Travel Butlers African Safari Blog.

South Africa is fast become one of the most popular destinations for a golfing holiday, and we are pleased to offer updated information on  Golf holidays in South Africa including a selection of popular routes and golf resorts.

From the courses around Cape Town and the Garden Route  (including some links courses) , up to the famous Gary Player designed courses around Sun City there is a wide selection of different courses on offer and plenty do see and do when you are not out on the course.

We have just been informed that there is quite a lot of availability throughout the Sun City Resort between 17 August 2008 to 22 August 2008.

Only a 2 hour drive from Johannesburg, Sun City is an endless world of entertainment, leisure, sport and recreation.

There is a choice of 25 restaurants, spectacular theatrical shows, cinemas, bars, nightclubs, live music venues, a world-class casino and a games arcade. There is a fully equipped health club, 11 tennis courts, bowls greens and squash courts, plus horse riding, mountain biking, archery, clay pigeon shooting and quad biking. Golfers will be in their element as Sun City offers two 18 hole championship golf courses.

The neighbouring Pilanesberg National Park is a malaria free area, and home to the Big 5 of the African bush. Guests can explore the Park in their own car, or on day and night guided game drives, by hot air balloon, or even by elephant back!

The Palace of the Lost City and The Cascades Hotel both offer the highest standards in 5* luxury , and the 4* Sun City Hotel and 3* Cabanas Hotel complete the hotel offering - meaning that this combination of all 4 hotels will appeal to all budgets.

We would be delighted to discuss any short notice enquiries over this period - please contact one of our consultants to ask us to check availability and send you a quotation.

Travel Butlers are delighted to offer a fantastic price for guests interested in staying at Fugitives’ Drift Lodge and Guest House, set in the heart of the KwaZulu-Natal Battlefields.

For the month of July 2008 only, guests booking their stay through Travel Butlers will pay just R1,000 per person per night at the Lodge, including breakfast and dinner, and at the Guest House only R750 per person per night.

Fugitive’s Drift is one of the outstanding destinations in South Africa. The Battlefields of KwaZulu-Natal offer an incredible insight into the history of South Africa, and the best way to really appreciate this bloody and fiercely-fought history is to go on one of the mesmerising and theatrical tours of the key areas, which will move you to tears and stay in your memory forever.

All travellers to Zimbabwe are advised that no payments can by made by credit card at all. The banks have suspended all credit card transactions until they can introduce new systems, as their equipment is no longer able to handle the billions of local currency involved in even the smallest of transactions.

Clients must carry cash on them in either U$ or Rand, and in small denominations as places are unable to give change in foreign currency.

As our current photo competition begins to draw to a close (last day for entries is 31st May), we have been looking through the entries and began to think about the difficult task of judging the winners of the cases of wine supplied by SA Wines Online.

There are a number of outstanding photos taken from many different parts of the region, and as you might expect there are many fantastic photos of wildlife taken in different areas.  One of the questions we are most frequently asked is “what will we see on safari?”, and whilst it is impossible to guarantee any sightings (these are wild animals after all) the links below will take you through to some of the guest photos we have received from visitors to two of the most popular game reserves:

Sabi Sand Reserve (Greater Kruger)
Shamwari Game Reserve (Eastern Cape)

We are delighted to be able to offer another special offer to any guests looking for a short notice safari.

Jaci’s Safari Lodge and Jaci’s Tree Lodge are two of the best known and most popular lodges in the malaria-free Madikwe Game reserve (particularly amongst people looking for a family safari), and guests who can travel between 1 April and 30 April 2008 can now save around 24% vs the regular price.

The short notice rate of R2850 per person per night includes all meals, teas and game drives/walks, “jungle drive” and child-minding services.

The rate quoted is per person sharing and excludes any road or air transfers to and from the lodge, all airport taxes and applicable Madikwe entrance fees.

We are pleased to confirm that we now have a free phone (Toll Free)  number for our clients to use in South Africa. The new South African number is 0800 981 420, and our contact numbers are now:

UK local rate phone: 0845 838 2450
UK local rate fax:       0845 838 2451

SA Toll Free phone:  0800 981 420

Rest Of World:           +44 1932 268230  or  +44 845 838 2450

Our recommended operators for whale watching and shark cage diving in the Hermanus area are Dyer Island Cruises & Marine Dynamics, who have just received certification from Fair Trade in Tourism South Africa (FTTSA).

Dyer Island Cruises focuses on offering clients personal experiences with whales and dolphins around the Dyer Island region in the Western Cape while Marine Dynamics specialises in shark-cage diving. 

Marine Dynamics is the first shark-cage diving initiative to be certified by FTTSA.

Travel Butlers are delighted to announce  a photo competition that we are running in association with SA Wines Online where you could win one of 3 cases of South African wine. 

Each year we are sent hundreds of photos by people whose holidays we have helped to organise, and rather than leave them to collect metaphorical dust on a forgotten computer somewhere we have decided that we should share them with visitors to our website and offer prizes for the 3 very best pictures.

The competition is open to anyone who booked their trip through Travel Butlers, and the closing date for entries is 31st May 2008.

Entries will be published on our web site, and we will be judging the competition and notifying the winners in June - the 3 best pictures will each win a mixed case of 6 premium South African Wines with a value of £60.

About SA Wines Online – get a £10 discount on your first order.
Shortlisted as Decanter Online Wine Merchant for 2007, SA Wines Online has the largest range of fine South African wines in the UK. You will find your favourites all in one place and have them delivered directly to your door anywhere in the UK.

Get a £10 discount on your first wine order at: http://www.sawinesonline.co.uk/.

We have added a demonstration movie to our Honeymoon Gift Registry service that will show friends and family of couples that register their honeymoon with us how they can buy a gift voucher online via our secure web server. The movie requires flash player 7.0 or above.

We will add further movies showing how to purchase via cheque or bank transfer in the next couple of weeks, meanwhile you can read more about how the service works here.