Astrophsx

Once arriving to HDS or driving to the park we'd like to keep to a budget of ~$2,000. Kind of overwhelmed with the options! We are planning for a month between ~December 20 - January 21 this year. We are trying to find trip reports as sometimes they are a bit more honest when compared to Tripadvisor reports. We are looking to get our feet wet in the safari experience!

- Since we plan to spend time in Seychelles and Cape Town there will be a lot for us to plan. We'd like to pick an option that doesn't have a large amount of planning.

- Price wise we are trying to figure out when the best time during our trip to do a safari. I've seen that the week of Christmas is a peak with the number of people traveling to do a safari. The rates usually go up Jan 1st or there is a peak period December 20-28. We are flexible when we travel, but would like to get the best price.

- We are traveling for our honeymoon. Some of the high end places have a 50% off the price for the bride.

- The idea of a self drive seems like fun, but maybe more planning than we have time for.

- A fellow FT'er did two nights at Arathusa and got in 4 game drives and said that they got to see all the animals on their list. It looks like an amazing price, but the prices have gone up a lot since they were last there. ~$800-900 a night which would probably limit us to two nights. They offered a 5% discount if we book directly.

- As far as lodges on private reserves we've looked at Elephant Plains Lodge, Shindzela Tented Safari Camp, and Rhino River Lodge. I like the idea of something around ~$300-500 per night which would allow us to do more nights. Something slightly more upscale.

- We are also trying to get an idea of what the journey and cost is like once we land in HDS to the lodge.

lowside67

I have been to Elephant Plains twice, once in Dec 2014 and once last week. I wholeheartedly recommend them - the facilities are totally reasonable for the price and the game driving is second to none.

I am somewhat experienced with safaris but brought my wife for the first time and in 4 days of game driving, she was able to see the big 5 - just barely. At this time of the year, the buffalo are actually very hard to find in that area. However, Sabi Sand has some of the highest leopard densities of anywhere in the world so what is typically the most elusive of the big 5 is reasonably guaranteed to be found over even a few days of sightings.

Here is a quick blog post with some of my images from the Dec 2014 trip to Sabi:
http://www.uhlmann.ca/sabi-sand/

I haven't added anything from last week yet, but we had no less than *14* leopard sightings over 7 game drives. No cheetah and less lions than last year, but all in all, Sabi Sand remains one of the best places to see quality sightings in a short time period, and of Sabi Sand's many lodges, I think EP is great value.

It's worth noting that the animals you see will change from year to year. In 2014, I saw lots of lions and very few leopards; this year the opposite. Both times we had great wild dog sightings which are highly rare.

I would skip the self drive in Kruger and focus on the private reserves such as Sabi. I did 2 nights in Sabi and 7 nights in Kruger in 2014 and saw WAY more and better quality sightings in a fraction of the time at Sabi. Kruger is a great budget option, especially for locals, but if you are travelling all that way and just want to see quality game in short periods of time, it's not the way to go.

If you decide on Elephant Plains, the drive from HDS to EP is about 90 minutes over some fairly terrible roads - we had the resort arrange ground transfers for us. It is not a difficult drive and many people drive rental cars there but the roads are in awful condition and can be quite confusing since it's very rural through villages - every time I do it, I am glad I am not driving it.

In terms of time of year - the best for game viewing is the dry season, think June-September, as the brush is thinnest and water is very concentrated at the waterholes only since everything else is so dry. This makes it easier to track and find animals, at the expense of nice lush green backgrounds for your photos.

I actually prefer the "rainy" season where temperatures are hotter and the ground is much lusher, but there is no doubt that the long grass makes spotting animals much tougher. For me as a photographer I am okay with this trade off as it means my photos are better, if fewer, but if your goal is just to see as much game as possible, I would recommend the dry season.

Hope that helps,
Mark

Astrophsx

Thanks Mark,

I'll take a look at your photos. Do you know what the temperatures are like in late December when you stayed at Elephant Plains? I wasn't sure if it was ever too hot when you go back to your room or over night. About how many days do you recommend if we go to EP?

lowside67

The rooms are air conditioned so not likely to have any problem in the rooms.

When I was there last time, it was quite hot, mid to upper 30s C every day and the direct sun was quite intense.

In March it had cooled somewhat to mid 20s to a max of I believe 32C.

Mark

johan rebel

Rhino River Lodge in KZN? Or Rhino Post in Kruger, right next door to Sabi Sands?

I've never been to EP, but friends who have placed it squarely in the "once is more than enough" category. It is probably a good choice for first-timers who want to tick off all the species on their list in a couple of days, whereas discerning safari-goers should look elsewhere.

With Shindzela I'm very familiar. Not a destination for those craving luxury and air conditioning. It's strength is having exclusive traversing rights on the main property. They also traverse three other properties where there is a small chance of encountering another vehicle, but there is none of that queueing, taking standbys and being limited to 10-minute slots at sightings that is so common elsewhere.

Rhino Post has exclusive rights to a concession in Kruger, but the road network is limited, so they often use the public KNP roads for game drives. The concession more suitable for walking. Trails are offered from sister lodge Plains Camp.

Johan

susiesan

We spent 3 nights at Gomo Gomo Lodge in April 2015 as part of our 2 week southern Africa safari vacation. Very laid back, unpretentious place. it has it's own watering pond so many animals come to the lodge to drink.

http://www.gomogomo.co.za

My recollection was it cost around $200 pp/day but it was part of a private itinerary so I don't know for sure the actual price.