Review about Kruger National Park by ian
All in one package, incredible!
Majestic and Captivating
My wife and I wanted a break from city life, and the Sabi Sands Game Reserve was just what we wanted. The Sabi Sands boasts some amazing wildlife. Africa's big 5 can be found here, lion, buffalo, elephant, leopard and rhino. All of which we had the pleasure of viewing on our brief stay. Not to be outdone by the big animals, the bird life is incredible! I've never seen such a variety of bird life in all my travels. Within the first hour we had spotted over 30 species of birds. Amazing.
Visiting the reserve during the African winter month of June was a great idea, as the bush can get incredibly hot during the summer. Going on early morning game drives with a slight chill in the air and then to warm up to t-shirt weather, just wonderful.
The whole experience of the Sabi Sands was fantastic. Accomodation was well beyond what we expected, the variety of wildlife was outstanding.
We look forward to going back next year to experience the wonders of the Sabi Sands again, this time for longer!
SE
20-35 years of age
Review about Kenya by Robert Pilemalm
There are so much to see and Kenya really agrees with the picture of wildlife I had before I came there.
Review about South Africa by ian
Can view well over 70% of all lands animals in South Africa, the weather and scenery is breath taking. People are knowledgeable about their surrounds and friendly.
US
20-35 years of age
Review about Matusadona National Park by Jeni
Our walking safari was absolutely fantastic! A wonderful adventure!
US
20-35 years of age
Zimbabwe was a fantastic wilderness experience with a great cultural vibe.
Our trip was absolutely fabulous - a trip of a lifetime! The scenery was gorgeous; the weather was perfect while we were there. Our accommodations in the bush were way better than expected, but still provided the rustic feel we were going for. I don't know who cooked our food, but if it was over an open fire, that chef was brilliant and way better at cooking in the bush than I would ever be. Our trip incorporated land rovers, station wagons, canoes and more. All worked out well for each situation. The wildlife was incredible and our walking safari guide, Gary, from Sengwa Safari's was top notch. I had a very up close encounter with an elephant that was just amazing and we saw several lions with their cubs while out for a drive. There were too many other animal sightings to mention, but that was a good thing! We ended our trip in Victoria Falls where we had a great white water rafting and bungee jumping experience. Seriously, this was the best vacation I've ever been on. I hope to repeat it some day with my husband.
65+ years of age
Review about Kruger National Park by John A Forbes
Excellent to see game in this world renown park. The southern section is particular.
65+ years of age
Review about Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Game Reserve by John A Forbes
Excellent to see game. The park is renown for its Black and White rhino, the latter which were saved from near extinction in a capture programme pioneered in this park and many subsequently translocated to other parks. Regretfully rhino are once again under extreme pressure due to increasing demand in the East for rhino horn and many have as a result been brutely killed by poachers. Elephant, Lion, Hippo and Buffalo may amongst other be seen, and if really lucky Leopard. The Greater St Lucia Park is within a short distance where Hippo and Crocodile may be seen.
65+ years of age
A world in one country - from berg to bush to beach to battlefields - with friendly people.
South Africa offers the international tourist a wide range of national parks and game reserves across it length and breadth for tourists to experience game viewing in which everything from the big five (lion, leopard, elephant, rhino and buffalo) not to mention hippo, crocodile, cheetah, zebra, wildebeest (gnu) and a vast array of different breeds of antelope, including springbok and impala may be seen. The parks are also present a paradise for serious bird watchers. Coupled with this, whales and dolphins may be seen respective either lazing not far beyond the breakers in the oceans or surfing in on the waves and cutting away just before they break on sandy shores of rocky coves. The National and Game Parks have very different characteristics depending where they are located in the country, ranging from semi desert in the Karroo, Mountain Zebra, Camdeboo and Gemsbok National Parks, to the grass and bushveld mosaic in the Kwazulu-Natal Parks of Hluhluwe-Mfolozi, Mkuze, Tembe and Pinda to the bushveld of the Kruger National Park with its flanking upmarket private parks of Sabi Sand, Londolozi, MalaMala, Thornybush, etc., to the grasslands set amongst the yellow sandstone crags of the Golden Gate National Park, to the grassland of the Ukhahlamba-Drakensberg Trans-frontier Park straddling KwaZulu-Natal and Lesotho and with its Yellowwood scarp forests on its steep south facing slope valleys.
