Safari Blog

Hi Liselle,

I just wanted to thank you very much for your help in planning my trip. I travelled home on Sunday night – eventually. SAA had delayed my flight from Johannesburg to London on Sunday night and their staff seemed reluctant to offer any help other than “we’ll put you in a hotel and you will fly on Monday morning !!!” Eventually they agreed to put a few of us (more persistent ones) on a wait list for the later flight (which they had originally refused to consider, saying it was impossible) and we actually got this flight in the end – thankfully.

Even this couldn’t spoil a fantastic trip.

Cape Town was wonderful. I did just about everything and even took in a Stormers game. Table Mountain in the morning sun was a great sight, Robben Island was most interesting and the Waterfront is a great place to spend time.

As for Kwa Mbili, wow, I’m so glad I went there. A great recommendation from you. I was the only guest and Beth and Gavin (Neil and Mel had gone away) were wonderful and first class hosts. I felt like I was staying with friends. It was so relaxed. We always ate together and each evening after dinner was spent around the fire with a few drinks. The game drives, with my personal Ranger and tracker, were excellent. Gavin is so knowledgeable. I saw, and experienced so much and we had many laughs along the way. I almost felt guilty calling my wife (in J’burg) each evening to tell her what a wonderful time I was having while she was focussed on playing bowls. I fully intend taking her there in the future but I don’t think I will persuade her to stay in one of the tents, as I did. The whole experience was unforgettable.

I understand that you are visiting Kwa-Mbili in the near future. I am sure you will have a great experience. I will also be writing to Beth and Gavin but please pass in my very best wishes.

J’burg was very different but I managed to see a little bit of the area as well as a bowling green. The opulence of the rich suburbs was obvious and they seem to be really trying to improve the City Centre. I also got down to Soweto which was very interesting, moving, and uplifting all at the same time. The IPL cricket at the Wanderers was also an experience. I went twice and it was like being in India !

Many thanks again for helping to organise the trip of a lifetime. I found South Africa an amazing Country and look forward to visiting (especially Kwa-Mbili) again in the future.

Best wishes

Jeremy

Guest Visited Kwa Mbili Safari Lodge

Hello Liselle,

I would like to thank you for great holidays. I am very happy with the experience – lodges definitely met & exceeded my expectations, safari was great and Victoria Falls awesome.

I hope to come back to you for a new African trip, soon - I will also recommend you to other polish customers.

Best regards

Lukasz

Guest Visited Arathusa Safari Lodge, Honeyguide Khoka Moya & Chundukwa River Lodge

Hi Brett,

We are finally back at work and wishing we were still on safari!! We had the most amazing time in SA and often reflected on how lucky we were to find your travel company - we originally sent off an internet request to a random African company to send us their brochure, and you ended up arranging the perfect honeymoon for us. The trip definitely exceeded all expectations and we were so grateful for all your experience and assistance - here is a rundown of our trip in case the feedback is useful.....

Arathusa was a great start - the quality of accommodation was very impressive especially as I had understood it was just classed as 'comfortable'. The staff, food and game viewing were also unbeatable. We were glad to have 3 days there given we had quite an epic flight from Australia and needed some time to recover from the jetlag. Definite highlight was watching that amazing waterhole right out front of the lodge and all the incredible animals that come to drink throughout the day. We also had an elephant literally come to our window and then wander around the camp for a while which was pretty amazing.

Africa on Foot was also fantastic - it really suited us to do something a bit more active and just as you promised, Courtenay (but also his offsider, Daniel) were incredibly passionate and knowledgeable which made for a great experience. As it turned out, we were the only 2 people in camp and really appreciated the highly personal service. I think you had 'warned' me that the accommodation was very basic but to be honest, I don't think that was necessary. I was expecting something pretty grotty and run down and discovered a clean, spacious 2 bedroom cottage which was really beautiful - no electricity but we really didn't miss it and had lanterns if required. We were absolutely fine with the change from Arathusa - thought this was the best way to do it because I am not sure I would have wanted to start with the rustic option after our long flight.

And then, when we thought it couldn't get any better - we arrived at Kings. We got upgraded to the honeymoon suite which was absolutely awesome (own plunge pool!) and the whole offering is very luxurious. We didn't like our Kings guide quite as much as the others but he was still good and we saw some great game.

Last stop - Tanamera, what a treat. We felt very at home amongst the gum trees and loved how intimate this place was. We had our only days of cold, rainy weather here and I really can't think of a better spot to curl up alongside the log fire and really relax. After the week of safari we were very happy not to have the 5.30am starts and have a bit less structure in the day. The manager (Darryl or Darren?) was very welcoming and went out of his way to organise activities etc for us.

All in all - I can't speak highly enough for what you organised for us. We often asked ourselves if there was anything we would have changed in terms of length of stay, or the order of the lodges etc but we couldn't find a single flaw. It definitely whet our appetite for Africa - every single person we met raved about Cape Town and the wine country and the Garden Route and.....the list goes on so we are already talking about when and where we could go next year to continue our African Travel Saga - and we will most definitely get back in touch with you to help us out with that.

I feel I have written a whole essay - but really wanted to thank you again for all your assistance and we hope to speak to you soon, Kit and Gerald Georgeos

Guests visited Arathusa, Africa on Foot and Kings Camp

Hi Brett,

I will call you as it's better by phone, but both camps were excellent. The total experience including pick-ups, drop-offs, reception, accommodation, game drives, food, drinks, etc were amazing. Seriously amazing. And it was a great idea to stay in two different camps and two different reserves; we felt that we really got the most out of our trip and both lodges.

