Big Five Safari in Mala Mala

My wife and I and two of our friends took this trip, which covered South Africa, Zimbabwe and Botswana. The trip was customized based on our needs and our Tour Manager/ Coordinator, Vihann, planned and executed with such ease and precision, I cannot think of anything to say that would make our experience any better.

Everything went like clockwork and we never had to worry about anything at all. He was also very flexible with last minute changes. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

We travelled last August on a trip planned with Dev at Discover Africa. It was a family trip that i wanted us to remember forever and we definetly will! We could not have had an easier or more wonderful time and we would never have been able to plan and manage it ourselves.

We visited Botsana, Victoria Falls and Sabi Sands in South Africa then Mozambique. Every experience was better than we had hoped. Everyone who was part of our experience was so helpful and friendly and went the full measure to make sure we enjoyed our special holiday.

We were so lucky with every safari and saw so many animals, we had wonderful river trips seeing a great deal of wildlife, beautiful birds and even crocs eating a kill rather than just sunbathing. Everyday bought another surprise. Thank you to Dev and the team – your help was so appreciated.

We had the most memorable safari trip with Discover Africa Safaris. Susan put together the perfect itinerary for our first family safari. Her choices were excellent. We loved both safari lodges, and our accommodation in Cape Town was wonderful. Her recommendation for car rental in Cape Town was great, as we were able to drive to Hout Bay, Boulders Beach, and Cape Point easily. I would thoroughly recommend Susan to put together the perfect vacation!

We had the most amazing experience with Susan who went above and beyond to make sure our first time in South Africa was pleasurable and one to remember. Susan was patient with us while we scrambled with dates and decided to change what we wanted to do halfway through our holiday.

She also made sure to match us perfectly with a safari tour that would fit our active lifestyles so we were kept busy throughout the days. Our tour was most incredible, the value for money was well beyond what we paid for and we saw all the animals we were wanting to see plus more!

Thank you Susan, we thoroughly enjoyed our holiday and appreciate your expertise and knowledge of South Africa while organising our trip.

General: Great service by Antoinette who was helpful and very dedicated to help us booking our South Africa experience. She showed us lots of different options and recommended her favourite stays.

Overall an absolute 5 star service!

Accomodations:

Klaserie River Safari Lodge: Perfect place for the first stay in the region, staff was very limited due to low numbers in travellers (covid) but did an excellent job! A true feel good place right at the Klaserie River. Our guides Lauren and Herman were very dedicated to make it the best stay ever. Great value for the money. Would definitely recommend this place!

Hamiltons Tented Camp: Outstanding private luxury lodge where you won’t miss a thing. From location, food, game drives to service this is what I call high end. Prices are high but standard for this kind of place.

Muluwa Lodge: Nice stay on the way from Kruger back to Joburg. We only had one night but I would recommend staying at least two nights. Beautiful sceneryand lovely tents with great views. Food was tasty and the staff very friendly.

Spier Wine Farm: Large vineyard with nice accomodation. The place is created with lots of love, the garden is beautiful and invites to hang around and have a picnic. Wine was not our favourite but tastes are different so you might like it for sure!

Mont Rochelle: Luxury Hotel on a vineyard owned by Richard Branson. Probably our favourite location in the area if you want to relax for a day or two. Overall excellent service, great food and lovely stuff. Price is high but worth the money.

Mosaic Lagoon Lodge: Hidden gem right at the Klein River Lagoon. Staff was again superb, food great and lots of activities to do. If you don’t like to stay right in Hermanus this is the place to go to!

Lagoon Beach Hotel: A bit off the city trouble but still just a 15 mins drive to the waterfront. It’s a standard hotel like any other. Room was clean, breakfast okay and they offered a free shuttle to the centre.

Cape Milner Hotel: Nice place close to Bo Kaap, walking distance to the city centre. Can recommend the place if you would like to stay in the city.

We are very seasoned travelers. We travel all around the world and the vast majority of the time, we organize and book our own travel. A safari, though, is a different matter, as far as we see it.

We didn’t know where to begin and we only had three months to get it all squared away, so we decided an agent would make the most sense. We used SafariBookings.com and had several agents respond, all with very tempting itineraries.

However, the professionalism and expertise of Discover Africa’s agent, Matthys, was head and shoulders above the rest of the pack. We worked with Matthys over several days to fine tune the itinerary and we ended up with an itinerary that seemed like it was going to provide an amazing experience for us on our first time to S. Africa and first safari experience. Each day on safari we would mention to each other how finely tuned the planning Matthys at Discover Africa was.

Transfers, food allergies, special needs … everything was all taken care of. Not only that but the safari lodges we stayed at fit us perfectly. It was as if a close friend, who knows us well, had booked these for us. The fact that Matthys is on the other side of the planet in Cape Town, has never met us before, and we only communicated via email … well, we were definitely impressed. I doubt it was just luck, either. We stayed at three different lodges. Each was typical “us” and when we looked at other lodges online, we saw that Matthys definitely pointed us in the right direction.

A safari is a must-do experience, for sure. And I can’t imagine ever going on another one without using Discover Africa as our booking and planning agency. Bravo!