J_A

July 30- fly to Jo'burg from Heathrow on SAA
July31- arrive Jo'burg fly to Mala Mala
July31-Aug4- Mala Mala Main Camp
Aug 4- Fly to Cape Town via Jo'burg
Aug4-Aug7- Stay at Holiday Inn Waterfront
Aug 7- fly Cape Town to London

Price per person is roughly $4480 (£2800). Does this seem reasonable? I have no idea if this is average or not?

J_A

No one has any advice for me as to if it's a good price? And if the camp/hotel is nice?

napamatt

Does the price include the airfare?
Otherwise I can only speak to Mala Mala, which is $500 per person per night, or $625 pp if in a suite. I take the suite if I have to, otherwise the regular room is more than fine.

Mala Mala is my favourite place in the world and you will love it.

Hope that helps.

J_A

Thanks. It does include airfare.

dreaming

As far as the pricing - I'd take a look at what you'd pay if you got all of the component parts and see how you're doing against that estimate.

So:
Airfare LHR/JNB CPT/LHR - $918 KLM one stop vs $1442 SAA nonstop (expedia - for your dates)
Holiday Inn Waterfront: $163. They have a rate of 1040 - you might look at what room you're being offered vs. what the lowest rate is.
Airfare to MalaMala: 450 (R2860) This is the scheduled service to the MalaMala airstrip. Is that what you're being quoted?
JNB/CPT airfare one way: 111 Nationwide (R705). (nationwide.co.za)

So what I come up with for SAA nonstop flights is 4492(check my math though). But you'll need to look at the accomodations and flights to see what you're being offered vs. what's here.

Good luck.

sundowner

I can't help with prices but I stayed at MalaMala for 6 nights in September 2004. I had a wonderful time. The game drives were excellent and we say lions and leopards every day.

napamatt

Judging by Dreaming's numbers the quote is heavy by about $500 total. But you may not have got quite the same rates, and various things like ground transfers will probably add to the cost. Also if you are in a suite rather than regular room at MM then the quote is pretty good, because thats ection would be $5000 rack rate, rather than $4000.

J_A

It is a suite.

BUT now my TA has advised me that Lion Sands and Sabi Sabi would be cheaper than Mala Mala and their rooms are nicer?!?!? I don't know if this matters and if anyone has anything to say about which would be better? This is our 1st safari and yes we want it to be luxurious, but for a 1st time safari what would be better? We now MM is meant to be great for its abundance of animals, but is there a happy medium? Does anyone know how the game is at Lion Sands or Sabi Sabi? I looked at the map and it seemed Lion Sands was bordered by MM on one side and Kruger on the other.