Itinery Critique South Africa
Jun 3rd, 2006, 05:30 AM
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Itinery Critique South Africa
Hi! Firstly a thankyou to all those who post on this board, I have been following it daily for many months gathering some invaluable information, with this in mind I have come up with a possible Itinery for our May 2007 wedding.
Our main criteria is to see wildlife, have some luxury with the wedding part and scuba-dive. I have come up with the following itinery:
Nights 1-3 Kruger - self drive staying in rest camps (Skukuza, Lower Sabie, Crocodile)
Nights 4-7 Leopard Hills, Sabi Sands - get married
Nights 8-14 Rocktail Bay, Kwa Zulu Natal - Scuba-diving
I have a rough idea of cost from web-sites and am looking at about £6500 for 2 of us (excl international flights).
I would really appreciate any critique on the above itinery and any alternative suggestions to mull over. Thanks.
Our main criteria is to see wildlife, have some luxury with the wedding part and scuba-dive. I have come up with the following itinery:
Nights 1-3 Kruger - self drive staying in rest camps (Skukuza, Lower Sabie, Crocodile)
Nights 4-7 Leopard Hills, Sabi Sands - get married
Nights 8-14 Rocktail Bay, Kwa Zulu Natal - Scuba-diving
I have a rough idea of cost from web-sites and am looking at about £6500 for 2 of us (excl international flights).
I would really appreciate any critique on the above itinery and any alternative suggestions to mull over. Thanks.
Jun 3rd, 2006, 06:30 AM
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Hello,
Congratulations on your wedding - hope you have a wonderful honeymoon!
Personally, I'd recommend foregoing the self-drive and thinking about spending some time in another private reserve -- having professional guides and trackers makes a huge difference in spotting animals. I've been on several safaris, and although my spotting abilities have definitely improved there is still so much I would miss out on without a guide. Predators in particular can be a real challenge to spot on your own.
The Northern Private Reserves (Timbavati, Manyeleti, etc) are less expensive than the Sabi Sands, and still offer very good game-viewing. It's not as cheap as Kruger, but much better value for money. Since you will be in a lodge in the Sabi Sands, I'd recommend looking at a tented camp for your other stay -- spending some time under canvas in the bush is a very special experience. Take a look at Honeyguides and Ngala:
http://www.honeyguidecamp.com/
http://www.ngala.co.za
If you want to stick to Kruger, I would advise spending your first three days in another region of the park - there are no fences between Kruger and the Sabi Sands, and sticking to the southern reaches of Kruger means that you'll be in a very similar environment. The far northern reaches of Kruger offer a very different environment and would make a great complement to your stay in the Sabi Sands. There are two excellent private camps with professional guides.
Wilderness Safaris has opened up an exciting new camp in the far northern reaches of Kruger. They do offer a self-drive option, but the full-inclusive option is better value and is very reasonably priced:
http://www.wilderness-safaris.com/ca...mp;method=menu
Another option in this area is The Outpost:
http://www.theoutpost.co.za/
For your Sabi Sands stay, I'd encourage you to consider one of the lodges which has a larger private traversing area, as these have much better game-viewing. I've stayed at Londolozi several times, and have had absolutely superb game-viewing:
http://www.londolozi.com
Getting married at Tree Camp would be brilliant!
For the ultimate in luxury and exclusivity, take a look at Singita:
http://www.singita.com
Cheers,
Julian
Congratulations on your wedding - hope you have a wonderful honeymoon!
Personally, I'd recommend foregoing the self-drive and thinking about spending some time in another private reserve -- having professional guides and trackers makes a huge difference in spotting animals. I've been on several safaris, and although my spotting abilities have definitely improved there is still so much I would miss out on without a guide. Predators in particular can be a real challenge to spot on your own.
The Northern Private Reserves (Timbavati, Manyeleti, etc) are less expensive than the Sabi Sands, and still offer very good game-viewing. It's not as cheap as Kruger, but much better value for money. Since you will be in a lodge in the Sabi Sands, I'd recommend looking at a tented camp for your other stay -- spending some time under canvas in the bush is a very special experience. Take a look at Honeyguides and Ngala:
http://www.honeyguidecamp.com/
http://www.ngala.co.za
If you want to stick to Kruger, I would advise spending your first three days in another region of the park - there are no fences between Kruger and the Sabi Sands, and sticking to the southern reaches of Kruger means that you'll be in a very similar environment. The far northern reaches of Kruger offer a very different environment and would make a great complement to your stay in the Sabi Sands. There are two excellent private camps with professional guides.
