Great diversity
Capetown area and coast were lovely.
Kruger was terrific
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Email Mary | 65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
This adventure exceeded our expectations
We booked with Wild Planet Safari to visited Kruger National Park for 9 days/8 nights. Thale was very responsive and helpful in setting up our four person private tour. Everything ran very smoothly. The minute we drove into the park we started seeing wild life and were blown away by the quantity, diversity and proximity of the wild life. We expected to have to use binoculars to see the wild life, but that was not true. The animals and birds were very near the road and very visible. We saw the "big 5" right away and saw them repeatedly throughout our stay.
We spent 2 nights each staying in Skukuza and Satara camps in the park and our Rondawell accommodations were much better and more comfortable than we expected. Our tour guide, Kim, was extremely knowledgeable and had great instincts about where to find animals. Our cook, Hope, was a delight and the food was great. We spend two more nights in the Milima Lodge Reserve next to Kruger. We saw many of the same animals we had seen in Kruger, but in fewer numbers. The reserve had a more relaxed pace, very enjoyable accommodations and was an enjoyable break from the hustle to see the animals in Kruger park. Our last two nights were at an estate in Hoedspruit staying in a bed and breakfast. This location was convenient for the Panorama Route and our visit to the HERD elephant reserve. However, I would have skipped the Panorama route and the HERD visit and gone back to Kruger and staying in the bush for the last two nights.
Overall we were thrilled with our South Africa safari and would recommend the experience and Wild Planet Safari wholeheartedly.
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Email Linda J Marquez | 65+ years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Memorable and Magical
Our trip started in Cape Town at a beautiful hotel on the waterfront. We spent a day in wine country which I would highly recommend. Although, next time, I think we would stay in the winelands for a couple of days as there is so much more there than just wine tastings. The scenery is peaceful and vast. We traveled with a small group tour to the Cape of Goid Hope along the scenic winding western Atlantic coast with a stop in Simon's Town for lunch and on to Boulders Beach to be entertained by the penguins. Our last day, Saturday, our morning was spent at the most amazing outdoor market, lunch and fabulous shopping at the waterfront and another fabulous dinner. The food and drinks in CPT are excellent and very reasonably priced. We were not able to do the Panoramic Route in White River because our plane was routed to Johannesburg due to rain and poor visibility at Neispruit airport. Staying at Oliver's was so relaxing and pampering it almost made up for what we missed. The last 4 days of our trip we will never forget. I cannot even begin to express how outstanding the game drives, knowledgeable skilled guides and trackers, luxury accommodations, 5-star dining at the Savanna Private Game Reserve was. The Big 5 were an everyday siting, plus leopards feasting and mating! Elephants of all sizes, many species of antelope and birds abound. We experienced a herd of cape buffalo that numbered over 1000. Out private waterhole was a constant afternoon parade of zebras, rhinos, a hippo, warthogs, kudu, buffalos, and birds. One night our dinner was a BBQ around a large fire, next in the open spaces surrounded by 100s of lanterns and another in the dining car of a historic train. You must book this place! It is worth every penny spent and we are not affluent an affluent couple. Splurge on this one. I've only touched on the service and luxury you will experience.
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Email Laurie and John Bell | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Everything and more than you would ever imagine in Africa
South Africa has so many diverse geographical regions, waterfront at Cape Town, agriculture both beautiful and tasty, and multiple terrain for animals. We’ve been to multiple countries in Africa for safaris and loved all of them, however it seemed South Africa had even more to offer. Absolutely best wildlife, we saw everything on this trip that it took several trips to see in the past, although maybe we were just lucky since animals aren’t predictable. We even had an opportunity to do the shark cage diving, a little different than Great White cage diving we’ve done elsewhere, but a great experience just the same. And if nothing else, you could eat your way around the country, especially outstanding is the produce. Kudos to G Adventures who we traveled with part of the time, and Mmilo Tours for an outstanding private sunrise tour. We would go back in a heartbeat. And before I forget, the history should not be missed with a tour of Robben Island and Soweto. Lastly, the people of South Africa are beyond friendly and helpful.
