Recent sightings - Far & Wild Safaris

I just wanted to let you know that we had a great time and Bongani Mountain Lodge was absolutely stunning! It was so lovely I have gone onto Tripadvisor to reccommend - we really did have a lovely time, service and staff were fantastic. Food and facilities were great. We even saw all big 5 in one day. Great all round.

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Name: Sarah Squire
Date: 04 January 2012
Pilansberg : Black Rhino Game Lodge

Now that we (Kathy Maskey and Sarah Squire) are back from our fantastic trip to South Africa and now that I have time after all the Christmas festivities etc. (we only got back to the U.K. late on 20th December!) I wanted to write and thank you properly for arranging such a wonderful safari for us both at Pilansberg/Black Rhino. Everything was hassle free and Ulysses Transport were on time and the drivers very pleasant.

We thought Black Rhino was really very attractive and the accommodation was excellent. The staff were very friendly and the two different game rangers we had, Ryan and Andre were great fun, very knowledgeable about the animals and the bush and made the whole experience very informative and interesting - their dedication to their jobs was truly inspiring. We were lucky enough to see wild dogs and a leopard - both of which were very rare apparently, as they hadn't seen either for a long, long time. Unfortunately, we didn't see either cheetahs or lions but I was lucky enough to go on a second safari with my daughter, who flew out for the last 9 days of my holiday - we went to Amakala (1 hrs drive from Port Elizabeth). We saw 6 cheetahs after a kill and also a lion and lioness who we followed out in the open for about a mile....truly amazing! So as I also went on the second safari, I saw all the animals I wanted to see!! Magic!

The food at Black Rhino was good too - my only criticism was maybe that maybe it was a shame the swimming pool was on the small side but that is all!

Name: Magmar Mucina
Date: 03 January 2012
Kruger Park : Berg-En-Dal Rest Camp

We don't need the directions to the camp, have been in Kruger many times before.

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Name: Kathy Maskey
Date: 24 December 2011
Pilansberg : Black Rhino Game Lodge

Hello Jeremy,

I have just returned from my wonderful trip to South Africa and I just had to thank you for your clever suggestion of The Black Rhino Game Lodge for a short Safari.
Both Sarah and I had a wonderful few days there, enjoying the accommodation, the pleasant staff and especially the Game Wardens, who were so good at spotting animals
and giving us much information about them.

We saw most of the Big Five except lions, but that was no loss when on out last ride out we saw the most beautiful leopard posing on a huge rock about 60m from our track,
so we have some great 'photos. Obviously our luck was in as apparently leopard sightings are quite rare and we were thrilled that the safari had gone so well.

Again, many thanks for suggesting such a worthwhile place.

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Regards,

Kathy Maskey

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Hi Jeremy,

I wanted to thank you very much for your recommendation! My stay in Phinda was a fantastic experience and I'm very happy that I decided to go for it. The chalets are very tasteful and luxurious, nothing is missing, the service is perfect. We were together in a small group of 6 people, all very nice, and had a very passionate and engaged ranger who gave us extensive information and led us to a lot of game. We saw two lions, a cheetah with two younger animals, a leopard at night, elephants, giraffes, zebras, buffalos and quite some rhinos. On the second day we even managed to see a black rhino! I was the "greehorn" in the group as I was the one with no prior experience at all. Obvioulsy, I was lucky with the outcome of my first game drive. I was impressed by how "ecological" everything is done and how the ultimate target is not tourism, but to keep everything as natural as possible for the animals.

I would recommend the Phinda game reserve anytime to a friend! As I liked my journey through South Africa so very much, I'll definitely get back and will keep Phinda as an option!

Thanks again for your help
All the best,
Cordula

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Name: Jon Scott
Date: 30 October 2011
Mala Mala Game Reserve - Rattrays Camp

It was awesome! It far exceeded our expectations. Our whole trip to South Africa was wonderful - you have a great country!

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Name: Andreas Shoredits
Date: 11 July 2010
Mpila Camp, Hluhluwe Imfolozi Park

We had a lovely stay in the park and were the most pleased with the Mplia safari tent. It is a wonderful camp site and we saw plenty of game on that side of the park.

