Kariega is making a new special offer available this year in addition to the 3 nights for the price of 2 offer that they have run for the last few years.  

Guests booking a stay between 12 January and 30 April 2009 can stay 4 nights for the price of 3 at selected Kariega lodges, giving clients 33% more safari for their money.

 The 5,000 hectare malaria-free Kariega Reserve is home to all of Africa’s big 5 as well as hippo, giraffe, zebra, eland, wildebeest, waterbuck and a variety of antelope a myriad of bird species.

A host of activities are offered, including game drives, hiking trails, fishing, bird watching, canoeing, mountain biking, horse riding, and the ever famous river cruises on the Kariega Queen.

Guest travelling in the low season can get even more for their money with 3 nights for the price of 2 at Kariega from 1 May to 30 September 2009.

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!

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.

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 two new pages of information which are now available for the majority of safari lodges and other properties featured on this site.

Popular Alternatives
Most properties now have a page which shows where people who considered staying there actually ended up booking.  This is a great way of getting more ideas for alternative places to stay in a particular area or on safari, and you can see an example of this on the Popular Alternatives to Notten’s Bush Camp page.

Guests Also Booked…
This page will show you the other places that are most often booked by people who have stayed at a particular property.  Again this is a great way of finding places that might fit with your holiday plans, and you can see an example on the Other places booked by guests who stay at Notten’s Bush Camp page.

We hope you find these new pages interesting!

With sterling having slumped dramatically against the US$ and Euro over recent weeks, many UK holidaymakers have had second thoughts about travelling to the states or skiing in Europe this winter.

There is some good news for anyone looking to get away from the cold this winter though: the South African Rand (ZAR) has fallen even more sharply than sterling due to the collapse in demand for raw materials from South Africa’s mining sector.  This means that whilst last year visitors were getting around ZAR13.5 to the GBP, in recent weeks this has been as high as ZAR19.0 to the GBP and is currently sitting at around ZAR 15.0 to the GBP.

The net impact of this is that a ZAR 1,500 room would have cost £111 in 2007 now costs £100 – a saving of 10%!  Contrast this with the position with US$ prices where a US$200 room would have cost £100 last year and now costs over £130 (a 30% increase), and we can see why last minute booking to South Africa have been so strong over the last month or so.

There are also a lot of special offers available at the moment, including offers for the December /January period and these can offer savings of over 30% on the published price, which when combined with the preferrential exchange rate makes them look very attractive indeed!

There is still some availability over December and the Christmas & New Year Period, and anyone looking to get away in January currently has a wide selection of places available and several special offers to choose from.

We are delighted to announce a  Notten’s Bush Camp Special Offer for December 08 & January 09.

Notten’s is one of the best-kept secrets of the Sabi Sand Game Reserve. This friendly and informal family-run lodge offers a unique blend of luxury and comfort, balanced with the sheer simplicity and natural atmosphere of the bush.  This is Africa how you have imagined it, and is right in the heart of the best big-5 game viewing area in South Africa.

The special offer rate of R2500 per person per night is a discount of R600 per person on the usual published rate, and means that a couple staying 3 nights would save R3600 (approx £250!) on the usual published price.  This is a great offer and makes the idea of getting away from the cold wet Northern Hemisphere winter seem all the more appealing!

Makalali, home of the stunning Garonga Safari Camp,  released their first herd of buffalo into the reserve yesterday.  The reserve  is now host to all of the Big 5 animals for the first time in 80 years!

Anyone who missed “Natural World: A Wild Dog’s Story” on BBC TV this weekend should have a look at the video on the BBC iPlayer site.

The film follows the remarkable story of an African Wild Dog called Newky and follows his life from puppy to adulthood…it is a magnificent film, and really captures the hardship of these fascinating animals lives.