I decided on the scenic Midlands Meander instead of the national motorway when making my way towards the Southern Drakensberg. The R103 is just that – a meander. I started in Hilton which is just a slipway off the national motorway. Hilton is a gorgeous town that is well known in South Africa for its [...]
Tag : mountains
Kwa-Zulu Natal Road Trip – Part 2
By africansafarisblogadmin on May 18, 2011 in Africa, African Safaris, honeymoon safari, South Africa
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Hi Liesl, We just got back to Washington a few hours ago so we are a bit tired but I wanted to tell you just how much we enjoyed our time and how everything was so well organised . Please don't worry about the problem with the luggage ( all is well that ends well). We will send you pictures and tell you all about our wonderful adventures in our next email . Jack and I want to thank you for a trip of a lifetime ! Kay & Jack
Gabriella: I have worked with Jeff and Liesl on our annual "Around the World Gang" for the last 5 years and during that time there was NEVER ONE tiny detail left undone. Both Liesl and Jeff are enthusiastic, thorough, dependable, very knowledgeable and committed to their profession. From my experience, they are "above & beyond" anyone's expectation and you will find no one that could surpass their performance. Dee Phillips
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 Jeff and Lise – I wanted to let you know that we had a wonderful time on our trip to Tanzania (I travelled with the Haurand party). Our accommodations were great, and our guide, Solomon was simply the best! I don’t know how else to describe him – to say that he was great, or wonderful, or professional or knowledgeable simply doesn’t do him justice! He was all of that and more! When I return (and I’m already thinking about how and when to return to Africa), I’ll definitely request Solomon as our guide again! I’ve attached a few photos, and I’ll send a subsequent email with a few more. I have ‘friended/liked’ your page on Facebook, and I’ve posted more pictures on my FB page if you’d like to see them. I invested in a new camera for this trip, and it was a good investment!! Thank you again for your assistance, and your attention to detail, and for everything that you did! Sandra
Tom and I are now at almost the end of our time at our Londolozi stay and it has been absolutely incredible. I never dreamed of seeing all the things that we have seen: a lion pride eating a giraffe that they killed a couple of days before, a small herd of about 20 elephants just walking calmly by our range rover, a leopard pulling a warthog out of its den (we arrived after it had killed the warthog—which I was glad not to witness); lions mating, a leopard eating an impala up in a tree; incredible things. The staff and the rangers have been great. The food is wonderful and way too abundant—I am afraid to go home. Thank you for your assistance in making it happen. Best regards Marjorie









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