One word describes this tour – Brilliant.
I visited South Africa with Just You in October 2022 and hoping for another safari adventure I was delighted when this tour was announced in late 2023 and booked this 14 months before the departure date. Although the first of these safaris was in September 2024 I am committed to certain things here at that time so opted for the 5 November departure. In early January 2024 I later received an e-mail confirming details of a premium economy upgrade I had asked for at the time of booking. At a shade over £650.00 with overnight flights each way I viewed this as a bargain. It was also almost the same as I paid with a different airline in 2022.
This is also the only trip, or should I say adventure, where there is no holiday director. The vast majority of Just You trips are tours where you are moving frequently to the next location. The holiday director is there to ensure that everything runs smoothly making sure that everyone knows where they ought to be and when they need to be there, that cases are all accounted for, to liaise with the driver about routes and comfort stops, sort out excursions and liaise with local guides. The list is endless with much going on behind the scenes, which we often never know about, to make sure everything runs smoothly. This trip has none of these things. We were met at J’Borg airport by a rep “Diggie” who accompanied us, with commentary, for the two hour drive to the Greater Mabula Game Reserve where we were checked into our rooms at Safari Plains and there we stayed for the entire trip. At the end of our trip the rep was Chantelle who escorted us from Safari Plains to check in at J’burg airport.
The staff at Safari Springs were lovely and nothing was too much trouble.
The group comprised 7 ladies and 3 men. One man was a pal who booked having heard me talking about my plans and it was good to meet up with one of the ladies with whom I had travelled previously who co-incidentally also brought along a friend. There were no cliques and everyone sat together at meal times. There were a mix of first timers to safaris and/or South Africa to those who were on a repeat visit to the country and some safari veterans. We have set up our own WhatsApp group so it will be good to keep in touch with new friends.
We had 2 9 seater open sided off road 4 x 4 jeeps with 5 of us in each jeep. We kept to this arrangement throughout and opted to keep to the same seats but there is nothing to prevent individuals moving around.
Our drivers were local rangers, Russell and “Taps” who between them had many years experience driving in the reserve. Both were able to read tracks and generally work out where animals were likely to be but animals can sometimes be a tad fickle and play their version of hide and seek. All tracks have names so that rangers can keep in touch with each other, including others not with our group, to keep everyone informed about sightings. There are reserve limits on the number of vehicles at sightings so there were occasional waits but this is for the benefit of the animals.
To be frank there was, in my view, nothing a holiday director could add to this specific trip that the lovely staff, for whom nothing was too much trouble, and the rangers could not handle themselves. At the end of the day there is always the hot line to JY HQ but this was never needed.
Accommodation is in a “tented suite”. We are not talking primitive boy-scout adventures! This is high end luxury glamping with each suite having it’s own viewing deck with seating, tea and coffee making facilities, Wi-Fi and air-conditioning.
The daily routine was along the following lines;-
1. 5.00am alarm – you could set your own alarm earlier if wanted,
2. 5.30am set out on morning drive – this depended on where animals were thought to be
3. 8.30am (ish) back for breakfast
4. Then free time including lunch at around 1.00pm. It is generally too hot during the middle of the day when animals are likely to be sleeping or otherwise inactive.
5. 4.30pm afternoon drive – as for morning drive
6. 7.00pm (ish) back from drive and straight into dinner Then retire ready for the next day’s adventure.
Some pointers that may be useful to future travellers:-
1. Drinking water is provided in rooms but this is in glass bottles so you might want to bring your own bottles to decant to take water out.
2. There is a small shop but this is souvenirs only. There were no “essentials” so forget to bring anything at your own peril
3. There was no dressing for dinner. Talking to someone on the flight home who had done a similar safari I was told there was no dressing on their safari either. It is straight from the afternoon drive into dinner.
4. Paths to tents are lit but the markers showing tent numbers are not lit. A torch is useful if you don’t have one on your phone.
5. There is no TV or radio in the tents – bring downtime entertainment as desired with you.
6. SA has it’s own unique adaptors. Some were able to rent adaptors from reception but my advice would be to bring your own.
7. Drinks etc at meal times are charged to your room to settle up before leaving.
You are on a private game reserve so there is no popping out to town for dinner! There is no local town to pop out to! All meals are included and there is no danger of anyone going hungry. There were menus each day with a good selection of options for breakfast with lunches and dinners being generally 3 courses of starter, main and dessert. I don’t think anyone could eat all courses every day and meals were ordered in advance and you could choose any permutation of what was on offer that you wanted. Meals were ordered and presented by reference to tent numbers and occasionaly before they got to know you the staff got a little muddled but it was all a part of the charm and whilst, until everyone was known, it was at times a bit Basil Fawltyish, but in a delightful way, then with apologies to B F & J C the view was certainly not Torquay and here there were indeed herds of wildebeest sweeping majestically across the plain.
On the subject of animals then this is what we were here to see and I won’t do a day by day, blow by blow, account but over the course of the trip we saw 4 out of the big 5, often more than once, with the leopard being particularly elusive. In fairness our rangers said they had previously rarely seen any leopard. In addition to the big 5 there are numerous other animals including, in no specific order of preference, zebra, giraffe, warthogs, wildebeest, impalas, hippos and many, many more. Both Russell and “Taps” were excellent at spotting and identifying wildlife and both were a wealth of knowledge on both flora and fauna.
There were a few nice touches set up for the benefit of us by Safari Plains and the rangers during drives but I will leave these as surprises to be enjoyed as such by future visitors.
. …
Overall a really superb trip that I heartily recommend with thanks to my fellow travellers for their company.
Finally “How much money do I need?” is a perennial question to which there is no hard and fast answer. Having been to South Africa previously I already have the usual array of fridge magnets and other destination souvenirs. All meals have been paid for in the cost of the trip so it was just the cost of any souvenirs from the shop and drinks at mealtimes. With early morning drives then overindulge at your own risk! If you prefer high end shopping and have some rand left over there are some excellent shops at J’Burg airport.
For more memories, or as appetisers, then the Mabula reserve where we were is frequently featured for “live” safari sightings on the Wild Earth channel on Freeview channel 91. They definitely film as we spotted their jeep on one of our drives.
Any specific questions then do feel free to ask.
Ian
