50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Destination of Beauty and Despair
We travelled as a group of 3 generations- the oldest 81 years old and the youngest 17.
Cape Town has the stunning backdrop of Table Mountain against the blue sky, the beautiful Company Gardens and Kirstenbosch Botannical Gardens. The new V&A Waterfront is a pleasant and safe place to dine but could be anywhere.
The Robben Island tour left a lasting impression but could have been more dynamic
On the streets, the poverty and despair of the poor is plain to see. The highway out to the winery areas of Stellenbosch and Franschhoek is flanked by huge townships and morning and evening becomes a “snake” of overfilled minibuses as the residents commute to work.
The wineries area then feels obscenely decadent. The towns and surrounding area is charming. The tastings are great value and each winery normally has more than just wine on offer e.g gardens to explore, art exhibitions
We went on a 3 day quickie safari in the Kruger National Park. Surpassed all our expectations, in part due to our Wild Wings guide’s superb knowledge of the animal/bird habitats and habits.
We would love to return to South Africa again in the future to do another safari and explore the Garden Route. The people we met everywhere were delightful, food and wine were always delicious and great value for money. The weather and flowers were beautiful in October
CA
50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Simply Beautiful !
A country with Beautiful & Friendly people! They care about your safety, they are so helpful and happy to have you visiting.
A great mix of culture, history, scenery & interesting animals !
Between two major cities, beaches, vineyards, mountains, a hidden country in the middle, multiple safaris & where two oceans meet !!! So much beauty & a lot to see..
IN
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Very professional and Good rapport with everyone
Good trip and lovely places, mind refreshing with places like fort portal, semuliki national park, nayare waterfalls. Must visit once in a life time!
US
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Very good
Reliable people and very good. Had a good experience with them
50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Responsive tour operator with great local guides who helped us get the most out of our trip
We travelled in Kenya & Tanzania with Camptrek Safaris in October 24 visiting Amboseli, Masai Mara, Lake Nakuru, Lake Naivasha, Serengeti, Ngorongoro crate and Taragire. The office were very responsive to our queries and we were happy with the final itinerary.
We had an amazing trip and saw lots of wildlife, most notably many elephants, but also lions, cheetahs and leopard (albeit distantly), and of course zebra, giraffes, wildebeest etc.
Our driver guides were great, especially David, who we had in Kenya, he was so friendly and helpful as well as very knowledgeable and a good driver.
The accommodations were all lovely ( we opted for mid range places) especially those in / bordering the reserves, although we did have an issue with the one (fisherman’s camp) in Lake Navaisha, where they seemed to have accepted a better booking and shipped us off to a nearby house, that we then had to picked up from to go to dinner and breakfast. However David was great in sorting everything out and rearranging our itinerary to take account of the time this wasted.
The only negative was the vehicles which were rather old ( despite Camptrek advising me when we were planning the trip they were all recently purchased) both were around 10-15 years old and suffered mechanical issues ( the Kenya vehicle had no 1st gear)
Despite this we had a fabulous time and would recommend Camptrek, and David in particular.
CA
65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
Tanzania Specialist has a fantastic safari package that worked well for us.
We had a fantastic safari with Tanzania Specialist. Our driver/guide Tino was a great driver and always punctual. He made sure we could see as many animals as possible on our drives. He was very knowledgeable about the animals, the parks, the plants and the topography. He was very patient when we wanted to move ahead a little for a better photo or stop to take more photos of flowers. He knew the trails in the parks like the back of his hand and how to get to the best viewing locations. He communicated with other guides to find out where the animals were so we could go there right away and see them ourselves. I appreciated that Tino took care of jeep mechanical problems when they happened as best as he could considering we were in the middle of the Serengeti National Park.
The office staff were not as attentive to some details as they could have been and that is why I gave a 4 star rating.
All in all a great safari!
CN
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
An amazing, relaxing, and worthwhile trip!
We contacted Meijo on our October holiday and set up an 8 day trip.
Firstly in terms of results, we saw the African Five and even saw a lot of animal cubs, the great migration, hunting and other behaviours. So very awesome, great experience and well worth it! Thank you to our guide Herman! He was quite experienced, and as we chatted, we mentioned that he went to a guide related school and has been in the industry for almost 10 years. He was really familiar with animal postures, easy perch locations, and even hiding ways. He also knows a lot of species, and to be honest, some of the antelopes were really hard to tell apart. And he was so attentive that when we wanted juice at lunch on our second day, we had juice in all our lunches after that. Then when we ate an apple and spit out the skin, all the fruit after that was watermelon and pineapple without skin. Herman provided 80% of the experience!
Another point of concern for everyone should be the accommodation. After we confirmed our accommodation and paid the deposit, we were told that there were no rooms available in our confirmed accommodation. None of us were too happy about this. This is because the rooms we had previously selected were the ones we had done a lot of comparison with. Secondly, we were told that there were no rooms available during our actual stay, but this was supposed to be the hotel's problem, not Meijo's. Herman helped to confirm this with Meijo's at the same time, and in the end, helped us to get a refund. We still think the positive response in this regard is awesome!
Lastly, we would like to mention that on the first day of our trip, two of us booked the Wildlife excursion and did not have accommodation. But Meijo forgot to book it for us due to staff communication or handover issues. And we waited for more than 2 hours in Wildlife, almost closed. wildlife staff kept pushing us to pay for the tickets in advance, but we actually don't have that much cash. Called meijo 4 or 5 times before and after and it took very, very long time to get it resolved. So we didn't feel very good physically on the first day and hopefully this won't happen in the future! Also Wildlife, although they say they are rescuing animals, we found that the staff still intimidate the lions with wooden sticks when tourists take photos with them. There is still captive and tame behaviour going on and we probably won't go back after that.
Overall, other than the two issues mentioned earlier, the rest of the trip went smoothly! At the end meijo gave us a gift. I'm planning to take my parents back again in a few years and should choose meijo again! Hope their service gets better and better.
CH
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Easy uncomplicated communication, on time and professional.
We had an amazing time, saw all the big 5 and even more wildlife than we expected. Our personal favorite was the full day in Masai mara. If we could do it again we would skip Nakuru, i.e. do Masai mara and Amboseli. Nakuru Park was very beautiful but the drive was very long and we stayed in a hotel next to the city, not a camp. The accommodations had everything we needed and the food was good, the best one was at Amboseli at Manjaro tented camp, where we had giraffes, zebras and impalas just outside the camp. Albert, our guide and driver, was a bit shy at first but opened up during the trip, always on time and very professional.
US
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Beautiful
I'm a 25yo woman and I stayed at the Kruger Adventure Lodge solo. I choose the 5 day 4 night package. Given that it was located outside the park, I was impressed by the amount of wildlife we got to see. The lodge itself was great, it had a very intimate feel and I got to know the other travelers and staff throughout my stay.
US
Michael, our operator was excellent. He seemed to know what we wanted. He got us there.
We had a great time and our operator was knowledgeable and courteous. I want to do it again!!