The Greater Kruger Siyela Safari (5 Days) TSH005

 
 
 
 
  GOOD  
  
 Based on 61 reviews 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
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 BSAP78 
 
 
 
 Verified 
Great company to give you a seamless vacation to remember
We have travelled to South Africa before using Go Touchdown. Their products a fantastic, the safari camps and staff are friendly, welcoming and comfortable. The safaris are always productive and you will learn fascinating details about the animals and vegetation from your guides.The food is top notch and always served with a great African welcoming smile.We feel that what you get out of the safari camps is priceless and Go Touchdown has put together a great team to deliver it.
  
 
  
 
 
 
 Posted on Tripadvisor  
 
  
 
 
 Ian_K 
 
 
 
 Verified 
Go Touch Down - A fantastic customer oriented almost private experience
Stumbled across the Go Touch Down booth in April 2024 while at a travel show in Ottawa. A trip to South Africa had always been a bucket list item and with the number of people that stopped by as we were standing there to say they’d done it and it was amazing we took the plunge. At the show were Deon and his wife Lucia. I’m not sure of Deon’s job title within Go Touch Down but he is clearly at the level where he can make things happen so was the right person to speak with. After arriving in Johannesburg (30 hours of travel from Ottawa) our 13 day trip (March 2025) consisted of 5 days on safari at Royal Morubisi in the Waterburg area and 8 days touring Cape Town (2 hour flight from Johannesburg). Took them up on their offer of the first night in the City Lodge airport hotel for $50pp and it was worth every penny. A very nice hotel with great food and we were well rested and ready for our 10am pick up from the lobby the next morning for the 3 hour drive to Morubisi in a small van with only one other couple. The driver (James) was excellent and provided great commentary of the things we passed and saw and life in South Africa and was awesome regarding any requests to stop for bathroom or refreshment breaks along the way. Arrival at the Founders Lodge in Morubisi was flawless and efficient. The rooms were fantastic and the staff and service were outstanding - friendly, helpful and clearly geared towards ensuring you had a great time. The safari’s themselves started very early every morning - we were up at 5AM, coffee at 5:30 and in the jeep at 6AM. If you want to see the animals the time to do it is first thing in the morning and then the at dusk. We had the incredible luck of having Jolandie as our guide and she was amazing. We cannot say enough good things about her skills, abilities and communication. Won’t bore you with the animals that we saw, suffice to say we were amazed at the wildlife. This is a 41,000 acre private game preserve. There were 6 of us in the jeep for the first couple days and only 4 of us for the next 3. There were only 2 jeeps heading out every day and so we were usually the only jeep around occasionally passing the other jeep and sometimes a jeep from the neighbouring game preserve (they have reciprocal agreements). So the words “private game preserve” are exactly what you expect. You feel like you’re the only ones out there. Compare that to the stories we hear from other safaris where there could be dozens of people packed vehicles circling a particular wildlife sighting - we definitely did not want that. After the morning drive it was back the the lodge which was surrounded by electric fence in the middle of the game preserve. After a few hours leisure (some food, some drinks, a swim in the pool or a nap - or all of the above) we would head out at 4:30 for the afternoon game drive. Truly amazing. And lest I forget to mention stopping for coffee off the back of the jeep in the morning, an amazing breakfast set up in the wild one morning, stopping for drinks (sun downers) on the afternoon drives and amazing views to go along with the amazing wildlife sightings and you can see why were so impressed. After the 5 days it was back to the airport with James at the wheel again (he really was excellent) and off to Cape Town for an 8 day tour. We were picked up by our guide for the week - Johnathan. That tour consisted of 2 nights at Shark Bay, 2 nights at Ladybird and 3 nights at Belle Maroc. Tours of villages, different tribes/cultures/languages, table mountain, penguins, Cape of Good Hope, wineries - the list is long, interesting and wonderful. Hard to find a negative thing to say about any of it. While this was a wonderful trip, this review wouldn’t be legitimate if we didn’t point out some areas that could be tweaked. First of all since we were in the shoulder season the tours were small and in our case in Cape Town we were with only one other couple. The downside to small groups like this could be if you end up with another couple who is constantly critical or complaining or abrasive it could affect your own enjoyment - but don’t let it. Always have fun no matter what life throws at you. We cannot say enough good things about Shark Bay and Belle Maroc but Ladybird wasn’t too great. The food was good, but the staff were hard to find and not too interested in the guests (at least compared to the incredible experiences at Shark Bay and Belle Maroc) and it was here that we had an afternoon off, which we thought would be great. The problem we discovered was there is no where to walk, of the two pools only one had been recently cleaned/maintained and worst of all the only drinks on offer were a white wine blend and a red wine blend - IN THE MIDDLE OF A VINEYARD. No beer, no spirits. So with a whole afternoon off and no where to walk and nothing to drink other than the two blends on offer it actually seemed a bit long. Had we known about the drinks situation Johnathan would definitely have stopped so we could buy some drinks for the fridge in our room - easy peasy. That’s really all we can think of for negatives and they didn’t affect our enjoyment so this review stays as a 5 star and we’d recommend it to anyone. A couple weeks after getting home we found ourselves back at the travel show to plan our next trip and sure enough there was Deon and Lucia in the Go Touch Down booth and he did mention that we should have immediately contacted Johnathan or him about the drinks situation at Lady Bird and he would have fixed that right away. And I believe him. He’s all about making your trip as enjoyable as possible and will alter or change anything to accomplish that. In fact I’d bet dollars to doughnuts that Lady Bird now has a more complete drinks menu thanks to Deon. He also said Johnathan would have come back to take us anywhere or go do something if we were bored. So that’s on us. We are the type of people that will have fun or make an adventure of pretty much whatever life presents us so never even thought of contacting Johnathan. That’s the end of the review - if you’re thinking about going with Go Touch Down do it. You won’t regret it.
  