The only problem we had was when we got to the Hluhluwe Hilltop camp were we where inconvenienced by incompetent service. First we were told that breakfast would be an additional cost and then we were also booked into a chalet to find someone comfortably settled in our unit!
All did however come right in the end as we sorted out the breakfast issue (as this turned out to be a problem of....we still don't know!) and we were accommodated in a two bedroom chalet.

The breakfast was incredible and the spread was unparalleled.

Thank you very much for reserving everything for us as it was an unforgettable adventure.

Sincerely,

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Name: Steve Eldridge
Date: 10 July 2010
Safari - Hluhluwe Imfolozi Park

Hi, we have just arrived back in UK. We had an excellent safari, all be
it short, we will book longer next time! Keith was the perfect guide -
both knowledgeable and good company. Please pass on our sincere thanks.

Name: Stewart McNeill
Date: 30 June 2010
Hilltop Camp - Hluhluwe Imfolozi Park

thanks very much for your help. I got home this evening from an overnight at hilltop camp and had a great time. I've recommended it to other work colleagues who will be looking at heading up in the next few days.
all the best,

Name : Laurel DeGrenier
Date: 23 June 2010
Inyati Game Lodge - Sabi Sand Game Reserve

We have arrived back safe and very happy with our trip to South Africa. We had a wonderful time and both the places that you help us with were fantastic. Both game reserve accommodations, drives and people were wonderful. Thank you so much for all your help and we know we were so fortunate to be able to spend that time in South Africa during the World Cup and share that with the African people. We met some of the friendliest people and have nothing but great memories. Thank you again.
All the best to you,

Name: Nick White
Date: 26 May 2010
Arathusa Safari Lodge - Sabi Sand Game Reserve

I just wanted to say that the three of us had a wonderful time and I would
like to thank you for your part in organising it.

Name : Marilyn Enos
Date: 12 May 2010

Thank you so very much! We had an incredible time in South Africa. Chris
was a wonderful guide.

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Name : Charles Poulton
Date: 9 May 2010
Kruger National Park

Hi , Keith --- You may remember booking us in Jan at KNP . we had a great trip : 16 days in Kruger , saw lions 6 times , one leopard [ just outside Skukuza Golf Course at 3 pm ! ] ; a lioness feeding on a very dead giraffe -- drank some cold Castles , braaied lekker steaks -- larnie , man !

So we just want to thank you , and we'll call on you again if we can get the shekels for another trip one day .

Thanks , Keith !
Montreal , Canada

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Name : Jackie and Elizabeth Holtzhausen
Date: 16 April 2010
Hi Jeremy
Botswana - Okavango Delta

Just to let you know that we arrived back in South Africa on schedule last Sunday – I had to leave for Scottburgh almost immediately, so life has been a bit hectic since and the brain battled to get into work mode!

However, we wanted you to know that we had the most spectacular, awe-inspiring and enjoyable time with Wilderness, whose organizational skills, personnel and camps are outstanding.

We particularly enjoyed the Delta, as it is so different and peaceful – and all the water made one feel very calm and isolated – although we had a seven and a half hour “game drive” from Savuti camp on our last day there, as a lot of the air strips had been damaged by the heavy rain we had had the previous morning. It was very exciting though driving through the beautiful landscape with only a GPS to guide us, searching for an open airstrip to take us to Jao !
I will contact you when I get back to Durban, but in the meantime thanks again in helping us to make our dream come true.
If you could pass on our expression of satisfaction to Wilderness it would be appreciated.
With very best wishes

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Name : Karin Aggouras
Date: 12 April 2010

Many thanks for everything you organized.

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Many thanks for your Email - both visits were absolutely memorable - the
people and service are superb and there care for and friendliness to the
little ones was unbelievable. Cheers for now,

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Just to tell you that we had a wonderfull trip to the Drakensberg, the bus, the driver, the game drive , Giant Caste and the weather was fantastic

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Name : Shana Doyle
Date: 16 February 2010
Mpila Camp - Safari tents - Hluhluwe Imfolozi Park

I just want to thank you for organising Mpila for us for the weekend just passed. We had a wonderful time. Thank you for all your assistance, I will definitely go through you in the future for any bookings.

