Reviews of wild planet safari

Fantastic in every way.

My husband and I wanted to have a "real" safari experience. We wanted a more personalized trip. Wild Planet Safari offers you just that. In a private car , Ryan Kerr took us step by step on this wonderful journey while sharing with us all his knowledge about the animals and the African way of life. Our schedule was flexible and at times he and his helper cooked us a breakfast in the most beautiful and picturesque places. Ryan took care of us like we were his family, he is warm, kind, extremely organized and someone who you want to be friends with. I called him our own "African Crocodile Dundee" A real fantastic trip. Next year wenare planing a family trip with Wild Planet Safari for our children and grandchildren.

Maria Taraboulos

Professional, responsible and caring tour of Kruger.

We cannot speak highly enough of our experience with Wild Planet Safari in Kruger National Park. From our initial enquiries and follow up questions and information, to being collected at our hotel in Johannesburg, to being dropped off at the airport, we were extremely well looked after. Ryan and Benjamin, catered well for my gluten intolerance and my wife’s vegetarian diet. The meals were varied and well prepared. The accommodation they arranged was comfortable and met our needs perfectly. Ryan’s guiding was superb. He knew the likely spots and found an enormous variety of animals and birds. He shared his vast knowledge with us which made our experience so much richer. Benjamin’s cooking and care were matched only by his gentle, sunny disposition. Unequivocal recommendation for the trip.

Terry and Janene

An awesome experience - and don't let a disability put you off going on safari with Wild Planet!

Out of all the companies offering guided safaris in South Africa I'm so glad we chose Wild Planet Safari. From the minute Ryan picked us up from Jo'burg airport to when we were dropped off everything was taken care of and we were very well looked after - that made the trip for me as I am disabled with limited mobility and did need extra help, which was offered with no fuss and before I even asked for it. Somehow Ryan and Lungisani knew what I required. Being a private tour I didn't feel I was holding anyone up - apart from my travelling buddy! - and there was plenty of space in the van for my mobility scooter and wheelchair. Every drive - and we did many on our 6 day tour - was full of fantastic wildlife. We saw the Big 5 and so much more. Ryan's passion for what he does so well is infectious, and his knowledge of the wildlife, and Africa, is incredible; couple that with his and Lungisani's spotting skills and it makes for an amazing experience. Our bungalow accommodation was very comfortable, clean and spacious, and every meal they prepared was fresh, healthy and delicious. We didn't have to lift a finger. I can't fault anything about our trip - including our communication with Thale which was efficient and prompt - and don't let a disability put you off going on safari - just make sure you book direct with Wild Planet Safari.

Angela

Kegan was great! He not only put us on the Big 5 but we saw the Magnificent 7 as well. Outstanding

We really didn't know what to expect when we booked with Thale but she gave us many options to choose from and we settled on a four day North Kruger tour. It was fantastic from start to finish. Our booking communication with Thale (she actually delivered a child and was still managed to stay in contact with us) ,to our guide Kegan's experience and sense of humor and Ryan cooking us traditional South African meals it was all wonderful. We couldn't have asked for a better experience to witness these magnificent animals. Truly outstanding and we can't wait for our return visit! Scott Coupeville Washington

Scott

Wonderful experience!

I cannot say enough how wonderful this experience was. Booking was easy and secure, and every part of the journey thereafter made the beginning of our honeymoon truly an experience we will never forget. From airport pickup/drop-off and transfers, to the incredible meals prepared we felt taken care of. While they are wild animals who are under no one's control, it is because of our truly knowledgeable tour guides that we were able to see the Big 5 plus in such a short time. There is no other tour to take....believe me. We will be back!

Mara

Fantastic experience with caring, knowledgeable people

I treated my family to the experience of a lifetime, choosing Wild Planet Safari and I am so pleased I did. We were a group of 5 adults and one child aged 9. From the first emails with Thale, nothing was too much trouble and we developed a 'plan' together to cater for us from our flights from UK into the Kruger to our flight out 6 days later. Thale recommended the Call of the Wild for our first 2 nights stay. This was a very special place and offered us our first sightings of wild life in the garden, including giraffe and zebra! We went to see endangered animals and a boat trip, all in the capable hands of Raff, our guide for the time in the Krugar. We then set off for 3 nights in Krugar park and were joined by Hope who was to be our resident chef. He had a tough job on his hands, with 2 vegetarians and one very fussy 9 year old boy. Hope and Raff provided us with fantastic food including a BBQ and picnics. We all loved the food and Hope gave me a recipe for his special chicken dish! On the drives, we saw all the usual game but were enthralled by not one pair, but 2 pairs of mating lions. One couple were lying on the edge of the road exhausted from their efforts! We were booked on a night drive (not requested but Thale thought it would add to our experience). We found 5 lions walking in the road on a mission! You could have heard a pin drop despite a big vehicle with around 20 people on board. At all times, Raff was respectful of the animals and added to our sightings with sharing his extensive knowledge of animals, birds and trees! We could not have wished for a better guide. The pair remained with us until we were safely through security for our onward flight. I think we will all be talking about this experience for years to come so if you are looking for a small, caring company who make everything work smoothly, I would recommend Wild Planet!

