Travel Butlers African Safari Blog.

Day visitors to the Kruger National Park will again be able to book ahead of time to secure their entrance to South Africa’s most well known National Park.

Visitors who wish to use this facility should be advised that advanced bookings can be made no less than one day prior to date of arrival at the Kruger National Park and that using this facility will come at a minimal and non-refundable cost per person of R20 per adult and R10 per child entering the Park. This fee will be payable (in advance) by all who wish to make a day visitor booking in advance. Guests with day visitor bookings will also be expected to arrive at the booked gate by not later than 1 pm on the date of booking, after which time the booking lapses. Advanced day-visitor bookings will only constitute 60% of the gate’s day visitor quota, with 40% being kept open for visitors to enter on a first-come first-served basis. The gate quotas are limits per gate on the number of day visitors that the area and infrastructure adjacent to each gate is able to support to ensure a good visitor experience.

At the recent Good Safari Guide Awards ceremony, which took place in Durban on May 8th 2008, the prestigious Singita Boulders Lodge walked away with the Best Safari Property in Africa award, and Notten’s Bush Camp won the Runner Up Best Safari Property in Africa award.

 The Good Safari Guide is an independent directory of the top safari lodges, hotels and camps in Africa.  It is the travel professional’s definitive selection of the most professionally run, independently selected and vetted safari properties.

Amied at travel professionals globally, the guide cuts through the clutter of the many thousands of safari products, focusing on those that are established and managed by the most professional ’safari’ hoteliers.

The independent Awards honour the best in the safari industry.  Nominations in the 13 categories are accepted only from qualified travel professionals, with a panel of distinguished industry judges making the final tough decisions.

Thanda Private Game Reserve in northern KwaZulu-Natal has won two prestigious awards at this year’s World Travel Awards: South Africa’s leading safari lodge, and Africa’s leading luxury lodge which it won for the 2nd consecutive year.

The news comes just 6 months after Thanda was voted ‘luxury individual hotel, lodge or resort offering best overall product and service’ in the Selling Long Haul awards for 2007 by readers of the trade publication. Thanda, which means ‘love’ in Zulu, won the Leading Safari in South Africa award in 2006 and Africa’s Leading Luxury Lodge in 2007.  

The only private game reserve in the world to hold exclusive membership with the prestigious Leading Hotels of the World, Thanda’s world-class facilities include the opulent main lodge, authentic safari-style tented camp and award-winning wellness centre.

We are delighted to offer the following Special Offer at Kariega Game Reserve:

3 nights for the price of 2 for stays at Main Lodge, River Lodge, or Ukhosi when you travel between May and September 2008.

The 3 lodges all offer a fully inclusive African safari including accommodation, all meals and 2 activities per day.  Activities include game drives, river cruises, hiking trails, fishing, bird watching, canoeing, mountain biking, and horse riding.

The three lodges each have their own distinctive style, with Main Lodge’s family accommodation in 2,3,and 4 bedroom chalets, and River Lodges’ stunning setting being particularly popular with guests.

You can read more about the three lodges and the special offer online here.

Shamwari  is the longest established of the private reserves near Port Elizabeth, and the combination of luxury safari lodges and the outstanding work that they do with the Born Free Foundation has earned them numerous travel industry and conservation awards over the years.

Travel Butlers are delighted to be able to offer an outstanding special offer at Shamwari’s lodges which is valid for stays between May and September 2008. 

During this time, guests staying for 2 nights at Shamwari are entitled to 3 complimentary nights at either the 5* Table Bay Hotel in Cape Town or other selected 5* properties in Cape Town, The Winelands, and the Garden Route. Click here for more details.

All the lodges on offer a fully inclusive African safari including accommodation, all meals and local drinks, 2 game drives per day in 4×4 vehicles, and an optional guided bush walk each day.

To get an idea of what you might expect to see on a safari at Shamwari, you can see a selection of photos sent to us by some of our guests during their stays at Shamwari.

We are delighted to be able to offer Lion Sands River Lodge for the incredible price of only R2500 per person per night for guests who are able to travel between now and 30th April this year.

This special short notice deal represents a saving of R1780 (42%!) per person per night vs the published rate of R4280, and the rate includes accommodation, meals, and 2 game drives each day.