Regards

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Name : Taylor party
Date: 12 January 2010
Elephant Rock Private Game Lodge, Nambiti Conservancy

THANKYOU FOR MAKING OUR TRIP TO SOUTH AFRICA SO MEMORABLE YOU REALLY PUT THE ICING ON THE CAKE!! OUR PHOTOS ARE SUPERB AND WILL MAKE OUR MEMORIES LAST FOREVER THANKYOU ONCE AGAIN

Name: Auer party
Date: 7 December 2009
Hamilton Tented Camp - Kruger National Park

Dear Lisa
We are back in Switzerland.
We had a brilliant time at the Hamilton Tented Camp.
We were treated like gentry by an exceedingly friendly staff.
We shall visit them again.
Thank you for your help.
Kind regards
Albert + Brenda Auer

Name: Naidoo party
Date: 3 December 2009
Mpila Camp, Hluhluwe Imfolozi Park

Just wanted to say we had an awesome holiday and will definitely be using
Far and wild Safari's again and recommending you guys and Mpila to all our
friends. We happened to notice that their bug repellent worked beautifully
and were wondering where they got it from? It's called Bugger Off? Would
you be able to find out for us?
Anika Naidoo

Name:Kakkad party
Date: 22 November 2009
South African Safari

Dear Mr. Jeremy Williamson:

All the reservations done by you were their and all worked very well. We had great game and enjoyed Natal Zulu parks most.

Again thank you for last minute help and bookings. Next time I will email you first and do all bookings through you.

Name: Sider party
Date: 9 November 2009
Sabi Sand, Swaziland and Zululand

Hi Keith,

We just returned from South Africa and had a wonderful time: at Zulu Nyala, at Cape Town, at Reilly’s Rock and especially at Arathusa. Thank you very much for your advice and assistance. We were particularly pleased that we had an opportunity to visit Reilly’s Rock, certainly a special place.

I will not hesitate to send friends your way when they consider a trip to South Africa.

Name: Fabiani party
Date: 15 October 2009
Mpila Camp - Hluhluwe Imfolozi Park

Hi Jeremy & Dean:

We just arrived back in the States from our vacation to Mpila which was just fantastic. We saw the Big 5. On our last day we saw a Leopard at 9am right next to the road, and later came across 5 lion resting up near some rocks.

Thanks for sorting out our accommodation, we even had a hyena walking around our outdoor fire place looking for scraps.

Victor and Kathy

Name: Maurice party
Date: 12 October 2009
Giants Castle and Thendele - Royal Natal Park

Dear Jeremy and Dean,

we had a fabulous time at both Giants CAslte and Tendele - thank you both very much for all your help in making our trip a successful one!
Kind regards

Heidi & Peter

Just a few words to say that we were very happy with our tour. We saw a LOT of animals...
Chris was a wonderful guide and very nice company. We learned a lot with him, about your wonderful country and about the animals.
Best regards, you are a great team!!
Martine Grislain

Name: Miller party
Date: 18 August 2009
Hluhluwe Imfolozi Park

Dear Jeremy

Have just returned from S Africa and we really enjoyed everything . especially the 3 nights at Mpila and Hilltop which you booked for us. Thanks for the plan for the 3 nights- accommodation and wildlife sightings were superb in every respect.

Kind regards
Tim

Thanks for the really lovely trip. You're a fabulous guide! I'm amazed at
how easily you interacted with Robert.

The B&B is excellent. We have a whole apartment, with large verandah
overlooking the pool. It seems quite secure. We took a taxi to the
Hilton this afternoon for the opening ceremony, and got take-away from
Nando's on Florida Rd for tea. I think we will be fine. Its a little like
Bogota, keep money in pockets rather than carry a backpack or purse, leave
valuables in the safe and keep eyes open.

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Name: Studwell party
Date: 10 August 2009
Exeter River Lodge and Kirkmans Kamp - Sabi Sand Game Reserve

Lisa,

I have just arrived in Bangkok after a long flight from Joburg. I wanted to say thanks for arranging what was a a wonderful trip, especially on such short notice. I loved both camps, met great people aand saw LOTS of animals. Only the ellies were a bit elusive, but I saw a leopard cub, lots of lions, a leopard and a cheetah and so much, much more. I am already saving for next year.

All went well.

Debbie

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Name: Harley party
Date: 8 July 2009
Hluhluwe Umfolozi Park Safari

Now that we are all back in England we wanted to email you to thank you for the wonderful time you enabled us all to have when you took us up to Umfolozi.
We all had a great time and appreciated your patience with us in answering our numerous questions.
There is an Elephant in my mirror is a statement that we will all never forget. Les and Chris I know both also really enjoyed themselves. Now we are beginning to sort out some of our photographs we are realising even more how lucky we all were. Thank you very much also for your advice re Rorke's Drift which we made on the Friday and Lesotho which we didn't make. That is for the next time. We all have every intention of returning. Thank you and every best wish Chri Hartley.

