Yes, I know it is a phenomenon in this day and age to get something for nothing … but it’s true !

From now until the 15th December, any guest staying at one of the private lodges on the 18,000 hectare Imbali Private Concession in the Kruger National Park – so the luxurious tented 5* Hamiltons Tented Camp, and its 5* sister lodge Imbali Safari Lodge, and the African styled Hoyo Hoyo Lodge, will receive a complimentary return road transfer from the nearby Hoedspruit Airport.

The private concessions in Kruger are areas of land where carefully selected operators have a licence to offer all the benefits of a safari lodge on a private reserve. Some of your game drives will be on the private concession, meaning that your ranger will be able to drive offroad in search of the Big 5, offering you an unbelievably close encounter with the wildlife – and other game drives will be in the Kruger Park itself, where your ranger will have to abide by the rules of the Park and remain on the road network at all times.

Hoedspruit Airport is only an hours flight from Johannesburg, and about a 90 minute drive from the lodges, so this makes it possible to leave London on a Friday night, fly to Johannesburg … and be on your first game drive in the Kruger National Park by 4 pm on the Saturday !

The transfers are of course subject to the availability of the transfer vehicle and need to be booked at the time of reservation – but your consultants at Travel Butlers can do this for you.

One of the main advantages of going on safari in the Kruger area just after the January / February rains is that many animals will give birth during this period.

Lucky safari goers recently to the Sabi Sand Game Reserve, who have been staying at Savanna Game Lodge, will have enjoyed, I am sure, seeing these little fellows – aren’t they just cute beyond belief !

The cubs belong to the Ximungwe pride, and seem to have plenty of character and personality ! It won’t be long before they will be old enough to join in the hunting with their mother, although it will be a few more years before they are ready to leave the pride and venture out on their own.

Small leopard cubs are equally as adorable – this little one is about 3.5 months old and is already totally at ease with the Land Rovers being in close proximity so that guests can get some fantastic photos :

And then, you round off a perfect day with a sunset like this …. Now … you tell me if you can think of a better way to spend a few days !!

Located in the game-rich Sabi Sand Private Game Reserve, Sabi Sabi Little Bush Camp is a wonderful place to spend a few days on safari.

Not only can you experience superb game viewing in open Land Rovers, accompanied by an experienced ranger and eagle-eyed tracker, inbetween the game drives you can now enjoy relaxing in your private spa bath, on your private viewing deck.

Each of the 6 suites here have just been upgraded to include a spa bath on each deck, offering a delightfully decadent vantage point from which to watch the bushveld. All suites also have en-suite bathrooms with both indoor and outdoor showers, and kingsize beds draped in romantic mosquito netting. Individually styled using African artifacts, beautiful wooden furnishings and luxurious linens, you may not even want to leave your suite at all !

A new single entry visa is being piloted, in preparation for visitors coming over to South Africa for the World Cup.

This will mean that people wanting to travel to not just South Africa, but the neighbouring countries too (Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Botswana and Swaziland) will only need one visa to cover all countries.

Mozambique is the first country who intend introducing the single visa, known as Univisa. The visa is primarily aimed at tourists from Europe and the United States.

We stayed at Gomo Gomo, in the Klaserie Reserve which forms part of the Greater Kruger Park, in February, for just one night.

What a great place !

For me, the main word that sums it up is unpretentious. The atmosphere is totally relaxed – the rangers are extremely friendly, and banter easily between themselves and with the guests, so you really get the feeling that you are part of one big, happy family.

The room are pleasant – not particularly traditionally African, I will admit, as they are very ‘chalet’ like – square brick built structures – but they are plenty large enough and comfortable, and the family rooms are ideal if you are 2 adults and 2 children travelling together, as they consist of a double bedroom, a shared bathroom, and a twin bedroom. All the chalets also have their own wooden deck.

The lodge is built on a dam, with its own resident hippo who happily will regularly throw himself out of the water for a bit of a show.

The food was extremely good – nothing too fancy, but well prepared, well presented and very tasty.