Wilderness Safaris has opened up an exciting new camp in the far northern reaches of Kruger. They do offer a self-drive option, but the full-inclusive option is better value and is very reasonably priced:
http://www.wilderness-safaris.com/ca...mp;method=menu
Another option in this area is The Outpost:
http://www.theoutpost.co.za/
For your Sabi Sands stay, I'd encourage you to consider one of the lodges which has a larger private traversing area, as these have much better game-viewing. I've stayed at Londolozi several times, and have had absolutely superb game-viewing:
http://www.londolozi.com
Getting married at Tree Camp would be brilliant!
For the ultimate in luxury and exclusivity, take a look at Singita:
http://www.singita.com
Cheers,
Julian
Jun 3rd, 2006, 06:48 AM
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mancfi,
Congratulations on your upcoming marriage. Taking a look at your itinerary, unless you have already been there, Cape Town seems like it would be a natural way to start your holiday (rather than the rest camps). Even three nights in Cape Town would be a wonderful way to start.
Another option would be to extend your time on safari a bit. Although it is not posted on its website and this information is only mailed to preferred agents of Leopard Hills, there is a special offer of stay four nights, get the fifth night free. So, you would already be qualifying for this and not knowing it if your agent wished to pocket the savings.
Just so you know, Leopard Hills is represented by the same marketing company that also represents Kings Camp in Timbavati (another private reserve bordering Kruger National Park) and also represents Madikwe Hills in Madikwe Private Game Reserve.
www.kingscamp.com
www.madikwehills.com
Madikwe Hills is really luxurious and while the gameviewing is not as strong as in the Sabi Sand, it would give you a good opportunity to see wild dog and black rhino, two that you will not see in the Sabi Sand.
The stay four nights, get two nights free offer may be used all at one of the above camps or it may be spread out between two of the camps.
Another offer is stay 6 nights, get the 7th and 8th nights free, again which may be used between the different lodges.
For the scuba diving, Rocktail Bay looks really nice. However, another option worth exploring would be Mozambique. It is possible to fly quite easily from the Sabi Sand to Mozambique. Here would be a wonderful property to consider in place of Rocktail Bay:
http://www.marlinlodge.co.za/
Marlin Lodge just seems more like a honeymoon destination than Rocktail Bay, while sacrificing none of the scuba diving options.
My recommendation would be for something like this, if the budget allowed:
Nights 1 - 3 Cape Grace Hotel, Cape Town or Twelve Apostles Hotel, Cape Town. The Cape Grace will put you right in the middle of the action at the "Waterfront" while the Twelve Apostles is wonderfully secluded yet only a 5 minute drive from Camps Bay and a 20 minute drive from the Waterfront.
Nights 1 - 3
www.capegrace.com
www.12apostleshotel.com
From there you could fly up to the Sabi Sand and do the following:
Nights 4 - 8
Kings Camp, Timbavati, 2 nights
Leopard Hills, Sabi Sand, 3 nights
From there you could fly to Benguerra Island in Mozambique.
Nights 9 - 14
Marlin Lodge, Benguerua Island, Bazaruto Archipelago, Mozambique.
www.marlinlodge.co.za (not to be confused with www.marlinlodge.com)
Good luck.
Congratulations on your upcoming marriage. Taking a look at your itinerary, unless you have already been there, Cape Town seems like it would be a natural way to start your holiday (rather than the rest camps). Even three nights in Cape Town would be a wonderful way to start.
Another option would be to extend your time on safari a bit. Although it is not posted on its website and this information is only mailed to preferred agents of Leopard Hills, there is a special offer of stay four nights, get the fifth night free. So, you would already be qualifying for this and not knowing it if your agent wished to pocket the savings.
Just so you know, Leopard Hills is represented by the same marketing company that also represents Kings Camp in Timbavati (another private reserve bordering Kruger National Park) and also represents Madikwe Hills in Madikwe Private Game Reserve.
www.kingscamp.com
www.madikwehills.com
Madikwe Hills is really luxurious and while the gameviewing is not as strong as in the Sabi Sand, it would give you a good opportunity to see wild dog and black rhino, two that you will not see in the Sabi Sand.
The stay four nights, get two nights free offer may be used all at one of the above camps or it may be spread out between two of the camps.
Another offer is stay 6 nights, get the 7th and 8th nights free, again which may be used between the different lodges.
For the scuba diving, Rocktail Bay looks really nice. However, another option worth exploring would be Mozambique. It is possible to fly quite easily from the Sabi Sand to Mozambique. Here would be a wonderful property to consider in place of Rocktail Bay:
http://www.marlinlodge.co.za/
Marlin Lodge just seems more like a honeymoon destination than Rocktail Bay, while sacrificing none of the scuba diving options.