 
  
 
 
 
 Posted on Tripadvisor  
 
  
 
 
 Michelle B 
 
 
 
 Verified 
Incredible Experience - More than we ever expected
I will preface this by stating that I am a travel agent. We initially met Lucia at a travel show in Boston in 2019, we booked our South Africa trip after asking a lot of questions and reviewing all of the documents thoroughly. Lucia could not have been more thorough and professional in explaining every detail. We had planned to go on our tip in 2020, however Covid changed those plans. We changed our date out to 2022, however we had decided to sell our home that year and move, and with everything going on it was going to be too hectic. Lucia was very helpful again and we pushed our trip out to 2024. There were some changes made to the itinerary during this time, one of the original lodges had been closed due to safety issues in the area, again, we were properly notified of any changes both in writing and by phone. We traveled in August, my husband and I, daughter and boyfriend. We had been advised that the safari vehicle would only hold 6 people so we knew there would be 2 others joining our drives. In fact, we had 2 friends who had wanted to join us somewhat last minute and inquired if they could, and unfortunately told that there was not enough space and they strictly wanted to keep the passengers at 6 for game drives.We arrived in Johannesburg one night before the official tour began, stayed at the hotel airport which was very nice, excellent food in the restaurant. In the morning we were greeted in the lobby by our driver, James, who was beyond amazing throughout the entire trip. He truly brought our overall experience to a new level.We started at the Royal Murabasi which is an incredible property. The accommodations are spacious, comfortable, very clean, well appointed. The service as fantastic, the food excellent. The staff went out of their way to make sure that everyone was having an enjoyable experience. Our Rangers (game drivers for the safaris) were phenomenal, the amount of knowledge of animals, plant life, the eco systems, was beyond what we ever expected. The game drives are early morning and late afternoon/early evening. Before each game drive a member of the dining staff asked if we had any special requests for beverages for our game drive, in the evening we could opt for a beer, wine, champagne, soda, pretty much whatever we wanted. In the morning the rangers brought coffee, tea and hot chocolate in addition to some snack items. Midway through both drives we would stop at a scenic location and enjoy a beverage and snack and the opportunity to stretch our legs.The safari vehicles are very comfortable, well padded so even on a bumpy ride it was enjoyable. From Royal Murabasi we made our way to Tshukudu Lodge near Kruger National Park. This was about a 6 hour drive however we made numerous rest stops along the way and enjoyed a wonderful lunch with incredibly scenic views of the mountains. This is a slightly different region located in the bio sphere so the foliage was not quite as lush, it is also a smaller game reserve, but don't let that influence you. We easily saw the Big 5 several times throughout our drives. Again, accommodations here were very nice, well appointed , food was excellent, staff was very pleasant. We did have a full day game drive at Kruger, which to be honest we preferred the drives on the private game reserves better as it was much easier to see the animals. Our ranger here was also very professional, highly knowledgeable and made our experience truly memorable. I will gladly book my clients with Go Touch Down, not only was the pre trip, US based personnel outstanding, our in destination team from hospitality staff at the lodges to the rangers, and our driver between locations were beyond accommodating. We enjoyed spa services at both locations and the experiences were fabulous. Thank you Go Touch Down, it was a trip that took 4 years to make happen, but it exceeded all of our expectations.
  
 
  
 
 
 
 Posted on Tripadvisor  
 
  
 
 
 Malcolm F 
 
 
 
 Verified 
Excellent communication and organisation.
Go Touchdown arranged a holiday for my wife and I at Royal Morabusi Lodge in the Waterberg Biosphere.From the moment we booked the holiday the administration was excellent. We were kept informed of every aspect of the holiday, what we should expect, and everything we needed to do ourselves to fully enjoy our holiday.I will write a separate review on Royal Morabusi Lodge, but I can totally recommend the Go Touchdown organisation.
  
