Good morning, Yes, we are back and had a wonderful vacation!  I'll give you our honest feedback.  We just loved Kirkman's Kamp.  In truth we actually saw more animals just driving in our rental car through Kruger National Park ourselves, but the experience of the drive was awesome.  For example, we saw a leopard eating it's impala kill and had the ability to sit under it in our land rover for about 45 minutes while a hyena was nearby.  This is something we wouldn't have seen on our own car drive.  The staff there gave us first class treatment - with greeting us as we arrived and giving us fresh moist towels to clean up with.  For the game drive, we loved the touch of having hot water bottles and blankets to keep us warm! They wound up giving us two game drives (we thought there was just one evening one and a walk). The food there was excellent and the room/accommodations superb.  Everyone needs an escort to their room as animals can be everywhere.  In fact, they said the night before a lion chased an impala through their camp! Too bad we couldn't have afforded another night because we might have been able to spot the only animal of the big five we never got to see, the lion. Riley's Rock was unique.  My sister was disappointed with it initially feeling it was too 'rustic', but the rest of us really loved the look and 'feel' of it.  She wound up coming around to really loving it - who wouldn't with all the dinners under the stars around a fire? We were blessed with having our first dinner with Ted Riley himself.  Apparently he had guests that were in for some important conservation business and it allowed for some very serious and interesting dinner conversation with all of us...a great and memorable experience. Interestingly, they asked about how we booked their hotel and we told them about you (and they were quite grateful).  How had you heard about them?  We also loved the Swaziland excursions we took through Swazi-Travel. Kosi-Forest Lodge though beautiful, was probably our least favorite.   The place was truly lovely yet simplistic. We loved the look of the tiki torches around so we can find our room at night.   It would be a much better place to stay in the spring or summer as it was too cold to go snorkeling.  It was also more geared for honeymoon couples. The food was tasty and it's presentation very nice. Thula Thula was nice, though disappointing for game viewing.  If I had it to do over again, I would have stayed one day there (just because my wife read the book), and two days at a big game reserve hotel.  They don't have the big 5 there - and really the main thing to see is their signature elephants, which are breathtaking.  The tracker and driver were magnificent, but they excelled more on the bush walks.  We only got to see elephants and rhino there...they have no lions and in 3 game drives we never saw buffalo or leopard either.  In fact they hadn't seen a leopard since last December.  The tented accommodations were nicer, in our opinion, then Kosi-Forest Lodge. They were bigger.  Both had family tents, which might have been preferred for us - if less expensive.  The meals were good and we especially liked that there was a game meat option each day. We wound up downloading the South Africa map for our GPS and we are glad we did.  While it wasn't perfect, it did fill in missing spots when using the directions provided. The GPS did wind up giving us totally wrong directions to Thula Thula though. Looking back, it would have been better doing the trip in reverse...as it is hard to top seeing so many animals (Kruger and Kirkman's Kamp). Again, thank you so much for organizing the trip for us - it was really a once in a lifetime experience and our whole family has memories that won't be forgotten! P.S. - your telephone call to us at Kosi Bay was a wonderful touch and much appreciated. The Toro family

Dear Ilze, We are home, safe and sound. You always called the trip “Your Fabulous African Journey”. And, you were right on. It was absolutely fabulous! A trip of a lifetime. We saw all the BIG 5, met wonderful people ( guides, waiters, cooks,transporters, etc.), ate great food and had an exciting time. The trip exceeded expectations, by a factor. Thank you for your work. I should have called you back to also thank you for getting my walker delivered that first night. My son took close to two thousand pictures. I’ll share the best with you after he sends me copies. My friends are jealous. Regards, Dave

