Safari Plains

The staff and food are without question top class and you are guaranteed to be well looked after. Room was beautiful and always in pristine clean condition. There are personal touches that just make the whole experience mind blowing.

Very poor hospitality with no apparent management. Felt like a kid’s camp, very regimented. If you’re not up at 5am for the morning safari, there is nothing to do until the afternoon safari at 4.30pm, so it is very boring. We kept getting conflicting answers as to whether we were on an inclusive package or not, which was unsettling. The phone in our lodge didn’t work despite our requests, so we couldn’t contact reception, housekeeping, etc. lights not working, shower drain blocked. You get the idea

Because of heavy rainfall the reserve we had booked to stay at became impossible to reach due to washed out roads. We were therefore offered Safari Plains as temporary place to stay until we could access our place of choice. The manager a staff made us very welcome and worked hard to ensure we had a good experience. The luxury tent rooms were fabulous and comfortable and very private. This was a bigger lodge than the one we’d chosen but was not busy and therefore quiet and peaceful. The drives and guide (Ben) was interesting, fun and knowledgeable and we experienced a good introduction to a Safari experience and the beauty of South Africa. We also met a wonderful SA couple who we shared our drives with which increased the enjoyment of our experience. Sundowners were some of the best parts of the day. Because of the unusual high rain fall we never got to our original destination but Safari Plains turned out to be a happy replacement. We were lucky with the weather which stayed dry for the duration of our week but beware that February, although in the summer season, can be stormy and wet. We were lucky with what we saw, seeing 4/5 of the big five but the bush is very green which makes spotting game more difficult than in the dryer month. We did not feel short changed in anyway though with our experience. I’d say this was a good introduction to a Safari if not done one before. It’s given us the taste for more!