Reviews

A magical experience. During our 3 day safari stay at Sidula Private Lodge we went on 6 safaris & by our 2nd safari we had seen all of the Big Five. We thought it couldn’t get any better but it did each day. Our safari driver Charlie & tracker Peter were absolutely brilliant & so knowledgeable, in fact they gave the experience the magical factor.
Although the tour was full on & action packed there would be nothing I could fault other than the tour being split between 2 national guides - 1 national guide in our opinion would have been better.
The food at breakfast, lunch & dinner was very good, plentiful & varied - take clothes a size bigger to allow for the amount of food you are served & eat.

Generally the trip was very good and the itinerary was amazing, however it was full on, all days busy often with very early starts so be warned. We did feel that the “Gods Window” & “Tsitsikamma Forest” were a bit more than the level 1 fitness stated as they were both very long and steep climbs.
The 6 safari drives were amazing and we got to see all of the big 5
We very much enjoyed the Wendy Wu experience as we have on all previous holiday but would make 2 points.
1 The coach used on the Port Elizabeth to Cape Town section was too small & uncomfortable for journeys up to 12 hrs long.
2 we all paid our $180 tip money which added up to $3240 for the 18 on the trip. We were often urged to pay more direct to people. On previous Wendy Wu trips the national guides handed out the tips openly especially to local guides, which there were none on this trip. Obviously there were the Rangers & trackers plus hotel staff but it was difficult to know where all that money went. I should add we are happy to pay it if we knew where it was all going.

It was a magical holiday. As a fairly recent widower I was concerned about being one of only three singletons but this was not to be as everyone was really friendly - 'A good bunch of Brits and Aussies!'.
Observations/Comments:
* Slightly disappointed in the 'Sabi River Sun Resort' hotel compared to all the others but understand this was a rescheduled venue for some reason and it was for only one night.
* Lizwe Ndlovu was an excellet ****** for the first part of the tour however disappointed by Nabeel Daniels who was the ****** from Port Elizabeth through to the end of the holiday:
- he made no attempt to get to know 'who was who'. This became evident when one person missing on a 'head count'.
- he did not represent Wendy Wu well in appearance wearing 'joggers' for most of the time and only a 'WW' poloshirt on our arrival at Port Elizabeth and on departure day.
- no formal 'goodbyes' for those leaving at different times.
- he kept reminding us to provide a good review!
* As an observation the double wine tour together with the final night event at 'Gold' was a bit much for the final day even though all much enjoyed.
A great trip and I'll be back for another 'WW' tour - last year was Vietnam and Cambodia (incl Mekong Cruise).

This is a great way to see the wildlife and scenery of South Africa. You get to see lions, cheetahs and leopards in Kruger national park in the North and seals and penguins in the south. With whales off the Cape if you are lucky. The are also lots of colourful birds.
The guides go the extra mile to ensure that you have a greater time and are kept safe.

Overall a very good holiday, good accommodation, good meals, and the coaches were OK but could have been newer (and quieter with better sound systems), both drivers were first class. For our first week, we found our guide Lizwe to be excellent.
The itinerary was satisfactory, but too rushed on the first day when visiting the Apartheid Museum and then travel to Mpumalanga - consequently we did not stop to appreciate view points on route and arrived at Angel's View after dark.
A separate day for Johannesburg sight seeing then travel to Mpumalanga the following day would have been preferable.
Sightseeing on the Panorama Route was spoilt due to bad weather, so it would be sensible to have an alternative sightseeing opportunity if necessary.
The Shiduli Game Reserve was a highlight (in spite of cold weather) and could not be faulted. It would have been good to have had more notice of the optional safari on the last morning so more people would have joined this.
On the Garden Route, the highlight was the Featherbed Eco Experience. We would have liked stops at view points on the route (we travelled the Garden Route but felt there was more to see).
The worst day - which needs to be addressed - was the journey from Knysna to Cape Town. The itinerary said this would take 8 hours including sightseeing, but actually took 13.5 hours even though we only had the planned times for sightseeing, lunch and comfort breaks. We had to buy food at a service station as we would have arrived in Cape Town too late to eat.
We would suggest staying overnight part way to Cape Town to avoid this excessively long journey and enable more enjoyment of sights on route.
In Cape Town the sightseeing trips were good and we included a visit to Signal Hill as there was plenty of time for this.
The queues for the Table Mountain cable car were probably well over and hour, so the group opted to pay extra for the fast track tickets - we feel this should be included as standard.
The trip to the winelands included a gourmet lunch at Haute Cabriere. The service was vey slow but the meal delicious. In the evening we went to the Gold restaurant, so had a second substantial meal - may be a bit too much in one day. We don't know how it would be best to improve this.
OVERALL we felt that an additional day at the beginning (or effectively starting the tour at lunch on the first day, since most of the group had travelled overnight) would be beneficial. Similarly, an extra day on the Garden Route is essential to ensure it is a holiday not a route march!

Excellent itinerary for first time travellers.
Good planning hotels and guides.