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.
A hand-written card has been left on the table in our room. It urges us to 'pause, listen, smell, taste, feel and see' while staying at Singita Ebony Lodge in South Africa.
Whoever wrote the note could easily have added: learn.
Because for all the game drives, sumptuous late breakfasts, sundowners in the bush, brandies by the pool, massages in the spa, a safari is a crash-course in animal welfare, a tutorial into the workings of nature. At least it is in the Sabi Sands Reserve near the Mozambique border, where Singita covers 18,000 acres.
Even the daftest of questions from the back of the Jeep are taken seriously. My ignorance knows no bounds, but our guide, Andries, and his spotter companion, Martin, never make you feel a dunce.
And I pick up a few nuggets along the way: impalas are born with 90 per cent of their brains fully formed, giving them a sporting chance of surviving into adulthood; lions see in black and white (which must be infuriating for zebras); two-thirds of a termite mound is underground; giraffes have hearts the size of footballs; elephants flap their ears for ventilation.
BATTLE FOR SURVIVAL
But the most important thing I learn is that it's brutal out there. It may be a bewitching landscape as the sun rises and falls on the greatest show on earth – but it's also one big battle for survival.
You feel the tension everywhere, as the tails of the buffalo twirl furiously when danger lurks and a female elephant hurriedly scrunches through scrub. You see it as vultures perch on a branch ready to cash in on a kill.
The fear of death is omni-present. Survival of the fittest is not an evolutionary theory but a day-to-day reality, where one lapse in concentration, one misguided stop at a watering hole and you're finished.
I can see why honeymooners are drawn to safaris. A few days in the bush sets you up nicely for a partnership in marriage. The habits of males and females are often at odds, but they need to get on. You have to be patient, too - and it's so primal that passion is never far away.
Singita's story began in 1925 when James Baines bought land in what would later become the Sabi Sands Reserve. It started as a hunting opportunity, but today it's all about protecting the bush. His grandson, Luke Baines, now runs lodges and camps across five African countries and is regarded as one of the great protectors of the wild.
He's also practical. Realising that the reason poachers kill animals is to make money, he encouraged them to become gamekeepers instead, and it seems to have worked. Most of his 120 or so scouts are former poachers.
'If they started protecting the animals rather than killing them, then tourism would flourish and they could have jobs for the long term,' says Luke. 'The success has been remarkable.'
Certainly, his lodges are remarkable. Singita Ebony Lodge and nearby Singita Boulders have just been refurbished and must be two of the most stylish and yet authentic safari lodges in the world.
With their soaring thatched roofs held aloft by a combination of trees and wooden posts, the main lobby, bar and restaurant areas look out over a river and mile upon mile of bush beyond, as do almost all 12 suites in each lodge.
OUT OF AFRICA
You get your own little pool, four-poster bed, outside shower, freestanding bath, a watercolour paint palette, fabulous food and drink (it's all inclusive so you don't have to sign for anything) and a licence to imagine you're Robert Redford and Meryl Streep on the set of Out Of Africa.
On our first 6am game drive we come across a pride of 12 lions lounging by a watering hole occupied by a hippo.
Andries assures us that the lions are not hungry – which is comforting because by the time he turns off the engine we are a mere 10 yards from them. Occasionally one of the lions stands up and looks at us intently before flopping back down on the baked ground much in the same way as a dog might spread itself out by the fire at home.
We get up close and personal with rhinos, elephants, giraffes, hyenas, water hogs, antelope, eagles – and closer than I could ever have imagined to a leopard.
But not just any leopard. Andries remembers Nhlhbankunzi - as she has been named - as a cub and now she's a mother herself, out looking for food for her charge. She's regal and ravishing in equal measure, treating the rough terrain like a catwalk, moving elegantly, seductively.
They say nothing prepares you for the moment you see your first lion or leopard in the wild – and they're right.
First published in February 2017
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