Notch 002. South Africa. Six nights, two halves.
Four days tracking game. Three with your feet in the Indian Ocean.
The bush first, while you still have the energy for five in the morning. The coast after, when you don't.
Your first safari
You get one first time. The reserve, the lodge and the month all matter, and so does the guide. We pick those, and you wake up to a leopard in a marula tree instead of a group photo at a waterhole.
You have done the bush before
Then you know it is early starts and long drives. Three nights in, three nights on the coast, and you come home rested instead of wrecked.
Two of you, or the whole family
There is a two bedroom family suite in the forest and a beach house with ten rooms. Tell us who is coming and we will work out the beds.
The week.
Six nights. Three in a sand forest in Zululand, three on the north coast.
- 1
Fly in, and straight out
Johannesburg to the reserve by way of Nelspruit, then a light aircraft onto the airstrip. You are in a game vehicle before dinner.
- 2
First light
Out before dawn, back mid morning for a long breakfast. A walk with an armed ranger, then drinks somewhere with a view while the sun goes.
- 3
The sand forest
Another drive, or the e-bikes. A night drive with a spotlight for whatever moves after dark.
- 4
South to the coast
Four hours by road out of the reserve, then twenty minutes from the airport to the beach house.
- 5
Nothing before breakfast
The rocky coastline, a pool, a spa treatment if the early mornings caught up with you. Dinner in Ballito.
- 6
The last full day
A surf lesson, the aquarium down in Durban, or neither.
- 7
Home
Breakfast, then twenty minutes back to the airport.
What you get.
One itinerary on your phone. Here's the sample week.
Nothing in it is booked.
Asked and answered.
Before anyone sends a deposit.
What will we actually see?
Phinda has the Big Five, and seven habitats in one reserve, which is why the drives do not repeat themselves. Cheetah and black rhino are the ones people remember.
Two drives a day, morning and late afternoon, plus a spotlit night drive. Nobody guarantees an animal. The guides are the difference.
When should we go?
It runs year round. Between November and February you can drive out to Sodwana Bay one evening and watch loggerhead and leatherback turtles come up the beach to lay.
Tell us the month you can get away and we will tell you what that month is like.
How hard is it?
The walks run about an hour with an armed tracker, and they are optional. Everything else happens from a vehicle or a chair.
Where do we sleep?
Three nights in the forest, in a glass walled suite on stilts with its own deck. Sixteen of them, and not one tree was cut to build the place.
Then three nights at a ten room beach house on the north coast. Two pools, the Indian Ocean out front, a firepit for sundowners.
What is included?
In the forest: all meals, house wine and local beer and spirits, laundry, the drives and the walks, conservation fees, medical evacuation cover, and a pair of Swarovski binoculars in the room.
At the beach: breakfast. Dinners out are yours, and we will tell you where to eat.
What about flights?
The flights inside South Africa and every transfer are part of the plan. The long haul we book separately, or you spend points on it, which is usually the better trade.
Can we add to it?
Most people do. Cape Town and the winelands on the front, or Victoria Falls on the back. Six nights is the spine, not the whole trip.
How far ahead?
The lodge has sixteen suites and the beach house has ten rooms. For a specific month, a year out is normal and six months is tight.
Working with us.
The one you talk to is the one planning it.
- 1
You send the dates
The form below. A month is enough to start.
- 2
We come back with a shape
Which reserve, which lodge, how many nights where, and what it costs, in writing.
- 3
A call
What you want out of it, how hard you want to work, who is coming.
- 4
We book it
Lodges, internal flights, transfers, the extras, once you have read the plan.
- 5
One itinerary on your phone
Every flight, driver and lodge in one place, offline when you are out of signal.
What it costs.
Planning a trip like this starts at $250, and the exact fee is in your quote.
The lodges and the rest are paid by suppliers out of the price, the way Expedia works, so the rate is usually the one you'd find yourself. You get the number in writing, in your currency, before anything is held.
Lodge inclusions, conservation fees and cancellation terms are set by each property and confirmed in writing before you book.
Send your dates.
A month is enough. We'll do the rest.
What happens next
A shape for the trip and a time to talk, within a couple of business days.
You get a plan in writing with the price.