Cape Town to Kruger Luxury Holiday

An outstanding safari trip made seamless and wonderful by Adelle at Discover Africa. From start to finish this trip was amazing, the flights were well organised our pickups and transfers were on time and comfortable. We stayed the first two nights at Jocks a private concession in Kruger and everything from the food, accomodation and our wildlife guide Patrick was out of this world.

We then transferred to Arathusa Lodge in Sabi Sands game reserve and while different experience again the accomodation, food and our tracker Adam and Guide Geoff were outstanding. Not a single complaint and felt Adelle did a wonderful job of making things easy for us when the enormous choice of accomodation options and places to stay can be overwhelming. We saw the big 5 and many other animals and I would recommend Discover Africa and Adelle to anyone I speak with!

After being unable to visit South Africa since my last visit in 2019, I decided to use Discover Africa to organise my return to safaris. When I visit South Africa I usually arrange two safaris, one per week and use the weekends before, during and after the safaris to be with my friends who live in Centurion. I chose two areas, Madikwe in the northwest and Klaserie (Greater Kruger) in the north-east. My Travel Consultant at Discover Africa, Adelle Bell, then set about finding the best lodges in each area based on my interests and preferences. I had been to Madikwe on two previous occasions so I knew it was a good reserve and, while I had not been to Klaserie before, I had been to neighbouring Game Reserves in previous years.

Being a solo traveller can be difficult as lodges price their rooms on a ‘two sharing’ basis and this can mean either a reluctance to take a single occupant or a high single supplement. Adelle was amazing in getting me bookings at lodges in both areas not only without the dreaded ‘single supplement’ but also at very keen rates. In Madikwe I stayed 4 nights at Thakadu River Lodge where accommodation was in Luxury permanent tents set alongside the river. There are 12 tents running south of the lodge with the tents from number four onwards at increasingly long distances from the lodge. It would take me between 5 to 7 minutes to walk from my tent to the lodge and this may be a problem for those with reduced mobility. Facilities and staff at the lodge were first class and the food was of a high standard.

It should be noted that drinks were not included but the prices of local brands were reasonble (ZAR80 for a large, 250 ml, glass of red wine). The game drives were well organised and my guide, Vincent, was very knowledgeable and adept and finding the animals in the very large reserve. As I said, I have been to Madikwe before so I knew that the game viewing there is first class and I can wholeheartedly recommend it. Thakadu is a lodge that is run by a local collective so as well as having a memorable safari, you are also supporting a local enterprise.

At Klaserie I stayed at Camp George, part of the Simbavati Group of lodges, for 6 nights. The camp is in an excellent site adjacent to a dry river bed and has its own waterhole. The rooms and lodge facilities are of a very high standard and are relatively new (about 10 years since construction). The lodge managers and staff are very welcoming and attentive and have an obvious enthusiasm and love of the bush. Even though the lodge is very luxurious you do not feel isolated from the bush as you can do in some other high-end lodges. At only 8 rooms set around the central lodge buildings, it was like being part of a small group of friends which made for a very relaxing stay.

The game drives were ably handled by our guide, Julius, who worked hard to ensure that we had the best opportunities to see the animals in the area. Game viewing in high summer can be difficult as the bush is dense and in full leaf. Spotting the animals, even large ones can be tricky as there is plenty of cover which can conceal them even though they are very close. When you do find the animals you have a greater sense of achievement just because you know how difficult it is. However, we were able to get some great sightings including 6 separate sightings of leopards involving 4 individuals. If you like your lodge to have all the amenities and be of a high standard, then I can thoroughly recommend Camp George.

I can also recommend putting your trust in the consultants at Discover Africa to organise your trip. Adelle coped with my constant requests for updates and reassurances (I suffer from being one of life’s victims of Murphy’s Law!) in a considerate and supportive way. She said that she would look after me with my trip itinerary and she did precisely that. These were my 12th and 13th safaris so I have had plenty of experience with booking safaris through various travel companies, Discover Africa is up there with the best.

Megan Warrington and Discover Africa made our 5 country African vacation a trip of a lifetime. She planned the perfect vacation for us. The pace was perfect, the sequence of countries was perfect, and the accommodations were truly amazing. She knew exactly what we wanted and needed along the way.

I would have never been able to put together such an amazing adventure. Discover Africa was there for us every step of the way. They made our connecting flights seamless, getting us through airports and border crossings quickly and easily.

They saved us so much time and energy, making the difficult things seem easy.

With Covid changing everyone’s travel plans, our trip was 2 years in the planning yet Megan was very understanding and patient with us. We changed dates and itineraries 2 or 3 times trying to make the trip possible and Megan just adjusted everything along the way so that our dream trip became a reality.

I just want to say thank you to Megan and Discover Africa for letting us experience your beautiful continent.

Megan was so helpful in helping plan our safari in SA. She went out of her to get lots of options and research our extra requests and we had the most amazing trip!

Megan and Alice were also fantastic at making last minute changes for us when circumstances changed which we are so grateful for.

Thank you Discover Africa – I will definitely be using you again!

Everything was as expected. Our vacation was amazing from transfers to lodging to activities. We had one small hiccup with a transfer; I contacted Discover Africa via email and Alice was immediately digging into the problem and guaranteeing no more issues. Our 2 safari lodges were incredible. I would definitely use Discover Africa again!

Communication: I reached out to multiple tour agencies when trying to book my safari. Out of all of them, Discover Africa stood out the most. Their communication response was excellent. They responded emails quickly, gave the option of communicating through WhatsApp, and phone calls. This was key in getting the conversation rolling.

Helpfulness: The agent I worked with was Megan. She took the time to understand my interests, budget, and questions. Based on that, she provided more personalized options when deciding the proper safari lodges, travel, and accommodations to consider.

Easiness: The agency provided very detailed and personalized itinerary just for me online and a PDF version on email as well. Even once the safari was booked many months in advance, Megan reached out about a week before my travel dates and sent all the documents necessary to make my travels easy pre-tour, during the tour, and post tour.

I will definitely consider using Discover Africa again next time I am back.