Testimonials | Leopard Hills > Wilderness Retreats > South Africa

Catherine,

Sorry for delay and thanks for your mail. Been so busy since we got back. The honeymoon was fantastic - thankyou for all the advice etc. A few comments on the hotels etc ...

Cybele Lodge - White River area. Beautiful hotel - we didn't really go out as just wanted to unwind our first few days, but fantastic staff, excellent food and really relaxing place with massive grounds. We took a long walk (2/3 hours in midday sun!) down to the river and waterfalls - very pretty. From what we saw, it's probably worth paying a little extra to have one of the Paddock Suites with own swimming pools. Our room was a cottage and huge, but the Paddock Suites face the hills and have gorgeous views as well as own pools which are great if you want a bit more privacy.

The balloon 'safari' we booked was worth doing from the point of view that we had never ballooned before and was along a very lush valley, but - and it's a big 'but' here - make sure clients don't want to see animals this way as they won't. We were told by our balloon pilot that actually no flights are allowed at all over the Kruger National Park, so it's worth letting folk know that, although I understand they can balloon safari elsewhere in Africa, not over the Kruger apparently.

Leopard Hills - probably our favourite destination. Fantastic!!! Not only in terms of the game viewing and knowledgeable rangers and trackers, but even silly things we didn't appreciate until we got there such as the jeeps .... ours was open topped (ok so you get wet if it rains!) but when the ranger drives off across the bush to follow animals you can actually get through the bushes which disappear under the jeep and pop up again behind. If you are in vehicles that have roll bars on top or covers over them, you cannot follow the animals into dense bush as it all gets caught up in the trees etc. We noticed this with other game lodge trucks we passed.

In terms of the lodge - absolutely wonderful. We felt we were absolutely spoilt. They certainly don't penny pinch. We are not big drinkers, but on occasions we had alcohol from our fridge (all inclusive) it was all topped up again whenever we left to go on a game drive etc. Our room, plunge pool etc were gorgeous. Food was excellent and plentiful. Morning game drives with fresh muffins and coffee served en route, evening game drives with cocktails/ G&Ts etc and then at 8pm as we arrived back at the Lodge, oh yes it's Pimms & lemonade time again and staff with cooling towels to welcome us. Beautiful.

Phantom Forest Eco Lodge. The only place we felt was disappointing. If we hadn't already had such luxury, we may not have felt this way. The room was ok - a bit cold and although we asked for a new gas bottle to go into the heater, it still didn't arrive by the third day when we left! Although the food was pleasant, it was not of the same high standard as elsewhere we stayed. The staff were nice, but they seemed short staffed, so service was appalling. The first night we waited ages and ages for each course of our dinner and felt they over egged the 'eco friendly' bit when we asked for water - which we had not been given after a 45 minute wait. They brought it to us saying it was 'recycled sea water'. A bit pretentious really (as was the whole menu which did not live up to expectations) and if we had been vegans who won't wear leather on our feet we may have swooned at how 'eco' the whole place was, but my husband reminded me at that point that in terms of the 'recycled sea water', he was really just drinking someone else's pee! Mine's a G&T thanks!

We decided that English people are just too polite as the only person we saw complaining about the appalling service was a German man. Mind you, we made our comments known in the guest book, but left thinking it was a shame we couldn't get our first choice of Tsala Lodge (?)

The area around Phantom Forest is lovely - Knysna, Plettenberg etc. We actually went out exploring each day and ate out every night apart from the first one. All restaurants served great food and it was also incredibly cheap by UK standards.

Finally our epic drive to Cape Town and Twelve Apostles Hotel. Once again - glorious! They showered our room in rose petals before we arrived which was a lovely touch. The Spa at the hotel is great - good massages - food excellent - fabulous breakfasts. One word of advice for anyone going to Cape Town .. when we arrived at the hotel, although all the kids had gone back to school so African holiday time was over, it seemed that it was always necessary to make reservations for evening meals out at restaurants in Cape Town. The hotel's Guest Liaison Officer, Randall America (yes really that was his name!!) advised us to decide quickly and even then we still couldn't get into one or two places we chose. Also for sight seeing .. we got a book in England called 'Cape Town - Walk & Eat' which gives great guided walks if you have clients who like that. We picked a few from the book and a really good one over the Cape Point etc (4/5 hours) but it was great. In terms of how busy Cape Town is .... we found it was also necessary to book for the trip to Robben Island two days before so didn't get to do that one. Again, worth letting folks know if they go in South African summer time.

In terms of car rental, transfers and flights ... everything went smoothly and no problems with any of those. All very efficient and we felt looked after all the way.

So all in all, a wonderful, fantastic trip with memories that will last us a lifetime. Thankyou once again for your help and advice. We hope to be back when we can afford to take ourselves off to the Maldives - Sonevi Fushi/ Sonevi Gilli - which we considered for our honeymoon too!

Lyn & Gary

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