Recently our senior consultant Kylie Thompson, had the wonderful opportunity to experience a South African Safari in the Kruger National Park, thanks to G Adventures and Qantas.
Here is her blog…..
Kylies Safari though South Africa
Join Kylie as she takes you through her amazing G Adventures Tour
12 December 2024
I was really lucky to be upgraded to fly Premium Economy with Qantas over to Johannesburg. It was a great service with beautiful menus, wine and their premium economy seat offered plenty of leg room and space. This made for a very comfortable journey on what could have been a cramped 14-hour flight from Sydney. Feeling grateful for the opportunity to stretch my legs, we walked off the plane into Johannesburg Airport excited for the adventure that awaited us. The airport was easy to navigate. With little hassles, we were able to go through customs, grab our luggage and get straight outdoors to the transfer that took us to our hotel.
That night we started off with a G Adventures Welcome dinner to nourish ourselves after our travels and met our amazing CEO Chris. While the food was delicious, we were all quite jetlagged and tired which made for a rather quiet dinner.
Day two was time to head towards Kruger, exploring the beautiful Panoramic Route on the way. Good thing there were plenty of potholes to make sure we weren’t sleeping and missing any of the amazing views! We made stops to see the stunning sights from Blyde River Canyon, Bourke’s Luck Potholes and Gods window.
We had an early start on day three, waking at 4am to be ready and waiting at the gates of Kruger. This was to make the most out of our day and try to catch sight of the big five before the heat became too much. The amazing guides we had drive us around Kruger could not be faulted. Along with CEO Chris’s depth of knowledge on the animals, we were able to spot almost everything. Kruger definitely delivered. Seeing all the animals in their natural environment was incredible. From impalas and pumbas, to hippos splashing in water. Leopards, lions and plenty of graceful giraffes just wandering along the road. After all the game viewing, it was time for lunch at the beautiful Skukuza Golf Club - in the middle of Kruger National Park! While the refreshments were great, what completed it were the hippos wallowing in the water right in front of our tables.
The following days we were lucky enough to be spending at Karongwe Private Game Reserve. Here we enjoyed each day an early morning game drive before heading back for a huge breakfast. We spent the days soaking up the African sun poolside, allowing us to refuel and relax before heading out for afternoon game drives, completing our evenings with refreshing sundown drinks.
Alongside one of the drives, we had the pleasure of hearing from the Endangered Wildlife Trust Cheetah Ranger as part of the G Adventures National Geographic program. It was awesome to learn more about these speedy cats and humans’ conservation efforts.
Unfortunately for us, Karongwe haven’t yet had their rains, so it was very dry & brown. But the animals were still out and about, apart from the elephants who were playing hide & seek. Highlights at Karongwe were being able to walk up close to the wild cheetahs while they were resting in the shade, seeing lions so close to the truck and viewing a baby 2-month-old rhino with its mother just casually strolling down the road. After two amazing nights, it was sadly time to head back to Johannesburg and head back home.
