Travelogue from South Africa: Thank you for a wonderful holiday!

Below, you can read a letter which Anne, our tour coordinator in Africa, received from Henning, who was in South Africa in November 2018.

Dear Anne

On behalf of my wife Susanne and I, as well as our four acquaintances who joined us on safari last week, I would like to thank you for the experience.

It was nothing less than wonderful – not only for the two new ones, who were on their first safari, but for us seasoned safari-goers, who were on our sixth safari in Africa, too.

The long slog to get there, which is unavoidable, is offset by the great experiences enjoyed, as was the case for us on this tour. The long drive from Johannesburg to the lodge also became something of an experience when we stopped at a “layby” with a whole zoo – both on the way to and from the lodge.

The lodge functioned perfectly and was wonderfully situated right down by the river – and what could be greater than finding your room, going to the window and the balcony, and being met by the sight of hippos and a whole herd of elephants?

Staying at the lodge was a wonderful experience, everything worked – the competent staff who cleaned our rooms were immaculate.

The restaurant works well although the dishes lacked a little variety, but we are used to that in Africa – it’s all a little samey. This said, there was a nice salad bar every evening – so nothing to complain about here either. Lovely breakfast and good service from the staff.

For the sake of good order, it should be noted that the information prior to and during the tour was fantastic, and it was nice to receive an email from you (ed: Anne from Africasafari.co.uk) a few days before our arrival containing information about the different things.

The stay itself was an out-of-the-ordinary experience. I have often joked about wanting to see wild dogs and other specialities, but on our first safari, we had barely set foot inside Kruger National Park when we were met by a pack of 10–12 wild dogs – FANTASTIC!

Our wonderful experiences included seeing leopards every day – even a female with two babies on one of them. A whole array of exotic birds including the martial eagle, in addition to the more common birds.

My wishes to see the small antelopes were also fulfilled. We saw the ibex, the bush buck, the klipspringer and the common duiker, in addition to the more common animals such as the kudu, the wildebeest and, of course, the impala. However, we only caught a glimpse of the sable antelope.

The big ones such as elephants, rhinos (of which there many), hippos, buffaloes and giraffes.  The little ones such as the long-haired mongoose and dwarf mongoose – you really couldn’t wish for much more.

However, it was sad to see the number of elephants and their destruction of the park’s biotope, ousting other animals in the process. I hope that at some point something will be done about this challenge to maintain the park.

All in all, a fantastic experience on this holiday, hence our big thank you.

If all goes well, we’ll start planning a new holiday next year to Tanzania and Ngorongoro Park

Best regards from satisfied guests

Susanne and Henning Pust

TourCompass – From tourist to traveller