KALAHARI KGALAGADI SAFARIS Anmeldelser 17

The trip was quite an experience. Lizmarie was very helpful from the very beginning in planning the safari. Going around with Johann and his lifetime worth of experience made it all the more memorable. The Kalahari is amazing.

9 days, 8 nights - Transfrontier Park, Meerkat Sanctuary, Augrabies Park, Witsand, Mokala Park and the Kimberly Big Hole.

Lizmarie, the owner, worked out the details/logistics. Professional, courteous, thorough, knowledgable, accommodating.

Sandy, my guide/driver, same qualities as Lizmarie. Aspiring braaimaster, keen eyes, excellent travel companion and photographer - her Fotos were better than mine and she shared them. Knows a lot about birds. Plenty of reference books in the Toyota 4Runner. About the only thing she let me do was make the coffee with the French Press.

Only Witsand was something I wouldn't recommend - neither the AC nor the wifi worked, mattress/pillows were lumpy and, for me, the dune was disappointing.

Highly recommended and wouldn't hesitate to use them again.

Lizmarie, the managing director of Kalahari Safaris and Johan our guide and accompanier for 10 days of safari this April 2024 made our wish for visiting for the second time the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park come true.

Johan is South-African, thus his native language in English, and it was so easy to relate to us and communicate effectively.

Before our trip, which was actually scheduled the last minute, Lizmarie provided with all necessary information and logistics, well-prepared, professional and planned to ensure informed decisions.

During the trip (a group of 3) Johan proved to be an amazing host, and the whole safari was outstanding in all respects.

We tried 1 lodge inside the park and 2 different unfenced campsites for wildlife camping (he had everything packed for a ‘luxury’ camping incl. beds, tables, etc., in the trailer), to cater for our needs and desires.

He was extremely knowledgeable about all sights (carnivals, small animals, birds, etc.) in the park. He was tracking animals so we knew what was coming in our way. He got us everywhere in the park safely and responsibly, keeping us fed and taken care of at the same time. We were amazed by his knowledge of the park’s facts and figures.

The whole safari experience was an amazing one, as we saw pretty much everything that lives in Khalagadi, from lions to cheetahs, giraffes, jackals, all antelope species, birds, etc.

The whole trip was accommodated based on our needs, it was flexible enough even on sight, and reasonably priced. We highly recommend Kalahari Safaris and Johan as a truly honest and discreet guide as he really made the experience of our safari a trip we will never forget. I hope will be see each other again in another tour.

We booked a 3 day tour of the Kgalagadi NP. LizMarie was able to get us the last free cottage in Twee Rivieren and Mata Mata.
Thanks to our driver and guide, Louis, we saw way more wildlife, including lion and cheetas, than we we would have if we had taken the trip ourselves.
Each evening Louis prepared a fabulous braai for us, a real South African treat!
It was a fabulous ending of our South-African road-trip. We'll never forget.

Thanks for everything, Louis is a super gay, responsible and has allready a very good experience, we enjoyed are trip and see many animals during our trip. I will recommand this agency, thanks to Lizmarie as well.

Recently returned from a fantastic 14-day Northern Cape Highlights tour with Kalahari Safaris in South Africa and southern Namibia. From the earliest stages of trip planning to our final drop-off at the airport after more than 3,000 kilometers travelled, Kalahari Safaris exceeded all expectations. Overall their communication, service, value for money, and reliability were all top notch. Our wonderful guide and driver Johan helped insure an unforgettable experience from start to finish. His deep knowledge of all things southern Africa resulted in far too many mind-blowing experiences to count. Could go on and on with praise for this company and our experience with them, but let's just say that i would be very, very surprised if you have any regrets in booking your safari experience with Kalahari Safaris. A HUGE thanks to Lizmarie and Johan for making a long-held bucket-list dream come true, you guys rock!

