Travel Butlers African Safari Blog.

The special offers at safari lodges continue to roll in, and with the Rand remaining  weak against the US$, Euro, and even sterling these deals really do offer great value in these tough economic times.

We are delighted to be able to confirm 2 new special offers at the Amakhala Game Reserve, which is about an hour drive from Port Elizabeth on South Africa’s malaria-free Eastern Cape Coast.

The first offer runs from January to 31 March and is 4 nights for the price of 3 when you stay at Amakhala Safari Lodge, Reed Valley Busch Lodge, Reed Valley Inn, Woodbury Lodge, Leeuwenbosch, and Shearer’ Lodge. 

The second offer is for 3 nights for the price of 2 at the Amakhala Game Reserve from 1 April to 31 August 2009, and is for the same lodges at the first offer.

Thornybush Game Lodge is offering 3 nights for the price of 2 until 31st July this year.

Thornybush is a 11,500 hectare fenced reserve just west of Timbavati and the Greater Kruger Park, and the 5* Thornybush Game Lodge is an ideal safari destination for guests hoping to see Africa’s  Big 5 (Lion, Elephant, Rhino, Leopard, and Buffalo) as well as a host of other animals. 

The lodge is used to looking after celebrity guests such as Jordan and Peter Andre who renewed their marraige vows there last year, and South African-born former England Cricket Captain Kevin Pietersen who was there just a couple of weeks ago.

This is a great opportunity to live like a celebrity and see some of Africa’s most iconic wildlife for much less than the normal price!

Savanna is a beautiful tented camp in the Sabi Sand area of the Greater Kruger National Park, and has long been a favourite of both us here at Travel Butlers and our guests.  Savanna was the first place that owners Tracey & Paul Campbell went on safari many years ago and it was the amazing game viewing of the area along with the enthusiasm of Paddy and his team and wonderful tented suites that first got them hooked on safaris.

We are delighted to be able to offer substantial discounts at Savanna for anyone able to travel before the 15th March this year.  The discounted rates are nearly 20% off the normal rates for this time of year, and are available for both Savanna Luxury Suites and Savanna Executive Suites.

The Pumba Game Reserve in the malaria-free Eastern Cape of South Africa is running a special offer during their next winter season (northern hemisphere summer!).

This offer includes 2 nights at the Pumba Private Game reserve near Port Elizabeth and 1 FREE night at either The Sands@ St Francis in the Eastern Cape or one of two hotels in Port Elizabeth: The Beach Hotel or Hacklewood Country House.

At Pumba, the rate include accommodation, all meals and selected drinks, and 2 game drives per day in 4×4 vehicles each day. The free night at the hotels is on a bed and breakfast basis.

As reported previously, sterling has been doing well against the South African Rand at a time when it has been losing ground to the Euro and US dollar, and this has meant that South Africa is one of the few places in the world where it is actually cheaper for Brits to visit this year compared to 2007.

Well this trend looks to be continuing, as the pound hits a new low againgst the Euro whilst continuing to trade at around 14.5 - 15.0 ZAR.

In addition to benefiting from the weak Rand, visitors also have an ever increasing range of special offers available to them and the compound impact of the new special offers and weak Rand will mean big savings for many visitors.  We will have a more detailed look at this over the next few days and pull together a listing of some of the best deals - let us know if there are any that you think we should include.

Save 45% at the Zambezi Sun at Victoria Falls when you travel between 1 February and 8 April 2009.

The hotel is situated on the fringes of the Zambezi River in the 46 hectare Mosi-Oa-Tunya National Wildlife Park, overlooking the magnificent Victoria Falls.

The hotel has an Activity Centre, where travel professionals will advise and recommend a variety of excursions and safaris, from day trips to the Chobe National Park to nail-biting white water rafting or bungee jumping.

Familes are most welcome and there are activities especially designed to keep children entertained, including the Happy Hippo Club.

Whilst many safari lodges welcome younger children, there are some that go the extra mile to ensure that even the youngest guest can get as much as possible out of their safari.

The safari drives enjoyed by adults are often not suitable for younger children as they may get close to potentially danergous animals such as lions and elephants or be rather longer than the average 6 year old’s attention span!

Safari lodges that offer a dedicated children’s programme often include special game drives as well as play and learning activities which will keep the kids amused whilst their parents are out on the main game drives.   You can see a good example of the sort of thing that is usually included in these programmes in our description of the Mark’s Camp kids programme.

This is a great way to ensure that the whole family enjoys their trip!

We are delighted to introduce the first two sections of our site which are dedicated to individual safari lodge operators. 

The pages for Wilderness Safaris and &Beyond (formerly CCAfrica) list all their lodges in South Africa and Namibia, and also show where each place is. As with other listings elsewhere on our site, the properties can be listed by popularity, price, or star rating, and we will be adding their Botswana properties  to these pages in early 2009.

These pages will hopefully help all the many returning guests who enjoyed their stay at one of the lodges operated by these two outstanding companies and are looking for something “the same…but different” for their next trip to the region.

Our November photo competition is now closed and our congratulations go to Cathy Fairgrave, Daniel Newcombe, and Janet DeLand who each win a case of 6 premium South African wines courtesy of SA Wines Online.

Following our recent trip to Swaziland we have added a few pages of information for anyone thinking about including a night or two in this charming Kingdom as part of a longer trip to the area.

Swaziland’s location between the Kruger National Park and the many attractions of South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal Coastline (including St Lucia, Phinda and much more) means that it makes an ideal stop-over between these two areas.  And as the border controls are quick and easy (15 minutes or so), South African Rand are accepted throughout Swaziland, and the country is well known for it’s friendy and relaxed people and vibrant craft markets, this really is an excellent addition to any trip to Southern Africa.