Julie

We had an amazing 3 days in Kruger

The experience with Wild Planet Safari was wonderful. Communication leading up to our trip was easy and Thale was always quick to reply with helpful information. Very accommodating. My family and I completed a 3 day Kruger Safari with Wild Planet Safari in March 2019. It was an amazing. I didn’t have very high expectations for we only had 3 days in Kruger but we saw many animals and several times over. Our guide Chris’ spotting ability is very impressive. The entire trip was great from start to finish, accommodation is great, meals are delicious, above our expectations, safari drives are amazing, I have some incredible photos and wonderful memories from this trip. Thank you Wild Planet Safari!

Choi-Ying Chiu

Wonderful safari with a young motivated family team providing a personalised adventure.

Our group of 6 mature Australians really enjoyed our peronalised 5 day Kruger and Panorama Route Safari with the owners and now our great friends, Ryan and Thale together with their delightful young African assistant Langi. All booking communication was prompt, easy and helpful. The personalised service, expert cultural and environmental commentary on the safari from start to finish was enthusiastic and informative. We really enjoyed the personalised bush catering and mid level camp accomodation. I highly recommend this family based company to all age groups who want value for money, without fancy frills, but who want to experience and learn about Africa to the maximum in the time available. Kruger is awesome!

Les T.

best safari ever!

simply said: It was just amazing! we enjoyed such a great time with Ryan and his friend at the safari! Ryan knows probably everything there is to know about safaris and the animal kingdom in it. He finds a good balance of telling facts and stories and of just enjoying the wildlife. Furthermore, they cooked very delicious and even vegan for my girlfriend. They are very friendly and always helpful. I can recommend to book with them to every person who wants to enjoy a great safari-experience! At least for us it is clear: if we ever have time again to do a safari, we will book with Ryan!

Marco

Incredible experience - definitely recommend private tour with open vehicle

My wife and I went traveled to South Africa with my brother and his friend in Sep 2019. The safari experience was absolutely breathtaking and Wild Planet Safari did an exceptional job making this once in a lifetime trip come true. Because it was 4 of us we elected to do the private tour, which I strongly recommend as we were able to customize the tour to our liking. I also think the extra money for an open vehicle was well with the cost because there was nothing between you and the animals. Overall, we recommend Wild Planet Safari without any reservation.

Rohan

Wild Planet Safari delivers the best of Kruger National Park

My partner and I booked the 5-day express tour of Kruger National Park which took us through the central and southern parts of Kruger. Our tour guide, Chris, and his assistant, Hopeson, were excellent and friendly guides. Chris is very knowledgable about both fauna and flora and has an eagle eye for spotting animals. Hopeson made sure we were always comfortable and well-fed. We stayed at a different park lodge each night, which allowed us to cover a lot of territory. The bungalows are not luxurious, but have all the basic amenities (towels, soap, kitchen equipment, A/C, etc.), are comfortable and perfectly suited for mid-level budget travel. Included in the package was one night tour, which was great (we saw three lions, hyena, lesser bush babies and more). We also paid extra to go on an early-morning walk in order to get out of the truck for a few hours. This was fascinating as you are literally amongst the animals (armed guides accompany you for protection). I highly recommend Wild Planet Safari and especially Chris and Hopeson as guides.

David Nelson

Great tour, would recommend

We went on a 3D2N Kruger tour with Wild Planet Safari. Our tour guide was Ryan, and he was a great guide with a wealth of knowledge about the wildlife and birdlife in Kruger. We thoroughly enjoyed the experience and have no qualms recommending wild planet safari as your tour company for your Kruger trip.

Gideon Tan

Our tour guides were very knowledgeable, patient, helpful, funny, and safety-minded

This was a trip of a lifetime thanks in part to our guides Eric and Ryan. We had a larger than normal group and they went above and beyond to take care of us the whole time. We experienced more animal encounters than I ever expected and they taught us a lot about the animals and the environment while making it fun. They were excellent hosts and excellent cooks! 😁

Caela

Excellent, knowledgeable, cheery, uncomplaining guides with sharp spotting eyes showed us so much.

First class communications. Prompt, friendly, helpful replies at all times and alterations made to personalise our tour including re-booking accommodation caused bt the BA flight problems. Coming from so far we tried to do too much. We would have preferred to have spent longer in each location with less time on the road so we will just have to return with more time. The bush walk in the Kruger was memorable as were the. Iews in Berg en Dal. We preferred to leave out the shopping trip to Durban as we had come looking for animals and birds and shopping malls are the same the world over but a quiet day relaxing near the beach was rewarded with a whale spouting. The trip to Rorke's Drift was an extra well- worth doing and the accommodation there something really special with San cave art a bonus. Animals at the Golden Gate were almost non- existent as the gates are now open and unmanned but the geology was impressive. The geology of the Drakensberg is simply breathtaking but you need to be fit. Just sitting watching the sunrise and set on the Cathedral was special In short: a first rate tour company which we would certainly recommend.

