IN
20-35 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Joining safari, with superb customisation!
We did a the three night four day joining safari to Nakuru, Naivasha and Masai Mara. We wanted to minimise costs and hence opted for the joining safari. However, we wanted comfortable places to stay And were in no mood to camp. David understood our requirements perfectly and customised our trip to ensure that we got the best at optimal costs. Our dates changed a few times and David accommodated all the changes, ensuring that we got to do all that we wanted to!
Our guide was called Animal. He knew so much about everything... History, geography, the Masai culture, bird, animals...Superb. Half the fun was having him around, sharing his knowledge with us. We had great sightings and saw the big five. Animal made us feel safe and knew where we could buy medical supplies, when we needed them!
Lastly, the team made sure that we were safely picked up and dropped to the airport
even though our flight schedule changed. Many thanks to the team for going beyond their call of duty to ensure that our safari vacation was truly five star!
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.
US
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Strongly recommended
We have 6 days safari private with driver/guider from Tanzania Joy Tours Joseph. I could really recommend using its services, very professionally prepared to safari, good connection to other guides to find something interesting in Serengeti and other places, deep knowledge about animals, birds and african people. Everything was very good organized and in very nice atmosphere. Strongly recommended!
BE
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
excellent company - very good organisation
We climbed Kilimanjaro (Machame Route) with this agency. They took care of everything. Friendly people. The guides very kind and gave us a daily feedback and briefing. The food on the mountain was very good. After our climb we went on a 5 days/4 nights camping safari. Kilimanjaro Budget Safaris arranged a trip for us at Taranguire NP, Serengeti NP, Ngorongoro and Lake Manyara NP. Again we were very satisfied. Their guide knew very well where he had to go at what moment, so we saw all the wildlife (including rhino's). We had a wonderfull 2 weeks : in short : I would recommend this company to everybody.
50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Amazing Experience
We first met Moses in 2011 when he was our guide at Selinda camp. We were really impressed by his knowledge and tracking of animals so when he started his own business we did not hesitate in booking a trip for our 10th wedding anniversary. Mobile camping was something new to us as we have only ever stayed in lodges. We need not have worried though everything was fine. We had an amazing time, the food cooked on a camp fire by Moses two was amazing, the best fillet of beef I have ever tasted. He even made us a chocolate cake for our wedding anniversary complete with 10 candles. Our anniversary lunch was a table for two complete with champagne on ice overlooking a hippo pool. Our camp crew Bros and Carlos made sure that we had everything we required and the camp was always beautifully set up when we arrived a a new reserve. Some people thought we were crazy sleeping in a tent in the bush. We did have hyena in most nights, a leopard and a lion but listening to the Hyena's outside made it all the more amazing. It is our intention to go back and travel to the Kalahari in the future. So if you fancy a few nights in the bush I can really recommend Moses and his team at Unlimited Tours and Safaris.
US
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Outstanding experience from start to finish
We booked our trip and communicated primarily through Emmanuel. He was well organized and extremely helpful. The process was well communicated and his follow through was accurate and timely. The personal touch offered by our guide "Peter" began at the airport and was evident throughout the trip. Each day was a fun and enlightening adventure. Peter knowledge of the mountain and his experience as a guide were sources of great confidence and learning. His team was well prepared and extremely accommodating. The summit night/day was awe inspiring and a memory I'll have forever. The entire trip was very well orchestrated and preceded smoothly from start to finish. We could not have had a better experience
US
Great experience in Mikumi!
We went on a 3-day safari in Mikumi National Park and it was a perfect safari experience. It is only about a 5-hour drive from Dar (it all depends on traffic--Fridays and Mondays take longer) but there were not many tourists once we got there, so you have the park to yourself to track down various animals. We were lucky enough to see male lions, female lions and their cubs as well as any other animal you could think of including birds! We saw elephants in a watering hole as well as hippos at another watering hole where you could get out and walk around. The park was beautiful and well-maintained. It stormed one night but overall the weather was perfect and the cloud formations out on the plains made for amazing photographs. There were one or two nice lodges (with restaurants) as well as outdoor camping options and cabin-type accommodations (with a small kitchen and local cooks associated with it). Overall, we really enjoyed our stay and it's a great alternative to flying all the way to Arusha just for a short safari.
US
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Recommended
It was a 6 days photography safari, our guide Fred was the best we could wish for. The weather was excellent. The entire package was very good, jeeps, hotels etc. very recommended.
NL
50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
general overview
Botswana is one of the last wilderness on earth and I have visited the country on four different occasions in the last five years. I always used the services of Adventure Safaris to organise the itineraries which they carried out in a very professional manner. My trips have ranged from luxury lodges in the Okavango with transfers by plane to a self drive safari covering Chobe, Savuti, Linyanti, Moremi, Nxai Pan and the Kalahari. In all instances the trips were very well organised and properly booked. What I like about the company is the combination of a thorough knowledge of the country and personal service. The owner, Mrs Carla du Plessis, has lived in Botswana for over 25 years and gets personally involved with every client. You can always call her for a question or a specific additional service. It makes you feel like you have a friend in the country that you can rely on.
DE
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great Company - Great Trip
We had a really good trip with Kilimanjaro Budget Safaries...it was well organized and all four of us reached the top of mount Kilimanjaro...thanks to the guides and their advice...
The food was amazing, we wouldn't have expected to get such nice meals on our climbing trip...also the porters were really nice.
I recommend the company...and would do a Kili-Tour with them again...