The scenery of the country ranges from the pristine white sand beaches and knarred, twisted and buckled mountains of the Western Cape, dating from when the Falklands were torn from the African continent (then Gondwanaland), to the stark and serene beauty of the Karoo with it unique vegetation and iselbergs, to the majestic basalt topped mountains of the high Drakensberg (+- 3000 metres)with their deep valleys with crystal clear waters, to the subtropical forests of KwaZulu-Natal coastal belt, to the bushveld of Mpumalanga and Limpopo which stretches the length of the Kruger National Park – a reserve larger than many countries. And yet this is not even half of it!
The climate, in Northern hemisphere terms, is nearly always pleasant. A winter’s day is generally warmer than a summer’s day in Europe. Rainfall generally occurs in winter in southern Cape with the rest of the country experiencing the majority of its rainfall in summer, and then it is often short and sharp where after the sun comes out again. It is not for nothing that South Africans generally prefer a braai (barbeque) any day to a formal inside meal.
A variety of accommodation is available for tourist from the most luxurious (and expensive) to the good clean but reasonably priced; be this within the national parks, along the highways and byways, or in the international cities of Cape Town, Durban and Johannesburg.
Food to suit most, if not all tastes, is available throughout the country. To many locals eating out is a national pastime so finding a suitable restaurant should not be a problem! Many of the parks however require the tourist to bring in their own food as only limited food is available in the park. Best to check beforehand! With the odd exception, the local water may be drunk without any fear of after affects. Bottled water is however available for those who would rather not take the chance.
South Africa is served by an excellent infrastructural network with freeways or motorways in and beyond all the major cities; high class roads link them and offer the opportunity for those that would prefer to self drive with hire cars from Avis, Budget, Tempest and others. Major and International Airports serve the country and is by far the easiest and quickest way to travel around a country as large as South Africa. Apart from South African Airways and British Airways, there are budget airlines such as Kulula, Mango and One Time where a considerable saving may be made. While there are Greyhound and other bus services, this is perhaps the least favoured means of travel. There are however many tour bus company, both large and small, which the tourist may utilise if they are less adventurous and would prefer to leave their direction and choice of accommodation to others.
50-65 years of age
Unique - where else can you walk amongst the wildlife in a National Park/UNESCO World Heritage site
I have been fortunate to visit Mana Pools on an almost annual basis over the last 12 years (I am now the Mana Pools 'Destination Expert' on Tripadvisor).
It is a magical place - a series of pools, where the Zambezi river once flowed. These pools retain water all year around, so along with the Zambezi, provide a vital resource for animals from far and wide during the long, hot dry season (August - October). We always visit in October - the end of the dry season and nicknamed the 'suicide' month for good reason. It is blisteringly hot, and Mana is not a comfortable place to be at this time of year. But the reward for this discomfort is in the game viewing. Animal numbers are at their peak and they are easy to see due to the lack of vegetation.
On my trips, I have always seen elephant (Mana is the only place I know of where they have learnt to stand on their rear legs to reach up a little higher to graze the Accacia Albida trees which are so characteristic of Mana), hippo, crocodile, kudu, eland, monitor lizard, mongeese of various types, baboons, zebra, vervet monkeys, cape buffalo, impala, hyena, lion & jackal. Most of these have at one time or another walked right through our camp! We have also been fortunate to see on most visits the rare African Painted Dog - Mana is one of the few places in Africa where you stand a good chance of seeing these wonderful animals. We have also had a number of wonderful 'one-off' sightings over the years - leopard, python nyala, bush buck and last year, three cheetah on an impala kill. A very rare sighting as Mana lacks wide open spaces and so is not really cheetah country at all. All of the animals I mention have been seen without the aid of professional guides - we are just a group of friends who enjoy visiting the African bush. Most of the time we walk rather than drive - after viewing wildlife on foot, the experience from the back of a vehicle just isn't the same.
In addition to the animals mentioned, Mana is a 'birding' paradise - so many species to see I couldn't begin to list them, but a personal favourite of mine are the noisy carmine bee beaters who nest in burrows in the sandy river banks.
In the unlikely event you grow tired of looking at animals, the scenery is fantastic - the almost parkland-like abandoned river terraces, the majestic Zambezi and the hazy mountains of Zambia. Always try to be on the river bank just before sunset, a beer or G&T in hand and just watch & listen!
Mana is not the easiest place in the world to get too, but there are a number of safari operators who will take the logistical strain on your behalf, and if you don't want to 'go it alone' and use National Parks camping (or lodge) facilities, there are a number of very good camps (one or two permanent, like Ruckomechi, others seasonal, like Goliath Safaris who have their camp inside the National Park and are run by the wonderful Stretch & Flo)