Alison

Informal and easy going

+ves: - Wild Planet Safari responds promptly to all email communication. It is very easy to organise the tours. - They demonstrate much flexibility and can adapt to your last minute request. - They are a small team and seem to be passionate about wildlife. Ryan shows significant know-how of the wilderness. - Polite with a true sense of caring. -ves: - The vehicle is quite humble, no land rovers here. - no fancy food on the tours

Sand

Everything was just what we wanted in a safari and everyone had a great time.

We wanted a guided, private 14 day safari for six adults that showed us all of Kruger National Park from north to south, and also included the Panorama Route. Wild Planet Safari far exceeded our expectations in providing this. Our guide, Eric, was excellent, and we saw so much more wildlife than we ever expected to see because of his knowledge, experience, and skill. He knew all the best places for seeing wildlife, and even though we spent almost two weeks in Kruger and saw many animals multiple times, their situations and behaviors were always different, so it never got boring. We learned so much from Eric about the behaviors of wildlife in the park that we would be comfortable driving through there on our own now, although if we did we would still hire Wild Planet Safari for part of it, because you can’t beat having a knowledgeable guide with you. We were also impressed that Eric was helpful to tourists that asked him questions about sightings, just as he did with the other guides. Because of his knowledge we always felt safe with him; and he showed this even before we entered the park when we encountered the road blocked by people protesting. He pulled over well before the crowd, talked to other motorists coming from there about what was going on and the best route to avoid the protest, and only after having adequate information did we proceed. One big reason we chose Wild Planet Safari was they provide a cook, and since we wanted to eat what the locals eat, we thought this would be a good option. Our cook, Hope, provided that perfectly, and we really enjoyed having him with us. We also have one person who has to be very careful about what he eats due to weakened immunity, and having Hope as our cook, he never had any concerns. Hope not only provided delicious meals, but he also shared South African cooking tips with our amateur cooks, along with talking about what life in South Africa is like. When telling people about our trip, the great meals provided by Hope are always brought up, along with his stories of dealing with monkeys and baboons trying to steal food while he’s cooking. We wanted to stay at the camps inside Kruger, in rooms with beds, and again Wild Planet Safari was a perfect fit for us. Two places we stayed at outside of the park were very nice cottages, and all the single room cabins in the park were wonderful. Although park accommodations aren’t fancy, they are all unique, comfortable, roomy, and they always had a private bath and a refrigerator or small kitchen. It was fascinating to see the differences between American national park facilities and South African, and we even walked through a campground and saw that most African RVs and travel trailers have their kitchens attached on the outside under awnings, which considering the monkey problems was very surprising. The vehicle was perfect for 6 people. With 3 rows of 3 seats everyone had a window seat and an empty seat between for coats and bags. Even between camps, with our 5 carry-on suitcases under the back seats and one large suitcase on a back seat, we still had plenty of window seats for wildlife viewing. The provided blankets were wonderful. Even though we had warm jackets, layers, and hats for an open-air vehicle, even at the slow speed limits in the park it is surprisingly cold, especially at dawn. We also got to meet the owner, Ryan, and his young son when they resupplied us midway on our trip and joined us for meals, and again when he cooked for us on our last night. We had a great time listening to his stories over meals, just like we did on the rest of the trip with Eric and Hope. We only wish that Thale, Ryan’s wife, could of joined us, but she was out of the country. I always enjoyed talking with her via e-mails. She did a great job working with us, making all the arrangements, and even dealing with our almost missed first day due to a five hour flight delay. Thank you Eric, Hope, Thale, and Ryan for making our trip to Kruger full of such wonderful memories.

Kathleen

Fantastic experience!

Our safari was amazing! We were well looked after, there was constant communication leading up to the trip and we had so much fun!

Samantha

Love it..

Wild planet safari is really very helpful and supportive... I got wonderful experience thanks again.....

Robert Neville

Fantastic safari tour company and memorable trip!

This review is long in coming and the delay not a reflection of the service and time experienced! My husband and I traveled to South Africa last October and had the great fortune of booking our 7-day safari trip with Wild Planet Safari. From the very beginning, communications with Thale were prompt, very informative, professional and friendly. At the start of our trip, we had some health issues that caused us to delay our trip by a couple of days. Thale was once again incredibly supportive and worked with us to coordinate alternative options while making sure we didn't miss out on our trip there. Once at Kruger National Park, we met with our guide Chris who on a daily basis went out of his way to make sure that each outing was maximized and that we saw and experienced the wildlife as much as possible. Chris also catered to our every wish and humored us in taking the "not such traditional" perfect pictures, like of dead trees, rocks and whatever caught our eye in the moment! Not only was Chris a wealth of information about the wildlife, always providing interesting facts, but he is also an amazing cook! Every meal he prepared was amazing! We had an excellent experience with Chris and Thale and look forward to the next opportunity when we can come back again with the rest of the family! Thank you Wild Planet Safari for the great vacation!!

M & D