Guest Feedback & Independent Reviews

My trip to Springbok Lodge was great. The driver was on time to bring me there and very professional. the car was new or almost new and the driver was very nice and talkative. I met nice people in the lodge so I cancelled the driver I had to go back to Durban, but this was only because I prefer to drive with friends I met there.

About the lodge, it was really fantastic. The lodge is amazing and the service there is great. People are very kind and attentionate, the infrastrcuture is nice, and the rangers are very well educated and know many things.So honestly it was great. It was so nice I regreted I did not stay longer !!!

Your service was also amazing, you were very kind to me and helped me, especially since I changed my mind so many times and so last minute. So thank you very much. I had a great time. If I ever go back to South Africa I will definitely contact you again for some help, Thanks again for everything.

Everything went like clockwork for us. Our absolute favorite was Xakanaxa. They made us feel like family! Wish we could have stayed longer. Our safari guide Chemical was terrific.This lodge suited our tastes perfectly. We really enjoyed seeing Vic Falls.Our guide Sim was terrific. Had a wonderful Chobe River cruise in the evening. Wonderful sightings. Thanks for another great trip.

Just wanted to say thank you for putting together a great trip. We had a fantastic time and everything went smoothly. We saw tons of animals and ate way too much good food. Learned so much from Neil and enjoyed his company. My highlight was all the baby animals we saw along the way, the baby lions, leopard, hyenas, zebras and of course elephants. It really was the trip of a lifetime.

Madi,

I wish to thank you and all the people associated with our trip for an incredible experience. I can honestly state that I have never been on a vacation, in the US or elsewhere in the world, self-arranged or through an agent, where every aspect of the trip, all arrangements, transfers, and activities worked according to plan, as flawlessly as was on this trip.

Your recommended accommodations were world-class. Your selected guides (Shawn and Frank) were knowledgeable, interesting, and genuinely interested in assuring our visit as guests in their country went as well as could be possible. They know their stuff. And they handled our little group’s idiosyncrasies with humor and a great attitude.

We had fun, we learned a great deal about South Africa, we had incredible experiences on safari, and I think we all left wanting to have more.

I’m sure you’ll also be hearing from Debbie in the very near future.

Well done to you and all the team involved with our trip.

Hi - Madi, yes we had a great time!

I loved the accommodation - especially Africa Sky which was just like in the movies (think Out of Africa etc) and the food was great there too.

Our stay at the Greenfire was also great - my 20 yr old son thought the guides were amazing in their knowledge, our hosts were very charming - and our chef fantastic. It great to meet the other guests, so a nice feature of that place is the friendliness. We did see lots of wildlife even though it was so dry and still winter. My only thought is to go back for another stay when everything is blooming... but it was nice not to have bugs around.

Cape Town is a lovely city and we really liked the location of our hotel - not on a busy street but tucked into that colourful section of the Bo Kaap. Ursula was very helpful and efficient and got us set up with day tours that were excellent, and so we saw a lot in a short stay. All the transport worked well - and we had some interesting chats with drivers too.

Thanks to you for putting it all together, as with my last minute meeting being set (and changed) and my work commitments, I was glad to have your resources to help. I would definitely contact you again for my next trip to Africa - I am now keen to get to Botswana, Zambia, Tanzania and Mozambique...we shall see!

Dear Madi,

I am back in India today after my trip. May I please thank you for all your support and cooperation. I must also say that the arrangement was excellent and my stay at Greenfire has been unbelievable, splendid. It will always be a part of my best memories. Thank you so much. Take care. Warm regards.

Everything was wonderful with the trip! Simon was really fantastic and very knowledgeable.

Thanks for following up with us and we hope for the opportunity to go back to Africa and do a different safari with Simon!

We had a wonderful time in SA. I think it may have been the best family trip we have ever taken! We found nThambo and Arathusa to be very different properties and we loved both of them for different reasons.

nThambo is quite rustic and has a colonial-in-the-bush feel about it. All your meals are taken together around one table and you get to know the others quite well. It feels like one big family, a very intimate experience. Very "authentic" and not resort-y if that makes sense.

The jeep used for the drives is very raked so each row sees quite clearly above the next. Our guide was quietly-spoken Luan, who our son renamed "Google Bush", a fountain of information who could answer any and all questions in great detail. Our tracker Issack was brilliant! We were fortunate to see a great variety of game, including lions who were hunting (not just sleeping!) and two viewings of wild dogs. We saw four of the "big 5" at nThambo and were very satisfied with our game drives. The day before we arrived, they had seen a white lion and also lions mating. Overall, we really enjoyed the "in the bush", intimate feeling of nThambo.

The map for Arathusa is excellent although the distances are off a bit. The road from Acornhoek into Arathusa is also dirt and was very rough, so again a higher clearance vehicle would be best. We had a Mercedes sedan and really felt that an SUV would have been better for the drive.

Our rooms at Arathusa were the Wildbock and the Hippo. Apparently they are the newest luxury rooms and there were spectacular! The front of the room was a wall of floor to ceiling windows directly facing the water hole. Being right on the waterhole was amazing as there was a constant stream of animals. We had kudu and impalas right in front of our doors. At one point, there was a herd of 31 elephants at the hole. There are always hippos around as well.

The meals are served communally outdoors underneath a shelter but separate dining can be arranged.

