50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Undoubtedly South Africa's best safari destination!
If it's the Big 5 you're looking for in quite an extensive area, you can't go wrong with a Kruger National Park (KNP). You can not cover the whole park in a day - or two, or three - so I usually plan a tour spanning at least 5 days. If you're on a self-drive, firstly by a map. Take care - some of the older maps only cover the park up to Letaba - the older size of the KNP. Any of the Kiosks in the park sells a complete map in book format which also contains additional information for each specific area, as well as a summary of birds and mammals with pictures included. Also, if you can - buy a Wildcard. If you stay for a few days then it will cost you less than the conservation fees to be paid when entering the park. And entry to the park will be free.
I usually enter the park at the southern Malelane gate and sleep over in a different camp every night, exiting the park at one of the most northern gates (eg. Pafuri) on my last day. That gives me the opportunity to cover all of its habitat ( bushveld in the south, mopani bushes upper middle and raw bushveld north) and animal variety (from my experience rhinos and raptors occur mostly in the southern half of the park and smaller bird varieties in the north-most parts).
Lower Sabie is a good choice to start off your tour but avoid the tent-chalets in case you run into bad weather and and 'adventure' ends up in a sleepless, worrysome night! Lower Sabie has a beautiful restaurant with river view. Skakuza is also a well established camp - just make sure that utensils are supplied as some of the booking options don't. Satara is also well established and my favourite camp in the park. All your needs are catered for in the chalets and it also has a nice restaurant if you do not want to self-cater. The roads around Satara cover my favourite routes - make sure you get onto the S36 just north of Skukuza on your way to Satara. It's a reasonably long drive along a dirt road so pack a picnic basket and enough drinks for the day and start your trip as early as possible (6:00am at the latest). When at Satara, ensure that you drive along the S100 closeby - early morning as well as at dusk. It always has a surprise in store as far as lions / leopards are concerned! I suggest staying over at Satara for more than one night due to the abundance of wildlife in its vicinity and ample roads to go and look for them.
Take the S40 further north and keep your eyes open for the big cats. Stop for a rest at the Timbavati picnic spot and be aware that similar to the other official picnic spots in the park, you're proveded with free gass barbeques here if you have the ingredients for breakfast with you. And you don't even have to clean it yourself after use!
Sleep over more than one night at Elephants Camp. It has a great restaurant if you don't want to self-cater and the view is the most beautiful in the KNP - overlooking the Olifants River from a hillside. Raptors patrol the hillside in abundance from early to late so if you want to photograph Yellow-billed Kites, vultures and other eagles then this is the place to be. The bats enter the scene in droves at sunset and the kites actually wait for that moment, catching a snack just before bedtime!
I have not slept over at Letaba yet but it's one of my favourite stops for brunch / lunch at their restaurant overlooking the Letaba River. I have not slept over at Mopani yet but I usually drive through to Shingwedzi. This has a few nice dirt roads to be discovered in the area. Travel the S52 a bit to the south to Red Rocks. It has another official picnic spot close by with a nice river view and again - free cooking facilities.
The last sleeping spot is Punda Maria. But be aware - you have only community cooking facilities here and a little less privacy as all units are in 'barack' format. In other words, your room is adjacent to two other rooms on your sides. The roads in the vicinity do not disappoint yet again and be on the lookout for the big 5.
Pafuri is the northern most and one of my favourite areas in the KNP. Ever wished you could travel roads reminding you of the old Tarzan movies? This is the place! Unfortunately the Pafuri camp had not been restored (yet in 2015) after heavy floods in 2013 so if you want to sleep over in this area (which I highly recommend!) then book into the Pafuri River Camp 4km outside of the park and drive into the park early in the morning (and thank me for recommending the wildcard!). Drive along the S63 as early as possible and be prepared for something you'll never see again in your life! Up to about 8h30 thousands (I'm not kidding!) of crocodiles lay on the river banks waiting for heat from the rising sun. Just as many hippos show themselves and move along the shifting tree shades until it gets too hot, after which the croc's and hippo's disappear below the water surface and you'll never guess that the river is infested with them!
In general I'm not too fond of official day drives but do it once or twice just to say you've done it. The field guides provide great information about anything around you and who knows - you might just bump into a big cat feast or even witness a kill. Do a night drive as well as you'll see some nocturnal animals.
50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Review about South Africa by Tobie Schalkwyk
South Africa has numerous private and national Big 5 nature reserves in addition to the Kruger National Park. Some of these cater explicitly for your high-paying dollar / pound users with excellent personal service and packages tailored to your needs. If you can't find a most rewarding safari package in South Africa, you won't find it any other place in the world! For someone not wanting an expensive holiday you'll never beat the KNP!
