Rochelle Buys - Owner of Wild Kruger
Wild Kruger
- Office In:
- Size:
- 1-5 employees (Founded in 2015)
- Tour Types:
- Small & medium group tours (Mid-range)
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $130 to $1,042 per person per day (USD, excl. int'l flights)
Reviews
US
Email Michael | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great Balance
Communication was fine, service was great on the safari itself. Food was excellent & homemade. Organization on the trip itself was very good. Private reserves are the way to go as animals are the same but guides are more knowledgeable and the ability to go off the path to track is much more engaging than Kruger. A single day at Kruger was plenty and our 4-day trip was well balanced. Transportation to and from Kruger was unpleasant and there was no sense of urgency to help us make out flight after the safari.
US
Email Tracy, Steve, Lizzy and Derek | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Great Family Safari
I was a bit worried about booking with a group that did not have an office in the US and while there were some inconveniences, they were minor and were offset by the great service. The schedule of pick-ups, events, drop-offs were on time and as described in the plan. All of the drivers, tour guides, cooks, and service staff were wonderful. Rochelle at Kruger Tours worked hard to arrange a safari that worked for my family.
We went on the Tydon Camp Safari which is a true tented encampment. There are two Tydon camps, one right outside the gates of Sabi Sand and it has about 10 or so tents, a nice pool and lounge area, a large campfire area and a large eating area and library. The second camp, referred to as the "bush" camp, is inside Sabi Sands. It is smaller, more intimate version of the bigger camp but feels more rugged. There is not a pool in the bush camp and the fire area, lounge area, and food/library boma is much smaller, but the tents are identical (more on that in a second). There is access to a pool that is part of a small estate belonging to the owner of the land that the bush camp leases. The pool is right next door and is an easy walk.
The bush camp has four tents that support 8 guests, 1 guide and 3 cooks/service ladies who also reside at the camp. There were four of us in our family, my husband and our two adult kids, and we really clicked with the other four guest so that made it really special. That is a good thing because a lot of time is spent together. The tents are fabulous. Comfortable beds, carpeted, AC and heat, with a very nice bathroom. They are well appointed similar to a hotel room but still have the spirit of being in the bush. The routine is pretty much the same as with most safaris - get up way early and grab a cup of coffee, load up in the land rover, drive around looking for animals, come back and eat breakfast, relax, eat lunch, head out again in the land rover, come back, have drinks around the fire, eat dinner (in this case outside around the fire - way cool), have some more drinks around the fire and head off to bed. Dinner is a traditional African meal served on trays set up around the campfire accompanied by pudding for dessert. In addition to traditional vehicle safaris, Tydon offers a safari walk - not really for game viewing - more hands on type learning about animals, conservation, poop, tracks, that sort of thing. One of my favorite events and I really recommend it if that is your sort of thing.
Why the bush camp - well, its actually in the bush. It feels really exciting and at the same time it feels relatively safe. (There is an electrified wire around the camp and no wandering outside is allowed.) A few gazelle type grazers are often in the camp along with a few monkeys, but the wire kept out the elephants and buffalo and the cats didn't seem interested. There is no drive to get to the safari area - you wake up and you are in it. After lunch, you look out over the water hole and watch elephants come for their afternoon drink. One of the other guest hollers for you to grab your camera, that there is a Journey of Giraffe grazing right outside the tents area.
So now for the downside - Tydon has a relatively small area in Sabi that they are allowed to safari on and I became very familiar with the area. And while that made it feel special, it also felt limiting. We saw lots of animals but I wish they had more space. I believe that leopard is typically encountered at least once on a 5 day safari but we did not see any cats at Sabi. I am not a "check off the big 5" safari person but I think no cats would disappoint some folks. Even with the limited space, on the morning that we headed back to Joburg, I was wanting to be with the group that headed out on safari.
All in all, we absolutely loved South Africa, the adventure, the facilities and especially the staff and other guests. I recommend both Tydon and Kruger Park Tours. They are a great!
IT
Email Vincenzo Rossi | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Excellent assistence for organization of my South Africa travel
I visited South Africa as a solo traveler from 21 th August to 16 th September 2016.
I have organized this trip by contacting several South African Tourist Agencies and I collected various proposals. Subsequently, I have chosen Kruger Park Tours Agency for assistance in the organization of my travel and for booking various accommodations, activities, and tours.
I found a great help from Miss Rochelle Gouws. Not only she provided me the assistance required, but she was always really available for my many questions, as well as very kind in sending me indications and answers, even for aspects of the travel not booked directly with her Agency.
Here I summarize briefly my itinerary.
- 2 Nights in Johannesburg. Accommodation in a Bed and Breakfast in Sandton. Visit of: Apartheid Museum, City Sightseeing bus tour, half day Soweto tour, Ann Van Dyk Cheetah Center.
- Transfer to Hoedspruit with shared bus and 1 night in a Lodge, including an afternoon game drive in Kapama and the day after a Panorama Route tour, with drop off in Timbavati Reserve.
