Spindifferent

We stayed 3 nights at Skukuza with a guide from Wild Wings Safaris and were extremely happy with both choices. HIGHLY recommend Wild Wings, they were fantastic on our 15 day safari this past August.

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Re...onal_Park.html

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attracti...onal_Park.html

jrl767

I need to start narrowing down options for mid July 2020 and there is a **LOT** to digest in this forum

my wife and I are flying US-->Europe-->JNB, arriving on Wed morning; need to be in CPT ~1600 Sunday for a conference that ends ~1200 Thursday; we're currently booked out of JNB on Fri afternoon a week later ... we will NOT have a rental car, as we really don't want to repeat any of our (well, my) less-than-pleasant opposite-side-of-the-road experiences from the UK

in addition to safari/wildlife experiences, we want to spend an extra day or two in CPT and the Western Cape areas (Hermanus etc), as well as the wine country (probably a day each in Stellenbosch and Franschhoek) ... biggest debate is the trip sequence (wildlife followed by CPT/West Cape/wine, or West Cape/CPT/wine followed by wildlife)

consensus seems to be that three nights is about the minimum desirable stay at a single venue

• if we opt to do wildlife first, SA flights to/from Hoedspruit look workable (JNB-HDS on Wed, HDS-CPT on Sun)

1. from some early investigating, Mala Mala / Sabi Sands is ~$1000pp/day, which is a bit more than I think our budget can stand
2. at Klaserie, Nzumba is ~$520 and Nyeleti (which per the website is now managed by Ivory Wilderness) runs ~$750
3. Timbavati website doesn't currently show rates for next year, but I have to wonder about what appears to be their exceedingly "bare-bones" rate (less than $100pp/day) for 2019

• while Samara is in a totally different part of the country, it's intriguing from the standpoint of both geography and price (~$600pp/day, and a "stay 3 nights get the fourth free" package; plus the Comair JNB-Port Elizabeth flight just adds a codeshare leg to our existing BA reservation)

MSPeconomist

Don't forget that SAA mainline employees have just started a strike and it could be a long one. If you have to decide now, I'd try to avoid any flights that could be impacted. OTOH, available seats on other flights might fill fast, so you might want to move quickly to firm up some plane reservations. At the very least, watch the news on the strike and future of the airline.

Smiley90

Can't add too much specific information as I'm in a very similar situation, just 2 things:

1) "Timbavati website"? Timbavati is the name of the reserve with several lodges in them, from lower-cost to very much luxury (e.g. Ngala).
2) I've found this map super useful for getting some inspiration for lodges: http://www.krugerparkreservations.co...abiSands_L.jpg It's missing a couple but it's a good start! It also shows the land that each property/group of properties owns as an indication for how good game viewing might be, but it's unfortunately missing all the information on agreements between lodges on traversals...

additionally, this site has some decent info on lodges without having to look into each lodge individually: https://k2c.co/place/areas/south-kruger/ & https://k2c.co/place/areas/central-kruger/ , just click on the individual areas on the map (e.g. "Sabi Sand South") for lodge info.

From reading it seems like Airlink is unaffected, correct?

johan rebel

Smiley90, when are you going, and by when do you need to finalize your plans? It will be at least another few days before I can give you a comprehensive answer.

Very briefly: Shindzela and Ngala are both excellent choices for different reasons, and have the additional advantage of being literally across the road from each other. Very convenient should you wish to combine the two.

Yep, Airlink is unaffected.

Johan

jrl767

^ thank you, very useful

Smiley90

Not going until late August 2020, no rush We're also looking at Thanda in the southern region now for some variety, and they have a 3rd night free offer.

Intriguingly, we messaged Shindzela and they said that although the website for their new "luxury" tented camp, Thabamati, isn't actually really up and running yet (It's just listed as "coming soon" and what's there has no actual pictures of the facilities/rooms, it IS available for booking for the time of our stay.) Apparently it's just FOUR tents that they've added at a separate site as a more upscale/luxury accomodation - Rates appear to be 6550 per person per night, which is still comparatively low compared to other Kruger lodges, but I'd want to see some pictures first...

cheltzel

My wife and I went to a lodge/camp in the Klaserie 4 or 5 years ago. We found the game viewing to be somewhat sparse as compared to other places we've been in the Kruger Park area.

And we were told that each lodge/camp in the Klaserie is restricted to having 2 vehicles each out on game drives at a time. If this is still true, your vehicle will be loaded to the max. Our drives always had 8 or 9 guest on a vehicle every drive.

At Mala Mala (and other higher end lodges/camps in the Sabi area) there is a maximum of 6 guest per vehicle and we often had less than that during our recent stay there.

johan rebel

I'll try oblige. Expect to be there on Friday, will arrange to visit the construction site. It's right on Borehole Dam on the Van der Merwe section of the farm Avoca. Nice views of the Drakensberg and Mariepskop.

Johan

Smiley90

That's not what I meant! Hahaha. But thank you in advance

johan rebel

Yes, by and large. I'll explain that when I find the time.

One bed per 50 hectares, with a maximum of 20 for 1,000 hectares or over. Indeed no more than two vehicles, regardless of the number of beds.

Quite a few properties are under 1,000 hectares, but you can lease beds from other (noncommercial) landowners in the Klaserie, provided that lessor and lessee share a common boundary.

Not all lodges have the maximum 20 beds, so max loads can be avoided. Xanatseni, for example, has 14. I've seen vehicles from about a dozen lodges this past week, and to the best of my recollection only one was full to the brim. 2-6 guests seemed to be the norm. Lodges do not run at 100% of capacity all the time.

Johan

cheltzel

After doing a lot of research (but nowhere near the amount of direct experience that you have!), my wife and I have come to the conclusion that the location of the reserve has a lot to do with the game viewing. All else being equal, the ones with a large border directly on the Kruger Park itself (Timbavati, Manyeleti and Sabi Sands) seem to have a better game viewing experience.

Unfortunately we cannot go during the low occupancy times as my wife is a school teacher and we are basically restricted to July and August. And our experience with Mala Mala was the end of July and beginning of August. So having 3 to 5 guests on a vehicle during that time seemed a great luxury. Which of course you pay for in a much higher daily rate.

Smiley90

So apparently Thabamati is supposed to open in June... I'm interested but also worried with delays they might not be open in time for our stay late August... The other 2 favourites right now are Thanda and Nottens, all three in the ~7000pp/night range. Or maybe Arathusa. So many choices... Decisions decisions! Food & Game viewing being the two biggest priorities...

Likely we'll do 3 nights at a rest camp/two different rest camps for the experience and then and on 3 nights at either Thambati/Nottens/Arathusa or fly down to Thanda for a different biome/viewing experience... so Timbavati vs Sabi vs Thanda to add to Kruger... I wish I had more time to stay and experience everything!

jrl767

what if any insights can you offer on Samara? thx in advance ...

johan rebel

Straight from the owner's mouth:

"Our construction will be done end of this year and then its our decor for January. We have made 100% certain of our opening date". ​​​​​

Johan