Will send you some photos...

cheers,

Andrew

Guests visited Tanda Tula and Nottens Bush Camp

Hi Liselle,

The trip was great – I’d highly recommend Chapungu. We saw 4 out of 5 – leopards a bit harder to spot.

Thanks for your help.

Regards, Daniel.

Guest Visited Chapungu Tented Camp

Hello,

My stay at your place was great and I did see the big five and many more. The lodge is very nice, but it would be nice to get rid of those ants....

Sabine indermaur

Guest Visited Madikwe Safari Lodge

Hi Liselle,

With reference to your email below, i am happy to tell you that we have arrived home safely- back to reality! We had an amazing time in South Africa,

Capetown was beautiful- a bit cold but not as bad as Ireland! the staff in Primi Royal were extremely helpful to us and were happy to make arrangements for us if we needed help. The best part though was definitely the safari in Kruger- i only wished we had booked a longer holiday!!

Gomo Gomo lodge was as good as any hotel accomodation i have stayed in -it was even better actually! the rooms were gorgeous! and the rangers and lodge staff were all so lovely- we will miss them. I definitely would like to return to Africa soon, next time we would like to visit two different game lodges and maybe a week in Mauritius after! all i have to do now is sort out when i can go back!

Kind Regards,

Thanks again,

Aisling Lafferty

Guest Visited Gomo Gomo Game Lodge

Liselle,

The Ngala tented Camp was really nice. I had a great time and highly recommend. The transfers went smoothly. Thanks for all you help.

Doug

Guest Visited Ngala Tented Camp

Brett - here's my feedback on the Delta and Leroo. My first visit to Africa, which had been a lifelong dream.

I loved the whole Delta experience, and I gather we were visiting at a unique time, when the volume of water spilling down from the Congo and Angola was greater than at any time in the last 20, 30 or 50 years (depending on who we listened to) - this affected the camps and drives available,but not negatively: it actually added to the experience and called for initiative on the part of camp staff and guides - it was quite exciting trying to discover whether we could drive along water-filled tracks without getting stuck, or how we might find an alternative route to the animals.

The whole thing came together beautifully, combining to give me a wonderful time. We were five in the party and got on together very well: our guide, Andy (Anderson) was great - patient, good-humoured, knowledgeable, an excellent tracker: the camps and camp staff were all great - I especially loved Linyanti staff for being so welcoming and natural, singing us a greeting, and farewell: the varied modes of transport - Land Rover, Caravane, Cessna, fast waterboat, mokoro...

the different habitats, birds and animals - we saw lion eating a freshly killed baboon, a baby hyena playing around its parents, cheetahs swimming across a water channel - all this in addition to what we might have expected (giraffes, zebras, warthogs, jackals, hippopotami etc), and the less expected (such as the Pel's Fishing Owl, and lechwe) - my favourite was the majestic Fish Eagle.

Adding Leroo at the end was a brilliant suggestion - thank you. It was a complete contrast with the 'watery' experience of the firat 10 days, and a different geography as well. The camp itself is superb, and what a privilege to be able to watch the animals at the bore-hole in front of the camp, especially down the steps in the hide. I had another very knowledgeable guide ('Dutch') who appeared to take as much pleasure in the 'finds' he made for us as the guests did - it was great to pick up on his enthusiasm. Again we saw the 'expected' but also the unexpected. I was blown away by the numbers of zebra, and it was at Leroo that I saw my first rhino, and crocodiles OUT of the water, as well as such treats as a bat-eared fox and a silver fox, along with many birds not previously seen. Leroo was a real treat and rounded the trip off so well.

Many thanks indeed - I shall be recommending to others, and I hope to be able to afford to return, maybe to Namibia next time!

Jill visited Migration Routes and Leroo la Tau

Hi Brett

Thanks for checking!

Our safari was absolutely marvelous!! The lodge was amazing, just as so many on tripadvisor.com have described; all in all a magical, serene and absolutely fantastic experience! In fact, all of these superlatives don’t do our experience justice…so wonderful was the whole thing.

From the very first minute when we arrived to the lodge after travelling for 7 hours…they really made us feel very welcome. My mom has never experienced (not any of us) this kind of hospitality so needless to say she was so taken by the attention and service.

We all felt that way about all the places and people we saw in South Africa! This kind of hospitality and kindness we haven’t seen anywhere…it’s just amazing!!

The game drives were of course the highlight of the whole safari and we saw 4 of the big5, and I don’t mind not having seen the buffalo at all - more important were the big cats!!

I could write a novel about our feelings but hopefully this is enough to describe that we were more than happy with choosing this particular lodge. So Thank You and Renate for your wonderful service and the manager of the lodge actually wants to thank Renate personally (she originally recommended this lodge) and also your boss!! She was very taken by the fact that out of all hundreds of lodges throughout SA, people find them…so is it possible you could get Renate’s current email address for me? And also the name and email address to your boss/manager, who had recommended Madikwe Safari Lodge so highly to us.

And thanks for the mail about the ants…although I didn’t get it until today…this is my work email…we did have a little problem with them…but it wasn’t enough to ruin the experience…just a little creepy Hopefully the next time (and there will be one!) there won’t be this problem.

Also, could you find email addresses for me directly to the lodge?? I was supposed to email the manager Yolande…but can’t seem to find her email anywhere on the internet..or a phone number either…is there a way to contact them directly?

Thanks again Brett for all your help!!!! I will be recommending SunSafaris to anyone who goes to SA!!!

By the way…all of my ’concerns’ about the safety things…they all vanished in the actual moments…wasn’t scary to ’go’ in the bush or to meet the lions either..it’s funny to notice how little they care about the jeep!!

Lots of sunny springtime regards from a warming Finland,

Jana

Guests visited Madikwe Safari Lodge