BE
Wildlife, Birds, History, Nature, People, ... everything you need for a great Safari holiday!
Hello everyone,
I'm Simon, a guide and photographer. I have spent three months working and being on holiday in the Kruger National Park, South Africa. During these three months I was able to discover quite a large part of the park. I have slept in most of the rest camps, ate in most of the restaurants in the rest camps and travelled on most of the roads in the park.
There are a lot of Safari companies that will do guided drives in the park, in general most of those companies are well organised and if you wish to learn about the different aspects of the park ( animals, birds, history, trees, etc...) I would recommend to go on one of the drives. You can find plenty of those companies on google.
A great thing about Kruger is that you're also able to go in the park with your own car. Go where you want ( on tar roads or dirt roads), look at what you want for as much time as you want and sleep in the different rest camps. The rest camps offer basic but very good accommodation at a reasonable price, depending on which accommodation you book you will have a kitchen, each camp also has a shop where you can buy food. If you don't want to cook, each camp also has a restaurant that has very nice menus. All the camps have fuel stations and most camps also have communal swimming pools and organise bush walks, bush dinners and drives (morning, afternoon and evening) which are not expensive and where you can learn and discover new things.
Wildlife is plentiful in the park, you will easily and closely see general game including Elephants and Buffalos. There are also plenty of cats in the park, however you don't always have sightings of them next to the road. If you spent several days in the park though you will usually, at least have some nice sightings of cats. Same for Wild dogs and other rare game.
There is also a wide variety of birds in the park ( around 517 species), there are several bird hides throughout the park where you can go to observe them in peace and quietness.
The park has several historical sites and you can buy books in the shops that will explain the history of those sites.
As I said earlier, every rest camp has a shop where you can buy food, drinks,general utilities and a lot of books (maps of the park, books on the birds, animals, fiction, history, photography, true stories of the park, etc...)
If you like landscapes you will also enjoy every moment in Kruger, there are 5 different biomes. There are also plenty of view points in the park where you can get out of your car and enjoy the panorama.
If you drive by yourself you can choose to either drive on the tar roads or the dirt roads. Usually there will be less people on the dirt roads but you travel more slowly and for some dirt roads you need a decent car, it is also quite dusty. As far as wildlife goes, dirt road or tar road there is no road where you will see more animals, it is all luck!
If you drive by yourself, international visitors will pay 280 Rand as conservation fee per day, South Africans 70 Rand (because they already pay conservation fees in their taxes) at the entry gates of the park or the rest camps if you sleepover. However if you plan on staying several days it might be interesting to buy yourself a Wildcard, which will give you access to all South African National Parks for 1 year. For international visitors it costs 1920 Rand and for South Africans 470 Rand, there are several other options which you can ask for at the Kruger gates.
All in all if you plan on visiting South Africa I would really recommend you visiting the Kruger National Park, it is something you just can't miss!
IE
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Review about South Africa by Des Maguire
The size of Kruger is huge, we asked our guide how long would it take to tour the park in total. The answer- THREE WEEKS!!!!
NO
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
A fantastic experience from start to finish!
Safari with Easy Travel more than met our expectations. Five stars is not enough!
Our booking was handled by Caudence, who answered all our enquiries very swiftly. She was very helpful and put together a package quite in accordance with our wishes. We were five adults and two children in one safari vehicle with Emmilian as our chauffeur/guide. The car was a Toyota Landcruiser with ample space for seven passengers (all with window seats).
Our safari started and finished at the airport in Arusha. We spent four days on safari and visited four different parks (Tarangiere, Lake Manyara, Serengeti and Ngorongoro). We also visited Mto wa Mbu village and a masai family. On the last day, we visited a coffee plantation.
All the parks were fantastic and offered very varied animal life. We saw the big five (lion, leopard, elephant, rhino and buffalo) in addition to cheetah, hippo, thousands of wildebeest and zebra on migration, wildebeest calving, many different species of antelope, giraffe, monkey, dik-dik, hyena, jackal, ostrich, vulture and a range of other birds.
The accommodation was above all expectation, especially Maramboi Tented Camp where the swimming pool had great views of Lake Manyara, and Tortilis Camp in the middle of the Serengeti with animals very close to the tents at night.
Emmilian was an excellent chauffeur and guide who happily took detours to make sure we saw absolutely everything he thought worth seeing. He was professional, very experienced, knowledgeable about animal life and culture and knew the area inside out. He was also very good with the children, who saw every single animal they wished for!
We give Easy Travel, Caudence and Emmilian our warmest recommendations.
US
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Vacation of a Lifetime
When my husband and I booked a 4 day safari with El Mundo Safaris, we had no idea what to expect. We were traveling to Africa for a missions trip, and figured we "should" do a safari while we were there. After all, who knew if we'd ever be back to Africa? What began as a trip about which we were a bit hesitant, and somewhat ambivalent, became the trip of a lifetime --- and we've had some amazing vacations. From day one, when the owner of the company spent a relaxed coffee time with us just getting to know us, until the last day when we hugged goodbye, each detail was perfect. The trip included beautiful and luxurious accommodations, excellent food, amazing game drives which allowed us to see every animal we had imagined, and a driver who made all of the above even more perfect. What makes this company special is their attention to people. Both Elvis, the owner, and Msami, our driver, became lifelong friends, simply because their interest in us went beyond the safari, creating relationships and memories. We laughed together, learned about each other and our very different cultures, and shared common interests and dreams. When we said goodbye to each of them, it was with the hope of seeing them again. El Mundo provided the most amazing vacation we could have imagined. I have already recommended them to family and friends, and WHEN we return, it will be to book another safari with El Mundo Safaris.