 
  
 
 
 
 Posted on Tripadvisor  
 
  
 
 
 Janatha34 
 
 
 
 Verified 
Highly Recommend
I would highly recommend Go Touch Down. Our itinerary was always accessible, the food and accommodations were great. The staff was responsive and accommodating. We really loved our trip to South Africa!
  
 
  
 
 
 
 Posted on Tripadvisor  
 
  
 
 
 megilx 
 
 
 
 Verified 
Signature Tour !!
This party of 3 was grandparents and grandson age 14. We signed up for the SIGNATURE Tour with Go touch down as they were the most responsive to our online requests for information. ANGIE Main was our US contact and she was most accessible whenever we had a question.Th Signature Tour was 10 days combining the best of South Africa... Natural Beauty such as Blyde River Canyon and Gods Window Coupled with Private Game reserve and Kruger and capped off with Cape Town.Our travel companions were a father and two young sons from LA and the boys bonded with our grandson. This company prides itself on small vans of 6 people each. there were two vans in our tourOur first guide JAMES was an excellent ambassador for his country. We took in Mpumalanga with Blyde Canyon and God's Window. He stayed with is to Tshukudu Game reserve and the place was lovely! Even had resident Warthogs on the premises. WE had an "senior "guide at TSHUKUDU, JOHNSON, and we were so happy for his experience. Right off we saw a Leopard, a rare sight. He took us on evening and early morning game drives and tracked a Lion having a Zebra leg for breakfast. JOGNSON was also our guide for All day at KRUGER. He made sure we saw as many of the bid Five as we could. We even were able to visit some cheetahs in "foster care" as their mother was killed. JAMES then escorted us to the airport for pour 3 hour flight to Cape Town.WE enjoyed good food along the way. The Restaurant at Dunkeld was especially fine. Some of the other meals were buffet style. Of not was the BOMA at TSHUKUDU. Lovely atmosphere for dinner.Our Cape Town Guide was TONY. A most knowledgeable ambassador for his region. Table Mountain was fogged in so we went immediately for the Cruise to Seal Island. The kids loved it! After that we went to Boulders Beach for the PENGUINS! Another hit! TONY kept us entertained and the next day was rainy but it was time for the Aquarium. And the day was capped off at THE GOLD Restaurant for an exciting drumming and cultural dinner with traditional foods served in an upbeat atmosphere.TONY picked us yup early for our flight on to Victoria Falls which was a separate tour with another company.My husband had been to South Africa 7 years ago and wanted to shore this experience with us. It WAS truly the trip of a lifetime. T
  
 
  
 
 
 
 Posted on Tripadvisor  
 
  
 
 
 katrina81476 
 
 
 
 Verified 
On Safari with Go Touchdown
Before writing this review I read several of the other reviews and I was sad to see soe really bad reviews. That wasn't our experience at all. We had a wonderful time! That's not to say that there aren't some things that could be improved. Stillness Manor is a lovely place but it needs railings on the outside stairs because they are an accident waiting to happen. And it would have been good to know about the electrcity issues in South Africa especially for anyone that uses a CPAP machine. We arrived a day early so that we could do the Elephant Sanctuary and the Lesedo Village excursions. Both were fun - especially feeding the elephants! Our driver, Bakkies was a fount of information and super friendly and entertaining. From City Lodge at the airport he took us and our fellow travelers to Dunkeld which is a beautiful property. We were able to walk "the loop" and get up close and personal with a group of zebras. The evening proved to be hilarious with "Gum Boot" dancing with the help of some wine.From Dunkeld we moved on to Tshukudu Game Lodge. I loved this room with it's mosquito net draped bed and a huge walk in shower. Here we went out on our game drives with Michael who was determined to try to find the Big 5. Between game drives we went did the Endangered Species excursion which I highly recommend. (cheetahs, leopard, wild dogs, vultures and even a dung beetle). We also did one day in Kruger National Park. From there we moved on to Capetown and Stillness Manor. While Stillness Manor was my least favorite place it was clean and the people where very nice. One of the couples in our group offered to switch rooms with us so that we were in the main building and wouldn't be walking outside uneven stairs in the dark with no railings. Our driver in Cape Town was Chris who was very sweet and accomodating. We had fun checking out all the things that Cape Town had to offer.On the whole this was a great trip and I would recommend Go Touchdown to anyone that was interested in going to South Africa. I think as Americans we had a picture of what S Africa should look like and it is eye opening to see the real thing. It's a beautiful country with some of the nicest people I have ever meet.