11-Day Highlights of South Africa: City to Beach

I had a great experience with this safari tour planner and Zicasso. My sons and I wanted to go to South Africa and Botswana on two weeks notice at the end of July, 2017. I knew we needed to create a bespoke itinerary but I was a little bit intimidated by not knowing my way around South Africa at all. I had done some preliminary searching and received multiple quotes that were absurdly expensive. Somehow I came across this travel planner and from the outset I could see that he was extremely knowledgeable and understood what I did want and what I did not want. I wanted luxury but at sane price; to be in the hands of people I could trust on the ground; great game viewing; adventure for my sons. Our travel planner booked us at Sabi Sabi Selati in Sabi Sands in South Africa and Mashatu in Botswana. We loved both camps. Selati is like an old world safari experience as I had always imagined it to be in terms of decor. The food was great, the evening meals with other guests at the lodge were cozy. Mashatu is a different experience altogether - the game viewing is more plentiful and less of a trek to find, the suites more luxurious, the compound more extensive and overall less expensive than Sabi Sabi. In addition, there are bicycling treks at Mashatu which my sons really liked as well as a dug out they call a hide where you can view the game up close as the animals drink at a watering hole. I had insisted that I did not want to fly from Sabi Sabi to Mashatu and our planner did arrange for a great driver to get transport us by road but I would not recommend doing that - the trip is too long (6 hours) and we ran into some difficulties on the road so if we go back, and I hope we do, we will fly from Sabi Sands to Mashatu. He also arranged for drivers to pick us up at the airport when we flew into Johannesburg, to pick us up the next day to take us back to the airport for the flight to Skukuza, to drive us to Mashatu, to get us to Polykwane Airport for our flight to Capetown and to pick us up at the Capetown airport and every one of those drivers were prompt, courteous, polite, knowledgeable about the area. I had made my own arrangements to stay overnight at the in Johannesburg and highly recommend that hotel - fabulous rooms and suites, great rooftop bar, gorgeous views of the city from throughout the resort. Overall, five stars to this safari tour planner - he will listen to you and steer you in the right direction.

     Shortly after using the Zicasso site to send my safari inquiry out, I received a call from numerous agents all willing to help organize the safari of my dreams.      After careful consideration I chose our trip planner with this travel team.  She listened to my ideas, wish lists, hopes and expectations.  Not only did our trip planner fulfill all of my requests, she went over and above to ensure all my needs were met.  The entire trip was seamless.  I had to travel to Africa by myself one the first leg of the trip to complete a Medical Missions trip to Zimbabwe, and subsequently met my husband in Johannesburg, SA following my medical duties.  This trip planner ensured that my spouse was adequately care for in every detail.  She arranged transports to and from hotels and airports, helped get us through customs, porters, literally every small detail was looked after.      Our trip planner planned a most extraordinary adventure for us in Cape Town which was more than our expectations could ever have been.  We got to experience first-hand the rich Jewish Heritage of the Cape Town area, visit the Holocaust museum, the synagogue, and experience the rich culinary world Cape Town has become to be known.  Every restaurant was incredible!  We toured around the entire peninsula area with an amazing guide who was a Cape Town native.  Therefore we felt as if we got a genuine cultural experience and learned amazing things about South Africa which we had never known prior.      Then we were off to the Sabi Sands Game Reserve in the greater Kruger National Park for the safari of a lifetime.  Not only was the lodge astounding, but the icing on the cake was the chef was very familiar with Kosher dietary laws and was most accommodating to my needs.  We saw all the big five gaming animals on the first day.  Each and every experience we had was life-changing.  We made so many wonderful memories.  We look forward to our next adventure and would rank our experience with this travel company the best experience anyone could possible have. 

This review reflects our 10-day vacation to Cape Town, SA, and the Sabi Sands private game reserve in early November 2018.  Our arrangements were made through this travel agency, and our travel consultant.  Overall, our trip was outstanding and we were very pleased with the services offered by our travel consultant and this company.  I can recommend them, without reservation.

I’m typically a hands-on travel planner, so when we first started thinking about our SA trip I figured I’d do it myself and I attempted to do the research via the internet.  I quickly came to the conclusion that there was just too much information out there and too many options to consider, and attempting to make sense of it all would just take too long so we should engage a local expert.  I somewhat reluctantly reached out to Zicasso (and a few other safari planners); Zicasso put us in touch with this travel agency, and I was contacted by our travel consultant within a couple of days.  I was candid with her and explained that we had not yet settled on her company and were simultaneously considering itineraries provided by some other agents, but our she was extremely accommodating and worked with us to refine our requirements and settle on an itinerary that fit our budget and schedule.  Ultimately it was this travel consultant's responsiveness that won the day.  She kept in touch (e-mail and phone) with us as the date of our travel approached, talked with me briefly on the phone during our first day in Cape Town just to check in, and has been in touch several times since we returned.  

