This was a great tour and excellent value for money. Yes the truck does not have air con, yes some... read more
This was a great tour and excellent value for money. Yes the truck does not have air con, yes some... read more
I joined this group when it reached Victoria Falls and before it left for Botswana. This review... read more
We ended up booking this tour because it had a guaranteed departure and when were were travelling for 5 weeks we needed surety of the departure. The Tour left from the Safari club - while staying here someone opened the door to our bedroom around midnight - with no security or places to put valuables this was very disconcerting and so my partner stayed awake the rest of the night in case the door opener returned.
We were up bright and early (4.30am) to start our tour. We were surprised that we did not have a briefing or anything with the tour company prior to departure but our driver advised that everything we needed to know was on the itinerary.
We met our other two travellers and Simon our driver that morning. Simon is awesome a really caring, kind gentleman who was always willing to assist.
So we start our 14 day tour in a bus with NO air-conditioning - it had apparently broken during the previous tour and there was no time to fix it. We had to travel the whole time with windows open and in the heat that just wasn't good enough.
From the start the itinerary in no way matched the reality! Breakfast upon leaving the Safari Club was a yogurt, uneatable (it was so old) apple and a peach tea. Not really sufficient to keep anyone going.
We stopped at the Blyde Canyon for lunch and then drove to our accommodation (Hazy view Lodge) which was to be 10 minutes outside the gate into Kruger National Park. This was to become the issue all through the tour - we rarely stayed at where the itinerary had indicted!
Instead we drove the most appallingly corrugated road in stifling heat in a vehicle completely unfit for the road to our accommodation at Nsele Lodge. Olaf, Stephanie and Natalie were excellent hosts and the accommodation was very good as were the meals we had while staying there. We were up at 4.15am in the morning to drive to Kruger National Park - not 10 minutes from the gate but almost 1 hour to get there.
We were very fortunate to have seen all of the big 5 in that day! We finally got back to Nsele at 5.55pm so it was a very long day.
The next day we travelled to Polokwane and had a reasonable start time of 8.15am. Once again though we had to traverse that terrible road and the time it took to get back to the highway and then on the highway. We stopped at the Amarulu Factory and had a really delightful coffee. Lunch was a takeaway - a choice of KFC or KFC. We arrived at Polokwane Game Reserve at 3.25pm to undertake a walking safari for 1 1/2 hours. Only thing is there was absolutely no game anywhere to be seen other than one bad tempered Blue Wildebeest. The park was over grown and a waste of money and time.
We stayed the night at Boma in the Bush - a nice place with a good bar and satisfactory food although nothing to write home about.
Next day we left South Africa at 6.45am and headed to Bulawayo in Zimbabwe. Another exceedingly long day of driving and take aways for lunch - guess what a choice of chicken or chicken! The last part of the trip we travelled 5 hours without a break. The itinerary - (yes that wonderful thing) said we were staying in Bulawayo Town so we could wander the tree lined streets and take in the history. Instead we travel another 35km out of Bulawayo and then another 5km down a dirt road to get to Matobo Ingwe Lodge run by Scott and Annie. We were so far from where we expected to be and with little to do - they had only just reinstated the pool so it was empty. We had a wonderful experience on our morning safari - we got to walk up to about 15 meters away from 4 white Rhino!
We spent two nights at Matobo and left at 6.30am to head to Victoria Falls - 40km back to Bulawayo before we got back on the highway and we stopped twice by police just getting back into Bulawayo. And then the fun really began - we were stopped at police roadblocks 17 times - that is how they make money in Zimbabwe - they stop the vehicle to try and fine the driver for something- never mind that the bus is full of tourists bringing money into the country. For that reason I would never go to Zimbabwe again!
We finally arrived at Vic Falls and into to another different hotel from the Itinerary - the Cresta Sprayview Hotel. This was a motel type complex - very clean and close enough to walk to town and watch the warthogs having mud baths in the middle of the grass roundabout - Great fun!
