wripro

My feelings exactly. No one loves the animals more than I . it is a magical experience to be fortunate enough to see them. But it's also magical to come back to a place like Boulders.

floridagal23

Wow. Thank your lol for the incredible insight. It seems as though we cannot go wrong with any of the lodges. I will hopefully hear back about availability early this week and will keep you updated as to what we can get. Thanks again!

floridagal23

Good news! We can get into one of the singita lodges in sabi sands our preferred week.

Now the question - do we want to stay for 3 nights or 4 nights? We were leaning towards 3 nights because of travel/work (DH is starting a new job this spring which limits vacation) and I just wonder if we need 4 full days of game drives. For a first safari, will the 3 nights be enough?

bhrubin

I always suggest staying as long as you can reasonably afford (both time and money). The longer your safari, the more game drives you will have to see all the wildlife you hope to see. It costs you, but it isn't always easy to go on safari for most people! Safari is the most exciting thing we've ever done (perhaps with the sole exception of gorilla trekking), and most would agree that it's likely to be the same for anyone--so do as much as you can!

Our first safari had 3 nights at Singita Ebony and then another 4 nights at Chobe Chilwero in Botswana. Our second safari we did 5 nights at Singita Boulders--and loved it even more. We had wondered if staying too long or returning to the same safari area might be a mistake or less exciting/interesting, but it was just as exciting the second and third times, and we were thrilled to have so many more game drives. It's addictive.

floridagal23

Thanks. Are we better off doing 2 nights at a Sabi Sands singita and then 2 nights at a Kruger singita? There may be availability at a second lodge. Is that preferably to 4 nights at a sabi sands singita? The tour operator assures me that we will transit on the flight mid-day and we won't miss a game drive.

I don't know that we will want to spend 5 nights on safari for the first time. I also want to point out that we're young and fully anticipate more safari-ing in the future. This is just a taster trip!

If we stay at the 2 lodges, we may qualify for one of the free night + free internal flight promos, always a plus.

wripro

One of the great things about staying at Singita is that if you are there for four or five days and want to omit one of the game drives you can still have a wonderful experience just staying in or doing a local tour or having a massage or just relaxing on your patio and have the wildlife come to you.

bhrubin

I suppose it depends if you want to relax more or do the transit...not to mention whether or not splitting between the 2 lodges would get you one of your nights free.

If I could pay for 3 nights of Singita and get 4 nights, I would be inclined to deal with the transit and lack of more relaxation time you'd otherwise have (since the you'd save so much money!). If I couldn't get the free night, though, and I knew I'd be able to return, then I'd pick one lodge or the other and just enjoy the experience there...leaving the other lodge for another trip in the future.

Either way, don't go nuts worrying about it. You can't go wrong either way. But if you can save a night's cost, I always say that's the way to go!

texmanufan

Where did you get this information about the Ebony closing? I am booked the first week in August before going over to Lebombo.

Michael82

Hi, my bad: Renovation at Ebony is scheduled to start 10 March through to mid June.

texmanufan

Thx. Travel agent just confirmed this as well.

wripro

This makes sense since Boulders was closed for renovation last year in May.

floridagal23

By way of an update, we've secured 2 nights at Sweni with a transfer to Ebony for the next 3 nights. We are making use of a promotion and FHR benefits (daily massage, apparently). We were going to stay only 2 nights at Ebony due to something in real life called "work", but it just seemed like that wouldn't be enough time on safari- and by staying an extra day we also were able to secure a lower priced award ticket home. Hope that is the right choice. Boulders and Lebombo didn't work for our preferred dates, unfortunately - I very much liked the look of Boulders but since Ebony will be newly renovated, am excited to check it out.

We're not going until the fall, but if you're interested in a post-renovation Ebony trip report, I will be happy to share.

floridagal23

Thanks. It seems that Ellerman House is well regarded by everyone here - and my clients recently visited and raved as well.

mkm4

My husband and I spent 4 nights at Singita Lebombo Lodge and it was fantastic We have been fortunate enough to travel frequently to many excellent places and hotels around the world and I can say that this is one of the best (along with Four Seasons Explorer at the Maldives and Four Seasons Tented Camp in Thailand). We also stayed 4 nights at Ellerman House in Cape Town. Highly recommended!

Londonjetsetter

That's great to know thank you!