We took a four night tour from Upington into the Kgalagadi Transfontier Park, with 1 night at Twee Rivieren, 1 night at Nossob, and 2 nights at Mata Mata. We stayed in an excelllent B and B in Upington the night before and night after the tour ( Three Gables) and our tour guide (Jakes) picked us up from the B and B at the start and dropped us off there at the end. We stayed in national park chalets in the park. The long drive between Upington and the park was broken up by some interesting stops along the way too.
Jakes was an outstanding guide- very knowledgeable about the park and wildlife, an amazing ability to spot wildlife, very friendly and helpful, and an excellent cook ( the tour included all meals).The tour provides a lot of opportunities to see wildlife and we drove through the park for most of all the full days in the park, and a half day when we arrived and half day when we left.
The Kgalagadi is a very special place and we were delighted with our tour. We saw all the wildlife we had hoped to see except for cheetah, but going on a safari is not going to a zoo and nothing is guaranteed.
We felt the tour was very good value indeed especially given the high quality of the national park chalets, the great amount of time spent stalk driving in the park, the quality of the guiding, and the quality of the food.

Pieter was there to pick us up at the Upington Airport when we arrived on an early morning flight from Cape Town. We selected this area because it was different from the Kruger Park and game parks near Durban that we had experienced earlier on this trip to South Africa. Our expectations were that this would be just another safari in a different part of South Africa. The safari turned out to be the most memorable of the safaris we had been on. This had a lot to do with the quiet, laid back diverse environment and Pieter’s depth of knowledge of the area and rapport we had with each other. Pieter was born and brought up in the “Kalari” and new it well. From before sunrise to after sunset we were on the move. We got to see and experience Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park and its unique wildlife flora and fauna. We spent most of our time in Twee Rivieren and Mata-Mata. Some of the wildlife we got to experience were white browed sparrows, crimson shrike, sociable weaver bird and it unique nesting habits, laughing doves, red eyed bulbul, fork tailed drongo, ostrich families – male, female and several chicks, black shouldered kite, pale chanting goshawk, white back vulture, gemsbok/oryx, red hartebeest, tawny eagle, springbok, black korhan, yellow hornbills, pygmy falcon, several prides of lions including kalhari black mained lions unique to this area, kgalagadi social spiders, yellow mongoose, cape cobra snake, cape glossy starling, giraffes, secretary birds, black backed jackal, kori bustard, red headed finch, cheetah, striped field mouse, meercats, African wild cats, cape fox, wildebeest. We were able to see most of these because of Pieter’s keen eye and love of his “Kalari”. Besides, the flora was unique and different in its own right. Our accommodations were very comfortable and the food prepared by Pieter was adequate, delicious and wholesome. We would strongly recommend trying this new safari destination.

Nous avons passé un excellent séjour en compagnie de Johan. Nous n’avons passé que deux jours dans le parc mais avec sa patience, son goût de la nature et ses explications, bous avons pu découvrir différentes facettes du parc. Les barbecues au coin du feu ont été très appréciés les petits et des grands. Le logement était très correct. A recommander.

We had a marvellous 9 day safari with Pieter in Sept – Oct 2022. Our flight only arrived Upington late afternoon so we spent the first night at the lovely Kalahari Guest House (Rooiputs), traveling into the park the following day. We stayed one night at Twee Rivieren, then two nights at Nossob, two nights at Mata Mata, and finished with three nights at Twee Rivieren. We were pleasantly surprised by the lovely scenery in the park – the river valleys have many beautiful acacias although try as we might we never got all the names of the different species right – despite Pieter’s best efforts! We were also very impressed with the quality of the chalet accommodation – all of which had air conditioning, although at Mata Mata and Nossob the power does go off at 10pm, but we slept comfortably throughout the trip.

Pieter took care of everything – booked all the accommodation, bought and prepared the meals, did all the driving and was our personal - and indefatigable - guide. When he learnt that we were equally keen to see birds in the park he took it upon himself to search the campsites for interesting species – literally running to fetch us when he located a pair of Scimitar-billed Wood Hoopoes in a tree near our chalet at Twee Rivieren!

The park is beautiful – but also very big & sparsely populated – wildlife sightings are unpredictable. Its not as if something pops up every 5 minutes! But the great thing about having a personal guide is that you can stop for as long as you want when you find something of interest – whether its two bee-eaters excavating a nest site, or field mice climbing into the broom to eat the fresh flowers, or Spotted Eagle Owlets exploring their nest. And yes, we did see leopard, cheetah and lion – but I think our lasting memories will be of a very special place, filled with particular interest for those who are prepared to travel slowly and look carefully. We hope to return soon!