My recommendation would be for something like this, if the budget allowed:
Nights 1 - 3 Cape Grace Hotel, Cape Town or Twelve Apostles Hotel, Cape Town. The Cape Grace will put you right in the middle of the action at the "Waterfront" while the Twelve Apostles is wonderfully secluded yet only a 5 minute drive from Camps Bay and a 20 minute drive from the Waterfront.
Nights 1 - 3
www.capegrace.com
www.12apostleshotel.com
From there you could fly up to the Sabi Sand and do the following:
Nights 4 - 8
Kings Camp, Timbavati, 2 nights
Leopard Hills, Sabi Sand, 3 nights
From there you could fly to Benguerra Island in Mozambique.
Nights 9 - 14
Marlin Lodge, Benguerua Island, Bazaruto Archipelago, Mozambique.
www.marlinlodge.co.za (not to be confused with www.marlinlodge.com)
Good luck.
Jun 17th, 2006, 01:45 AM
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Thankyou for your replies Jasher and Rocco. I have taken your advice on board and after some consideration have decided to gather quotes for private lodges for the eintire 2 weeks.
I appreciate your suggestions regarding Cape Town but think we will leave this for another trip (along with the garden route perhaps?, anyway back to planning this trip!).
I have not thanked you earlier as I've been gathering quotes and itinerary suggestions from agents. I would appreciate any further comments you and fellow Fodorites have on these options that may help us decide, I am leaning toward option 2 and my partner towards option 1 though option 3 has possiblities in terms of budget and time to add to!
These are based on 2 people, I asked the agents to consider a total budget up to £8000 excl int'national flights (option 1 a little above this but still doable if worth it) we may be able to add 2 days to option 2 and 4 days to option 3:
Option 1:
Night 1 Sandton Sun Towers Jo'burg
Night 2-5 Leopard Hills (wedding)
Night 6-8 Kings Camp
Nights 9 -14 Rocktail Bay
Total: £8630 (excl int'national flights)
Option 2:
Nights 1-4 Simbambili Lodge (wedding)
Night 5 - Airport Grand Hotel Jo'burg
Nights 6-10 - Rocktail Bay Kwa Zulu Natal
Nights 11-12 - Phinda Forest Lodge
Total £7921 (incl int'national flights from London)
Option 3:
Nights 1-4 - Leopard Hills (wedding)
Night 5 - Southern Sun Jo'burg
Nights 6-10 Rocktail Bay
Total: £6531(excl int'national flights)
We are pretty much set on the Rocktail bay portion so I guess we need to choose between LH v's Simbambili for the wedding part and Kings Camp v's Phinda Forest. Any comments welcome and much appreciated.
Thanks
I appreciate your suggestions regarding Cape Town but think we will leave this for another trip (along with the garden route perhaps?, anyway back to planning this trip!).
I have not thanked you earlier as I've been gathering quotes and itinerary suggestions from agents. I would appreciate any further comments you and fellow Fodorites have on these options that may help us decide, I am leaning toward option 2 and my partner towards option 1 though option 3 has possiblities in terms of budget and time to add to!
These are based on 2 people, I asked the agents to consider a total budget up to £8000 excl int'national flights (option 1 a little above this but still doable if worth it) we may be able to add 2 days to option 2 and 4 days to option 3:
Option 1:
Night 1 Sandton Sun Towers Jo'burg
Night 2-5 Leopard Hills (wedding)
Night 6-8 Kings Camp
Nights 9 -14 Rocktail Bay
Total: £8630 (excl int'national flights)
Option 2:
Nights 1-4 Simbambili Lodge (wedding)
Night 5 - Airport Grand Hotel Jo'burg
Nights 6-10 - Rocktail Bay Kwa Zulu Natal
Nights 11-12 - Phinda Forest Lodge
Total £7921 (incl int'national flights from London)
Option 3:
Nights 1-4 - Leopard Hills (wedding)
Night 5 - Southern Sun Jo'burg
Nights 6-10 Rocktail Bay
Total: £6531(excl int'national flights)
We are pretty much set on the Rocktail bay portion so I guess we need to choose between LH v's Simbambili for the wedding part and Kings Camp v's Phinda Forest. Any comments welcome and much appreciated.
Thanks
Jun 18th, 2006, 08:41 AM
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Thanks Jasher and Hari, you confirmed what I (and now my partner) thinks -so Phinda it is!
Our 'dilema' (if you can call it that!) is that we still cannot make up our minds between Leopard Hills and Simbambili for the wedding part. My partner is still keen on Leopard Hills as he thinks it overall looks more luxurious than Simbambili, whereas I'm not sure I can justify the extra (est) £900 to myself especially if there's not that much difference.
