Going in July. I'm torn between Londolozi Tree, Pioneer and Granite Private Suites. Why is Granite so much more? From the website pics, I like decoration on Tree more.

And how should I book? I usually don't like using travel agent, but I think in this case I'll need one to help with the charter flights. Is there any discount booking the resort through TA? Can I book the camp with Londolozi and flights with TA?


Thanks.

Perhaps might help to know where you will be before and after Londolozi?

regards - tom

will fly into JNB then to Londolozi. After that to Cape Town. Aren't sure where we're staying yet.

From one NYC gal to another, here is a tip for a TA. They planned my first-ever visit to SA/Bots in 2007 and I recommend them very highly; based in CapeTown but with toll-free number:

www.southerndestinations.com

I stayed at the Granite Suites last July. Granite is much more intimate than the other camps. There are 6 guests max (2 per suite) and although you are together for drives and meals (separate tables) there isn't really a group feel. The other camps have more rooms and more people and (the few times I ventured over there) more of a group feel.

I loved Londolozi and hope to go again.

Hope this helps.

keep, your right, granite suites is smaller in number of guests and most stay two days or three, while tree had more people in the landrover game drives, and some were, let's say demanding in viewing the wildlife and scenery.

But Londolozi is one of the best. Enjoy and go there, if you have the budget to do so.

I disagree-- there are only 3 suites in Pioneer as well as 3 in Pioneer. We never saw Tree but Granite is on the main walking path to Varty so more people foot traffic there.

Granite pool is heated. The others aren't.

Look at the Camp Layout -- Tree and Pioneer are at the ends. Varty is where everything is and the walkway connects all of them. It is a 5 minute walk from Pioneer to Varty.

Pioneer does not face the Sand River while Granite does and -- it appears Tree does as well.

We stayed at Pioneer and we were in room 3. It was very private and I do not think you would be disappointed. It was refurbished last year.

Quite honestly, all of them will be great. Since there are only 3 rooms in Granite, everyone will be in one vehicle -- same as Pioneer. In Tree there will be two guides, tracker and vehicles.

You can book through a travel agent -- you may be able to book direct -- not sure if they allow that. As for the charter; www.fedair.com is the company with the scheduled service. You can probably book directly with them, if you prefer.

I stayed at Tree, and it was wonderful; this was 4 years ago when Londo was still operated by CC Africa.

My chalet was extremely private. The terrace/plunge pool did not look out onto a river, but it was a pleasant spot to relax nonetheless. The main attraction for me was that Tree did not allow children (don't know if this is still true), which helped to ensure a quieter experience both during the drives and at meals.

Hopefully this will still be responsive to your question. I just returned from a stay at Londolozi Tree Camp. I also toured Granite, as we had originally wanted to stay there but it was booked for our dates, and so we thought we might take a look at it for a future trip. The villas at Tree and Granite are decorated and laid out in almost an identical manner, esp. the living and bed rooms. The bathrooms at Granite are differently laid out and have open showers and stand-alone claw foot tubs, but are not hugely different. However, it is the plunge pools (which are huge at Granite and quite small actually at Tree) and the lovely full river view which Granite has from each room which you are paying for. At Tree, only the lobby really has a river view, although I think Units 4 and 5 may have some quite limited river views. The lobby at Granite is smaller and in a bit lighter colour than at Tree, but as the same decorator was used for both, you really are hard pressed to tell the difference (more grays and whites at Granite, more browns at Tree, quite appropriately). The deck area is much smaller at Granite, but that is because they only need three tables.

Both Tree and Granite suites are enormous, I mean larger than my apartment here in Hong Kong almost. That is the biggest difference between those two and the other camps. When you look at the rooms in the other camps, they seem cramped, even though in reality they aren’t, although they are not huge really by hotel standards. They also are not quite as luxurious, and have different bath produces. (We spent a half day in a Varty room after we had to check out of Tree before our plane out, so we snooped around the Varty room quite a bit.)

We had wanted Granite because I was going with my sisters and we were going to take the entire place. If you were just going to take one unit in Granite, it might a bit weird if the other two units were a family or a group of friends and you were sort of the “third wheel” there. I also don’t know how they work the jeeps, I believe there is only one for Granite, which means again you may be tagging along with a family or group of friends. If each unit is a different couple or something, then it might be OK. While I agree I don’t like large camps, at Tree at least there is a slightly larger number of people to mix with. Also, we ended up having our own jeep for the 4 of us because Tree was not fully booked, and one couple had decided to pay for their own private jeep, so we got a private jeep without paying for it.

So hard to say between Granite and Tree. The views from Granite are superb and those big pools on the rocks are really something. But if you don’t have the whole place, it might not be as great as you think. We ended up being very happy with Tree and probably would choose it again unless we were taking all suites at Granite.

