The safari was excellent and we pretty much saw every animal we could have wanted to.
Arathusa
Very luxurious accommodation. The rooms were amazing and spotless. The food was great (even the plain pasta and toast they did especially for me as I was ill!).
The drives were very good and Leopards were their speciality. We saw plenty of animals 4 of the 5 white Rhinos but no lions (apparently they had moved on for a little while). We also saw lots of Elephants, Hyenas, about 7 plus 2 cubs, Hippos inc 2 babies, vultures, an eagle and dwarf mongoose.
Lots of warthogs and a few Zebra and giraffe
The sundowner snacks and morning tea were particularly good at this lodge. The extras were reasonable and they didn’t charge us for all of the phone calls to you which was decent of them.
Chapungu
Was a slightly more rustic affair but just as enjoyable as Arathusa if not even better as it was a bit more fun (Arathusa was a little quiet). Our Guide/ranger Ishmael was very enthusiastic and informative, he stopped for all animals of interest including birds and even explained about some of the trees and plants.
We saw all 5 here including a black rhino. We also saw Cheetah (including 3 cubs). This was a much larger reserve and you had to travel an hour and a half to see the elephants at the other end (always worth it in my opinion). The guides made sure that everyone managed to do this at least once in their stay and staggered it to ensure people weren’t having to make the trek several times.
The extras were cheaper at this lodge, the snack on the drives were too but the standard of meals was the same as Arathusa
Transfers
The transfers between the lodges and local airports were very good. Clean and safe. Plus the drivers were informative stopping for animals just like the rangers. The last transfer even waited for us at Hoedspruit for our taxi to Johannesburg to arrive.
We don’t feel like we missed out at all by not going to Zambia as we had such a great time in South Africa.
I’m not normally an outdoors person but I really enjoyed the bush and do feel a bit cooped up here in my London office but sadly won’t be able to afford it for a while. I enjoyed the drives so much it was nice just being in the car even if you didn’t see anything for while.
Thanks again for re-arranging everything for us.
I am sure I have forgotten some animals as we saw so much (massive spiders!).
Thanks
