First time family safari

Last year, my husband, Chris, and I celebrated our long service leave with a four-month trip to Europe. Not a lot of people get to take this much time off work, and we felt very blessed to have this special time together.

On the way we stopped for two weeks in South Africa with our daughter, Kiarrah, and our son, Harper. It was our first time family safari and Kiarrah was really the one behind this part of the trip: she’s in her last year of vet science, and so passionate about animals. She’s wanted to be a vet since she was three, and going on safari was a dream come true for her.

We started our trip with one night in Johannesburg, and were then driven to Honeyguide Ranger Camp, about three hours’ drive away. On the way there, we got a flat tyre. No problem, we got it sorted, arrived at the camp, and then later that afternoon headed out on our first game drive… and got a flat tyre! Having to change the tyre while spotting our first rhino definitely added to the excitement!

Of the two reserves that we stayed at in South Africa Honeyguide was on the more basic side, but our kids just loved it. We were really impressed with the guides’ skills and knowledge: they really knew their stuff and were incredible at tracking the animals. It just goes to show, if you’re travelling with your family and worried about costs, you don’t need to spend a fortune to have an incredible safari experience.

 You name it, we saw it at Honeyguide Ranger Camp: lions, giraffes, rhinos. On one day, the elephants started coming down from the mountain where they had been living for months. The sound of them crashing down is something I don’t think we’ll ever forget.

 After three nights we flew to Cape Town, where we stayed at Cloud Nine; a very quirky boutique hotel with a beautiful rooftop bar that overlooks Table Mountain. We just loved it. Danica recommended a nearby restaurant called Miller’s Thumb, where we enjoyed the best meal of our entire four-month trip. It was fantastic.

We did all the usual touristy things in Cape Town, including the V&A Waterfront, Camps Bay, Table Mountain, Bo-Kaap and Robben Island. The Robben Island tour was conducted by a gentleman who had been in the prison at the same time as Nelson Mandela. To see where he slept and hear his stories about the harshness of his incarceration was a real highlight.

 After a couple of nights in the wine valley of Franschhoek we headed to the beautiful Nkorho Bush Lodge at Sabi Sands. Wherever we went in South Africa, there were lovely little messages waiting for us that had been arranged by Danica. This time, there was a message wishing Harper a happy 19th birthday – and later that day Nkorho Bush Lodge gave him a special birthday honour and let him sit in the tracker’s seat for the last 20 minutes or so of the afternoon game drive!

We had fabulous animal sightings, including lots of leopards, a lion devouring his food, and even saw a kill. We couldn’t have asked for any better.

 My son’s really into cars and had wanted to go on holiday in Japan rather than Africa, but he enjoyed every moment in South Africa; he just loved it. Kiarrah was awestruck the entire time. This was a very important trip for her and it exceeded every expectation. I’m sure she’ll be back in Africa soon.

However, it’s probably fair to say that before we left I was a little bit indifferent to the idea of an African safari. I went with no expectations… and it just blew me away. When we left Nkorho Bush Lodge I was the one crying as we said farewell to the lovely staff!

We then all flew back to Johannesburg where the kids boarded a plane back to Australia and Chris and I continued on to London.

It was just the most fantastic trip and such a beautiful time for us to be together. We cannot say enough about Danica and Jono, and their incredible organisation. Everything went to schedule and not one thing went wrong the whole time we were there. I recommend Encompass Africa to everyone, we wouldn’t travel with anyone else. I said to Danica the other day that she hasn’t finished with us! I’m hoping they’ll be able to organise a trip to Morocco for us, somewhere down the track.

The whole trip was everything that we had dreamed it would be, and more. It was just fabulous.