Everybodies favourite guide, Trevor
Elephant Herd Tours & Safaris
- Office In:
- Size:
- 5-10 employees (Founded in 2002)
- Member Of:
- SATSA & MISA
- Tour Types:
- Customizable private tours and fixed group tours
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $67 to $1,077 per person per day (USD, excl. int'l flights)
for a custom tour
Your request will be sent directly to the operator
If preferred, you can contact the operator directly
Reviews
Email Pamela | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Once in a lifetime experience
My partner and I had a game drive with Bhekifa..where do I even begin...He said "today I'm going to find you a leopard" and he did spot one hanging on a tree from a distance, he was very educational, the best and patient game driver, he showed different types of birds, we also saw lions.. I don't know how to put in the right words but we had the best experience and it's all thanks to him...Bhekifa♡♡♡♡
Email Suzie | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Friendly, reliable, helpful service which created a truly magical trip
This trip was a positive experience from the outset. I sent in a booking enquiry and received a quote back from Bev really quickly. The quote gave a detailed breakdown of what I could expect from the trip (a 3-day Kruger safari experience), what was included and so on. The price was reasonable (and, with current exchange rates, good value for money). Every time I went back with a query I got a prompt and helpful response, including advice about weather, clothing and what to pack. This was a big adventure for me and my partner to celebrate a milestone birthday, and Bev really went the extra distance to make sure we were well looked after from start to finish and that the experience was really special for us. It felt a bit of a leap of faith flying to a city we'd never been to and then getting on a shuttle bus to be dropped off 5 hours later in a town we'd never heard of. However we were provided with all the information we needed, including the registration and driver name for the shuttle bus, and everything ran to clockwork. Bev was there to meet us on arrival and take us to our hotel, which was stunning. The Elephant Whispers experience was a wonderful way to settle us into our safari trip, meeting these magnificent animals up close and learning more about them. The two safari days were fantastic. The guides arrived exactly when they said they would (and coped with our bleary-eyed incoherence at being up so early in the morning). Both days we arrived at the gates to the park at first light and had a wonderful time. We felt in utterly safe hands with our friendly, knowledgeable and experienced guides (Vuyo on the first day, Bhekife on the second day). They were brilliant, especially Bhekife, who spotted things at an incredible distance, and stopped frequently to peer out and look for footprints in soft sand to spot which animals had been by recently. Both guides were keen to help us find and see a huge variety of wildlife, including as many of the 'big 5' as possible but many other incredible sights. They were generous in sharing their incredible knowledge of the animals and birds and answering all our questions. They also made sure we were comfortable, offering blankets, rain ponchos and bottled water throughout the day. They were very good at picking up on what we were interested in and finding more of it to show us - my partner and I were interested in birds as well as animals and we saw so many species of birds we had never seen - an unexpected aspect to what we thought would be predominantly an animal safari. In our one full day and one half day we saw 3 of the big 5. We narrowly missed the elusive leopard (Bheki had spotted tracks from one and returned to that area several times, but no leopard appeared there until one was reported just as we were leaving the park), but we did see a cheetah instead. We also didn't see rhino - which given their vulnerability wasn't all that surprising, but we were able to catch up on rhino at the incredible service-station on the road back to Johannesburg. On our final day Bev and Brendan arranged a seamless handover of our luggage ready for our transfer back to the airport, and even arranged to print off our boarding passes for us (which was great as our phones were out of battery by the time we got back to the airport!!).
For the wildlife geeks reading this, we have a long list of what we saw -
Animals - impala, gnu/wildebeest, hippo, elephant (many), zebra (many), giraffes (many), kudu, hyena, nyala, buffalo, baboon, velvet monkey, lions (several), warthogs, crocodile, turtle, iguana, chameleon, steenbok, crocodile, cheetah
Birds - hooded vulture, woodland kingfisher, glossy starlings, egyptian goose, blacksmith lapwing, red-billed oxpecker, hammerkop, saddle-billed stork, african fish eagle, plover, grey heron, tawny eagle, white-headed vulture, african hoopoe, brown snake eagle, marabou stork, helmeted guinea fowl, swallow, bataleur eagle, grey lorrie, white-backed vulture, purple heron, yellow hornbill, red hornbill, white-fronted bee-eater, magpie shrike, lilac-breasted roller, brown hooded kingfisher, goshawk, ostrich
A special mention should also go to our hotel, Ashbourne Country Escapes. Rob and his staff treated us like royalty from the moment we arrived. Our room was wonderful (even though we didn't have as much time as we would have liked to lounge around and enjoy it). The sundowner bar is a magical spot and our dinner both nights was utterly delicious. We also set off both days with a delicious packed breakfast to eat while out on safari. Rob is a truly delightful host with lots of interesting tales to tell at the bar of an evening. It's a wonderful hotel - the service is discreet, attentive and meticulous and it is in a breathtakingly beautiful spot. Can't recommend it highly enough.