A wonderful Sunset Cruise and Dinner along the Zambezi River was a real treat and one of the nicest surprises on the tour!
Next morning off to Victoria Falls National Park- we were very lucky that we visited in April as the falls were at their fullest. What an amazing site it is to see and the roar!
Next day we headed to the Chobe River and got to our accommodation around 10.30am. We stayed at the Thebe River Lodge - a nice place close to the Chobe River. Good restaurant and bar and food was good. A sunset cruise along the river was incredible with the variety of animals and birds to view.
Next morning off for a 6.45am game drive through the Chobe National Park - Awesome game drive - lions, leopards and animals galore. Returning to the lodge we had breakfast around 9.30am - a good feed and then off to Gweta Lodge - the best accommodation on the entire tour by far. We had a guided tour around the township of Gweta and met some of the residents. I found it interesting and the people were very friendly. It was a holiday in the village so not much happening but still a nice way to spend the early morning.
We left Gweta at 9.00am to travel to Maun - gateway to the Okavango Delta. This was another itinerary change! We ended up at a different place called Senthaga Guest House. It looked pretty impressive as we drove in - until you looked left to see the green slimey swimming pool which had become home to frogs and mosquitos and was right on the main road. The rooms were modern and spacious and the front counter staff were very friendly and professional. BUT the dining room staff were abysmal. They couldn't get meals out on time or cook them as requested - we were constantly having to ask for things to be brought out.
The guest house was several km from the town so we were effectively stuck in the middle of nowhere with nothing to do! We returned to the guest house after we had a night in the Okavango Delta - to find they had finally emptied the pool!
Our night in the Okavango Delta started with a two hour drive in a bench seat 4 wheel drive truck. Certainly not the most pleasant experience getting there but worth it once we arrived. The team at Delta Rain were amazing starting with the trip through the Delta in a mokoro with Alan as lead poler.
The tented camp was excellent with good facilities and a friendly and delightful team. The food provided was really good and the walks through the bush area were worth it! We never saw so many elephants before with bulls in full musk - a real sight to behold. It was well worth doing this part of the tour and I would recommend it to others.
Returning from the Delta we spent another night in Maun at the Senthaga Guest House before departing for our return to Johannesburg. Our vehicle had developed problems with the suspension -so another vehicle was made available - much smaller than the one we had and with no facilities to keep drinks etc in the vehicle. BUt at least it had some form of air conditioning!
We stopped at Khama Rhino Sanctuary - which was excellent. We were supposed to be staying just down the road from their and as time passed my partner had to ask what was going on - only to be told we would be driving several more hours to get to Martins Drift close to the South African border.
Our final night on tour was spent at Martins Drift - another itinerary change. We were on the road for 12 1/2 hours again, finally arriving at Martins Drift at 6.55pm and we had to go and get our dinner at 7.00pm.
Next day was crossing back into South Africa then finally back to the Safari Club.
The hardest thing about this tour was that the distances to be travelled shown in the itinerary were just wrong - add another 2-3-4 hours - so extremely long days stuck in a vehicle with no air conditioning. The lack of information that the accommodations were changing and the fact that some of these were miles away from the attractions was really frustrating.
Again I want to stress that Simon was excellent but I think Acacia could do more about ensuring that their clients are informed.
Having said all the above (and hindsight being a wonderful thing) we saw so much and did everything we had wanted to. As long as you understand what you are letting yourself in for then you decide if you want to spend that much time in a vehicle!
I just finished the overland camping trip from Cape Town to Victoria Falls/Livingstone. Amazing!! The guide and driver - yo Big Sam! - were great, nothing was too much trouble and they really worked hard to make sure we all had an incredible time. The itinerary was perfect, we got to see and do so many amazing things - the okavango delta, dune 45, sandboarding, skydiving, chobe national park, vic falls... I could name so much more! And the campsites were incredible, think watching shooting stars on a huge rock in the middle of nowhere, or camping literally next to a elephant watering hole with no fences around you! If you have doubts about camping please don't - the mattresses were A LOT more comfy than i expected, the tents were HUGE and i had hot showers most of the time! And the FOOD. I definitely put on a few kgs. Overall it was an incredible experience with an amazing group of people that I wouldn't hesitate to recommend! Thanks acacia!
