Kruger Safari Exceeds Expectations

Hi Michelle,

Thank you for organising our trip we truly had the best time, it exceeded all our expectations.  The combo of lodges/reserves was amazing, and particularly in our case the safari drives seemed to only get better as we moved from lodge to lodge.  We were a little concerned after the first three days that possibly eight days would be too long, however, the different reserves not only offer different animal sightings the terrain was very different which was pleasant.  The transfers were all on time and the drivers were lovely.  

A quick rundown of our individual experiences:

Nambu Camp: 8/10

What an amazing way to start our trip, all the little things such as the ladies greeting you on arrival day and then also those big smiles after every game drive with a warm face cloth and a hot tea.  The food was very good, we were very impressed.  The size of the lodge was pleasant, as one night we had 12 guests, and on the last, it was just three of us staying there.  The rooms themselves were comfortable but basic, not overly large in size, that was the only place this one fell a tiny bit short.  The guides were quality.

Olifants west reserve: 7/10

An amazing way to start our Safari adventure. Our first drive was filled with elephants, zebra and giraffes within the first 30mins and it was really magical.   Animal sightings were often far between, however, this is not all negative as it did help to build the excitement.  The terrain around Nambu was definitely the most hilly, mountainous, and intense 4×4 driving we did on the whole trip.  This just meant it often took longer to drive from one sighting to the next.  On the upside, the constant up and down meant we were able to find animal sightings from further away than the flat dense bush of say Timbavati.  The animals were awesome we saw the big 5 within 3 days, the difference between here and Timbavati was we saw smaller groups of animals together. Really the perfect way to start the trip.

Shinzela: 6/10

We didn’t love Shinziea, the food, in particular, was very average, it felt like a very bad attempt at Western food.  Deep fried foods and very bland with zero seasoning.  I could see that this would possibly be appealing for families, or Americans in general but it definitely wasn’t our cup of tea.  Having said that we met 3 different couples over the two days who were coming back to Shinzela for the 2nd or 3rd time so some people obviously love it!  The tented camps were cool, however during the very windy nights it makes it hard to sleep as the whole tent howls and bangs.  I think we were so thrown off by the food we didn’t fully get on board with the tents.  Also being a little, precious it was our honeymoon and this was just a level below the level of luxury we expected and had just experienced at Nambu.  We also got thrown around between three different drivers and trackers as guests came and left, this was then frustrating as it left a sour taste in our mouths when it came to the expectation of tipping everyone. 

Timbavati: 8/10

The terrain was the opposite of the Olifants, the trails were 98% flat dirt tracks, and at times it felt like we were flying along at 100mph!  This was a nice change from the rocky, constant bumps of the Olifants.  The animal sightings here were great, massive herds of buffalo, and the highlight of our whole trip was our Cheetah sighting with two cubs.  This was truly magical.   

Nkorho: 9/10

Really amazing, everything Nambu did, Nkoroho did slightly better. The best way to end our trip.  The staff were lovely and the food, rooms, and service were next level. 

Sabi Sands: 9/10

Big cats everywhere!  Sabi was absolutely amazing.  This definitely needs to be the last reserve visited, because if this was our first stop everything else would have been a disappointment.  The lodges in Sabi work together a lot more effectively than the others and this resulted in less time wasted driving around trying to find animals as often our guide would give us the choice, did you want to go see a leopard in a tree, the two rhino or the pride of lions.  Sabi sands was just amazing.

I will get to your reviews tomorrow.  Thanks again for our trip, we will definitely be back at some point later in life and I would highly recommend SA and you as an agent to family and friends back home.

Cheers, Charles.

Below are some photos from Charles as well as from the lodges.

Read Charles’ review on SafariBookings about his trip.