Safari Blog

Hi Brett

 

Thanks for your email. The safari was absolutely amazing. Thank you once again for all your advice and help.

 

Camp Shawu, particularly, was great. You were right, it has an amazing spot and sitting on our private deck watching the waterhole was an absolute highlight. Frank the tracker/guide was also fantastic. The accommodation was very luxurious, and the fire place made it extra special. It was really very good value for money, thank you for your recommendation. We saw the big 5 here in one day, as well as four cheetahs feeding on an impala!

 

We also had a very good time at Notten's. The food was delicious, and the owners friendly. We went for a massage which was also good, and the boma evening was special. The only problem is that because they have traversing rights over Sabie Sands, there are millions of roads, which spoils the scenery a little, and you end up seeing many other cars. You are also only allowed a few minutes to watch game like lions, in order to make way for another car. They are constantly talking to, or listening to, other game rangers on the radio, which gets a bit noisy. Still, it was a good experience. We saw elephants, lions and a leopard here too, and got a really good view of rhino's. The one evening a herd of about 100 buffalos walked past the lodge, which was amazing.

 

As the final destination, Ngala was perfect. It's very luxurious, and well organised. Although you don't get the same feeling of being in the bush as you do at Shawu's accommodation, it's got a wonderful atmosphere. Being part of CC Africa, the tour guides and trackers are excellent and we really learnt a lot from them. We also got very close to the big 5, including lions and a leopard, and could sit and watch them for as long as we wanted to. Having such a knowledgeable tourguide really made it special.

 

The directions to the roads were great - I would just advise people to rent a 4x4 for the gravel road to Ngala, because it is very bumpy and uncomfortable. We spent 50 minutes shaking like mad from where the tar road ended to Ngala lodge. Also, paying R100 per person at the Timbavati gate is a bit inconvenient - I'm sure they could add that to their accommodation cost (I did tell this to them too). And Notten's doesn't accept credit cards, but they offered that we could make an internet transfer afterwards.

 

Once again thank you for your help, everyone enjoyed every moment!

 

Keep well,

Cari