20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Fabulous fantastic,best experience ever in my life
For communication I can't complain they were exemplary, the service was flawless and met all expectations and even exceeded some of them ,the tour was perfect I have no complaints whatsoever and would gladly recommend anyone to use Jadi Africa
DE
A perfect stay in the bush - only a three hours drive away from Johannesburg
Pilanesberg National Park and the adjacent Black Rhino Private Game Reserve are located around the extinct Pilanesberg vulcano ca. 150 km NW of Johannesburg. The area is Malaria free. Due to an elevation of +/- 1000m the nights in winter can be quite chilly while the days in summer can be as hot as 35°C or even more.
Unlike many other South African parks Pilanesberg is a piece of "man made" nature: It was founded in 1979 on former farmland, so more than 7000 animals from other parks like Kruger NP had to be relocated to (re-)populate the area. Since then, these animal population has been left on it's own.
The main park can be explored either by self-drive or on guided tours. In Black Rhino Private Game Reserve private cars are only allowed to access the lodges - all game drives are guided tours organized by the respective lodge. While the game drives from Black Rhino are allowed to enter the national park, no visitors "from outside" are allowed to enter Black Rhino.
Since 2011 my spouse and I have visited Black Rhino Private Game Reserve 5 times. We stayed at two different lodges that are quite similar compared in service: Both offer good quality meals, spacious bungalows and a small pool. Two game drives per day are already included in the room price.
The game drives are done with small cars (max. 10 people per car). All 4 different guides on our meanwhile 29 game drives did an excellent job: They tried to find as many different animals as possible, with the focus not only on the "Big Five". They stayed as long near the animals as the guests wanted (very good for photography!). There was no "rush from one animal to the next" like we already experienced at some of the smaller game lodges in the Western Cape, which (in comparison to a national park) are more like small zoos where the predators live in separate fenced areas.
...o.k. if the animals don't cooperate, even the best ranger can't do anything! After all one should not forget that the animals of a national park (although they might be used to the cars) are still wild: The grazers keep in the bush to hide from their predators and the predators hide themself to better approach their prey. Large animals like elephants, zebra, wildebeest, giraffe or even white rhinos are quite easy to find in the grassy areas - but don't expect to be so lucky that you'll see a lion, a hyaena, a black rhino or even a leopard on your first visit! On most of your game drives you'll most likely see only the "usual suspects".
US
65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
Everything that was promised
We just returned from an 11 day trip to Kenya planned by Kenya Walking Survivors Ltd. It was the trip of a lifetime and we got everything we were promised. I think that Mr O must sleep with his computer because most of my correspondence were answered within hours in spite of the 8 hour time difference. Our guide/driver Paul was fantastic. He was extremely knowledgeable and very pleasant. He certainly helped make the trip a success. The various places we stayed at were all excellent. Even though it was low season, the service was excellent. Because there were so few people at the facilities we didn't have buffets, but a choice of at least two or three options. I highly recommend KWSS if you are planning on visiting Kenya.
NL
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Don't book your Safari in Tanzania at this company, they failed completely!
We booked a safari by Vimics Group (part of Wellplanned Safaris) in Arusha, Tanzania. We found them on this website. We like to place a negative feedback about their company. Hopefully you will remove them from your website so other people won't have the same bad experience. The organasation failed completely. They put us together with two different groups, so the car was filled with 8 people, when they promised 5 instead. The hotels and accomodations where in 3 different places, so we spent each night driving to 3 different hotels. This took us about 3 hours each night because they where not close to each other. The same problem started in the morning when we had to pick up everybody. Because of this we started our safari at 9:30 each day instead of 6 am. like they promised us.
Also we booked a 6 day safari trip and the only planned 5, so they last day they had us wait for 2 hours, and finally a taxi picked us up to do a safari ( in a taxi !?) when we roads required a 4x4 car. We had to wait at least an hour for every gate because the paperwork was not in order. Other safari cars only waited about 2 minutes at the gate so this was not normal. Finally we made a complaint to Victor ( owner of Vimics Group). He promised us to refund $100 dollars. We still haven't received this money. Every promise they made didn't happen so I don't think they deserve to be on this website. I hope we can save others a bad experience.
RU
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
15 unforgetable days in Uganda
In December 2017 I spent 15 days packed with events and activities in Uganda.
Africa Tours Adventure gave me a great chance to see all those wonderful animals and birds inhabiting forests and savannas in Uganda. And I'm really grateful to Nicholas (the head of the travel agency) for assigning an amazing person named Barnabas as my driver/guide.
I'm an independent loner and used to solve all problems myself. It was a very unusual and pleasant experience for me to have somebody by my side who always knew how to keep the situation under control and find solutions to all difficult issues.
Barnabas is an extremely kind, caring and helpful human being. He did his best to make my trip comfortable and protect me from all possible and impossible dangers in the unknown world.