The highlight of our tour to Victoria Falls was our excellent guide Simon. He really went above and beyond to keep us happy and safe. Simon's enthusiasm is infectious, he is extremely knowledgeable and passionate about show what Southern Africa has to offer. We had an unavoidable change of itinerary due to the political situation in Zimbabwe and Simon was able to keep us well informed and make alternate arrangements.
The tour itself was a great way for us to see Kruger, Botswana and Victoria Falls. There are some long days driving but the spectacular views of Victoria Falls are worth it.
The accommodation is adequate, with the first 2 nights at Nsele Lodge a highlight. The host are very welcoming and the food amazing.
We would recommend Acacia Africa to anyone looking for a guided tour in Africa.
From Vic Falls to JoBurg - camping all the way. So much fun and what an experience. Great guide! Beautiful places to visit. Highlight was Elephant Sands!!
Fantastic tour from joburg to Victoria falls. Very knowledgeable guide who gave great facts without personal opinion. Fantastic value also.
Hi Dean R
Great to hear you enjoyed your trip with us - hope to see you again in future!
Cheers
The Acacia Africa Team
My wife and I did this Safari with 2 other couples last week. I went in with low expectations on this, as I usually do with trips so as to not disappoint myself.
I was SURPRISINGLY DISAPPOINTED with Acacia Africa. I consider myself a season traveler, having been to over 20 countries Europe, Asia, SE Asia, Caribbean, and about half the US States. This was my first trip to Africa.
First the Good Stuff:
The Game Drives. Chobe specifically was the highlight of the trip. It was the first day and nothing seemed to compare after that.
Flight over the Okavanga Delta- a must do. However, do NOT book this through Acacia, they had the price at $425 a PERSON. We had our guide take us directly to the airport in Maun and we walked into a shop with the exact same Company, it was Delta Excursions and booked directly there. The ENTIRE plane was $425, for 5 people. $2125 vs $425, Acacia is gouging is customers. Only 4 of us wanted to do it so we took our awesome guide Simon up with us and just split it 4 ways. This was awesome. Make sure you have a camera with a good zoom lenses.
Simon (our guide) was great. Very enthusiastic and friendly.
Karma Rhino was cool, but they purposely delayed the Rhinos to the end and they were kind of far away.
Basically, the game drives are the best parts, everything else was lacking.
The Bad Stuff
Accommodations
We did the Accommodated tour which is mostly hotels and one camp site. I wanted to do the camping, but my wife said no.
I actually really like the camp site despite the bush toilets and showers, the cots were not bad. The best parts of this were seeing the stars at night (thousands of them) and hearing the animals. The food here was amazing, campfire cooked African dishes-balboati specifically. We also had two game walks, pretty cool, but i like the drives better in hindsight because you see more.
The Mokoro was disappointing in a few ways. 1st, our guy rocked the boat a bit and I was constantly worried I would fall into the water, this made it difficult to relax.
2nd, the ride was short, only about 45 minutes.
3rd, we really didn't see any animals because of the tall grass, i can forgive this given the time of the year we went.
4th- THE WORST BUMPY RIDE out there. Nearly a 3 hour drive to get to the mokoro, only 45 minutes on smooth road and 2 hours of the worst ride ever. Bouncing off your seat literally a foot high and then getting your back slammed into the railing is not fun. The seats are wood benches which pop up from some of the bumps. I was trying to hang on and the bump popped my seat up and smashed my finger drawing blood. Nothing to ruin your "relaxing" mokoro like 2 hours of speed bumps. One lady in our group actually started crying with disappointment.
