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

Hi Liesl, I'm in London waiting for my flight back to the ice and snow, and I have to be honest - everywhere you booked us was absolutely beyond amazing! Plettenberg Bay (Starfish), the Garden Route farm (Malvern Manor) and especially Nottens were fantastic and great value. In 2008 my profession had a World Congress in Cape Town and I was accompanied by 12 North Americans.  The trip was great, BUT I needed to find a better travel agent. YOU GUYS  passed with flying colours! Will keep in touch, Vic  

On Safari, we saw all of the Big Five plus a multitude of animals and a beautiful array of birds. Included was the first spotting of a white rhino in the last several weeks at Mombo and following a pride of lions from laying around and cubs playing, to their stalking a herd of buffalo, isolating one and eventually taking it down.  National Geographic definitely abridges their footage and removes the sound track!  What an experience!!!  All of the camps were excellent, with highly knowledgeable guides who made sure that we saw all. Thank you so very much for the work you did to put this together for us!  It was truly a fantastic dream of a lifetime trip!!!

Hi Liesl! Livingstone and the Riverclub were wonderful. Victoria Falls is one of the most breath-taking sites we've ever seen! No one minded getting a little wet and we got some fabulous photos. The market there was fun for the girls. The staff at the Riverclub were top notch! We really enjoyed getting to know everyone. The highlight there has to be the hippos - the sundowner boat trip was so fun, we did it both evenings. In Mombo, we got to see the leopard Legadima and her cub AND one of the white rhinos with her 3 week old baby! We were told that there hadn't been a rhino siting in a few months so we were thrilled. We're still going through our thousands of photos (we had 5 cameras between the 4 of us), re-living the fun! I know that Kevin and I will be looking to do a few more safari holidays while we're still in Africa. So, we may be in touch for help with that.. Here's wishing you all the best for the New Year! Thanks for all your help! Warmest Regards, Dana

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