African Safari And Beach Holiday News.

South Africa continues to offer outstanding value for money to visitors who are looking to explore the bustling heart of cosmopolitan Cape Town, discover new favourites on a tour of the winelands, or  track the Big 5 on the safari of a lifetime in the Greater Kruger Park.

As well a a breathtaking range of world-class places to visit, South Africa boasts a vast choice of safari lodges, accommodation and transport options to meet all tastes and budgets. To give you an example of the range of properties available, in the Kruger area there are lodges such as Shindzela and Gomo Gomo that offer a safari including game drives, accommodation and all meals for around £150 per person per night, however if you have the budget and nothing but the best will do, Singita Ebony Lodge will set you back over £1500 per person per night.  Not sure how to choose between different lodges to make sure you get the best experience for your trip?  The team at Travel Butlers have been specialising in safari holidays to South Africa sionce 2003, and we would be delighted to help you choose the right lodge and itinerary for your perfect trip.

To make this wonderful and diverse country even more appealing, Travel Butlers is running a special offer with deposits starting from only £100 per person on new bookings for accommodation and road transport in South Africa.

This offer will automatically be applied to qualifying bookings, and you can get some inspiration for your own trip on our South Africa holiday pages.

The offer is valid for new bookings confirmed before 30 November 2018, and the balance will be due 60 days before travel as per our usual terms and conditions.

The £100 deposit per person (or equivalent amount in USD, EUR or ZAR) will secure your safari lodge, hotel bookings and road transport in South Africa. There may be a few exceptions for larger group bookings and particular properties that require a larger deposit, and if you would like to book international or other scheduled flights with us, we’ll need to confirm the prices and payment terms for these at the time of booking as these are set by the airlines.

So what are you waiting for?  Give us a call or get in touch via the website, and we can start to plan an amazing trip to South Africa for you with a deposit of only £100 per person!

We are delighted to have been nominated in the British Travel Awards 2018 in the “Best Safari, Wildlife & Nature Holiday Company” and “Best Holiday Company to Africa” categories.

These industry-leading awards are often called the Oscars of the travel industry, and the winners are decided by public vote and announced at a gala dinner in London later in the year.

Voting is really simple using the form here, and everybody who votes is entered into a prize draw to win one of a number of fantastic holidays and travel prizes.  It’s not limited to UK residents, so our overseas clients can vote too.

Voting closes at midnight on the 30th September, and the prize draw winners will be notified by email address week commencing 15th October 2018.

The British Travel Awards winners will be announced awards winners will be announced at a gala dinner in London on Wednesday 28th November. Fingers crossed that we can repeat the success we have enjoyed with other awards over the past few years!

Many thanks for your support, and good luck in the prize draw!

Well it was a long time ago, but we never forget a face!  We have written previously about how a holiday to South Africa inspired us to take a career break in 2003 which ultimately lead to us setting-up Travel Butlers…well imagine our surprise and delight when we bumped into our first safari guide when we stayed at Kafunta River Lodge  as part of our recent trip to Zambia.

Andrew was our guide on our very first safari back in 2002 when he was working at Savanna Private Game Reserve in the Sabi Sand, and his knowledge and enthusiasm helped spark our own love of the safari experience.   We had a great time at Savanna and were lucky to have some amazing sightings during our stay including leopard with three tiny cubs, a huge pride of lion hunting 300+ buffalo under a full moon and many others.  Following those few days we ended-up leaving the security of corporate employment, training to be safari guides ourselves, and then setting up Travel Butlers in July 2003.  So it was a truly life-changing experience for us, and is it any wonder that as we arrived at Kafunta to be met by the staff and management we were able to recognise Andrew immediately despite the intervening years?

This is not the first time our paths have crossed since 2002 – we bumped into each other at Dulini lodge in the Sabi Sands a few years ago – however it was fantastic to be able to catch-up again, and thank Andrew for his part in the Travel Butlers story.

We are delighted to announce the launch of our free Guest Information App for clients, and this is available on both Android and iPhone/iPad.

The App includes:

• day-by-day itemisation of services
• details of every booking
• emergency phone numbers
• static and interactive maps
• live flight status updates
• 5-day weather forecasts
• general information on immigration requirements, medical issues etc.

Before guests travel, the App displays a countdown to the start of their trip, and whilst they are away it will default to showing the current day’s activities and services, including automatically checking each flight’s status on the days that they fly.

Most content is available offline, however a data connection is required for flight status updates, weather forecasts and interactive maps.

Android users can download the App from the Google Play Store or search for “travel butlers” in the Google Play App.

iPhone and iPad users can download from iTunes or search for “travel butlers” in iTunes.

The App requires clients to enter their unique user details when they first download their itinerary, and we are currently in the process of contacting clients who have upcoming trips to make them aware of their details.  Clients who do not have their details yet and are keen to get access to the App should phone or email their usual contact at Travel Butlers.