Great Park and less people
Lot's of animals. We saw everything we wanted to see including a cheetah, and two lions. We only saw two other Land Cruisers while we were here.
65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
truly the adventure of a lifetime wonderful reception wherever we visited very friendly country
Our guide really went the extra mile to make it so special very impressed with accomodation and quality of food...highlight was the balloon trip at the break of dawn....fantastic variety of wildlife at every turn...
IN
20-35 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Everything I'd hoped for, and more!
Phinda Private Game Reserve was the first stop on my South African Honeymoon trip. At the end of that trip, I joked to my travel agent that she should always schedule Phinda as the last stop in every tour since nothing you visit after that is going to match up!
Our accommodation was the Phinda Vlei Lodge - a luxurious secluded collection of six cottages with excellent views of the wildlife across the grassland while you take a dip in your private pool. Once you're done with that, the chef Happiness cooks up a stunning meal and later serves it with the biggest smile on her face.
And then there are the game drives. Our tracker and ranger, Muzi and Darren, made an excellent team and we saw a wide variety of wildlife on our six game drives, including four of the big five. We missed out the leopard, but our car did spot one on the first day when we had opted out of the drive as we'd travelled 18 hours to get there. Had we not been so tired (read: "lazy"), we'd have caught all of the Big Five.
The forest at Phinda is beautiful and varied. There's grassland, sandforests, hills, and such other beautiful variety of landscapes too. And the best part, easily the highlight of our stay there, was going for the optional Turtle Trip. Late in the evening, we were taken to Sodwana Bay and we spent a good three hours driving on the beautiful beach searching for turtles in the moonlight. It was a magnificent experience, bettered by the fact that we managed to spot a Loggerhead Turtle that had come on to the beach to lay her eggs.
If ever I get a chance to do so again in my lifetime, I'll definitely visit Phinda once again.
SA
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
it was wonderful safari but it was too expensive.
It was well organized from the beginning up to the end. Accommodation, I had to choose low standard one because it is too expensive, but it was fantastic. People are very friendly and helpful. The park is very beautiful and too many animals you could see. Food was good quality and quantity.
65+ years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
The animals almost came to us
We went with Wild dog safaries, our guide was Gabriel, asnd he knew his stuff.
This was our second visit we stayed at Dolomite camp recently opened part of the park only accesable to those staying at Dolomite camp and so very quiet.
good points the camp consists of a number of seperate villas set on a dolomite hill ridge totaly open to game (you get driven back to your room at night)just sitting on the balcony we saw all sorts of animals go and coming from the water hole. The accomodation was fine clean and spacious, the food was great
As Namibia is such a dry country visits to the local water holes allow you to get up close and personal to all the usual African game we saw all the "big five" excluding hippos (there are none in this part of Namibia). Our guide seemed to know just which water hole to visit enabling us to see plenty of game all day long . .
This was our second safari in Namibia the first time we stayed on the opposite side of Entosha which was equally as good.
Namibia is a lovely country , dry, low humidity, clean and the locals arew very friendly The whole country is very scenic and the roads are quiet and easy to drive, It is a country of huge variety from the sceleton coast to the Worlds largest sand dunes , I can 100% recommend it
Review about Tarangire National Park by Jonathan
The elephants, the baobab trees, rivers, lush landscapes, and a beautiful assortment of wildlife made this a perfect place to start our safari. It isn't as overwhelming as Serengeti or Ngorongoro, but it is an incredible park and well worth the trip.
Review about Ngorongoro Crater by Jonathan
The density of wildlife is unbelievable, it's almost overwhelming how much you see in such a short span of time. These were the most up-close and intense wildlife safari experiences.
One of the singularly incredible experiences on the planet
The landscape alone gives you chills, acacia dotting broad plains, with colours and imagery that might be familiar from a nature documentary, but feels deeper, maybe stretching back to man's history in this place.
And then you see the animals. First a giraffe moving in the distance. Then families of elephants, herds of wildebeest and zebras, warthogs, birds. Prides of lions, solitary leopards, mothers and babies. It's all here, and in numbers that make your jaw drop. And what makes it that much more incredible is watching the animals interacting, mostly ignoring your presence and go about their activities in ways that can't be experienced or understood in a zoo. The vastness of this place can give you goosebumps the entire time.
Come ready for heat, for flies, and for bumpy game drives. This is the wild, and it truly is wild, and it's absolutely worth it.
US
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Premier Safari Experience in the World
When it comes to African safari's, there is just no comparison to the Masai Mara/Serengeti. This region is home to one of the last remaining expansive wild frontiers with herds of game animals in the millions and a combined territory of thousands of km of untouched natural bush. The variety of game animals is unmatched, all the Big 5 can be viewed in a single day, birds, crocodiles, the annual migration... Furthermore, the cultural aspect of being in traditional Masai territory and being exposed to the Masai people and way of life adds another element of interest to the whole experience. This park is certainly not a secret, however due to the expansive size and the abundance of game life, it doesnt ever feel crowded or like a large zoo, how some smaller fenced in game parks can feel. The sense of adventure from driving across the expansive plains, through rivers and viewing unique animal interactions is unmatched.
50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Should be No.1 on any nature lover's bucket list
Returned to the Mara with my wife and four children after working in Kenya 21 yeara ago. We wanted to share our amazing experience all that time ago with our kids and the Mara certainly did not disappoint. Despite not seeing all of the Big 5 this time around we did get to see some fantastic animals up close. These included a mother with 3 baby cheetahs and 3 lion brothers stalking a herd of zebra. The undoubted highlight was a balloon safari over the savannah with Hot Air Safaris. This took off early so we could see the sun rise over Tanzania and Andrew the Captain managed to guide the balloon over a larg herd of startled elephants. Upon landing the 16 passengers were treated to the most amazing Champagne breakfast on the plain under the shade of a tree. We stayed at Ilkiliani Camp and were spoilt rotten by the staff there as the tourist numbers were down due to negative media reports regarding ebola and terrorism. Don't let this put you off going to this most wonderful place on earth which is far away from all the reported incidents. These are having an unnecessary detrimental impact on the wonderful people of this unmissable country.