We had scheduled a southern African safari with a touring company but after arranging our own flights, the trip was canceled. Online my wife found Zicasso who sent us links to two tour agents in Africa. Luckily, we picked Sikeleli African Safaris. Daniella of Sikeleli quickly arranged a tour much like we had planned, scheduled all the internal flights, made reservations for accommodations at outstanding lodges and boutique hotels, and selected the best guides. She and her company have been very attentive and helpful in all details of our planning and executing the travel. Every aspect of the trip went very well.
Having traveled a great deal (over 70 countries and this, our 6th time to Africa), we consider this adventure as perhaps our best.
Most memorable:
Well, where do I begin! Here are few: visiting the Apartheid Museum in Jo’burg with commentary from our erudite guide; sipping cocktails on a boat ride along the Zambezi River while hippos yawned and elephants bathed; wiping mist from our faces at the majestic Victoria Falls; seeing eight of the black rhinos of Stanley-Livingstone Reserve; relishing the multitude of wildlife (including baby elephants to deceased elephants being eaten by crocodiles) along the Chobe River in Botswana; watching the sun set all by ourselves, with wine and cheese, on a hill near the Hoodia Desert Lodge in Namibia; flying over the massive, unending sand dunes (mountains), reaching all the way to the ocean; marveling when thousands of cormorants took flight as we sailed past hundreds of seals on a sandbar in Walvis Bay; holding on tightly as our 4X4 slid down sand dunes at 38° with jackals watching; wondering that the sociable weaver birds could create such huge nests; braving brisk winds to walk among the hundreds of varieties of colorful plants atop Table Mountain; worshiping in St. George Cathedral of Cape Town, church of Desmond Tutu; sipping award winning wines at vineyards with historic Dutch architecture; going on a dozen animal rides, early morning and late afternoon, at two beautiful lodges (Chapungu and Tintswalo) near Kruger; hearing the breathing of a leopard as he lay resting before leaping into a tree to retrieve an impala he had cached there; listening to lions roar to gather and antelope bark to warn of danger; visiting a nearby village where school children gathered around us and sang a song of Unity; learning from experienced, knowledgeable driver/trackers about animal behavior and flora of the region; and finally, receiving certificates for having encountered all of the Magnificent Seven: lion, leopard, buffalo, rhino, elephant, wild dog and cheetah.