IL
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Very good communication in tailoring the tour, very professional guide
20 days of touring left us with great memories. Communication of setting our tour was clear, informative and helpful . The tour itself was great, with focus on result of the planning. Most of the time the expectation were fulfilled. Our guide was an excellent knowledgable, responsible and carrying guide.
The best tour operator I have ever been with
I had wanted to go on a safari since I was a boy and had never been to Kenya before.
I therefore did a lot of research on which company to use and chose Beacon Safaris. Robert answered all my many questions quickly and comprehensively. His suggestions worked out brilliantly and these, together with the enthusiastic guiding and driving by Anthony, made sure that I saw far more than I expected. Indeed Anthony took on my requests as a personal mission to fulfill and fulfill them he did.
The 8 day safari worked like clockwork and my wife and I felt safe and secure the whole time.
I cannot recommend Beacon Safaris highly enough and this is the easiest 5 out of 5 I have ever given.
AE
Wonderful holiday in Namibia
I was pleasantly surprised and very pleased with Namibia and our whole experience from dealing with ATI Holidays (Cameron) and all Namibians on route whether in lodges or at gas stations. Friendly people, great food, unbelievable scenery and a fantastic adventure. Literally everything in ATI Holidays had been taken into consideration, for example mobile phone and a cooler box for the drives! Never have I received such a good service 24/7 from a travel agency. I can recommend to everyone!
IT
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Two amazing weeks in the Pearl of Africa
We spent two wonderful weeks around Uganda thanks to the flawless organization of the tour by Costantino, the director, and his collaborators. We were five nature lovers, so our tour was tailored to see as many animals as possible. The tour operator proved to be very helpful just from the very first steps of the tour organization and they managed to accommodate all our requests. All the accommodation were clean and comfortable and the staff was always friendly. One of our travel mates walks with crutches, but we always found kind people willing to help him in any occasion.
The vehicle, a Toyota Land Cruiser, was clean and in perfect conditions. Fresh bottled water was available during the whole tour and plastic was collected to be recycled (not so usual in Uganda!). A special mention to our guide, Charles, who, in addition to being an excellent driver, is also a great expert of the Uganda fauna. He often spotted mammals and birds that were almost invisible to our eyes.
If you are a vegetarian, do not worry because in every place we had the possibility to eat vegetarian food. We would like also to point out the tour operator attention to the local environment and social issues. We loved to be the first tourists engaged in the Bugoma Forest Conservation Campaign and we do hope that Costantino and his supporters can preserve this precious forest. Not to mention the fact that, during the gorilla trekking in the Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, we stayed in a lodge run by the local community, so that the money earned from our stay could be invested for the community welfare, in particular for the construction of a water tank for the dry season. We really appreciated the idea to give back something to this beautiful country!
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Wonderful first safari experience
This was our first safari holiday and our first visit to South Africa. The trip had been arranged at rather short notice and we set off still not quite sure what to expect. We soon realised that we had absolutely nothing to worry about - the tour was superb and way beyond our expectations.
The itinerary that Elise had put together for us with overnight stops at a variety of lodges (Hannah's, Tshukudu, Satara and Skukuza) was perfect for our needs and the whole trip was adapted as we went along to suit our needs.
We had to dodge the rains a little during part of our panoramic trip through the mountains so concentrated on visiting the waterfalls (at their best) at the expense of some of the views that were lost in the mist - the only (unavoidable) negative of the trip.
To say that the combined knowledge shared by Johan and Elise was extensive would be an understatement and their dedication to providing the perfect experience for us was exceptional.
Hannah's was the perfect spot to relax after our long flight from the UK and the various wildlife interactions at Tshukudu will stay in our memories forever.
Once in Kruger Park, our guides’ ability to spot the most elusive creatures hiding amongst the bush helped us to reap the full benefit of our visit. Anyone can spot an elephant crossing the road and the odd impala or two but, thanks to our experts help, we saw a huge variety of animals including Wild Dog, Klipspringer, Duikers, Honey Badgers and more bird species than we could possibly remember - there's a lot more than just the "Big Five" (which we had multiple sightings of). Our guides' knowledge of habitats, plants and animal behaviour clearly stemmed from a huge wealth of experience. Knowing where and when to look for wildlife (and what to listen out for) can only be appreciated when you've seen the experts in action.
Many thanks to Elise and Johan.
We really cannot recommend Flight of the Eagle highly enough.
NL
Luxury Bwindi Impenetrable Forest gorilla trekking safari 2016.
Mia and I went in January 2016 to Uganda for a 5 day luxury gorilla trekking safari with gorilla tour booking safaris and all I can say it was an epitome of luxury. We were treated super special which guaranteed our value for money. From the safari lodges, car, and guide to the food; everything was luxurious.