Hello Natasha!
Our trip was really fantastic and everything went extremely smoothly. By the time we arrived in Cape Town we were in an extremely relaxed state.
We had a bit of a delay coming into Kruger Nelspruit from Jo’burg, (incoming plane delay + thunderstorms had our flight shifted from 16.20h to 18h30). Fortunately our driver was patient and awaited us when we finally made it to Nelspruit. So we arrived at Chapungu a bit later than planned.
Some highlights of the lodges:
Chapungu camp: we loved the fact that the tents are a bit secluded (as you told us). The interior of the tent was really nice, and having a shower with bush view was just fantastic. Plenty of bush noise as well during the night, which we both appreciated.
Africa on Foot: we loved the relaxed atmosphere, the great African-style comfort food and relaxing on the treehouse middle floor (where the temperature was absolutely perfect).
Arathusa: loved the water hole and the animals that were around it. Great (and loads of!) food, lovely rooms. Adeline enjoyed getting a thourough massage at the spa.
In all camps we felt extremely welcome and met so many wonderful people! Staff were very friendly everywhere.
In terms of animals: it was really good everywhere (big 5 at Chapungu and big 5 + cheetah and wild dog at Arathusa!). At Africa on Foot it was a bit calmer (no buffalo or lion to be seen), although the walks were really interesting and a good variation to the drives. All of our rangers/trackers were really friendly. It was nice to see how they each had their own way of reading the bush and telling about the animals.
Cape Cadogan: Daen helped us out with a lot of different things (booking restaurants and tours), our room was great and the breakfast over there was just phenomenal. Pictures: if you want, you can have a look at http://www.flickr.com/photos/thierrymarysael/ where I uploaded some of the nicer pictures. I haven’t finished going through them, so more photos will be added in the next days/weeks. I’ve tagged all pictures with the area/lodge.
All of our road transfers went really well, all of the drivers arrived 15 minutes prior to the rendez-vous time, so we never had to rush.
I’m thinking hard for some negative points, but to be honest there were no real disappointments for us. We’ll definitely be recommending Sun Safaris to anyone of our friends interested in going on safari!
Natasha’s guests stayed here:
Chapungu Tented Camp, Thornybush Reserve, Kruger
Africa on Foot, Klaserie Reserve, Kruger
Arathusa Safari Lodge, Sabi Sand, Kruger
Cape Cadogan, Cape Town