Thanks again to you both. If anyone has stayed at any of these two lodges and can add any comments, I would be most grateful.
Our 'dilema' (if you can call it that!) is that we still cannot make up our minds between Leopard Hills and Simbambili for the wedding part. My partner is still keen on Leopard Hills as he thinks it overall looks more luxurious than Simbambili, whereas I'm not sure I can justify the extra (est) £900 to myself especially if there's not that much difference.
Thanks again to you both. If anyone has stayed at any of these two lodges and can add any comments, I would be most grateful.
Jun 18th, 2006, 09:37 AM
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Simbambili is very luxurious and is also an excellent value. I have stayed at Singita and Simbambili and I will say that Simbambili is not far behind Singita. Given that with the current exchange Simbambili is available for under $500 per person per night, it would make for an excellent choice.
When advising my clients about which lodge offers the most value for money, for the Sabi Sand, my answer is always Simbambili.
Have a look at some of my photos from Simbambili from last September:
http://www.kodakgallery.com/rocco/main/2005_favorites
The photos are mixed with my Zambia photos from the same safari, but the leopard and rhino photos were taken at Simbambili.
Also, one consideration should be gameviewing from camp. It has been my experience that while lodges elevated high like Leopard Hills offer great views of the horizon, they do not offer good gameviewing. On the other hand, there is a waterhole at Simbambili that attracts the wildlife, from elephants to buffalo to giraffe to even leopards. The nice photos of the leopard you see drinking in my photo album are photos of the waterhole at Simbambili. The manager at Simbambili actually called us back to camp because the leopard was right there at the camp while we were out in the bush driving around!
Everything is top notch at Simbambili and it does have the most incredible breakfast buffet I have had at any game lodge. Passion fruit, guava fruit, mangos, pineapple, eggs cooked to order, American style french toast and pancakes, freshly baked breads (including my favorite...chocolate croissants). So good...I have not had my breakfast yet and I wish somebody would knock me out, stick me on a plane and let me wake up at this same time tomorrow at Simbambili for their breakfast!!!
When advising my clients about which lodge offers the most value for money, for the Sabi Sand, my answer is always Simbambili.
Have a look at some of my photos from Simbambili from last September:
http://www.kodakgallery.com/rocco/main/2005_favorites
The photos are mixed with my Zambia photos from the same safari, but the leopard and rhino photos were taken at Simbambili.
Also, one consideration should be gameviewing from camp. It has been my experience that while lodges elevated high like Leopard Hills offer great views of the horizon, they do not offer good gameviewing. On the other hand, there is a waterhole at Simbambili that attracts the wildlife, from elephants to buffalo to giraffe to even leopards. The nice photos of the leopard you see drinking in my photo album are photos of the waterhole at Simbambili. The manager at Simbambili actually called us back to camp because the leopard was right there at the camp while we were out in the bush driving around!
Everything is top notch at Simbambili and it does have the most incredible breakfast buffet I have had at any game lodge. Passion fruit, guava fruit, mangos, pineapple, eggs cooked to order, American style french toast and pancakes, freshly baked breads (including my favorite...chocolate croissants). So good...I have not had my breakfast yet and I wish somebody would knock me out, stick me on a plane and let me wake up at this same time tomorrow at Simbambili for their breakfast!!!
Jun 18th, 2006, 11:14 AM
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Rocco - your photo's are fantastic!!! (I have seen them before from another thread but couldn't resist going through them again!).
Thanks for the comments on Simbambili, (I have previously read your trip report). I guess I just wanted a bit of reassurance as I've not seen many comments about it - I gather from your posts that you and your wife appreciate very nice lodge surroundings so will certainly take your word that Simbambili is luxurious!!
Thanks again
Thanks for the comments on Simbambili, (I have previously read your trip report). I guess I just wanted a bit of reassurance as I've not seen many comments about it - I gather from your posts that you and your wife appreciate very nice lodge surroundings so will certainly take your word that Simbambili is luxurious!!
Thanks again
Jun 19th, 2006, 09:05 AM
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mancfi,
If you are definitely going with the Phinda itinerary, then you might want to consider the Exeter lodges for the Sabi Sands portion (in the same area of Sabi Sands as Leopard Hills)as combining the CCAfrica lodges should get you a nice discount.
If you are definitely going with the Phinda itinerary, then you might want to consider the Exeter lodges for the Sabi Sands portion (in the same area of Sabi Sands as Leopard Hills)as combining the CCAfrica lodges should get you a nice discount.
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