Sean and Rifos were our ranger and tracker. Sean is outgoing and his enthusiasm is infectious! He has a particular interest in birds and made a point of finding out what we had viewed previously and combined that with the "wishlist" of others in the jeep to determine what to look for. A keen photographer, Sean always made sure that he positioned the jeep in the best possible way which was greatly appreciated! We saw the big 5 at Arathusa and had three leopard viewings, including mating. We also were lucky to have a good viewing of a cheetah.

Arathusa is definitely more luxurious in surroundings, with a lovely infinity pool and lots of common areas to sit and relax in. It feels much more like a "resort" than nThambo.

We loved our time at both places and are glad that we went to each of them. Of the two, I think Arathusa would appeal to most people and nThambo for the more adventurous and "flexible".

Madi, thanks so much for all your help, advice and patience in planning our trip.

Hi Madi,

I just wanted to thank you for all your help with the booking and your patience is greatly appreciated.

I am now back at home and everything went really well. I truly enjoyed the safari and Gomo Gomo is a wonderful resort. The accommodation, facilities and setting was great and the staff were attentive. I highly recommend them.

I will keep your contact details and if I ever make it back to South Africa again, I will contact you. I will also pass on your details to friends if any of them are heading that way.

Thank you very much once again.

Dear Madi, only with a full 10 points (of a 10 point scale) we can value you and your company input in this great experience.

South Africa has totally changed our outlook. It was great journey.

As we were the newbies, this safari lodge (especially not fully booked) with especially friendly staff was the best way for us to be introduced to the life in the lodge experience.

We watched BIG5 during first 24:00 hours. Of course our expectations after that increased. And here my point to suggest to other newbies is to compare safaris to fishing: You never know when you'll catch your BIG fish.

Our Panoramic route at first glance seemed little bit pricey. But... knowing how much I saved on lack of stress by not driving and that Boris' English was easy to understand for us non-English, his ability to teach us about South Africa during the tour, totally made it worth every cent. Please give Boris my personal thanks for the facts, opinions and empathy we received.

Finally – great job, thank you very much.

Everything was just prefect and smooth as it can get.

We have seen big 5 on day 1 – and it continued to be …..

Thanks for the great organization.

The entire trip was an absolute success. All of the transfers, accomodations, and guides were excellent. The recommendation you made to split our time between Kruger and a private reserve was perfect. Everything you put together went exactly as planned and we were never confused or unsure about our next step. Thank you for coordinating such a wonderful trip for us!

The Penisula Hotel in Cape Town turned out perfectly for our family. They provided a spacious unit with 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms so our family had plenty of room. We had a wonderful balcony and a hot tub which was a special surprise and treat. Our view from the room was spectacular and the location right on the beach couldn't have been better. The hotel staff was helpful and professional. David, who picked us up from the airport, and Sean, who dropped us off, were both timely and delightful. They were patient, helpful and willingly answered our many questions.

Neil and his wife, Valerie, picked us up at the Nelspruit airport. They also answered our many questions as we went from the airport to Kruger. They were patient, kind, timely, and professional. They ensured we had what we needed at Skukuza and that our accomodations met our needs. They were both very invested in having us see as many animals as possible. Neil was especially skilled at understanding how the animals moved so that we could be sure to get the best viewing. Valerie was excellent at spotting animals and was great about answering our questions as well. We saw so many animals in Kruger and I know it's because of Neil and Valerie. The animal book they purchased for us was a wonderful treat and we often referred to it at the end of the evening to check off the animals we had seen. We truly couldn't have asked for a better guided experience of Kruger.

Mandela picked us up from Kruger and drove us to nThambo. He was also our driver for the scenic tour from nThambo to Johannesburg. Mandela was great. His English is excellent and his openness and communication style was so very appreciated. He willingly shared his culture, history, and knoweledge with us. It really added to our experience to have Neil and Valerie's Africaan perspective and then to have Mandela's Changan (sp?) perspective. On our scenic drive, he recommended a wonderful 'pancake house' for lunch and was very patient with us as we shopped in several stops along the way.

Our time in nThambo was really a treat. Kruger was great but it was also very busy. The pace in nThambo slowed us down a bit which was relaxing and offered yet another experience. The setting, ambience, and accomodations were rustic but very comfortable. The unique lodging and common room for sitting and meals really added to the experience. The cook staff did an excellent job with all of the meals and sitting down to dinner with the other guests and staff was very enjoyable. Stopping mid-drive in the morning and evenings for coffee/cocktails was one of my favorite parts of the day. In addition, the walking safari was unique and allowed for a lot of information sharing and questions. Matt, our guide, and Isaac, our tracker, did a great job of finding animals and providing us with a more up close experience than we had in Kruger. Although we saw fewer animals, we were able to spend more time observing the animal activity up close. This was truly the perfect compliment to our Kruger experience.

Lastly, the Peermont Metcourt in Johannesburg had nice accomodations and a very expansive breakfast offering. It was easy to walk over to the casino and try various restaurants. Getting to the airport from the hotel to catch our flight was very convenient.

As you can tell, everything went off perfectly. We all had a really good time and we are so grateful that you put together such a great itinerary for us. The only suggestion we could think to make may be to include something in your trip guide about the purchase of Biltong. We purchased several packages for souveniers making the wrong assumption that because they were commercially prepared, we would be able to take them into the US. Unfortunately, when we arrived in Dallas, customs took our Biltong purchases because meat (even though dried and commercially prepared) was not allowed in the country.

Wild Wings really does have an excellent service and I'm so thankful that we came across your name as we began to investigate our options.

Thanks again for all your help with planning. It truly is a trip we will always remember!