Luxury South Africa Family Travel Review: Johannesburg, Blyde River Canyon, Sabi Sand, 2-Week Safari Tour

Review by traveler

Stacey A.

7.25.2022

General Info

Traveler Review

Which Country (Countries) did you visit on this trip?

South Africa

Your overall comments on the trip and the travel company:

Great itinerary - great support. Support during our trip too, which was nice knowing someone was watching out for us.

What were the most enjoyable or memorable parts of your trip?

The Hotel in Johannesburg was great. Nice accommodations. Good food. Very friendly staff.
The family feel, driver and spotter, massage therapist, and hospitality at the lodge in Timbavati were great. Our guides were phenomenal - their knowledge of the animals and bush was really impressive. They worked so hard to find us amazing sitings and different animals. Definitely a highlight - wish we could have taken them with us to Sabi Sands. There was a watering hole at the lodge which was very entertaining to watch. Many elephants came down to drink one night. Quite amazing. Very environmentally friendly - no plastic water bottles, all off the grid, pretty special place.
Our lodge near Blyde River Canyon was incredible. Did you know they have a pet caracal? WHAT? Views, food, the chef is amazing and definitely knows how to cook for a diet-restricted kiddo. He (we all) ate like a king. Views were other worldly. hey have a watering hole you can monitor from their deck - baboons, zebra, impala, etc. super fun. Added the Blyde River boat tour which was really great and I would suggest.
Sabi Sands and the Lodge there were amazing. The chef met us at arrival (!) and talked with us about my sons dietary restrictions - what he can have what he cannot have, etc. He single handedly made the stay so enjoyable for him. Food on every drive, food at every tea time, amazing food at all 3 meals. Can't say enough about how that made this place so much less stressful for us. Having the watering hole right off the deck was amazing - we were on a 24-hour game drive! hippos, elephants, giraffes, kudu, waterbuck, impalas, monkeys, warthogs, etc. were all doing their animal business - we could watch them all day. Amazing. We saw wild dogs twice - what?!! Abundance of wildlife was impressive. I don't want to forget the outdoor shower - what? I showered with an elephant and some nyalas. Kids loved it too.

If you could take your trip again, what would you do differently?

The directions provided by travel agency were incorrect to get from airport to our lodge in Timbavati. The directions routed us to a private reserve and not to the main gate. That mishap started off the trip with a significant amount of stress.
The panorama route was a mess with very large pot holes and a lot of construction. Kids were humming the Mario Kart tune due to the driving we had to do to miss potholes. (Full coverage on rental car is highly suggested.) The timing of the rolling blackouts was unknown to us which made finding anywhere with lunch along the panorama route impossible (as it was in the middle of a 3 hour rolling blackout). It would have been nice to have more visibility into the timing of the blackouts.
Although our lodge near Hazyview is likely (one of) the nicest place - it was not great - food was definitely not great (may be related to staffing and post-covid-related issues) - accommodations dated. Did see hippos off our deck however - so that was cool. Would have skipped the whole day of panorama route and this lodge.
The drive from our lodge near Hazyview to our lodge in Sabi Sand was a bit harrowing as well. Traffic of all kinds, road conditions, the directions to our lodge not straightforward, a car on the side of the road with a broken axle, taxis, people, domestic animals along the road, etc. - all were quite stressful.
Our lodge in Timbavati could have done better at keeping food available for my diet restricted son. Many game drives and tea times with nothing to eat - which meant he would only have 2 meals a day (they didn't offer a separate breakfast and lunch they offered a brunch with was both breakfast and lunch)... so he was starving which exacerbated his medical condition. Suggest having a direct conversation with them before arrival if you have dietary restrictions. Food was quite good otherwise.
Our Lodge in Sabi Sand - we had the 2 remote bush cabins - although there were several benefits to this arrangement it was not ideal for having access to our things during the day and being able to communicate with the kids after we went to bed. Sometimes no phone service - so couldn't call kids. One night my son was not feeling well and I didn't go over to see him because we needed an escort (I could have called the front desk - but then I would need to call them again to get back to my cabin and it was quite late). I would request cabins closer together and closer to the main area next time.
Both animal tours near Hoedspruit were meh - endangered species and rehab center. Would have been fine not doing either one of them. In the end, I am not sure I even agree with the mission of the endangered species center wrt cheetah "repopulation" (their main claim to fame) - they seem to be breeding King Cheetahs which cannot survive in the wild due to their different, darker coloration and inability to cool themselves effectively after a hunt (according to the tour guide). When pressed on the topic the guide just started giving us non answers and we couldn't get the full story.
Most of our stress from this vacation surrounded either driving or finding food. Not sure we would self drive again. More planning wrt the food issue due to our dietary restrictions would have been helpful.

Travel Company Comments:

Thank you so much Stacey for your detailed feedback, which is very much appreciated and valued. We are delighted that you had a great and memorable experience in South Africa together as a family.
Navigating the Kruger area by self-drive can be tricky, and the roads in that region have definitely gotten worse recently with many potholes - we're glad you managed to navigate around them! We're also so sorry to hear that you had issues at the safari lodges with your son's dietary requirements - all service providers were informed prior to your arrival but seems may not have understood the severity of his condition. We will share your feedback with the camps.
The rolling black-outs (or 'load shedding') in South Africa have been occurring for many years but most hotels and safari lodges operate generators or are off the grid so as not to affect the guest experience but we understand the more remote shops & restaurants on the self-drive routes can be affected make it tricky to find food on the long drives.
All your feedback is very much appreciated. We are delighted that overall you had a fantastic trip and we hope that you made memories to last a lifetime.