Cape Town Wildlife Trips

*The good: - Trip manager was great and planned the schedule well - with sufficient time given at the attractions/ sites. - Add-ons such as game drives, rafting, swing was highlight for me personally. - Cape town had the best accoms (don't set expectations too high based on the first nights) But otherwise the rest of the nights were generally good/ comfortable. - Loved the trip overall! *The to-note (personal views/ just for reference): - Be prepared for no proper toilet facilities in chobe special stay. No proper toilet. No electricity. No shower facilities. - There are many activities which require add-on costs, and need to budget quite a lot for them. That said, if you choose not to do the add-on activity, you’re pretty much wasting the time as there is usually nothing much else to do in the area, and will be waiting for the others to complete those activities. Charges for the activities were in ZAR, rather than USD. So there were some price discrepancies. - Personally felt that vineyard wines were not great (but then u’ll be sitting at the vineyard anyway); while the traditional african feast dinner in kruger and penguin experience in boulder’s were not worth it. - Depending on the season, you may end up visiting 4 countries (incl Zambia) instead of 3. Check in advance if u should get insurance/ data for the country (or prep extra $ for VISA entry to Zimbabwe - since there’ll additional entry back to Zim). - Some places are sandy to walk in/ requires quite a big hike - prep proper hiking shoes/ sandles. - Many (very) early mornings.

The trip exceed my expectations. It covered soo much, from the beautiful town of Cape Town and the gorgeous Table Mountain looming above it to the spectacular Kruger & Chobe National Park where we had our fair share of animal encounters both close and afar. The amount of activities we did to cover a broad range of things from learning about the local struggles, cuisine and language to jumping off a bridge over 100m high at the adrenaline filled Victoria Falls Bridge. This tour covered it all. Our guide, was magnificent. He was so informative making sure we knew what we were doing days ahead, gave us so much information and guidance with whatever the tour presented. He has so much knowledge and could answer nearly every question we threw at him. He was also so friendly and really connected with the group, which made it all the more enjoyable. Overall, it was the most amazing experience of my life.

This itinerary enabled us to have a well-rounded experience in South Africa; Safari experience met and exceeded our expectations; we enjoyed Cape Town and our host in the Be my guest program was gracious. was funny and authentic and made us feel welcomed in their home. Johannesburg allowed us to experience some of the history of South Africa and to ground us in their nation's journey. Looking back, we would have done a much longer tour, but this was just right for us. Thank you!

FANTASTIC trip! We went for our honeymoon and had an amazing time! We were in a group of 14, which was perfect - not too big, easy to get around. We were able to see everything we wanted and more! In Cape Town, we had the most wonderful guide () and driver (). They hit everything on the itinerary and still managed to add more to our trip, all while maintaining a good timeline. Great insight and knowledge from both of them! The safari was absolutely the highlight. Our itinerary when we book stated that we'd be staying at a different lodge (we thought we'd be at Beck's, but we were at Shiduli). Shiduli was fantastic, but we shared the Beck's information with our families at home. The game rangers and drivers are wonderful, so nothing dangerous happened but that is something that could have caused confusion. Our game ranger and tracker were THE BEST! So much knowledge, experience, and great energy from both of them everyday! Excellent personal touches scattered throughout our time there. I would have loved to be there longer! JoBerg came with a wealth of knowledge. Our guide here was more impersonal than the others we'd worked with up until this point - he kept passing us along to other guides and would wait in the bus (even if Shai from Cape Town brought us somewhere with another guide or different person to lead, he would at least remain in the area with us to answer our questions or add more to the experience). We did not realize how much tipping would be involved or how difficult it would be to get smaller bills (we went to the hotels and banks, but no one was able to give us anything smaller than 50ZAR). Either informing us ahead of time or even charging more for the trip so that tips for guides, drivers, and trackers are already included would be helpful. That way these hard-working people get what they deserve and we can add on top of that if we want to. Overall, it was an AMAZING trip! We created wonderful memories and have some great photos and stories! Thank you for the experience!

This was my dream trip!! I loved the mixture of lodging and camping. The group was fantastic and bonded very quickly. Our trip manager was absolutely phenomenal. Went out of his way to make sure we all had the best trip possible. My highlights were definitely Safari, the Simunye theatre show, and BOMA dinner. The Safari guides were absolutely amazing as well. If I could go back and do it all again, I 1000% would.

If you're debating this trip like I was, do yourself a favour and book. So much is covered in just one week, it's very go go go. You can go to mountain tops, beaches, wineries, safaris, sanctuaries, and local townships. So there really is something for everyone, and you get to see so many different sides of South Africa. Even the pit stops along the way were some of my favourite moments - some eateries were stunning and you get the chance to spend your money supporting small family businesses and organizations, like home animal sanctuaries. However, I will note that most activities are not covered in the price for this trip so plan ahead, so expect to spend a lot more than what you are quoted. Plan ahead and see what you want to do. If you opt out of most of these, you will likely tag along with the group to the location but do nothing, or you might stay in the accommodation. Do both safari drives if you can, the game reserves themselves are gorgeous and the experience is once in a lifetime. The cooking class was fun and delicious stuff too. The biking on day one is harder than you might think, the route is very bumpy and steep... it's pretty, but be prepared! Also, the township visit was a good opportunity to respectfully learn of the community and contribute meaningfully. The elephant park was cool but driving around inside the contiki bus kind of took away. Bus drives weren't too bad, most of the time you get some pretty amazing views along the garden route. All the accommodation were pretty, nice and comfortable. My trip manager and bus driver were also beautiful people who made sure we felt safe, comfortable, and accommodated throughout our time there. was so knowledgeable and such a good time, I definitely felt lucky to have him.