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Email Bruce Geller | 65+ years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Greater Kruger has it all, abundant animals, outstanding lodges, knowledgeable guides, friendly loca
I started researching this trip to South Africa with an internet search for safaris. I found SafariBookings and they were the most comprehensive site with the most safaris. From there, read about the various national parks in SA, and decided that Kruger was right for my family trip. I went back to SafariBookings and filtered for safaris in Kruger, mid-range cost, about 1 week in length. The best fit was Wildlife Encounters (WE) , which offered a 5-day safari to 3 different game reserves in greater Kruger. As it turned out, the lodges that WE had chosen for us were all fantastic. The lodges themselves were like something out of the movie "Out of Africa" or a Hemmingway novel. The food was excellent, often including meat grilled on an outdoor wood fire, lots of fresh vegetables and fruits, and tasty desserts. We found that all the lodges where we stayed used water purification systems that allowed us to eat all the fresh food without concern for disease, which was a huge plus for us. The guides knew their areas well, and did a fantastic job driving and navigating the dirt 2-track roads. We saw the Big 5 animals in the first 48 hours. The abundance of animals is remarkable. Our favorite stay was Tusker Lodge in Kliseri-best food (Victory), best guide (Troy), best tracker (Vucy). Judy at WE gets a shout-out for arranging such a trip of a lifetime.
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Email Charlotte A Fulton | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Spectacular
We stayed at KuSungula lodge near Kruger Nat Park. This was the most amazing trip ever. We spent time doing open air bush rides through the reserve as well as several days with a guide in Kruger. The entire experience was awesome. The local people were lovely and so helpful and our lodge experience was simply amazing! Seeing the animals in their natural habitat without fear of us was indescribable.
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Email Nikki Schmidt | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
S Africa should be on everyone's bucket list!! Amazing animals, Amazing scenery, and amazing people
S Africa has always been #1 on my bucket list. I planned a trip to visit as much of S Africa as I could in 25 days. Johannesburg, Kruger, Port Elizabeth, and the garden route to Cape Town.
We arrived in S Africa and spent 1 night before being picked up for our first safari camp the next morning. I found Viva Safari online and they provided everything I wanted in a 6 night safari trip. They picked us up on Johannesburg, and a driver takes you the 6 hrs to the greater Kruger area. You stay in a lodge (tent, luxury tent, cabin, or room lodge) right in the middle of beautiful wildlife. You have all your meals, and 2 game drives per day; except the 2 full days that you have in Kruger Park. The employees are friendly, the drivers are excellent at finding wildlife, and you meet people from all over the world. At the end of your safari, the company drives you back to Johannesburg.
Johannesburg isn't safe to explore on your own so we took a tour to the Apartheid Museum and to Soweto Township.
Next we flew to Port Elizabeth, rented a car, where we drove to our next safari camp in the Amakhala area. Bukela was a luxury resort much different than Viva Safari (but also more expensive - *check out TravelZoo.com for great deals). Here we spent 5 nights with 2 game drives every day. Beautiful, beautiful scenery and lots of wildlife.
From there we're spent a day at Addo Elephant Park. *All of our overnight stays from here, down the garden route, and to Cape Town were booked through Airbnb.
We then took 9 days to travel down the garden route. We stopped at Tsitsikamma National Park, went bongee jumping at Bloukrans Bridge, spent at day with the elephants at an Elephant Sanctuary, visited Monkey land and Birds of Eden, went through the Cango Caves, visted an ostrich farm, and saw beautiful views of the coast while driving.
In Cape Town we went to the District 6 Museum, took a free informational tour of the City (guruwalk.com), visited Bo-Kaap, and did a township tour of Langa. *We really wanted to visit Robben Island, but tickets sell out days in advance so plan accordingly.
Overall, we had an AMAZING trip. All of the people that we met were welcoming and friendly. We will definitely visit again.
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Email Kyle Burkholder | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Kapama Pure Joy
The solid infrastructure of South Africa allowed our family to enjoy a glorious holiday on safari.
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Email Kenny Murray | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
incredible experience
Vaneshree from Safari bookings designed our family holiday with perfection. Following a short brief from my wife and I she designed a two-lodge safari, Cape town adventures and exquisite dining experiences, Whale watching in Hermanus, and wine stay and tour in Franchuk. This was the easiest, most professional holiday proposal we have had; every detail was covered from drivers to flights and dinner.
