Travellers' reviews about South Africa
4 reviews
South Africa
According to your desires
Bliz
South Africa
Friends
We spent 5 days in Cape Town and 4 days in the Bush. All of them were delightful. There is so much to do and everything was interesting, exciting.
The best parts:
The whole trip was amazing, thank you. The country is absolutely beautiful and we think we had great conditions to enjoy it.
We had a very good balance between scheduled tours and time on our own and we were kept safe.
The worst parts:
The only downside is that we were rushed for breakfast on the days of scheduled tours. We had to negotiate 15' to swallow a cup of coffee and a toast.
Evaneos
Thank you for your feed back! See you around the world!
marion
South Africa
Couple
As usual, a great trip organised by you.
The best parts:
Choice Tours in Johannesburg was an excellent choice. They were not only always in time (but always too early!), they were flexible, helpful, and knowledgeable, had initiative and were good company. If you work with companies like this, I will always book with you!
Madikwe was another absolutely great choice. You actually made a mistake in your communication to us: We were to spend three nights there, and you told us that would include TWO game drives. Well – it included two game drives PER DAY, that is SIX altogether. Each one perfect. Great ranger, wonderful viewings of animals in action – apart from (too much) lovely food. Any travellers we met who had been to Krueger went green in jealousy when we told them of how we had seen animals in action just a few metres way from our open jeep….
The Safari Club hotel in Johannesburg was also a great choice for winding down, packing, being allowed to stay on the premises after check-out.
The worst parts:
Ilios travel. Exactly the thing we tried to avoid by engaging Evaneos. This is one of the companies we could have booked with ourselves and did not want to, because they are just out for a profit. We were booked for a pickup at 8.30. On the evening before we got an e-mail saying that they would pick us up at 7.30 next day. We hate to get up that early on holiday, so if we had known this, we would have declined this tour. But even worse, they obviously told everyone that pick up would be 8. 30, and then e-mailed people evening before for earlier pick-ups. But people who book this kind of tour do not have smart phones, so they did not get the message. The result was that NONE was ready on time, so we went to six hotels to pick up people who were still in their bed or at breakfast, so we went to every hotel TWICE – we spent 90 minutes going round to hotels in Cape Town until we finally had all people on board! And we enquired a bit amongst fellow travellers – this was not a one-off glip. They do this EVERY day - tell people that pick-up is 8.30, then e-mail them the night before that pick-up will be an hour before that, knowing pretty well, that most of them will not get the message!
Then, there is a full programme. It includes a 40 minutes boat trip to seal island. We were discouraged to take it (ok, it was not a sunny day, so we agreed, but I do not know how they could have gone on with the programme, if we had taken this tour!). Then, we stopped for 30 minutes at an ostrich farm. Why? We came to South Africa to see WILD animals, ostriches in a fenced area – we can see that in our home countries! I suspect that the reason to stop here was the shop – and maybe a cut for the tour guide, as there was nothing there on sale that could not be found in any shop in Cape Town. Then, nice trip to the Cape, too long lunch with very ordinary food, Boulders with penguins, and then – a whopping 40 minutes visit to Kirstenbosch(!!!!)… and back. How would they have accommodated all these stops if we had taken the seal trip?
I would have happily paid more for a more private trip, with a more dedicated guide who would have had some interesting information instead of sexist and racist jokes all the way. No, Ilios travel is absolutely not the standard I expect from booking with Evaneos. We could have booked a taxi driver (there were offers!) for a private tour for about the same price! Do not use this company in the future.
Marinda
Dear Marion,
Thank you very much for your time taken to complete the feedback form and for your honest feedback.
I am really happy to read that you had such a lot of happy experiences, in Choice Tours, Madikwe and also the Safari Club SA.
Thank you also for the lengthy feedback on the Ilios Service in Cape Town, which will most definitely be addressed with them as a matter of upmost importance as we pride ourselves in it that we offer clients Value for their money when booking a trip through us.
Thank you so much also for sending us some images, they really are awesome.
I am wishing you all the best and hope that our ways would cross in future somewhere again
Kind Regards
Jo
Prakie Persad, Trinidad
South Africa
Family
All the destinations were fantastic, the experiences were life changing and the knowledge of the guides were generally very good.
The best parts:
The variety of experiences we got in a relatively short time. The level of organization, was for the most part, excellent.
The worst parts:
Our Tour Guide in Cape Town; this part let the entire team down. I have commented on this separately to Saru.
Dear Dr. Persad,
Thank you very much for your feedback. I'm happy to hear that you overall enjoyed your trip through our fantastic country. I love the pic with the lion - now, that's what I call 'up close and personal'. I sincerely hope that we have made you ambassadors for South Africa, Evaneos and africa220.
I'm truly sorry that the tour guide for the Cape Town portion didn't live up to your expectations. As I know how crucial the role of a tour guide is for a successful and enjoyable tour we take your feedback very seriously. We have since spoken to the tour guide and set him clear targets for further training. He apologizes for any short coming, was grateful for your constructive criticism and recognizes that it will help him to improve his services.
I hope to hear from you again via the Evaneos website for any future dream holidays and to see you one day again in South Africa
Kind regards
Saru
Rod and Jane
South Africa
Couple
BA flight to Cape Town, rather uncomfortable. Met your helpful rep and picked up Avis hire car.Three nights in Cape Town at the very central and well appointed Hippo Hotel. Excellent large modern room, immaculately clean. Helpful staff.
Lovely drive to Oudtshoorn along the Route 62. Excellent road the whole way through beautiful scenery. Stayed one night at the De Deanne guest house on an Ostrich farm. Again excellent accommodation and interesting tour. Then Two nights at the Knysnna Hollow hotel. A bit larger than I expected but large modern room with everything you need. Very nice gardens with three swimming pools.
Then two nights at the Milkwood Manor in Plettenberg bay. Fabulous, right on the beach, highly recommended. Then three nights staying with my brother in Port Elizabeth and two night at the Amakhala game reserve staying at Bush Lodge, amazing, loved it. Returned from Jo'berg, BA on an A380, great plane a bit more comfortable than the 747.
All put together by Lee who did a great job, thanks.
The best parts:
Great variety of interesting places visited, excellent recommendations for hotels and guest houses by the agency.
The worst parts:
Having our credit card details stolen in Cape Town through a cash machine and group of 'helpers'. Happily the bank, Santander, refunded the loss.