Dear Jeffrey, Thank you,  thank you, thank you for helping me plan probably the best trip of my life.  You and Liesle helped me look like a pro in the eyes of my family! Everything went smoothly.  There are so many highlights.  I'd like to list just a few.  We all fell in love  with Charlie.  He was the perfect fit for our family.  The kids were still talking about him days later when we were on safari.   We also really enjoyed our driver/ guide at Savuti.  (Richard)  He was really informative.  We also felt very safe with him. I really felt like we were in the wilds while we were there.  We were not as enamored with our guide at Chiefs but really enjoyed the rest of the staff.  There was a couple there studying the plant life.  Since I love to garden I tagged along with them one session instead of going on a drive to see the animals. I finally swallowed my fear of Class V rapids and decided to go rafting.  It was so much fun.  The hard part was walking/crawling my way down the hill/ mountain.  I was very shaken by the time I got to the bottom.  JIm gave me about two seconds to  gather my wits and then he threw me in the raft.  Believe me when I say there's no way I would be able to hike back out.  My thighs hurt for three days.  One guide was nice enough to help me down.   Again our guide was great fun and we felt very secure with him.  The other raft lost people after the first set of rapids. There's nothing like going with  your family  and spending a great deal of time with them without the interruptions of cell phones,  TV. and computers  and discovering you still like them at the end of your trip. All kidding aside everyone had a great time.  They'll already dreaming up the next big trip. Lori

Dear Liesl, I just had to write to thank you for the magnificent planning of our honeymoon - this trip was an absolute dream come true. Steve and I loved every second of it, from Cape Town (where we both want to move to now) to the perfection of Lion Sands - you could not have choreographed a more perfect itinerary. Many, many thanks again for everything - it was such a pleasure getting to meet you in person, and I hope that we'll be able to work on a return trip very soon. All best wishes, Erika

Hi, Johannesburg: the spa day at M'Mangwanani; totally relaxing and excellent way to prepare for trip after long journey to South Africa. Zambia: Zambezi River Islands of Siankaba; loved the accommodation( Bob was uncomfortable with the swinging bridge, I liked it); the cuisine was probably the best we had anywhere throughout our trip. Dinner was served for us under the stars with delightful artistic touches from our waiter. The rhinoceros walking safari allowed us to see all eight of the rhinos. Bob enjoyed chatting with our guide. This walking safari was one of his highlights. The swim in "devil's pool" was a great experience. I have already documented the unfortunate behavior of our guide who was compelled by one of our group to "dump" the rest of us. This tourist works in Lesotho, is from Europe, has done this swim before but wanted a private tour and refused to leave the pool when the next group of tourists w guide arrived. Ultimately we asked a different guide if we could leave. Our guide was giving a private tour of the falls to the demanding tourist. Botswana: everyone said we would love it and we did. The camp was wonderful; the food very good with good variety and well prepared. The staff was so pleasant. Our guide was amazing finding many opportunities to enjoy animals. Bob enjoyed it but ultimately felt we had been on safari in Tanzania and did not need to repeat the game drives. The walking in Zambia he enjoyed. Victoria Falls leaves me wanting to return at a different season to view it again. Zimbabwe: the Hide was an unusual camp. My biggest concern was the night we lost power. I wondered how they would manage our wake-up coffee. Answer: they put another log on the fire. We saw honey badgers and bush babies. The people of Zimbabwe are very interesting to meet. Cape Town: we disappointed David, "that is your luggage"? Despite his initial disappointment we did enjoy our tours and chats with him. Either we did not have enough time in Cape Town or the weather was less than cooperative, I do not have a strong impression. Table Mountain was very foggy, the Cape much the same, Kirstenbosch closed greenhouse early. Probably needed more time and better weather. High tea was wonderful at Nelson Hotel and our accommodations at Four Rosmead excellent. Grootbos:  very relaxing place, beautiful accommodations, too bad it rained so much though that fact did allow us to see the whales cavorting which they did not do when it was sunny. Going to southern most point was important, our guide excellent, and we found orchids, Satyrium carneum, orchid along road to Agulhus, blooming along the side of the road. Riding, a horse, into the hills was special for me. The hikes were interesting. Again, weather and time precluded our enjoying more of these activities. Wine country and penguins: excellent. We do enjoy our penguins. We did enjoy the wine especially at our first stop. Lise, thank you for all the champagne which helped this anniversary trip celebration. The people we met throughout our trip were a pleasure. Many of the guides have led interesting  lives. It was our privilege to meet them. The staff of each accommodation were pleasant, helpful, made our trip special. Wake-up coffee is my favorite. Bob enjoyed meeting people and the walking at Grootbos and in Zambia. He definitely looked very relaxed and happy at the day spa in Johannesburg. What was best for me? Probably the very nice people we met throughout the trip. Showering under the Milky Way in Zimbabwe; dinner under the stars at Islands of Siankaba; meals enjoyed outdoors; swimming at Victoria Falls; Grootbos; coffee in the morning! Thank you, Lise, for all the special arrangements. Thank you, Jeff.