Our travel consultant selected 5-star properties for our consideration, and we were very happy with the choices.  In Cape Town we stayed at a boutique hotel (in the penthouse suite!), an amazing place in trendy Camps Bay.  Service and accommodations there were excellent.  Based upon our travel consultant's recommendation we chose Dulini Lodge for our safari experience, and could not have been happier; see below for more comments about Dulini.  The travel company also took care of all transfers to/from airports, three days of guided touring in and around Cape Town, and internal flights to/from Sabi Sands.  All went off without a hitch.

A word about international airline flights: our travel consultant offered the services of a US-based partner travel agency to help us with our international flights.  I engaged with that agency a few times, but frankly was underwhelmed with the responsiveness of the service and the prices they found for flights.  In the end we booked directly with Virgin Atlantic, found flights that fit our schedule, and (I believe) got at least as good a deal as the other agent would have been able to find for us.  As I noted, however, I’m a hands-on traveler so don’t mind doing this kind of research; if you would rather not do the legwork yourself, then this company does have at least one option for assistance.

I was planning a South African Safari for my family of 4, and the information and options I researched were overwhelming and complex for someone that has no prior knowledge or experience with Safari's.  I came across the Zicasso website and they matched me up with this safari travelcompany.  My agent provided insight into the planning and options that I would have never identified myself.  I had many questions both before and after booking this trip and communicated with this agent by email (from the US) due to the time difference.    She responded immediately and thoroughly ever time. We just returned and the trip was Amazing and could not have gone better. 

  Upon hearing our goals, my agent suggested two private game reserves (3 nights each) in two different locations so we could get two different experiences. We stayed at Kapama Southern Camp in the Kapama Game reserve near Hoedspruit, and Sabi Sabi Bush Lodge in Sabi Sands.  It was a two hour drive between the two lodges.  We originally had reservations at Lion Sands which is next to Sabi Sands, but about three months ago, the Lion Sands burned down.  Fortunately, our agent notified us just hours after the fire letting us know what happened and informing us that she was able to book the Sabi Sabi Bush Lodge - which turned out to be amazing.  I've read that some folks had to receive refunds because they could not get reservations on such short notice in the area.  We were really glad our agent was looking out for us and greatly appreciated all of her efforts and recommendations!  We definitely got two different experiences that you can read below - each amazing in its own way and the recommendation to split the trip with two camps was perfect!

At Kapama, the brush was very dense with trees and bush so off roading was not possible.  We frequently saw animals everywhere as we drove and there were differences in the quantity and frequency of some species at each location.  There were interesting and fun excursions (Hoedspruit Endangered Species Center and Elephant Encounter) here that we could not get elsewhere.  We could only do a hot air balloon flight at Hoedspruit but were disappointed that the winds were too strong while we were there so never did this.   Kapama Southern Camp has a fence around it and ony the entrance is always open. Each morning we would come out and see wart hogs, Nyala, Kudo, Impala,  and other animals near our room.

At Sabi Sands, the bush was not as dense with trees so we could go off road to track down big five which was amazing.  It is a large area so we could drive for 20 minute or more withouot seeing any animals.   Sabi Sands Camp is completely open (no surrounding fence) and there was a leopard sighting at camp for three consecutive days. This added an element of danger and excitement. Once at 0400, we were awoken by the monkeys in the trees indicating that the leopard was probably close by.

We are fairly seasoned travellers, and did a lot of homework before planning this trip. Nothing really prepared us for how fabulous it would be.  I'd say it was the trip of a lifetime, except that we fully intend to go back.

From first contact to last, this travel agency was a pleasure to deal with.  They were responsive to our ideas about what we wanted to do and see, and put together several itineraries which also included many suggestions that we had not thought of. 

Ours was a private 3 week tour, beginning in Durban, then to the Sabi Sands game reserve (where we stayed at the Londolozi Founders Camp).  We took the Blue Train from Pretoria to Cape Town where we stayed a few days at the very lovely Cape Grace Hotel, and spent 3 wonderful days at the a wine estate near Stellenbosch.

Our travel agency arranged all of our transportation and excursions.  Everything went like clockwork:  all of our guides or transports were right on time, and without exception they were extremely pleasant and knowledgeable people.  We learned a lot about the country from each of them.

South Africa is a long way from Canada.  What made us feel very secure was that we had the personal cell phone number of our agent and knew that we could call her at any hour if something went awry.

The very best thing is that we never had to call!

I would recommend this tour company highly, and would definitely use them again,