SG
Email Cynthia Tan | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Can’t get enough of the exquisite beauty
It has the full range of the rustic wild life to the modern world of skyscraper architecture
Food is amazing- was not disappointed
Historically and culturally rich
Warm and friendly people
Working language is English, so it easy for me to get around, both spoken and written
Email Eduardo | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
It was 🔥
Beautiful country, people and culture. Loads to do and more. Would easily return.
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Email Deirdre | 65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
Land of Contrasts
Our journey to South Africa was jam-packed. We spent slightly more time on the ground than we did in our flights getting there. We saw the Big Five in Kruger courtesy of a safari provided by Wild Life Safaris. Our guide Nick was well-informed and always one-step ahead of what we wanted to do. Our flight from there to Cape Town was uneventful. Cape Town was as beautiful as advertised. Hiked Lion's Head, walked the beach from Camps Bay to the city waterfront, ate some very good food. Saw ostriches, eland, and penguins on the beach. Visited the wine country. Weather "cooperated."
Email Beth Elrefai | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Stunningly beautiful, diverse landscape and amazing animals
Our trip to South Africa was one of our all time favorites! We visited Johannesburg, Cape Town, Cape Point, the Garden Route and Kapama Private game reserve for safari. The entire 2 weeks were wonderful, diverse and so fun. Johannesburg was so interesting. Cape Town was filled with natural beauty. Seeing penguins on the beach, whales breaching right off the shore, ostrich farms, and walking among elephants at the elephant sanctuary were daily thrills. We paraglided near Knsyna, went hiking and kayaking. There is so much to see and do in South Africa! The Safari was the cherry on top of a perfect vacation sundae!
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Email Brinda Dass | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
amazing once you get out of the urban areas to enjoy nature and wild life
If you haven't experienced a safari and are in S Africa then Kruger and surroundings are a definite must see. Take at least 4 days to get away and enjoy at least one full day on safari to get a taste of the beauty and animals. Night safari if you can arrange is a different additional experience and tented overnight stay as well to get full immersion of night time sounds. I did 4 days/3 nights with Viva Safaris and stayed at Tremisana and Katekani properties, cannot recommend them enough. Great guides, one full day, one night, and several other shorter safaris including a bush walk, good company, good food and saw all sorts of birds and animals (big5 for sure). Wish i had more time to see the Blyde River Canyon more extensively but will just have to come back for more. :)
NL
Email Robin | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
One of the most beautiful countries in the world
We did a nice roadtrip from Johannesburg, towards Graskop, Kruger and back. From OR Tambo to Graskop was a really nice road, especially the last part up to Sabie and the Panoramaroute. Those scenics where really beautiful. When arrived in Graskop we went up to Blyde Canyon River over the Panoramaroute and that's really one of the most beautiful views that I've ever seen.
Then we moved towards Kruger, entered through Phabeni Gate and stayed for a couple of nights in Skukuza Safari Lodge in the Skukuza Rest Camp. A really nice park with good tarmac roads, but also enough gravel roads to make it feel more like a safari. We saw the whole big five, so we were quite lucky with that. The leopard was the hardest sighting, but we managed to see two of them. Lots of buffalos and elephants, also plenty of lions and we saw about 9 rhinos. But we were also lucky with other rare sightings like Nyala, Sable Antelope and some really young hyena cubs. Also so many birds, really nice to see so many different species.
We left through the south and stayed for one night in Marloth Park, which is a really nice spot if you want to be outside Kruger but still be very close to the park. We finished our stay in Johannesburg with just a relaxing day at the hotel as we didn't feel the need to go out there in the city as it didn't feel the safest to do.
The food we had was amazing, so much good meat but also some of the South African menus were really nice. The weather was perfect, about 30-35 degrees in Kruger and 24 back in Johannesburg. Really good for a nice holiday!