It's enough to just mention a seemingly insignificant (but actually very important) problem with my hiking shoes soaked with water and covered with dirt after unfortunate attempts of finding golden monkeys.
Barnabas helped to clean and dry them (first asking for the services at the hotel and then tying the shoes on the car's roof under the hot sun), and I could return home in presentable and dry shoes (which was necessary in freezing and snowy weather in Moscow).
Also, Barnabas taught me to love watching birds and taking pictures of them. He can identify any bird sitting or flying hundreds of meters away. And he infected me with his passion.
He truly loves wildlife and traveling and is ready and willing to share this love of his with other people.
I do hope that dozens of future clients will enjoy his services for many more years.
I should also mention the fact of highly competitive prices (I tried 6 other agencies and they offered similar itineraries and worse cars for about 3 thousand USD more). Besides, I enjoyed dinner at 6 out of 10 hotels though I made payments on Bed & Breakfast basis.
My itinerary included: - rhino tracking in Ziwa Rhino sanctuary, - Murchison Falls NP (a visit the top of the falls, morning and evening game drives, a boat cruise to the bottom of the Victoria Nile falls, a small boat cruise to the delta area), - Kibale NP (Chimpanzee tracking habituation experience), - a nature walk in Bigodi wetland sanctuary, - Queen Elizabeth NP ( a visit to Kasende crater lakes and Katwe salt mining area, evening and morning game drives, an afternoon launch cruise on the Kazinga Channel, chimpanzee tracking in Kalinju forest and a nature walk to the bat cave in Immaramagambo forest, a game drive in Ishasha sector in search of tree-climbing lions), - Bwindi Impenetrable Forest NP (1st Gorilla tracking in Ruhiga sector, 2nd Gorilla tracking in Rushaga sector), - Mgahinga NP (3rd Gorilla Tracking, a short walk to caldera, Golden monkey habituation and tracking – that habituation experience was a total fiasco – don’t try to repeat it), - Lake Mburo NP (an afternoon boat cruise and game drive, a morning nature walk).
Overnight stays at 10 hotels:
Pakuba Lodge, Primates Lodge Kibale, Park View Safari Lodge, Bakiga Lodge, Rushaga Gorilla Camp, Mutanda Lake Resort, Mount Gahinga Safari Lodge, Lake Bunyonyi Rock Resort, Mburo Safari Lodge, 2Friends Resort Hotel.
KW
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
wonderful days
Rajabu of Raja travels organised the tour well.He paid attention to even minute details.We were travelling with our mother at healthy 84 yrs.So we were little worried and Rajabu put our wories to rest from the first moment at airport.The great topping on the icecream was the driver Rushidi. His sharp eyes tuned for the 'remotest animal',his simple ways of making us a family with him can make ant tour the best tour.Thanks Rushidi.
CH
35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Amazing 1 week trip to Selous and Ruaha plus Zanzobar extension of perfectly organized by RajaTours
RajaTours organized this fully tailormade trip for a friend of mine and me. We intended to visit the southern part of Tanzania to avoid heavily frequented national parks of the north, combined with a Zanzibar extension for one of us. Communication with and responsibility of Rajab was always excellent, usually I had the answer withon hours.
The tour itself fulfilled all expectations - contact with local people (thanks again to Esther for accompanying us and the insights into life in Tanzania), great sightings in two very different national parks. I therefore recommend RajaTours for all those who look for a tailormade Tanzania trip.
US
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Exceptional Experience
We needed to book very last minute, and PaperJet came through in spades, from the first, fast response which was also very thorough and detailed. In fact, I was not sure if a trip to Madikwe Reserve would be possible so last minute, but Justin was exceptionally helpful throughout the process, and no small detail was left out. We got an excellent ground transfer from JNB airport and back. The lodge, Rhulani was luxurious, and we were able to have fantastic four-night, memorable first safari. Would highly recommend!
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Very successful tour of the northern circuit.
I was short on time but long on things to see, and Robert gave me excellent personal attention, helping fit in the Oldupai Gorge Museum as well as a highly successful night in the Serengeti, another in the Ngorongoro Crater, and a morning in Lake Manyara. Having seen leopards on no fewer than three occasions, and a rhino in the wild for the first time ever, the game viewing cannot be described as anything other than a resounding success. I had a couple of alarms due to lost belongings, having been less than careful when mustering my gear when changing vehicles, but an SMS sorted everything. The guides were capable and enthusiastic, not missing a trick. Everything was adequately organised, even if one didn't always know what was going on beforehand. Robert worked hard to get the most for me out of limited time and money, and got the hoped-for result.
JO
50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Absolutely the best safari in Africa
5days in Queen Elizabeth park with my best friend and his fiance and we had absolutely a great time in Africa. There was lots of wildlife to see and I loved chimpanzee tracking, the tree climbing lions, the scenery of the park from the baboon cliff, the boat trip and the community walk to the salty lake, Uganda is truly beautiful.
I absolutely recommend pamora safari in Africa.