20-35 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Review about Bwindi Impenetrable National Park by Anonymous
Perfect place for Ecotourism
20-35 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Gorilla trekking Tour
I had wanted to hire a car and drive through Uganda, but after spending over a month trying to secure gorilla tracking permits to no avail, I was told that often the Ugandan Wildlife Authority are uncooperative with individual groups of tourists as they are paid of my tour companies, whether this is true I’m not sure but I tried contacting them by both email and phone for over a month and received no correct info and was just led around in circles with false email addresses etc...
If you are situated in Uganda it’s a different ball game and it seems it’s a simple process to obtain the permits from the UWA office in Kampala. Seeing as I didn’t want to risk arriving and there being no permits left I decided to give up and book through a tour agency. In the end I’m so glad we did, we booked the permits and a driver to take us from Kampala to Queen Elizabeth National Park for a safari, on to Lake Bunyonyi for a night, down to Bwindi Impenetrable Forest to track gorillas and finally across the Rwandan border to Kigali.
All the booking and communication was done through Jackie from Katona, who was extremely helpful and answered all of my questions, gave great advice and put together multiple itineraries based on each new request, for us to look through.
When we arrived in Kampala we found the office easily and paid the balance and made some final arrangements which all went smoothly. (It’s worth noting that USD notes printed before the year 2000 and which are smaller denominations than $50 are not accepted anywhere in Uganda).
We met our driver the next morning and he was quiet but helpful throughout the trip. Overall the value for money was amazing and we got to see so much more and got a lot more packed into the time we had there. You are read about our experience in Queen Elizabeth National Park and our experience tracking gorillas in Bwindi Impenetrable Forest here, we never would have seen so much wildlife both on the safari and on the drive without our driver’s sharp eyes. We also had baggage missing from our flight when we landed and the company arranged for it to be driven down and meet us the day after the tour started, they took away all the worry and did this all completely free of charge
US
35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Review about Sabi Sabi Game Reserve by jfcall1
The leopard sightings in Sabi Sands are among the most consistent.
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35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Timibavati is an amazing place!
I have been to the Timbivati on two occasions as well as Sabi Sands. They are both spectacular. I stayed at Motswari in Timbivati and really was amazed at how close you get the animals. No review can really explain what it is like to be so close to these majestic creatures. Rare white lions (3 or less in the entire world which are wild), Elephants, Leopards, Rhino, Giraffe, Cape Buffalo the list goes on and on! The only way you can really experience this amazing place is by going there. It is something you will never forget!
Once in a Lifetime
I think this is the best trip I've had because I got experience things I had never seen before. Besides, how many people do you think have been on an African safari? Not many, I can tell you that. Basically, what happens is that your ranger does everything for you. He is your waiter, driver, bar tender, etc. You are always in good hands and I highly recommend going to Mala Mala. Here is an awesome video if you want to learn more about the lions: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1AqV-lwSfA
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35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Review about South Africa by jfcall1
South Africa is the premiere safari destination. The main reason is the density of the wildlife and the best safari lodges on the planet. I have been to 4+ lodges and the attention to detail, amazing service and knowledgeable staff stand out compared to Botswana or even Tanzania. I loved both but South Africa has this down to perfection.
The other main advantage are the large private reserves such as Timbivati and Sabi Sands. Limited to 2 vehicles per sighting, night game drives, going off-road and the ability to do bush walks set these destinations apart.
Review about South Africa by greenluvrks7
We saw so much wild life that it was extraordinary. I'm not very interested in birds, but we saw a good amount of them. Overall, I would give the experience a 5 star rating. Highly recommend it!
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
An amazing experience
I had a one day safari with a very experienced guide. I saw every animal I expected to see and more besides. I wasn'r realistically expecting to see cheetah in the southern part of the park and would have been fortunate to see leopard on my first visit. The highlight for me was not one but two separate packs of African Wild Dog which I wasn't expecting to see at all.
The animal and bird life I saw in one day was profuse and I took over six hundred photographs.
The Rissington Inn Hotel in Hazyview where I stayed was excellent. The accomodation was of a high standard as was the food.
Altogether a great experience which eclipsed all my other adventures in the Grand Canyon and Tokyo or Hong Kong.
Visitors to the southern part of the park must expect the heavy cover which is commonplace and not expect the open grasslands of say Kenya.
We hired a car from the airport at Joburg and the drive though tiring after our flight was easy even though some SA road signs are ambiguous or non existant in places. It is my second time in SA I loved my visit to the Cape and the wine tour I took but big game close up is an experience I wouldn't have missed for the world.
A Reserve like a Young Wine
Like all of AndBeyonds locations, Kwandwe is a high standard game reserve in a very beautiful environment. Food and acomodation was excellent. At the time of our visit (2007) it was still fairly new established with the game not yet used to the visitors and little bit "shy". Nevertheless we saw Lions, Elephants, Cheetas, Rhinos, Buffalos etc. It was an unforgettable experience.
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Review about South Africa by Bill Siviter
In just one day I saw the complete list of big game apart from cheetah and leopard.
Giraffe were a bit thin on the ground and didn't get a close up view of them either.