Safari & Golf Journey in South Africa

This trip was booked 3 times before it finally happened thanks to the pandemic and border closures etc. Alice from Discover Africa was with us for the entire 3 years – from planning, canceling, and rebooking. She stayed in touch and communicated with us regularly during the entire 3 years. Her insights and suggestions helped make this trip one that will be very difficult to top.

“Fabulous Experience”

Cape Buffalo in the Kruger National Park. — Cape Buffalo in the Kruger

In terms of the actual holiday … Words fail me! Someone was watching out for us because we had multiple sightings of the Big 5, Magnificent 7 and Super 8 plus all of the other animals – small (mouse) to big (elephant). Pretty special when you consider that includes two sightings of Wild Dogs when there are only circa 400 in total in Kruger! I appreciate that’s completely outside of anyone’s control but worth mentioning. Going in September meant that the bush wasn’t at full height, so we were able to see the animals.

Cheetah with fly on nose — Cheetah with a fly on the nose

The lodges were great:

Thornybush and Jock’s Safari Lodge – they were luxurious without being pretentious. We were well taken care of and well-fed!
Gallo Manor Lodge in Johannesburg – it was very comfortable, and we were well taken care of again – the Director, Angel, chauffeured us to and from the golf course which was unexpected and very kind.

Colourful bird in tree — Colorful bird in tree

This holiday combined golf with safaris. The golf was good too. Hans Merensky’s course is well laid out and an interesting course to play. It does need some investment (as well as the hotel).

Leopard Creek was an experience! Old world golf club and an interesting course (unfortunately we didn’t see any wildlife as we did at Hans Merensky). We really enjoyed the Rocklands Course at the Johannesburg Country Club and had a lovely meal afterward looking over the course.

Thanks to Alice at Discover Africa for putting this holiday together for us.

The trip included: Johannesburg Kruger Park

"Adelle and team had plan my Africa trip according to what we discuss. They are professional and plan in detail the itinerary. We had a very good time in Africa travelling from Johannesburg, Victoria Falls, Botswana and end at Cape Town. The transfers are ar..."

Suhardi Semuni, Singapore•19 Jul 2026•

"We contacted Discover Africa to help us plan my 40th birthday trip and we have no regrets. Justin organised the perfect trip and everything went so smoothly. Our trip was truly amazing and the accommodation options he suggested for us were all amazing in di..."

Gareth French, United Kingdom•01 May 2026•

"Justin planned the best safari for our honeymoon. Everything was coordinated smoothly and the arrangements could not have been better. We are hoping to take another trip to South Africa in the future and will be using Discover Africa again. Justin was avail..."

Austin Mader, United States•11 Apr 2026•

"We just returned from our first African trip and had an absolutely amazing and memory making trip. We are usually self planners for our vacations but with essentially no knowledge I attempted to do research on Africa and felt overwhelmed. As suggested from ..."

Tedd Ritchie, United States•05 Oct 2025•