Game viewing was excellent – Gomo Gomo share their traversing rights with one other lodge, Africa on Foot – so you are not fighting for space at sightings. We sat with a large pride of lions for nearly an hour as a result … who can complain at that ?

Pricewise, it is one of the least expensive lodges in this area … from 1st May until the end of July (yes … there is NO price increase over the World Cup period too !!!), the rate if you enquire with Travel Butlers is just R1,450 per person per night; from 1st August until the end of 2010 our rate is R1,590 per person per night. This includes morning and afternoon / evening game drives, bush walks, breakfast, lunch, dinner, teas and coffees. Children aged up to and including 2 years are FOC; children aged between 3 years and up to and including 12 years are 50% of normal adult rate. So really … quite a bargain !!

To summarise, anyone who goes here will come away feeling that they have had FUN on their safari, as well as having seen some wonderful wildlife.

And yet another fantastic Special Offer for safari-goers !

Stay 4 nights at Shumbalala Game Lodge, in the Big 5 Thornybush Game Reserve, and only pay for 3 !

Thornybush is an 11,500 hectare fenced reserve just west of Timbavati and the Greater Kruger Park. Whilst the reserve is fenced off from the neighbouring reserves and Kruger, there is still a very high density of animals, including all of the Big 5. With the mountains of the nearby Drakensberg Escarpment providing a magnificent backdrop, this is a truly magical part of Africa.

All the suites at Shumbalala have overhead fans, air-conditioning, open fireplaces, and designer ‘picture window’ bathroom suites that includes an additional outside shower for the more adventurous and a private viewing deck. The main lodge area has game viewing decks and swimming pools, as well as 2 lounges, a curio shop and a library in which to relax between game drives.

For families going to Cape Town between 1st May and the end of October, they can enjoy a special Family Rate if they want to go up Table Mountain.

The Table Mountain Aerial Cableway are offering a Family Winter Special ticket price for only R160 per adult return, which includes 2 children under 18 years travelling for free The special is valid to begin with only over weekends and public holidays and then every day of the following school holidays – June 10 to July 12 and September 24 to October 3.

A special kiddies holiday programme will also be running during the school holidays, including a Winter Treasure Trail, spot prizes, magic shows, face painting and craft activities. Children will be entertained and taken on guided walks by the Table Mountain Aerial Cableway characters – Ernie the Explorer, Dale the Dassie and the Yeti. Additional activities include story-telling of the Myths and Legends of Table Mountain.

The Table Mountain Café is joining in on the fun too, and will be offering a kiddies menu for just R30 per child, which includes a free cup of hot chocolate or fruit juice.

Children can also win a Table Mountain Aerial Cableway beanie and scarf every month. Entry forms are available on the back of the Winter Treasure Trail map, available from the ticket office.

We stayed at Kapama Game Reserve back in February – apologies for taking so long to write the review !

Firstly, I was incredibly impressed with the main entrance gate. As you approach from the R40, your first impressions are immediately elevated … compared to some reserves, in my opinion the main gate is very imposing and impressive !

We were staying at Kapama River Lodge for our first night. We pulled up outside, and immediately the word ‘LARGE’ crossed my mind … then the word ‘BUSY’ jostled ‘LARGE’ immediately out of my mind as we walked into the main entrance hall … there were people EVERYWHERE !!!! This was explained very shortly afterwards as we were taken on a quick tour around the lodge, sorry, I meant hotel … because this is what it is – a 63 bedroomed, 3 storey hotel in the bush.

Don’t get me wrong. The rooms are immaculate, and beautifully decorated and equipped with comfy beds, large bathrooms with his / her vanity units, a large walk in shower and a bath with a view out over the bush. Each room has a balcony with a table and chairs, and I sat out on it for just half an hour and took some great photos of a female nyala who just walked past our balcony without a care in the world.

And the spa … well, it is probably the nicest spa I have ever seen. I believe it is rated in the Top 5 spas in SA, and it is easy to see why. Treatment rooms overlooking the bush and a waterhole, a rim flow pool … it is a pure sanctuary.