We did a 10 day trip starting in the Kalahari and ending in the Eastern Cape (Makhanda) with Johan and we could not have asked for a better experience or introduction to this diverse area. Visiting 6 National Parks in 10 days seemed a lot, but every day brought new sightings and a wide diversity of scenery. Johan worked tirelessly to ensure we not only saw the wildlife (black-maned lions, cheetah, all manner of Gemsbok, Springbok, Blesbok, Steenbok, mountain Zebra to name but a few) but also enabled us to understand how they thrived in this arid landscape. We saw and learned so much in the time we spent on this tour. Johan was a superb guide, telling stories (one needs to get accustomed to his sense of humor, less you think he's serious :D), imparting knowledge and cooking amazing braai dinners-- we were treated royally on this excursion. Lizmarie (owner) orchestrated every aspect of our trip perfectly and was always available via email or text to answer any questions before and during the trip. If you're looking to visit this part of South Africa (and you should!) do not hesitate to book a tour with Kalahari Safaris. We will definitely return.

My siblings and I had an incredible week with Pieter in the Kgalagadi in November 2022. We had originally booked to do the trip in 2020 but it was postponed twice because of COVID. Pieter picked us up from our lodgings in Upington and drove us to the park with a stop at a meerkat reserve on the way. We spent the week camping in tents provided by Pieter. All the gear was in good condition and comfortable enough. We were please with the meals Pieter fed us. The chicken stew he conjured up in the back of the vehicle during a freak rainstorm was nothing short of amazing. There was always plenty to eat and we are big eaters. We did the morning and evening game drives put on my the camps and Pieter would take us out in the afternoon. We were lucky to see a family of cheetahs where the mother was teaching her cubs how to hunt. We saw the elusive caracal and many lions. Pieter had an excellent knowledge of the animals, the birds and the park in general. He always played by the rules and never did anything that would not be deemed in the best interest of the animals or the park. We enjoyed Pieter's sense of humour. He kept us entertained the whole week. Whether it was true or not, he made us feel like he really enjoyed spending the time with us. He was very patient with us and seemed to be at our beck and call for anything we wanted to see and do. I would recommend Kalahari Safaris without reservation.

We were indeed sorry that Pieter passed away but
their reply to my criticism was obviously from their point of view - coming from the UK we could not risk having half a tour or no tour and despite what they say, we had NO FIRM info on any tour, we never had a full or proper itinerary.... So steer clear.

They took a heafty deposit and promised "a great tour". Having received no itinerary or exact details, a few days before we were due to leave UK, we learnt the tour leader had died so had to make hurried alternative arrangements. Despite this lack of any info as to whether a tour had been arranged, they would not refund even part of the deposit so would NOT recommend them & when in Upington learnt disturbing comments on the company....

We are a couple of avid travellers, usually doing reservations directly online without any issues. In over 20 years we never had a situation like the following.

After some research, last year we booked a 10-day trip for June 2021 in the Kgalagadi with Kalahari Safaris (kalaharisafaris .co.za), a company run by Pieter Hanekom. It appears he also operates under the name Kalahari tour (kalaharitour .co.za).
The main reason we chose his company was the rave reviews that one of his guides, Johan Du Toit, had received from previous guests. Moreover, Pieter claimed to be able to arrange the trip we wanted, which included a number of sought-after camps like Kielie Krankie, Bitterpan and Urikaruus among others, and also that he had a 4x4 car for us.

Pieter requested an unusually high 50% of the total as deposit (2000 euros) as he claimed he needed it to make the camp bookings. Soon afterwards he started warning us that we might not be able to get the camps we wanted because there was no availability but that he would keep trying to get them. The fact that the camps were full months in advance seemed slightly odd, but we hoped that availability would crop up and were prepared to wait for confirmation of the accommodation.

Because of Covid the trip dates were moved back from June to November, but still Pieter kept telling us he could not book the camps because they were not open for booking yet. Moreover, he also informed us that Johan (our guide of choice) had decided to retire and that he had sold the 4x4 but (allegedly) got a new car to replace it.

We started feeling uneasy by the lack of booked accommodation and became alarmed when he asked us for more money at the beginning of August saying that costs had gone up. Meanwhile, because Airlink no longer offered flights on our planned start date, we had to shift the whole trip by a day, which should not have been a big deal since most of it was not booked anyway. However, Pieter claimed that he had booked a night at Augrabies camp and would lose all his deposit for it. We checked the camp booking cancellation rules with San Parks (sanparks.org /about/covid-19.php) and found out that there are no cancellation fees when bookings are cancelled more than 31 days in advance. A blatant lie.

