BE
Wildlife, Birds, History, Nature, People, ... everything you need for a great Safari holiday!
Hello everyone,
I'm Simon, a guide and photographer. I have spent three months working and being on holiday in the Kruger National Park, South Africa. During these three months I was able to discover quite a large part of the park. I have slept in most of the rest camps, ate in most of the restaurants in the rest camps and travelled on most of the roads in the park.
There are a lot of Safari companies that will do guided drives in the park, in general most of those companies are well organised and if you wish to learn about the different aspects of the park ( animals, birds, history, trees, etc...) I would recommend to go on one of the drives. You can find plenty of those companies on google.
A great thing about Kruger is that you're also able to go in the park with your own car. Go where you want ( on tar roads or dirt roads), look at what you want for as much time as you want and sleep in the different rest camps. The rest camps offer basic but very good accommodation at a reasonable price, depending on which accommodation you book you will have a kitchen, each camp also has a shop where you can buy food. If you don't want to cook, each camp also has a restaurant that has very nice menus. All the camps have fuel stations and most camps also have communal swimming pools and organise bush walks, bush dinners and drives (morning, afternoon and evening) which are not expensive and where you can learn and discover new things.
Wildlife is plentiful in the park, you will easily and closely see general game including Elephants and Buffalos. There are also plenty of cats in the park, however you don't always have sightings of them next to the road. If you spent several days in the park though you will usually, at least have some nice sightings of cats. Same for Wild dogs and other rare game.
There is also a wide variety of birds in the park ( around 517 species), there are several bird hides throughout the park where you can go to observe them in peace and quietness.
The park has several historical sites and you can buy books in the shops that will explain the history of those sites.
As I said earlier, every rest camp has a shop where you can buy food, drinks,general utilities and a lot of books (maps of the park, books on the birds, animals, fiction, history, photography, true stories of the park, etc...)
If you like landscapes you will also enjoy every moment in Kruger, there are 5 different biomes. There are also plenty of view points in the park where you can get out of your car and enjoy the panorama.
If you drive by yourself you can choose to either drive on the tar roads or the dirt roads. Usually there will be less people on the dirt roads but you travel more slowly and for some dirt roads you need a decent car, it is also quite dusty. As far as wildlife goes, dirt road or tar road there is no road where you will see more animals, it is all luck!
If you drive by yourself, international visitors will pay 280 Rand as conservation fee per day, South Africans 70 Rand (because they already pay conservation fees in their taxes) at the entry gates of the park or the rest camps if you sleepover. However if you plan on staying several days it might be interesting to buy yourself a Wildcard, which will give you access to all South African National Parks for 1 year. For international visitors it costs 1920 Rand and for South Africans 470 Rand, there are several other options which you can ask for at the Kruger gates.
All in all if you plan on visiting South Africa I would really recommend you visiting the Kruger National Park, it is something you just can't miss!
IE
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Review about South Africa by Des Maguire
The size of Kruger is huge, we asked our guide how long would it take to tour the park in total. The answer- THREE WEEKS!!!!
35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
On the hole a lovely experience
Accommodation is average but well cleaned
Monkeys a challenge as always but cannot be avoided. Visitors must be on the look out to protect all foodstuff
We wear accommodated in Cabin No 6. The Fridge-Freezer did not work at all
The water was absolutely rotten and cannot even be used for washing
The little shop was well equipped with sufficient bottled water and ice
65+ years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
All went well with accommodation, excursions and transfers.
I am a mature lady travelling on my own so was pleased to find one of Faustins contacts waiting at the Dar Es Salaam airport for me when I arrived at 3am.
After a six hour drive we arrived at Tan- Swiss Lodge where I spent the next two days.
The itinerary was slightly bland as I ended up visiting Mikumi National Park on both days. Maybe I should have researched that a bit better.
The ferry to Zanzibar had been pre booked and after we docked I was met by Faustin’s driver and a guide to be driven for 75 minutes to my resort at Amaan Bungalows, in Nungwi for four nights
I opted to fly back from Zanzibar to Dar Es Salaam airport for my ongoing international flight rather than get the ferry. This saved lots of time and hassle and the cost was only $16 more than the price of the ferry.