However, because the lodge / hotel is so large, it is one of only a small handful of places that can accommodate large tour groups. For couples travelling on their own, therefore, I have to be honest and say it can be a bit intimidating … the main pool area was full of people shouting across to each other and I really was not inclined to venture amongst them on my ownsome lonesome and put my towel down (not that there was a spare sun lounger anyway !!).

We all congregated at just before 4 pm for afternoon tea / coffee before heading out on the game drive – and I have to admit, there was a good spread of both savoury and sweet snacks to stave off any hunger – I was a bit worried that the sheer number of people that they had to cater for would affect the quality of the food, but actually it didn’t have any impact at all – all the food we had, including the dinner later and breakfast the next day, was delicious !

The game drive departure was a mass exodus of vehicles, and there were 10 in total on our vehicle, so 3 per seat row and one upfront with the ranger, but once outside the lodge gates, each vehicle peeled off on their own and pretty soon it was just our vehicle trundling down the road with no other vehicle in sight.

The game viewing was good too … on this first drive alone we tracked a leopard, saw elephant, rhino, antelope, zebra … so really can’t fault the safari experience at all – for people worrying that the game viewing may not be too good given that the reserve is fenced … trust me, there is nothing to worry about at all !

We left Kapama River after our morning drive, as we had asked to move to Kapama Lodge as this is smaller.

En-route to here, we stopped briefly at Kapama Buffalo Camp – for the price, it is great (from now until the World Cup, the published rates are just R1950 per person per night, including all meals and morning / afternoon game drives and complimentary transfers to / from Hoedspruit Airport). The tents are great – the pictures on their website seriously do NOT do it justice !

We also called in at Kapama Karula .. WOW !! Absolutely stunning. Chic meets the bush seamlessly. Really, I was completely gutted that we were not staying here, but they were fully booked !!

Kapama Main Lodge is actually in its own part of the reserve – you exit the reserve where River, Karula and Buffalo are, cross the road, and Main is in a 3,000 separately fenced part. I was a bit worried about the game viewing in such a small area, but honestly, it was probably better ! We saw lion, elephant, rhino, buffalo, antelope, zebra, giraffe … it was fantastic. Really could not fault it at all.

The lodge itself was lovely – superb rooms, great main guest areas, and really good food too.

To summarise … yes, I would 100% recommend the reserve and I would be confident that anyone staying here would have as good a safari experience as we did. But unless you are planning on going on safari with a large group, I would personally not recommend River Lodge, instead go for Kapama Main / Karula if you have the budget, of if you are budget conscious then you really cannot go wrong with Buffalo.

When people think of the famous London skyline now, they invariably picture the London Eye too. Since it opened in 1999, the London Eye has become one of THE most visited tourist attractions in our capital.

Many other cities across the world now have their own version of the wheel, and Cape Town are about to join this group.

Their wheel is due to be open in June, in readiness for the onslaught of tourists over the World Cup.

The wheel is 50m in diameter, and will be erected at the V&A Waterfront. There will be 36 enclosed air-conditioned capsules which will each hold 8 people.

The wheel will run daily from 10 am until 10 pm, and at night will be lit up with 2 million LED lights.

Each ride will last about 15-20 minutes, and will cost about R70 per person. There will also be various deals for families or for taking a private capsule.

Question : Where can I go in South Africa to see incredible sightings of hippo and crocodile ?

Answer : Makakatana Bay Lodge, in the Greater St Lucia Wetlands Park (also now known as the iSimangaliso Wetland Park).

Recent guests to this lodge have enjoyed not only sightings of hippo and crocodile on the exclusive Makakatana boat trips on the St Lucia estuary, but have also been privileged to see a large herd of elephant who have decided they really do quite like the area around the lodge for these past 2 weeks ! Hippos also come to visit the watering hole in front of the lodge at night while guests enjoy their dinner on the front deck by candle light.

And if that wasn’t enough, there was also the sighting of a male leopard who posed in a tree for a few hours …

Makakatana Bay’s premier location within the Wetland Park makes it also ideal for activities like fishing, boating and scuba diving to hiking, horseriding, game viewing, whale and bird watching.

If you want to experience this all for yourself – contact Travel Butlers now to check availability and get a quote !!