At that stage we decided we could not trust him anymore and asked for a refund of our deposit.
Pieter initially responded to our request by sending his T&Cs, which he had never mentioned or sent to us before, claiming they were also on the company’s website, which is untrue as of 22/02/21. We checked all the links and they are not there.

The T&C state that in case of cancellation Kalahari safaris would only refund 30%. That is clearly unacceptable for three reasons:
1) Our deposit was meant to secure the accommodation, which clearly wasn’t the case as the whole trip was still up in the air two months before departure and nearly a year after our initial booking. The money therefore was used to fund Mr Pieter own costs or losses incurred by the Covid situation. But the guests are not responsible for this.
2) We should have been made aware of the refund policy at the moment of the booking, but obviously Pieter failed to do so otherwise we would not have booked with him.
3) Since San Parks refunds all deposits paid up to 31 days before departure, even if Pieter had actually booked any camps, he would suffer no losses. We do appreciate that he may have spent time in trying to arrange our itinerary (if we choose to believe him) so we suggested that he could keep 30% of the deposit for his efforts and refund the rest.

When we suggested refunding us 70% of our deposit, he simply stopped all communication, never sent any money back and just disappeared.

This is no mere complaint about poor services. This is actual fraud and theft.

Of course, we would like to get our money back, but more importantly we’d like to alert everyone of the dishonesty of this person/company and avoid them having the same issues. We hope the South African Tourism Authority will take action as his fraudulent behaviour undermines confidence in the country’s tourist sector, which is a shame as it is a wonderful country and certainly in need of more tourism. But tourism can only thrive with confidence.

Aurelio & Delphine

We did our trip to Kagaladi Transfrontier Park with Kalahari SafariTours with Pieter Hanekom, who was our Tour Operator! It was a Great First time experience to the Kagaladi Park ! Our day trips were well organized, with great interactions + sightings with the Wild Animals ! Especially with the Cheetahs !
We received ample food refreshments during the day ! Every evening was concluded with a Braai or Potjie on the fire , with a Magic display of the Stars !!
We Highly Recommend Kalahari Safaris with Pieter's vast Knowledge of the Animdks , Bird Life + Eco system of the Kalahari !!!

We travelled to Kgalagadi TF Park in late April, 2019. We were very pleased with the accommodations organised by Pieter, he pretty much booked what we requested. Communication from Pieter was good, although he did not supply us with a final itinerary or any information on what we should bring with us.

Unfortunately for us, the guide he supplied was next to useless. She had no knowledge of the birdlife, didn't know the difference between a cheetah and a leopard and screamed and drove quickly away from a cape cobra crossing the road. She broke a lot of the park rules - constantly getting out of the car to check the soil to gauge how much rain had fallen, chasing and scaring animals with the car and she even hand fed jackals at Kalahari Tented Camp. She was quite reluctant to go out for an afternoon drive and left us for hours in our accommodation.

That said, she was very personable and the food she prepared was tasty and plentiful.

Whilst we had no problem with Pieter, it is impossible to give his company a better review, as he is ultimately responsible to vet his guides. He has assured us that he will not use this particular guide again.

Our guide Johan did a fine job with the group. He demonstrated that lions next to your tent at night can cause an unpleasant situation. The lions really scared the .... out of him but we can tell others about it without injuries.
We spend 8 days with Johan and his company (1 German guy and 1 south-African lady from Pretoria). We left Nossob for Mabuasehube (4 nights) and stopped at Matopi 1, on he way back stopped at Mosomane where we encountered the 4 lionesses. I'l never forget the wake-up call at 5am: "F*** off lion". Specially this part of the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park is secluded and gives you all the rewinding you can find from the 'normal' western life.
Johan is a good guide and a good cook too. It was quiet a challenge to travel with 4 people in his relatively small Nissan bringing all the goods for 6 nights. Fortunately we drove our own Toyota 4X4 with roof-tents. We took care of the gamedrives at Mabuasehube with the other guests. The drive itself was for us part of the fun. Ferry and André