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Name:Shafer party
Date: 2nd July 2009
Hluhluwe Imfolozi Park 5 day - Safari

Hi Keith & Jeremy,

Joanna and I had a wonderful time on our honeymoon safari, and Chris took
great care of us. I'm very happy that it all worked out so well.

Name:Davis party
Date: 1st July 2009
Hluhluwe Imfolozi 3 day Safari

Dear Jeremy,

Just a quick line to thank you for a fantastic experience.
Our 3 day trip was made a real adventure by Keith.
He has looked after us like royalty throughout our trip & I would
recommend your tour and especially Keith to ALL our friends.

He has a fantastic knowledge of your lovely country and made the whole
trip so interesting. Keith made us feel safe and comfortable at all times
and his spotting of game was truly awesome.

I would not hesitate to recommend your company to any potential
clients. Please do not hesitate to contact me for a personal
recommendation.

Name: Faust party
Date: 1 July 2009
Hilltop Camp - Hluhluwe Imfolozi park

Dear Jeremy,

We had a lovely stay at Mtwazi Lodge. Beautiful accommodation, good
service and excellent game. Will contact you in the future for further
accommodation. Regards Dianne

Mame: Mysliwetz party - Netherlands
Date: 11th May 2009
Exeter River Lodge - Sabi Sand Game Reserve

Hi Keith,

back form my trip to SA I just wanted to let you know I really enjoyed my
time out there in the game reserve and the Exeter River Lodge. Saw more
than I expected I could get to see in the short time I was there and the
stay at the lodge was memorable.

I’m finally writing to thank you for your help with travel arrangements, recommendations, and for the time you spent with me in Durban on the first day of my KZN adventure. Everything went fine – only a couple of minor issues, which, fortunately didn’t end up being a problem (one was that the Imfolozi River had flooded the road into the park from the main entrance, so I ended up driving around through Nongoma and into the park from the Ulundi side; the second was a flat tire, which fortunately became evident only as I pulled into the Sodwana Bay Lodge, where they had a mechanic who patched the tire while I was diving the next day!). I didn’t see any big cats, but certainly plenty of other game. I had one good day of diving at Sodwana, but there was a lot of surge on the second day, and so we only did one dive. St. Lucia was great. Ndumo, nice and private, but a bit muddy as it had been raining! And, I really liked Ithala. So, it was a trip of a lifetime, and I owe some of that to you!

Name: Ferrer party
Date: 13th April 2009
Madikwe Game Reserve

Dear Lisa:
Back again at home let me congratulate for your organization which has been near perfect. All your suggestions has been well and convenient. The travel has been a big success in my family, and some other safari trip could be organized in the future. If is that true, I will contact you again in order to organize it. Tau has been better that Thakadu in relation to animal seeing, but the lodge it has been as we hope, but in general we have had a better remembrance of Tau for all. Thank you again for your advice.

Name: Ariz party
Date: 10th April 2009
Kruger Natrional park Safari

Hi Keith,
I am sorry it has taken me so long to write to you. Things have been quite hectic since returning but finally life has become slower and less busy. I do want to thank you for our wonderful trip. Both Terry and I had a very nice time and felt you were professional, friendly and a great tour guide. I enjoyed your stories and you worked so hard at having us see so many animals. My friends have been amazed by all my pictures.

Having my bag stolen was upsetting but everything worked out all right and other than spending a few extra days, getting the passports reissued wasn't too bad. Just for your info, we had to go to the consulate in Johannesburg to get them issued. We never went to the Embassy since they do not help with that. I have sent in all the forms to our travel insurance but I have heard nothing yet, from them as to whether they will reimburse anything. I was very sorry also for the loss of your camera and your pictures.

I hope all is going well for you and you have some new tourists to show around. Thank you again for all you did for us. I loved South Africa and Swaziland and will talk about our trip for many, many years to come.
Happy Easter to you and take care,
Debbie

Name: Croley party
Date: 12th February 2009
Pilanesberg

Excellent resort and great food, my friends from the UK were very
impressed.