RO
35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Mount Kenya - logistics by "Budget Africa Safari"
I work as Mountain Guide and I visit Africa quite often helping clients reach the summits they pursue. I have used Budget Africa Safari's services to help with the logistics in Kenya and I am most please with the way Edward handled the tasks given. As I was not in for a "canned" experience but had very specific requirements from dates, locations to staff and menu and all with high probability of change on short notice I was impressed with the way Edward and the staff from Budget Africa Safari helped me set up my trip. This is an outfit I will surely use again to handle my logistics on the trips to come.
DE
Good and bad experiences during the trip but I will never forget it for sure
AfroLeisureTours made it possible for us to book our 3-days-safari-trip very spontaneously. That was pretty awesome. My boy-friend and me had a full safari van for ourselves with plenty of room.
The agency told us that we would arrive in our first camp in the late afternoon and start with our first game-drive afterwards. But our driver got lost or the calculation was wrong, am not pretty sure what was the problem but we arrived there at 11 p.m. when it was totally dark outside. So we missed our first game-drive and were pretty disappointed.
Thats why they upgraded us to a very nice and fancy Spa Resort to say sorry, which was pretty awesome again. But then the schedule didn't work out again because we had a driver change between the second and third (the last) day and the new driver arrived 1 1/2 hours too late in the morning for the game-drive. The game drive was very nice but because of lack of lunch packages we had to shorten our game-drive (everyone was too hungry to continue) but at least they paid a dinner in a small restaurant afterwards. All in all a lot went wrong but at least they tried to softened with extras like the resort on the second day.
US
65+ years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Second Safari with EWA equaled the first—Wonderful!
This was my second safari with Ecological Wilderness Adventure (last one was in 2014). Again, the driver/naturalist/tour guide was amazing! He knew all the animals and their habits well. We found a leopard snoozing in an acacia tree and our guide, Gerard, said "We'll wait. It's about to rain and the leopard will come down out of the tree when it rains." That's exactly what the leopard did! Additionally, the accommodations and staff at our Serengeti Savannah Camp were excellent. We had comfortable tents, delicious meals and wonderful hot showers every evening. I hope I get to do a third safari in Tanzania. If I do, it will definitely be with Ecological Wilderness Adventures. They are amazing!
IT
35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Beatyful Kenya
Hi had a Safary with Edward Lore and I say just one word, satisfaction! Edward was very patient to show us all the best of Masai Mara and Lake Nakuru and prepared to describe nature and animals.
Hope to travel with you again :-)!
beppe
ID
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
First rate company for our first safari to Kenya
Just excellent services from the staff all the way to the owners, Minaz and Rahim. They made sure we were alright from the day we arrived in Nairobi, during our safaris in Meru, Samburu and Masai Mara till the day we left Kenya. The guides assigned to us were experienced and know their animals very well. We were so lucky to be able to see the big-5 including the elusive leopards and cheetahs. During the 10 days we were there the guides became our good friends and it was sad when we had to leave. Thank you Minaz & Rahim for the 5-star accommodations and the great service. We will come back. Haryanto.
SK
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great Experience!
We arranged 5 day Safari in advance via internet. We were little bit skeptic at the beginning as Ibrahim required to send deposit in advance without any record. But we did so. Upon arrival to Moshi we met with Ibrahim and discuss plan for all 5 days. On very next morning our driver Fredy and chef Abdallah came to pick us up to the hotel. The safari was awesome, we saw 4 out of big 5 (rhinos were hidden), cheetah hunt, birth of impala, a lot of lions and many other animals. On the way to Serengeti car had broke and we were stuck for couple of hours on abandoned place in Ngorongoro. Fredy arranged another car for us to take us to Serengeti for a game drive. Despite little delay we enjoyed Serengeti, Tarangire, Ngorongoro and Lake Manyara as much as possible. I strongly recommend Afrishare for Safari tours.
JO
65+ years of age
It was unforgettable moment
The communication is very nice... Because they use fluent English. The services are also very good. I never expected such a place but I am glad.
EG
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Professional, friendly and Funny!
Mwajabu is the best!! She is funny, professional, she took care of every thing and all the details, we felt very safe and comfortable with her, I would recommend to book your safari with Hello Tanzania as they offer great deals as well.
Regarding Safari tour in Selous, I was expectinbg to see more animals and wildlife than that, so I would recommed Serengti if you are looking to see more carnivores