20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Brilliant 17 day 4x4 journey across Namibia!
Claire and Lark Journeys are the best! My girlfriend and I went on a self drive, 17 day, road trip around Namibia organised by Lark Journeys. I had in mind several places and activities I wanted to do whilst in Namibia. I provided this, along with a general budget, to Claire who suggested an itinerary . The communication was very quick, clear and transparent. My girlfriend being South Korean meant she needed a visa unlike myself as a Brit but Claire helped us sort this out with ease.
Claire met us at the airport with lots of maps, useful info, travel guides and a mobile SIM which made our lives so much easier setting off in the car. We opted to do roughly 50:50 between lodges and camping so we hired a 4x4 with a roof top tent which was easy to pick up and never failed us on the way round.
Claire was always on the end of the phone whenever we needed any help or suggestions. She recommended lots of nice places to eat, cafes you'd miss if you didn't know they were there and most importantly, helped us when the occasional issue came up with bookings on the 3rd party end. We had one incident with some problematic police officers which Claire helped resolve through a phone call with one of the officers. This help in itself was worth booking with Lark Journeys!
Thanks to Claire and Lark Journeys we had the trip of a lifetime and we're already thinking about heading back next year for round 2!
US
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
One of the best travel experiences ever.
The experience was incredible and smooth from arrival. The location was right across from the airport [and the airport had impala and warthogs running around]. The drive to the lodge featured several animals, and at the camp gate a young bull elephant was eating away... Super start. The guide and team were wonderful and highly informative - any question they had answers... Can't say enough great things about the experience. From food, accomodation, people... everything was as close to perfect as could be. You won't regret it, and you might want to stay longer.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Even better than I thought it would be
I'm not sure why I haven't done much research about South Africa itself before my trip. I think I wanted it to be a surprise, but I was always told to be careful, it's a dangerous place etc. I'm from Rio de Janeiro so I was never to worried about this comments. People in UK only get to know some places via the news, and the news not always say good things.
What I found when we arrived in Johannesburg was the most friendly and helpful people. Yes, we tipped everyone for the smallest favour, which some people can find a bit annoying, but we went prepared, and really, when you think that this is how a lot of people make their living, and converting to GBP this was such a small amount to us, we were more than help to tip for a good service.
In Johannesburg we got Ubers from our hotel to the Aparthaid museum, a must if you are interested in history. And on another day we tried to go to the Origns Centre at Wits University, but getting there we found out it was temporarily close, so we got another Uber and went to Cradle of Humankind. In my honest opinion, it wasn't worth the 1 hour trip, being at the Cradle of Humankind its quite an amazing thing alone, but the information centre, unfortunately, wasn't that great to me. There are some information about human evolution and the fossils found there, but that's about it.
After a couple days in Johannesburg we headed to Hoedspruit. Shinzelle Safari has organised our trip and they did the best job. We were picked up in the airport on time, our drive took around 5/6 hours but our driver stopped every two hours. We were took to our lodge Khaya Ndlovu, what a place! The view was just breathtaking, the staff again, all so friendly, the room was beautiful and clean, and the food was sensational!
We went on game drivers in the reserve where our lodge were, and on Kruger. In both we saw so much wild life, and we had the best guides as well, they had so much knowledge and love for the animal which were truly inspiring. We also did a day driving around the Blyde River Canyon, and we also did a boat trip, the Canyon is definitely on the list of the most beautiful places I have ever seen.
I have been telling everyone how fantastic everything was. I would 100% recommend everything we did, and would definitely go back and try things we haven't had time to experience. We did a 7 days trip and this was simply not enough to see everything this beautiful country has to offer.
IR
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
US
65+ years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
amazing
The guides for the Mari Triangle and the staff of & beyond resort were fabulous. Their attention to detail and courtesy were the best I have seen in years! Game drives never failed to delight! The variety of animals, watching their behaviors without needing binoculars, was a reminder of the variety of creatures in the world that one hopes will remain safe always. Go, expand your mind and heart in Kenya!
IN
65+ years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Exotic destination with mountains Oceans and Wild life
We started our trip from Cape Town spreading to the garden route which included wonderful Hermanus Mossel Bay Knysna Port Elizabeth and then flying out from there to Victoria Falls, back again to Johannesburg, driving out to Kruger National Park and ending our trip at Johannesburg
Every bit was exciting.
I want to highlight Kruger done through Safari Booking via Wild Planet.
A team of two people Chris and Hope met us at Hoedspruit and then rolled us to a wonderful park, putting up at Satara camp
We took multiple game drives with excellent views of the park and animals.
Hope did the cooking and packing ( very good at it and maintaining time) whilst Chris showed us around spotting the animal well in time for a photo shoot
It was an unforgettable experience!
Strongly recommended
PT
50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Pearl of Africa
Amazing, especially the forests, rivers, lakes, chimps and gorillas. Bwindi is unforgetable. Kazinga channel, with so many elephants is wonderful.
Tubale safaris is great!
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great trip must do
We booked Kruger and Pvt game drives with Shinzelle . Excellent resort fab service awesome sightings . Thoroughly enjoyed Kruger . The Pvt reserve Khaya Ndhovu was excellent with amazing sightings .
PT
50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Review about Bwindi Impenetrable National Park by Rui Silva
I didn’t see many birds in this forest, but it’s lovely
PT
50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Review about Kibale National Park by Rui Silva
The chimps are really great. The forest is not at the same level of Bwindi, but it’s really good. I would like to see snakes in there, but it was not possible.