Thanks to Ray for putting my flights together and especially for securing seats on the long haul sectors. All flights were good. Airports mixed however.
Absolutely fantastic airline
I book through Brody Letchfield. He gives me amazing service every time.
Excellent service as always
More information about transfer arrangements at Johannesburg Airport
Tara always delivers excellent service
Thank you for your rapid and helpful response to our request for assistance with seating issues
My flight time was changed and I got multiple messages to inform me of this, which was brilliant and impossible to miss. So thank you all so much for taking such good care of me.
Would use your company again. Emma Pearce went over and above in order to help us
To improve I would want an email just ahead of when online check in opened for my return flight.
All arrangements went smoothly and without a hitch
Good service.
Always happy with DialAFlight, problem this trip was flying with BA. Never ever again.
Trip was above our expectations thanks to the fantastic team at DialAFlight
Thank you Lloyd. all excellent as always. Even got upgraded to Club World!
Once again my travel plans went perfectly thanks to your good planning
This is the second time I have booked flights this year and both times I have had impeccable service from Samuel Jalloh. I have already told several friends about the high level of customer service
Nicholas as ever goes that extra mile.
Arthur went above and beyond in fulfilling our safari dream. Nothing was too much trouble!
Very good customer service .
As always you provided a trouble free booking service
Thank you for going the extra mile for me.
Excellent service as always!
We had the most amazing time. Everything DialAFlight did was perfect and made the trip plain sailing.
Great job as always
Arthur and his team are great to deal with and I will be back again.
A little longer please between connections at Dubai as it took me nearly 2 hours to get from one gate to the other
British Airways make it very hard to say anything good about them! The return flight was in an old plane and short of cabin staff. My entertainment system was unusable & I could see others around struggling too. My seat self reclined during take-off! Before landing there were 4 seats in the immediate area that crew were unable to get upright. Will always choose another carrier in future where possible.
Excellent value, friendly and responsive. Ian and his team did a great job.
Perfect.
South Africa is one of the most remarkable places you’ll ever visit and with the pound strong against the rand, now is the perfect time to see this beautiful and rewarding rainbow nation.
As a South African and animal lover, it’s always the wildlife that draws me back to my home. This time I’m on the hunt for the Big Five: lion, elephant, Cape buffalo, leopard and rhino.
And there is no better place to spot all these in their natural environment than at Sabi Sabi Private Game Reserve - a National Geographic 'Unique Lodge of the World'.
Adjacent to the Kruger National Park, the animals are free to roam the non-fenced boundary between the national park and 65,000 hectares of the Sabi Sands. I plan to drive from Joburg’s O.R. Tambo airport to Sabi Sabi before heading to the Drakensburg Mountains, a World Heritage site, and on to Durban, where I grew up.
The reserve does do its own transfers and has a landing strip for guests but what I enjoy most about SA is the vast landscape and the interesting sites along the way, so I’ve chosen the five-hour drive.
LUXURY LODGING
I’ll be staying at Sabi’s Earth Lodge, which is simply out of this world. When I arrive, welcomed by a cool drink and a smiling member of staff, I can see exactly why. It’s surrounded by lush vegetation and is chiselled into the landscape to make it invisible from afar.
It also has the wildlife and on my first morning at sunrise I'm lucky enough to watch a large herd of elephant making its way through the camp.
The lodge has 13 luxurious suites, each with a plunge pool and stone bath. It’s late afternoon when I arrive and I’ve missed the usual departure of 3.30pm for an afternoon drive, but my ranger Justin and his tracker Petro still offer to take me for some sundowners where we can hopefully catch sight of some wildlife.
We drive barely a few miles before we come across a herd of elephants and in no time we’re surrounded. As they rumble past, manoeuvring their trunks through the trees, my heart feels like it’s going to burst.
I was lucky enough to grow up in South Africa and have spent time in the bush before but I’ve never been quite so close to a herd as large as this.
But my main request for Justin and Petro is that they find me a leopard and a few days later, I’m lucky enough to spend a good hour with one.
Maxabeni is a powerful and confident young male leopard who allows us to follow him. Watching his sleek body move through the vegetation makes me realise just how powerful and nimble these cats are. And they’re smart, adapting and using their environment to hunt.
Justin explains that Maxabeni had become so comfortable with the safari vehicles that he had learned to use them as cover before pouncing on unsuspecting impala.
RELAX AND REFUEL
Sabi Sabi knows how to feed its guests. As soon as you wake, you’re given a selection of pastries and yoghurts, before being taken on a morning drive. While out you stop for hot drinks and rusks – a twice-baked bread, popular with South Africans – before returning to the lodge for a full breakfast.
You get a few hours to relax before lunch is served - followed shortly by afternoon tea.
At around 3.30pm you’re taken for a drive before returning to dinner – usually six courses
Be prepared to put on weight! After four days my waistline is screaming to leave, but I want to stay longer. There's nothing like going to bed with the sound of lions reverberating through the night.
And as I wave goodbye to Justin and Petro, I feel I’m leaving old friends. I drive to a hotel in the Drakensburg Mountains – a four-hour trip – but stop at Joburg along the way, the perfect place to stop for lazy lunches and curio shopping.
FINAL DESTINATION
Driving through the long, winding roads makes you realise how vast the country is and you get the chance to glimpse the lives of locals. Villages are bustling with schoolchildren who dance and wave at you.
I’m staying at Cathedral Peak Hotel, perfect to relax for a weekend with its golf course and swimming pool. It’s a splendid base for hiking, off-road biking or horse riding.
After a few days in the mountains I head to Durban for some sun and surf. The combination of centres has made for one wildly brilliantly trip.
First published in the Daily Mail - June 2017
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