4-Day Kruger National Park Big 5 Safari & Panorama Route Tour

Customer Reviews

• JK

  Janina

  · February 7th, 2025
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  I have booked the group tour Kruger National Park: Big 5 Safari & Panorama- Route - 5 days with The Mzansi Experience via Tourradar. The Tourradar website is very clear and the booking process is simple. After I booked the trip, I received an email that the trip still had to be confirmed by the tour operator. One day later, I received confirmation that the trip would take place and that the booking had been confirmed. The money for the trip was only debited from Tourradar from this point onwards, which I found very serious and transparent. The tour operator then got in touch with me directly and sent me the exact information: pick-up time, starting point, what to bring, etc. The trip started early in the morning at the bus parking lot at OR Tambo airport, where a Safarilink bus arrived to pick us up. A few days beforehand, the tour operator gave me the exact pick-up time and information about who was picking us up from where, which was very good. At check-in at the Kruger Adventure Lodge, I was given a note of our itinerary with the individual daily programs and the respective start times. The note also contained the information that lunch was not included, but that breakfast and dinner were already included, i.e. exactly as described in advance in the travel description. The safaris in Kruger National Park were wonderful! We saw a lot of animals, it was really great! On the 3rd day we did the Panorama Route through Mpumalanga. Here I have to issue a little warning about our driver! He tried to take us around the fantastic Bourke's Luck Potholes. As we were driving along the scenic road, we passed the entrance to Bourke's Luck Potholes. At first I didn't think anything of it, but after 20 minutes I asked the driver if we were still going to visit this place. He told me that he would skip this place because it wasn't safe for us tourists there. He also told me about an illegal gold mine there and that these people would attack us tourists and take everything from us. Then he said that if we really wanted to do it and go there at our own risk, he could take us there, but he wasn't liable for anything. I found that very funny! Because the other participants were discreetly holding back, I first told him that we would then do without the Bourke's Luck Potholes. During lunch at the Garden Shed Restaurant, I asked the other participants again and researched this supposed gold mine on the internet, but couldn't find anything. I then told him that we still wanted to go there, and he drove us there again without any objections. Once we got there, there was no sign of any criminal energy. It is a totally safe tourist resort! He just wanted to rip us off and save the entrance fees for us participants, which was a really tough thing to do. Watch out for rip-offs, that's all I can say about this driver! So, long story short. I can really only recommend the trip with The Mzansi Experience! But, if you do the panoramic tour, please ask the driver during the trip if you are going to stop at Bourke's Luck Potholes and if he tells you such a silly lie, then tell him anyway that you want to go there, it's really beautiful. Apart from that, we experienced the tour exactly as it was described in the tour description. There were no hidden costs either, which was great! I can only highly recommend Tourradar and will be happy to book another trip on the platform.
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  Trip date: January 2025
• PG

  Patrick

  · January 20th, 2025
  Unfortunately, my tour was not as full of expectations as the reviews here suggested. I booked the 4-Day Kruger National Park Big 5 Safari & Panorama Route Tour. It was agreed that I would be picked up personally by a driver at Kruger Park. On the day of my arrival, my flight was delayed and only arrived 3 hours later. I contacted Mzansi Experience to inform them that the driver should be informed about this. Here there were the first problems with the agency, I received a wrong telephone number from the driver(?) to contact him, and I only received delayed information on how to proceed. When I arrived at the airport, the driver was not in the reception area as indicated. I tried, more badly than right, to find a solution with Mzansi Experience. After half an hour without any help or solutions, I left the airport on my own, only to find that the driver had been waiting for me outside the airport the whole time. Mzansi Experience obviously doesn't want their clients to be able to get in touch with Adventure Lodge, otherwise I can't explain the back and forth. I was also unable to do my afternoon game drive on day 1 due to the delay. The bad experience continues here: Because of my missed afternoon game drive I was offered a morning game drive for the last day, but I didn't want to take it. The morning game drive goes until 11am, but the pick-up and shuttle service picks me and all the other guests up at 11.30am. Unreasonable for me on my vacation and too much stress, which is why I didn't use the morning game drive. I also asked at the lodge whether it was possible to change the game drive times, but was told no, as this is linked to a full game drive at the same time. So I had no choice but to miss the morning drive. I asked Mzansi Experience for compensation or a small refund as I had not received some of the services I had booked. However, they blamed me and thought I should have used the Morning Game Drive. Pretty much eat or die. I think that's a shame, because we're talking about a small amount of money (is it so necessary to insist to keep?) that obviously can't be refunded for customer hapyness. According to information from the lodge and their direct prices, Mzansi Experience takes over 1/3 of the fees for itself. Next time I will therefore book directly and avoid problems such as delayed indirect communication and prepaid services that I cannot use at the end.
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  The Mzansi Experience commented on this review

  Hi Patrick, Thank you for the review. I would like to respond factually to this review, as you are painting a picture here that is not correct. 1. You had a flight delay and eventually landed in Kruger International Airport, letting us know by... Show more
  Trip date: January 2025
• RM

  Rheanna

  · August 29th, 2022
  Great Value for the Tour, lodge was lovely and food was good.
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  The Mzansi Experience commented on this review

  Hi Rheanna, Thank you for the great review. We are extremely glad that you had a good time on tour with us. Kind regards, Mzansi Experience Team
  Trip date: August 2022
• MM

  Mahendra

  · July 14th, 2021
  We really enjoyed our trip and had really good time. Only thing I was disappointed was they should not have charged extra for bottle water we had with dinner.
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  The Mzansi Experience commented on this review

  Hi Mahendra. Thank you for the positive review. We have taken your notes into consideration for future tours. We have filtered tap water available at the lodge at no cost, but do understand clients' need for bottled water.
  Trip date: July 2021
• NR

  Nicolas

  · March 9th, 2020
  Very good lodge and staff. Could have one more drive in the morning of the last day.
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  The Mzansi Experience commented on this review

  Hi Nicholas, Thank you for the positive review. We have an optional game drive on the morning of the last day, to give each person the choice of going on this game drive or just relaxing at the lodge. We have found this to work out best, since there are... Show more
  Trip date: January 2020
• JD

  Judy

  · February 22nd, 2020
  Fabulous acccommodations Excellent staff, very friendly and helpful. And amazing safaris
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  Trip date: February 2020
• 

  Aliaksandr

  · September 29th, 2019
  Good experience. Our safari guide was very professional and knowledgeable
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  The Mzansi Experience commented on this review

  Thank you for the great review Aliaksandr! I am very glad that you had such a great time!
  Trip date: September 2019
• 

  Kassy

  · September 7th, 2019
  The Safari tour was well organized, from...
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  Trip date: August 2019