Email Jean Paul Cornut | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Natural Beauty
The lodge was very pleasant and elegant. We do twice safari a day ( early morning and late afternoon) the Early morning was perfect ( 6.am to 12) .
Just the food was a bit poor and not really quality :(
Email Julie Hamlin | 65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
South Africa is the most wonderful and diverse location
We started our trip in Cape Town wehich so amazing. I felt completely safe,. Everyone we met were so helpful and friendly. We spent 9 nights, which was just enough to cover what we wanted to see. We went cage diving with sharks, visited the penguins at boulders beaqch. Travelled up Table mountain. We did 2 amazing free walks, one to Bo Kaap fabulous, another The Historic walk ok. Our hotel was fabulous, Cape Heritage, one of the oldest hotels in Cape Town.
After Cape Town we flew to Johannesburg to start our Kruger Safari. We were collected from our hotel and driven first to Trmisana Lodge, a good 4/5 hours drive ouch. Tip fly to Kruger. The room at Trmisana was so small dodgey aircon, couldnt sleep. The bar was not manned and lady a bit rude. The guides however were fabulous. So friendly and informative.
We moved next day to Marks Tree Houses. Staff so friendly and helpful. Treehouses were great , bathrooms very been cleaned.
The guide who drove us through Kruger was awful. Not friendly or welcoming. He drove too fast we m issed so much
Vast stretches of natural beauty created for humanity and animals alike
We visited Sabi Sands and stayed in Elephant Plains. Safaribookibgs.com organised the entire trip and we got what they promised. Very good transport arrangement for 400 km drive to Sabi Sands from J'Burg. Our escort Tabo is too good, courteous and very safe driving. Friendly and lively.
Elephant Plains is a fabulous property. Property with about 10 cottages and organised with great elegance blending with nature surrounding that place. U get to see from your room deer, Elephant and may be even Lion pride. Excellent food arrangement. The Chef took special care of us as we are Vegetarians and served us with Vegetarian dishes. Our host Junaita (Hopefully I am spelling her name correct; apologies otherwise) is simply superb ever smiling and helpful.
Elephant Plains organised two safari rides in 10 seater Forest open vehicle with an escort and ranger. Both the escort and ranger ensured that we saw the Big Five several times. Simply the wildlife is awesome. I recommend Safaribookings and Elephant Trail.
Email Jan | 65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
Email Leandro Germano | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amazing country with beautiful wildlife and lovely people
We had an amazing experience in Safari at Kruger with the agency Viva Safaris.
Very well organized, experienced guides and drivers. We didn’t need to worry with anything. Just relaxing and having fun watching the beautiful wildlife. Fantastic memories for life!
Congratulations to the Viva Safaris team!
Email Karen | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Wild life and nature and
The country is very unsafe, The perception is every day, Personally, I have a negative experience
Email Maria Elander | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Email Elaine Hall | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Trip of a life time
Safari in South Africa (Sabi Sands) was amazing. Our ranger got us close up to the animals, but also showed respect to their privacy/space.
The scenery in Cape Town and along the Garden route was lovely. Unfortunately the weather wasn't. Everyone we met were very friendly and helpful. I would certainly recommend South Africa as a travel destination (tick off the bucket list)
Email G & Y | 65+ years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Superb safari and much more
We visited South Africa for the third time this year having booked with Karina from Safari Online. After much personal research and some valuable advice from Karina we agreed our itinerary - 6 days safari in Klaserie (Baobab Ridge) and Sabi Sands (Arathusa Lodge) followed by 3 days whale watching in Hermanus. This proved to be a winning combination for us.
Our safari lodges were superb and we saw everything we wanted (the big five) and so much more. Spreading our safari across two difference reserves meant we had diverse but still thrilling experiences in each with such skilled guides. We were constantly impressed by their knowledge.
The rest of the staff in the lodges were equally welcoming and nothing was too much trouble.
On thing that took us by surprise was the very changeable weather. Forecast to be very hot, it was infact unseasonably cold at one point then changing to being exceptionally hot - very unpredictable. My advice would be pack for every season!
We finished off our holiday with some time in Hermanus as it was whale season and despite our whale-watching boat trip being cancelled we still saw dozens of whales from the cliff path looking across Walker Bay. This was also a lovely base as it was a small town full of lovely restaurants and with easy access to wineries and vineyards in the Hemel-en-Aarde valley. We used the wine-hoppers hop-on hop-off tour. We finished our visit to SA with a couple of nights in Cape Town and went to Boulders Beach to see the penguins.
All in all we had a fabulous time and our holiday met all our expectations and the variety and quality of the food and wine we had was impressive. We've visited SA before and wouldn't hesitate to return.
Email Brett Victor Charney | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
A beautiful country with amazing people!
We spent 16 nights in South Africa and in addition we visited Zimbabwe and Mauritius while on vacation. We visited Cape Town, drove the Garden Route spending time in Franschhoek, Hermanus, Knysna, and Gqeberha (PE), before traveling to Hoedspruit for a safari in the Karongwe Private Reserve.
Cape Town was incredible as we were able to tour Table Mountain, Seal Island, Boulder Beach, The Cape of Good Hope, Kirstenbosch, and Constantia for a taste of their excellent selection of wine. The food and wine in Franschhoek was amazing. The scenery along the way through Hermanus, Knysna, and PE was breathtaking! We even visited the Knysna Elephant Park and had a close up encounter with elephants and zebra.
We were able to see the Big Five in Karongwe as well as zebra, hippo, giraffe, and cheetah and many other animals on the list along with many bird species. The food and service at the Karongwe River Lodge was 5 star.
We have already recommended South Africa as a destination that should be on anyone's travel bucket list!