The other hotels were all ok. Maun hotel, which we stayed at twice was the worst one, the pool was green, the food was atrocious, they actually served as a cold "warm" breakfast because we got up and they forgot to make our breakfast and we had to leave. Their was nothing to do in this hotel or nearby.
Gweta sucked-pool area was nice and it had a bar which was the only salvation. We arrived here late and "just missed" our sunset activity to see the Balboa trees or meerkats, so we sat around the pool. I can do that at home. I didn't fly halfway around the world to lounge by a pool. The shower was outside which i didn't mind but my wife didn't like it.
The "traditional village" was, pardon my language, a HELL HOLE. I was thinking like wooden yurts with tribal elements or something. No, this was a ghetto, slum, "modern" cinder block houses, not to mention it was a holiday so the town was deserted. its the village you see when you drive into the hotel area and everyone was looking uncomfortably at each other. Thank god it was a holiday and it only wasted an hour of our money and we left. I looked on the price board and they charged $15 to literally walk us down one street and look at a slums. No thanks.
This trip to Gweta caused us to miss our sunset activity, see a slum, and waste almost 2 full days of our 7 day safari, take into account the 7th day is all driving and now our 7 day safari is really only 4. Advice to Acacia, take this part out or make sure the Game drive truck is there to take your guest on tours. I asked our guide if their was anything we could do, if we could take the bus on our own and he said yes. We could go see the trees in the morning before we left. Needless to say this didn't happen b/c of "road conditions"
Yes I was aware of the drive times, but I had accounted for being able to do all the optional activities and i was fine with paying more to do so.
Karma Rhino sanctuary was neat, but its in the middle of the afternoon in the hottest part of the day so not a lot of animals are out, but we did get to see the Rhinos.
Food
Pretty much basic sustenance to keep me alive everywhere. Poor choice of options, we basically ate chicken every meal, and had cereal for breakfast. Lunch several times consisted of "chips and cookies" we bought at gas stations. They don't have a lot of selection. The best food was at the camp because they actually cooked stuff.
Bus
Ah the bus, no AC, which was fine for being late autumn early winter, we just threw open the window, temps were in the low 60's at night and high 80's during the day it wasn't to bad, but we only had 6 people taking up a 22 seater, so everyone had their own row. Had it been packed it would have been much less pleasant. Now the bad part is, our bus shocks went out on the good ole bumpy roads.
Our bus got downgraded to an 11 seater also with no AC. Worse it only had 4 windows in the back and only 2 of these actually opened. The seats where smaller, and we were much more cramped. All of us agreed we would have preferred the other bus without "shocks" over this cramped bus.
In summary, knowing what i know now, i would NOT recommend Acacia Africa. Maybe its just the experience I have travelling on my own, but the "tour safari package" was definitely NOT worth it, and I can see easily that their is probably a 50% markup on the cost after asking the hotels and game drives directly about cost.
There was way too much down time on this trip, im not talking about driving to places, im talking about sitting around waiting to do the activity. I like to be doing stuff, 2-3 activities a day, this only had 1 thing a day, with driving half day and about 4 hours of sitting around on average per day in your room. What a waste.
The food certainly wasn't expensive either. (My wife and I ate at 4 star restaurants in Vic Falls and Johansburg and had meals with drinks for $50- and they were damn good)
Next time I will rent a car or guide and drive on my own, stay at hotels on my own which would be cheaper and arrange the game drives at the hotel, which is basically what Acacia has your guide do when you arrive. I can do all that on my own.
Save yourself half the time, half the money and see twice as much and just do the planning before you head out. You will have a much better time than joining Acacia on their "safari."
We are grateful for feedback from passengers following a tour. On a small number of occasions it is critical we look at what may have gone wrong and how we can continue to improve the services we offer to our customers. The Okavango Wilderness Trail tour is one of our most popular small group tours and has been so for many years. If the correspondent above writes to us we will be pleased to reply in detail.
The Acacia Africa team