35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
More elephants than you can shake a stick at!
This is a very popular park and it shows with the amount of people you will see there. There isn't a place where you will think you are in the middle of nowhere, the roads are mainly paved and you are never very far from another car.
There is a notice board near the main shop that lists the animal sightings for the day so it allows you to plan out your trip, Addo is enormous so make sure you take a whole day to view of all (if not more).
We drove for a while only seeing a couple of animals, then a single male elephant stode into view. We followed him until he turned a corner and we saw a whole herd of the magnificent beasts. This memory will stay with me forever. We found several other herds throughout the day each as amazing as the other.
This is an amazing park and there are plenty of other animals to see (lions, zebras, antelope to name but a few). If you like elephants then you will love this park.
NL
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
A once in a lifetime experience
Our trip to Kenya and vistit to Tsavo West National Park was our first (and so far only) safari. It was one of our most enjoyable and memorable vacations so far. Although we did not spot any cats, we basically saw every other animal: giraffes, elephants, zebras, hippos, owls, etc.
We slept in a (fully equipped) tent , which made the experience complete. In the night you could literally hear the animals passing by. Amazing.
After a couple of days we stayed in a resort at the beach. That was nice as well, but we all hoped the safari would have last a little longer. The days just seemed to flew by!
Please have a look a my pictures to get an impression of Kenya and Tsavo West National Park: https://www.flickr.com/photos/beukhof/sets/72157639847428163
NL
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Review about Kenya by Martijn
I don't have anything to compare to, but I would definitely want to go back to Kenya sometime to go on another safari!
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
If you like sleeping in tents, it's perfectly fine.
If the company is the same as it was back in 2012, it was a perfectly fine experience. I was not disappointed in the least with the safari. We had good food, we slept in tents, and we were able to see animals out on the Serengeti. It was also a great price. We felt the company was honest in their dealings with us. Looking at companies that charge a lot more, the only thing they can truly offer is housing better than tents, because you will get the same experience driving around looking for wild life. So, I was satisfied.
Pilanesberg
I visited the Pilanesberg in September 2014, for a long weekend. We stayed in the Madikwe facility. The accommodation is satisfactory. We hired a 4 sleeper unit. I slept in the "upstairs" bedroom. The layout of the units does not allow beds to be pushed against the wall, which I did not like and the beds were not particularly comfortable. We ate at the camps restaurant. The food was adequate, but they could not produce all the items on the menu and were slow to deliver food. Breakfast at Bakubang was good. The units cooking facilities were good, with a barbeque and other cooking facililities.
From a wildlife perspective, we were fortunate to see a number of animals including rhino. The dam had a number of animals and provided for some good photo oppurtunities. We saw several animals over a period of a few hours, and had plenty of photo opportunities. The range of animals is pretty diverse. The park has reasonable flora. Good views over the lands from some of the higher elevations of the park.
The reserve became pretty full during the mid-morning and their were a significant number of vehicles in the park. The roads are mostly good.
The park is conveniently located being an hour and a halfs drive from Pretoria and Johannesburg. The park is close to Sun City and Rustenburg.
My view is that for a short visit of two days the park is certainly worth visiting, if you are in that part of the work.
Review about South Africa by Jonathan Gill
South Africa offers a diverse range of opportunities for viewing mountains, the sea, and discovering wildlife. The Kruger Park is definately worth visiting. A person on safari could spend 5 days or more in that park. South Africa has a number of other smaller parks throughout the country. The Drakensburg mountains are spectacular as is the Garden Route. The wild flowers of the Karoo, are also something worth seeing in August/September. On the whole SA is worth one visit at least.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
The best safari ever!
We planned a summer holiday with the family and we used Gorilla Tour. I must say the experience was beyond awesome. It was the first time travelling outside my country and the experience and care wouldn't have been any better! Thank you so much
FR
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Our Pilaneberg Safari
Very nice safari and guide. I enjoyed it! Can recommend Safari With Us. All arrangements were good.
Experience level: first safari
2 Day Pilanesbderg Safari Staying in the Resort
It was a nice safari. Accommodation was also good and we had a nice guide by name of Joseph. My partner and i enjoyed the safari.
Experience level: first safari
10 Night Kruger Safari - North to South
We are a couple & went on the 10 night Kruger Safari with Ryan in May, which was the first part of our honeymoon. Starting from the North - Punda Maria and finishing up in the South - Berg an Dal. Firstly Ryan's passion and knowledge of the park and animals are amazing. There wasn't a question he couldn't answer and needless to say we learned a great deal about all the animals, the park and South Africa. We saw lots of animals including the big 5 and it was really nice to travel from North to South - a great journey that felt like an odyssey.
We booked with Wild Planet late last year, and most of the communication was with Thale - the other half of Wild Planet. She was friendly and very helpful with all questions we had and we had built a great rapport with her. Unfortunately though she wasn't able to be on the tour as they are expecting in August, which left a tour that would normally be run by the both of them to just Ryan. Don't get us wrong, it was a great tour overall and we had a good time but it seemed a lot for one person to run on their own. From managing game drives, daily camp preparation and cooking every meal, Ryan seemed a bit overworked on one or two occasions. We would recommend Wild Planet to anyone, but feel it's a two person operation. Had Thale or a second helper been there as well the trip would have met the expectations we had when we booked it.