN
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Review about Erindi Private Game Reserve by Anil Sunkara
Its a private reserve . Action guaranteed
IN
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Review about Damaraland by Anil Sunkara
May be the location we stayed was away from the actual action . so we hardly did anything there.
IN
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Rustic, adventurous,fun and knowledge
Namibia - unexplored widely, with its untouched beauty is certainly a offriders paradise. Photography and wild life are the prime attractions . Opting a self catered tour would be more beneficial but we cannot miss on the local delicacies.People are tourist friendly . Language no problem. A must visit place for every traveller. Opt for camping and have more fun.
DE
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Excellent organised
I have done the Gorilla trekking tour in bwindi, It was amazing! The Tour was excellent organised in advanced, i had an excellent communication with the company. The Tour Guide Was also excellent, he was a funny and well known Guide. I become a lot of Informations bevor and about the Tour. Thank you so much to Hidaya and the Rest of this great Team and company!
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great company
We booked our safari tour with Gems of Africa Safari & Tours. We worked with Janine. From the first communication to the final result the experience was superb. Janine was able to find us a great price for the lodge in the Pilanesberg National Park. She helped us to book the transfer from the airport on the first day and a return transfer plus tour on the last day. It was so easy to communicate with her. Of course, we had a lot of questions/concern because it was our first visit to South Africa. Janine always provided us detailed answers, and she responded to all emails right away. She provided us all the details for our travel. When we arrived, everything went without any problems. The driver met us at the airport, the lodge was ready for our arrival. The return transfer went as promised as well. We are more than happy with our experience with Gems of Africa Safari & Tours and with Janine. We definitely recommend them to everyone who is planning to visit South Africa.
65+ years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Completely reliable in all aspects of the tour from initial booking to the last day.
The company was excellent, the tour interesting and the guide (Bob) very well informed. The gorillas in Bwindi was the highlight. I enjoyed driving through the countryside even though some of the roads were very rough. There weren't as many animals around in the national parks as I'd like to have seen, but that's the luck of the draw. July is a good time to travel (just after the wet season). Highly recommended.
DE
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Perfect 3-day Safari in Selous
We had a lovely time in Selous with Grassroots Safaris. We booked a 3-day Safari, which was awesome. The Wilderness Camp is a lovely place to stay, it's more of a hotel than a camp! Service was more than perfect and we could see hippos from the breaktfast table. The combination of boat safari, game drive and walking safari was very nice as we were able to see very different animals in a short period of time. Communication with Grassroots Safaris was easy and everything worked out as we wished. We would highly recommend to book a Safari with Grassroots.
DE
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
A life changing journey!!!
After a hard farewell we are back from Tanzania since a few month. Our adventure with Guruguru Safaris could not have been better.
It was our first journey to africa and we are still blown away. Absolutely stunning!
The complete organization of the planning went easy and all our wishes were completely fulfilled.
Our guide Peter made an effort on doing everything perfectly for us.
With his help we experienced so many things about his country, the people and the animals, that live there. He is a very experienced guide and made our journey an unforgettable adventure within every single minute.
Of course we should also not forgot Costa, our chef! We would have not even dreamed that the african kitchen could be that delicious.
We can truly recommend Guruguru Safaris to everyone who is seeking for a real adventure.
We would do it again- right away.
This was a life changing journey. Thank you so much!