I was hoping that this trip would be a memorable, magical experience and it exceeded my expectations by some way. We felt safe, confident and well looked-after throughout the experience and were able to relax and concentrate on soaking up the sights and filling our heads with incredible images and memories. I think that is a tribute to the personal care and attention to detail by Bev, Brendon and the Elephant Herd team, and the superb guides Vuyo and Bhekife. We are enormously grateful to all of them for opening our eyes to such wonderful experiences. We hope to return someday. We definitely left wanting more!!
NL
Email Eric | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Best safari ever
Our ranger was very good, he knew everything about the Kruger Park and the animals, he was born there
DE
Email Aylin | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Fantastic and very experienced operator who goes the extra mile
Perfectly organized safari. We had a really nice small group, a guide with 26 years of experience, good stories and an excellent sense of humor. They went an extra mile to make us all happy. We saw quite a lot of animals, learned & laughed a lot about animals, South African culture and landscape. Would always choose this operator again.
NL
Email Peter | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Nice trip Good info
Nice trip for a good price. Driver was well informed
Email Andre de Villiers | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Knowledgeable, friendly and at hand
This was truly an experience worth the while. We had 5 French friends to show the big five and Kruger Park. Luckily we were told about Elephant Herd for on our own we would never encountered the big 5, twice, on 2 separate days. The guide/operator was very knowledgeable on all wildlife and poses a very keen eye to spot animals. I can truly recommend Elephant Herd tours and safaris. Thank you for an amazing 2 days.
Email Verena | 65+ years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Fantastic
Trevor was prompt collecting us , so knowledgable on animals , birds , flora & fauna ,a magnetic personality , full of humour & made our tour amazing
Email Michele | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Masillo was our safari guide. The nicest person! knowlegable+went extra mile to find sightings. 5🌟
Our safari guide Masillo provided us with a most memorable day. Always friendly, polite and willing to answer any question to test his knowledge(which is outstanding after the many years he has worked in Kruger Nat Park)
An absolute asset to Elephant Herd Safaris.
A day always to be remembered and part of it due to Masillo.
Email Roxie | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
She is a great, friendly, life changing woman
Bev was our tour operator. She made everything about our trip so easy and stress free. She put a plan together for us and within the day, the plan and itinerary was complete, with room to change if required. We changed the accommodation and pick up times a few times. Non of this was an issue. We ended up staying with one of the accommodations recommended by this tour group. We are super happy that we did and we upgraded. The lodge was so accommodating and friendly. welcome drinks provided with morning and evening game drives. The value for money was fantastic. A little more pricier than we anticipated, but we would do this over again. Food was provided and coffees and drinks were provided on the game drives, which we were not aware of, so this was a lovely surprise. Communication between myself and Bev was amazing. One of the best interactions iv had with a tour group and i travel for a living. I would 100% use this tour group again. Value for money, service, reliability, communication and the tours were incredible.
Email Hayley-Jo | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Becifer: excellent, knowledgable, skilled and thoroughly enjoyed his role
The Elephant heard tours were fantastic. Both tour guides were great and Becifer’s dedication and skills and spotting animals from a distance, from tracks etc was amazing. Christopher was also a good guide and we saw some amazing things.
We did also book a private safari through Elephant heard where Christopher transported us to Sabi Sands and then we were transferred to a bus with one of their private guides. That one was pretty disappointing and in our view a waste of money; the Elephant heard guides were so much better!
I think the issue was that the Sabi Sands guide assumed everyone on her truck was staying at Sabi Sands and would therefore be doing sunset safari everyday. For example on our 3hr sunset tour she spent over 45mins sat looking at bushes waiting to see if the Leopard emerged because she wanted to see the Leopard. She told us at the start how the elephants come close to the trucks etc which would have been amazing, but drove straight past the elephants telling everyone we could see them tomorrow as she was going to see the Leopard. Thats fair enough but proceeding to sit there for almost an hour during which time we saw nothing was a waste. The other passengers had the benefit of doing a sunset safari on other days being guests of Sabi sands and so could see the other animals. We paid to do that once and it was our only sunset safari and so was disappointing. We also did not get the sunset picnic which the other buses got. Their spotter didn’t actually spot anything. We did and when we told the guide she would then reverse back so that they could see the animal at the front but didn't have any regard for our view now being blocked by bushes. I think as the most expensive one we did it was not great and we much preferred the Elephant Heard guides.
In fact we saw the Leopard as Christopher from Elephant Heard was driving us out of Sabi Sands and Christopher pulled over, slowly followed the Leopard and got us an awesome view of the Leopard. He was better than the whole Sabi Sands tour!