Lion Sands River Lodge is one of the best know lodges in the world-renowned Sabi Sand Reserve on the western side of the Greater Kruger Park, and boasts a fantastic location right on the Sabie river with some of the best game viewing in the reserve.

The rooms have just been refurbished in the last 12 months, and with the rand now very weak vs other major currencies this offer really does represent amazing value for overseas visitors.

With tourist rates for the South African Rand now appearing to have stabilised (at least for the moment) at around R14.5 = £1.00, visiting South Africa has become even better value.

The Rand is a very volatile currency, however at the time of writing the rate is R14.65=£1.00, and this compares to an average of R13.50=£1.00 in 2007, R11.45 = R1.00 in March 2006, and R10.60=£1.00 in March 2005.

So what does this mean for visitors to South Africa? Well, a 5 night stay for 2 people at the fabulous Table Bay Hotel in Cape Town would cost R13400 in May - that is £915 at today’s exchange rate, but would have been £1264 at the March 2005 exchange rate - a saving of £349!

The same holds true for the safari lodges which also work out to be much cheaper this year compared to previous years. A 3 night stay for 2 people at Exeter Leadwood in the Sabi Sands Reserve would cost R21720 this coming May - that’s around £1483 at the current exchange rate compared with £2049 at the March 2005 rate - a saving of £566, or 27%.

The same holds true for everyplace in South Africa, from the great value guest houses of Cape Town, the Winelands, and the Garden Route, right the way through to the 5* hotels and safari lodges.

There is an argument for saying that there has never been a better time to go to South Africa, and with the low season rates starting in a few weeks time there are certainly some real bargains to be found.

CC Africa has almost completed its R20m refurbishment on Phinda Mountain Lodge in the Phinda Private Game Reserve in KwaZulu-Natal.

The upgraded lodge now features 25 new suites, 18 of which are already open to guests, as well as transformed guest areas.

The new suites comprise an en-suite bathroom, private sitting area, veranda with private plunge pool and outdoor shower.

The lodge has a central alfresco courtyard and new sitting areas that lead out on to a shaded terrace and three-tiered veranda, with wraparound views of the Ubombo Mountains and surrounding bushveld. A safari shop has opened on the premises, and an open-air boma, swimming pool and shaded observation deck are now available to guests.

Our congratulations go to everyone at the Shamwari Game Reserve in South Africa on winning the TripAdvisor® Travelers’ Choice Award for BEST LUXURY - AFRICA  TRAVELERS CHOICE DESTINATION.

Selected by the largest travel community in the world, The TripAdvisor® Travelers’ Choice Awards showcase the hotels who have earned their distinction from real travelers rather than journalists or travel industry insiders.

Shamwari has 6 luxury lodges set in the verdant bush of the malaria free Eastern Cape, and has previously been voted “World’s Leading Safari and Game Reserve” & “World’s Leading Conservation Company” by the travel industry.

For most people the idea of spending the night under canvas surrounded by the sounds of the African bush brings to mind the romance of a bygone age of adventure.

Fortunately there are dozens of tented safari camps all across South Africa where it is possible to recapture this magic.

From Bayethe Lodge (Shamwari), Lalibela Tree Tops Lodge, and Gorah Elephant Camp in the Malaria Free Eastern Cape, up to Savanna and Hamilton’s in the Greater Kruger Park there is some outstanding 5* tented accommodation available with many ‘tents’ boasting air conditioning, luxury bathrooms, and even private plunge pools!

For guests travelling on a more modest budget, lodges such as Gomo Gomo and Kwa-Mbili offer less extravagant accommodation, however the large tents all still have proper double or twin beds and ensuite bathrooms…it’s still along way from most peoples idea of roughing it!

Our top 10 tented camps in South Africa are:

1 ) Bayethe Lodge
2 ) Tree Tops Lodge
3 ) Mkuze Falls Tented Lodge
4 ) Gorah Elephant Camp
5 ) Gomo Gomo Game Lodge
6 ) Savanna Private Game Reserve
7 ) Hamilton’s Tented Camp
8 ) Chapungu Luxury Tented Camp
9 ) Kwa-Mbili Game Lodge
10 ) Entabeni Wildside Tented Camp

This listing is ranked on the number of nights guests have spent at each lodge based on recent bookings made by Travel Butlers.