CH
Kind and try to find exactly what we would like.
Helpful to find exactly what we like, kind and serious.
BE
Very happy birding
This was my second time in Arabuko Sokoke forest. I especially went there for the owl's.
My guide was very good, knew all the birds, made sounds to lure them and overall it was one of my better birdwalks in Kenya. ( a lot)
I did book a room in Mida Eco Camp to be in Arabuko as soon as it opened in the next morning.
The owl's made my day !
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DE
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Review about Namibia by Nicholas Olesen Photography
Namibia has so much to offer - incredible vast desert landscapes, unbeatable wildlife in Etosha National Park, as well as culture with many different tribes as well as the German colonial history.
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Good local guide for Kenya, but choose someone else for Tanzania
Ok firstly lets get this clear first. These guys are a local Kenyan tour company, and not a UK or US based one. As such you need to accept some "Hakuna Matata" moments in exchange for a much lower cost. If you aren't willing to accept some inconveniences, then pay the extra money and go to a Western company.
Now I've gotten that clear, Right Choice are a good, respectable, honest and reliable local Kenyan tour operator. Charles (Opany), our guide, was amazing. Eagle eyed, knowledgable, and best of all just a good guy whom you can get along with. We had a great time and got some lovely viewing and photo opportunities. Also the places you go are really good for the money you pay. Ok you won't be staying Right Inside all of the big game parks, but you tend to be paying less than other company quotes for a lot of the same lodges/camps. They are seemed very flexible to cater to your wishes/budget which was great.
During our Kenya tour, they initially got the itinerary slightly wrong but George was more then happy to make sure it was amended to an agreed itinerary, with some alterations that actually suited the conditions for better viewing than we had originally planned. Word of advice to avoid any mistakes, make sure you have a typed itinerary that you circulate with ALL your correspondences, and make sure George agrees on this one. That should solve things. Also be aware that George is more then happy to tailor an itinerary to suit you, so don't be afraid to request specific changes after doing some google mapping, trip advising, and review trawling.
Now we did a Kenya/Tanzania trip with Right Choice. What I didn't realise is Right Choice don't have a license to operate in Tanzania, so they outsource to Kili Slopes safari company for Tanzania. These guys were ok, the accomodation was on par with Kenya but our tour guide, although lovely and found us some more great photo and viewing opportunities, was less outgoing/engaging than Charles and as such was a bit disappointing in comparison.
Overall I would recommend Right Choice safari's (in particular for Kenya).
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Best valentine experience
My fiancé and I had a memorable getaway to Zanzibar coutersy of Helinas safaris. They arranged all the ground work and hotel options. They provided us with a tour to stone town and the rest of Zanzibar Island, the scenery was magnificent and a must see for everyone. It truly was the best trip ever.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Excellent and knowledgeable guides enabled perfect viewing of the Big 5
Communication and service were great, and overall enjoyed our experience. Ultimately everyone's goal is to see the big 5, and we saw them all and more thanks to the determination and expertise of our guides. They understood the tricks and necessities to navigate the park at the right time as well as the right places to see the different wildlife, while avoiding super crowded areas. Certain services, such as walk-about and night drive, are not allowed by private guides within Kruger - but Ryan arranged these tours on our behalf with the in-house park rangers.
Accommodations were exactly as expected - however, we were completely blow away and happily surprised by the additional hospitality when our guides prepared our meals the entire time we were in the park.
The overall logistics were convenient and helpful. They picked us up in Jo-burg, transporting us all the way to Kruger National Park. The drive and scenery and additional information along the journey were wonderful. They also drove us back to Jo-burg and dropped us off at the airport with plenty of time to catch our flight.
One downside was being in an enclosed vehicle the whole time, rather than the perceived experience of "open vehicle safari"; however, the enclosed vehicle enabled them to provide the Jo-Burg pick up and drop off, so that was a trade-off we proactively chose. Ultimately, the enclosed vehicle did not prohibit our views nor the overall experience of the safari.
We were very happy with our experience and would recommend to others looking for a great safari experience within the national park.