Varty was just redone, but the rooms are much smaller, but terraces and plunge pools are nice and similar to Tree. All of the camps are quite close together and it is quite easy to walk between them, in fact the only gym (of sorts) is at Varty as is the gift shop and e-mail centre, so you have to go there anyway, takes like 5 minutes along the path. I would not pick any of the camps for a close location to Varty. Founders has IMO the loveliest big deck setting for their lobby, including a small private sofa and table area down a flight of stairs, Tree Camp happily arranged a lovely lunch for us there one day, which I am sure they would do for you.

Staff is extremely accommodating and helpful. I don’t thin you would be unhappy at any camp from that standpoint. Our ranger was actually usually a driver for Varty and she was excellent.

As for the bookings, I am right with you on not liking to use agents, but after 20 years living in Asia an Europe and always doing my own travel, I found SA to be really impossible to do the flights without an agent, and then I just ended up using the agent to coordinate the camps as well as the hotel in Capetown. You can make a provisional booking at the camps yourself and then have your agent coordinate those with the intra-SA flights. That is what I did. It was the Federal Air part I could not do on my own. Their website does not show times or prices, so I had to go to an agent. A hard nut to crack, as I think they work with agents only. So my suggestion is to use an agent, I hate to say it. Your US agent will end up using a ground agent in SA, so you might want to just use a SA based agent to start with. I don’t think the price between your own booking and the agent booking is really any different if that helps.

I took notes on the various rooms at Tree and Granite which we saw which I would be happy to post if you are interested.

Londolozi does the Fedair flight booking for its guests from/to Johannesburg ! No need for a TA in that regard.
They even book your flioghts if you are travlling in between greater Kruger!

I like Varty very much as well as Tree but tendency is towards Varty.

Regarding Granite: What Cicerone is mentioning in view to another groups is occupying the other 2 suites you might feel some sort of "lonely" or "excluded".

SV

Ciserone,
How close are the Granite suites in proximity to each other?

if you are looking for a good agent in the city i highly recommend stacy or diane at classic escapes. they are a competitor of mine and are well regarded in the safari industry. i met both of them at the HBO studio series premier of #1 ladies detective agency in march. they won't charge more than booking direct (if that is possible). they can book the entire trip for you door-to-door including the JFK-JNB flight on SAA. it may be cheaper to fly JFK-JNB-MQP and take the charter from there. it is about half the price of taking the charter from JNB.

craig

Craig, do you know anything about Tanya at African Classic Encounters (New York)? She has been recommended to me but I've never seen her mentioned anywhere on Fodors.

agswimmer – I can’t say I measured the distances between the villas at Granite. To the best of my recollection, you cannot see any portion of the villas from one another, but as I did not stay in them, but only toured them, I could be wrong on that recollection. In terms of walking distance, they are just 2-3 minutes apart; I do remember thinking that as our plan was to have younger teenage children in one of them, that they were probably further apart than I personally would be comfortable with for that purpose (at night with wild animals on the loose). But as you have older children, I would think the distance is not an issue.

Granite 2 is the unit with the really fantastic pool, it is the large free-form one set into the rocks overlooking the river and it has a large outdoor deck area. This pool is the one that seems to show up in photos of Granite suites. The other pools are perfectly fine, don’t get me wrong, but really that pool at #2 is something; I remember thinking that I might have been disappointed if one my sisters got that room rather than me!! (But I least I could come over and use it….) If you can request a particular unit at Granite, I would certainly try to get Unit 2. But if you are going in winter, you may not care that much about the pool.

If you want to be closer together, then Tree may work better. Tree 2 and 3 are next to each other to the right of the lodge. But you cannot see the decks or into the villa windows of 2 and 3 from one another. Tree 1 is to the left of the lodge, but overlooks the main lodge so has some monkey issues and perhaps the view is spoiled a touch by seeing the deck of the main lodge. Tree 4, 5 and 6 are down a bit closer to the river. But you cannot really see any of the Tree villas from one another either, esp not the decks or anything. You also can’t hear anything between the villas. I will say that the plunge pools at Tree are just that, small, round and just for a quick plunge, but there is a large main pool if you want more of a swim.

Having seen your other post that there are 5 of you, I would say that the suites at Tree or Granite are really huge, and are certainly large enough to put one person in the living room and have 2 in the bedroom, which means you would only need 2 suites (assuming Londolozi will allow this). The sofa would work for a bed, or a rollaway would more than fit into the living room, which is quite large, and there is a door between the living room and bedroom so there is total privacy. Or your daughter could stay with you in your living room. I would also note that Tree Unit 3, where I stayed, actually has <i>2 full baths</i>, which might work well for you. The second bath is small and not nearly as luxurious, and only has a shower, but would certainly be handy so that 3 adults could get dressed and out in the morning or for dinner. The boys or Dad may not care about a small bath.

Cicerone, thanks for all the info. That is very helpful.

agswimmer - i do not know tanya. sorry!

craig

Thanks everyone for the detailed description. We'll be staying at the Londolozi Tree. And I booked with Southern Destination. Agreed that it's almost not worth the time / energy to book on my own. Now all I need is to wait for the vacation.