- 2 nights in Timbavati and 1 night in Mohlabetsi Reserves.
- 6 days (5 nights) scheduled group tour, including Kruger National Park, Swaziland, Hlulhuwe/Imfolozi, St. Lucia, and Dolphin Coast with drop off at Durban airport.
- Flight from Durban to Cape Town.
- 3 nights in a room in an apartment located in Green Point area of Cape Town. City Sightseeing bus and full day tour in West Coast National Park.
- 6 days (5 nights) scheduled group tour of the Garden Route, including Cape Aghulas, Oudtshoorm, Wilderness, Knysna, Tsitsikamma National Park, Addo National Park, Mossel Bay.
- 5 nights in a room in an apartment located in Green Point area of Cape Town. City Sightseeing bus for various days, including visit to Table Mountain, Bo Kaap, Downtown, etc., full day tour in Cape Point, Robben Island, half Wineland tour, and many other attractions in Cape Town.
I really recommend Kruger Park Tours for the organization of a travel in South Africa.
Email Nachiket | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Good planning, Easy to reach out to.
Team organising my trip was really good and efficient at communication, email, Whatsapp, phone call, all was okay with them!
They booked in Umkumbe River Resort in Sabi Sands and a government resort in Kruger. Umkumbe was fantastic.
Only slight area of improvement was the itinerary wasn't clear on what to expect when transported to Kruger. Safari schedule wasn't clear.
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Email Marissa Clark | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Clear communication with exceptional customer service and great value
Johan and the Wild Kruger team provided an exceptional safari experience for my friend and me. From the start, their quote was competitive and clearly outlined everything we would experience with our booking. Having completed the tour, I can confirm that everything promised was delivered! Johan was very diligent about collecting all the information needed from us (dietary restrictions, arrival times), so that our travel to and from and within the reserves was seamless and worry-free. The reserve operators, drivers, and others Wild Kruger partnered with were all first-rate and created a beautiful experience I know I will cherish for years to come. I would recommend Wild Kruger to anyone traveling to South Africa for the first time and wanting a relaxing and engaging safari experience.
Email Warren Campbell | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Excellent, Supportive, Experienced
The tour we chose was based on choosing a two centre experience, the private lodge at Sabi Sands was perfect, tranquil and excellent value for money, the 2nd experience was actually in Kruger National park, with a private guide ( who was flexible, knowledgeable and went above and behind to make our trip and experience) the only fault with the stay in Kruger where the extremely rude and unprofessional front desk staff at the main camp, I have never experienced such rude and I’ll mannered reception team. Thank goodness we had a tour guide who managed them completely, we were really impressed with the attention to detail our guide took, we felt completely safe at all times and he really understood our Safari needs. We have made a friend for life and will defo be coming back to Kruger which is truly magnificent, but only on the condition we have the same amazing guide, all transfers where timely and comfortable, we can highly recommend this company, thank you so much .
DE
Email Jonathan | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
The most out of limited time
Our Safari-Tour was just perfect! We only had three days but it was definitely enough to see all the animals. It was great to see the differences between the big Kruger park and a private reserve. Service and communication was also very good. I would definitely recommend this tour!
NL
Email Ria van der Wagt | 65+ years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Lovely week in Tremisana Lodge
Kruger Park Tours arranged a 7 day visit to Tremisana Lodge through an agent. All included: pickup, dropoff, food and safaris. It was all well organised. I enjoyed my stay and the way Kruger Park Tours handled everything. They are very prompt in answering when you have a question, always friendly in their mails. I had to change my pickup-location just a week before I started and it was no problem at all!! I love the way they work.
BR
Email Fabrício Cordeiro dos Santos | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Four days I'll never forget
Everything was perfect. The shuttle picked me up on time, all meals were pretty good, accommodations were really comfortable and also interesting (such as in Marc's Treehouse Camp, a great camp where we could easily see different animals nearby, even buffaloes). I thought really well organized, in a way that I always felt great professional work being done all the time. It was much more fun and more informative than I was expecting. The full Kruger day was absolutely incredible, specially because our friendly guide, Sean (from Viva Safaris), clearly loves his job and is pretty good at it - he gave us plenty of information about the animals and did the best to find the Big Five, and yeah, we saw the Big Five, and also a white lion at the end of the day. Amazing days and nights that already became strong memories.
HK
Email Alison Choi | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Smooth application process with fast response and professional suggestions to my enquiries.
Smooth application process with fast response to my enquiries. Professional safari tour suggestions were given to me.
Great referral to the operator Tydon Safaris Tour. I joined the 4 days safari tour in Eco-camp at Kruger National Park and sabi sand. I enjoyed the Safari tour very much with professional and caring guides, great food ,accomodation and transportation. Special Applause to our guide Gregg, because of his patience, professionalism and enthusiasm on animals ,we completed our big 5 in the last min of the tour.It was a great experience to join the ride with him.