Name: Wille party
Date: 12th January 2009
Kruger National Park

We just returned from our Kruger trip and everything was perfect. Thanks
for your help. We will be using your services again!

Name: Pouroullis party
Date: 12th January 2009
Didima Camp - Cathedral Peak

Hi Keith

Just to let you know the booking for Didima was perfect and we had no problems this weekend. Thanks for your help!

Kind regards
Maria

Name: Jaffreys party
Date: 28th November 2008
Drakensberg escarpment and Kruger Park Safari

Hi Jeremy

Just to let you know that we had a great time in Kruger Park. Thank you
so much for arranging our trip, our stay at Hannah Lodge, the
accommodation in Kruger Park and our lovely breakfast venues made our
holiday a memorable one.

Please pass on our thanks to Keith who really looked after us. His
knowledge of the area and the animals is excellent. He made us feel
welcome and we will never forget our time with him in your beautiful
country.

Hope you, Keith and both families have a lovely Christmas and we would
like to wish you all the very best for a happy, healthy and prosperous New
Year.

Name: Hoath party
Date: 25 October 2008

Hi Jeremy. Just a quick line to thank you for the service provided by your company which contributed to us having a fantastic honeymoon. I particularly wanted to say what a great tour guide you have in Chris. It takes a lot of patience and excellent social skills to spend four days in close proximity with two strangers. Chris managed to pull off the amazing feat of organising things with meticulous planning and structure whilst keeping the tour totally laid back and relaxed. We felt at ease throughout and his enthusiasm for imparting his seemingly limitless knowledge on south african wildlife and culture meant that we were always interested and entertained.

Just a note to say how much my brother and I enjoyed our visit to Mashatu
Main Camp. We had a great visit - the service was excellent and so warm,
the game wonderful, very comfortable accommodation, and all round an
excellent experience.

Name: Swart party
Date: 8th October 2008
Kruger Park

Dear Jeremy - just a word of thanks for the bookings at the Kruger Park.
We thoroughly enjoyed our stay and managed to track down 4 of the big 5
within the first 24 hours and on the Saturday came across 12 lions to
complete the big 5.

Christine and I have now arrived home safely, in fact we returned on
Thursday, but with lots to catch up on have now only found the time to
write to thank you for arranging such a fantastic trip. I'm sure Keith
has spoken to you and we hope he enjoyed it as much as we did. The only
dissappointment was the restaurant at Olifants. Keith told us that you
were unaware of the refurbishment and both Christine and I thought that,
if they were going to remain open, they could have made a greater effort
to ensure they had sufficient food to provide the meals they were
supplying.

Apart from that, the trip was superb with plenty of good sightings and
loads of great photo opportunities. We returned to a lion kill on 3
occasions to photograph the lions feeding, then the hyenas and finally the
vultures. It makes a good story for a slide show, though Christine now
thinks I'm quite macabre!

Mala Mala was brilliant. We had a guide who was also a keen photographer
so knew about light and manourvered us in to the best postions. He also
didn't mind if we wanted to spend time at 1 particular location.

We have already started thinking about our next trip to Africa and just
need to decide where to go. Cape Town is on our list and I would like to
visit the battle fields, so we'll contact you once we have a clearer idea.

Name: Calvert party
Date: 31 August 2008
Southern Africa Safari

Good morning Jeremy and Lisa,

We could not have asked for anything better for a trip than the one we experienced in the southern part of Africa - all thanks to you.

All of our flight arrangements and connections, the hotels and lodges/camps, the Rovos Rail were perfect for our comfort and enjoyment of travel. The order of travel beginning with Livingstone, Zambia - Victoria Falls and the Thorntree Lodge throug h Camp Moremi in the Okavango Delta area of Botswana to the Dulini and Mala Mala camps/lodges of the SabiSands Reserve was also well staged, as it seemed to improve as we went along, but each area had its own charm and interest. We are very happy that w e experienced the different venues and did not limit it to one or two.

In addition to the camps the five nights in Cape Town was just right - could not have appreciated it with fewer days, and Jana was an excellent selection for us - we learned so much about the area from her that we would not have received elsewhere.

The Rovos Rail trip from Cape Town to Pretoria was the final touch of elegance that made the whole trip so complete. We hardly noticed the 24 hours of traveling back home as we were busy reminiscing over all of the pleasures of the trip and reviewi ng the many photos in our cameras.