South Africa didn't disappoint. From arrival in Johannesburg to departure from Cape Town the welcoming people and mesmerizing countryside will be a long-lasting memory.
Our Safari in Sabi sands started at Nkorho Lodge the Idubi Lodge. Both completely different but both brilliant. Lodge, Guides, cuisine and the animals could not be improved. Cape Town was magical, we stayed at table Bay on the waterfront, again the staff were incredible. Table Mountain is a must and easy to get around. We used a private driver who also doubled as a tour guide which was brilliant. Hermanus was good, the whales were spectacular. Franchuk was too short, when we go back, I would like to stay two extra days to enjoy the mountains and more vineyards.
The country is fabulous, but our biggest thanks go to Vanashree who arranged everything within a few days, she was always on hand for advice if we fancied a change to the Interary or extra place to visit. We look forward to our next visit to South Africa
Email Karel | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amazing experience!
The tour was amazing and a real enjoyable experience. We stayed at the Kruger Gate Hotel which was great with beautiful sunsets overlooking Kruger.
Kruger National Park was exhilarating - we did a sunset game drive and an all day game drive, managing to see the BIG 5 and many more of South Africa's incredible wildlife!
Having a private transfer from Johannesburg with the extra stop offs to God’s window and Blyde River Canyon were an added bonus to our trip.
Our guide Norman, was with us the entire way. He was a great guide with lots of knowledge, personable and extremely friendly.
I would definitely recommend Nhlalala travel to anyone considering Safari in Kruger.
Email Dominic | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amazing safari and wildlife experience with fantastic scenery
We booked with Safari Bookings to stay at the Motswari Game Lodge in Timbavati Private Game Reserve. Every aspect of the trip was just brilliant. Safari Bookings took care of the flights from Jo'Burg to Hoedspruit, transfers and stay at Motswari. Our safari experience started as soon as entered the access road into Timbavati with giraffe and a large herd of elephants crossing the road. this was just the appetizer before our main safari event. We booked 4 nights with 8 game drives and all-inclusive accommodation. The staff and hospitality were top tier. the camp is open to the bush, so on our first day we were delayed getting to our beautiful lodge by a couple of elephants who had wandered in. Our first game drive took us to a leopard who had just made a kill so was up in tree guarding it with a couple of hyenas sniffing around at the base. Our guide and tracker were brilliant, and worked really hard to track down some wildlife including a mother and baby rhino, painted wolf pack and a group of lions who had crossed over from Kruger. We never thought in a million years we would see so much and have the wildlife approach us so closely. Fantastic. After our safari, we privately booked a trip to Cape Town. Brilliant scenery, African penguins, ostriches, Cape of Good Hope, Table mountain (very cloudy though) and defeinitely worth the trip. To finish our holiday we booked to go to Victoria Falls (Zambia) which truly deserves its billing as one of the 7 Natural wonders of the World. We booked a walking safari in the Mosi-Oa-Tunya national park which was absolutely brilliant. Coming across a herd of rhino on foot is a very different experience than in a vehicle and very exciting. So many memories of a brilliant holiday - one tip - get a good camera!
Email Pamela Fitzsimons | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
utterly breath taking
From start to finish the whole experience was great, easy to book, keep in touch before the trip. All the staff and pilots were very informative and super friendly. would totally recommend this an experience
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Email Anna | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Most incredible experience of a life time!
My son and I traveled to South Africa. We did a safari in the Umkumbe reserve, and saw an incredible amount of wildlife, we even saw a rare pangolin. The guides were excellent and very knowledgeable. The accommodations were clean and detailed, we even had a hot water bottle waiting in our beds for a warm night sleep. We then traveled to Cape Town and visited Table Mountain, Roben Island, Boulder beach to see the penguins and swam with the seals. We wanted to go and dive with the great white sharks, but due to climate change these beast have not been seen on the coast for the past 4 years. A GREAT BIG thank you to Ilana for arranging the trip, it was perfect right down to every detail. Highly recommend this trip of a life time. A bucket list fulfilled!
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Email Graziano Colombo | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
A must do trip
Great experience. Wildlife has been perfect, and our guide Simon a perfect companion into the magic world of Safaris.
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