Following are some more detailed comments from my wife, Peggy:

Hotel Balalaika - great we loved it.
Thorntree Lodge - OK - food OK - no hot water most of the time (electricity problems) - changing managers and (I believe) ownership our last day there.
The arranged connections from Livingstone to Camp Moremi were perfect and fascinating - vehicle, boat and airplane.
Camp Moremi - we really liked - number of people good - food OK - lodge and bathroom great - viewing of wild life very good - hosts fabulous.
Dulini - we loved - hosts fabulous - ranger and tracker fabulous - a great viewing of game - excellent!!
Mala Mala Main Camp - food excellent - rooms fine - bathrooms need to be upgraded - too family oriented (for our group) - ranger great. We would really like Rattray's Camp, if we could afford it, gorgeous.
The most animals are definitely at Mala Mala and that is what we wanted - Main Camp OK.

Cape Town was great - no rain - Table Mountain was clear each day except one - Jana Wilson excellent and quite energized.
Rovos Rail - gorgeous! - service, food and scenery just lovely - the way we wanted it.

We have absolutely no complaints. The three weeks were perfect in every way. The only glitch was receiving our itinerary the day before we left.

In the back of our minds we would adore Kenya, etc. and the great migration and other parts of wild life that we could see. Do you plan for game viewing outside of South Africa (besides Livingstone and Botswana)? It would be interesting to receive your ideas of 2 to 3 weeks of game viewing in Kenya, etc. with an emphasis on the migration and possibly back to Mala Mala.

Do send us your ideas for 4 to 6 people.

Thanks again for arranging such a perfect program, and we look forward to working with you again in the future.

Peggy and Sam, Talmadge and Richard

Name: van Steenwyk
Date: 23rd July 2008
Elephant Plains, Sabi Sand, Lukimbi Lodge and Rhino Plains Camp - Kruger Park

Dear Lisa,

It was amazing!!! It was such an adventure. We really appreciated that Federal Air met us at the airport and just shuttled us around. Every lodge knew what to do and were so welcoming. They made sure that we mad e the afternoon drive when we arrived. We saw everything (many times) and the guides were wonderful. We had such a variety of experiences (some a little too close for my comfort but my husband was thrilled) that it was a really good mix.

Thank you again for organizing everything. We will definitely recommend you to others.

Name: Smith party
Date: 19th June 2008
Kruger Park and Sabi Sand Safari

Hi Jeremy

Apologies that it has taken me the better part of a fortnight to contact
you, but since getting back to the UK I have been intending to drop you a
note to say how absolutely fantastic the tour was that you arranged for
me.

The first 4 days with Keith were a great deal of fun and Keith was
excellent company and very knowledgeable which made the drives, especially
around the parks, a fantastic experience. The choice of the 4 lodges were
top notch. But I also have to give top marks to Dulini Lodge as well - a
superb choice. Great hospitality, lovely people, top quality on all
counts - and amazing game drives. Lots of photos - if you are interested
in having a quick peep then please follow the links to see a few of the
better ones.

Name: Peters party
Date: 18 May 2008
Elephant Plains Game Lodge - Sabi Sand Game Reserve

Hello Jeremy,

Dear Keith

Just a quick note to say how much we enjoyed our safari in February. Chris was an excellent, informative guide who organised everything superbly, leaving us to relax and enjoy/photograph the animals, of which we saw plenty.

You can view our photos at www.flickr.com/photos/julian_r/sets in the South Africa Feb 2008 set which, I believe will confirm the above.

I would also like to take this opportunity to recommend the guest house we stayed in whilst in Durban, Great rooms and service:

The Palms Guesthouse, 53-12th Avenue, Morningside, Tel: +27 31 303 2956.

Thanks again

Kind regards

Julian & Dorothy

Hi Keith

We cannot thank you enough for making our holiday so wonderful.You gave us such an insite with your knowledge of history, politics and wildlife and more, we are most grateful for that.

Thank you also for organising all the ground arrangements, the accommodation was excellent. Our final days in Cape Town were good. I hadn't appreciated how beautiful the penninsular and the surrounding would be but that beauty seems to extend to all the parts that we went through. What an amazing country! The wedding was magical, the sun shone and the bride was radiant. It was a great way to finish a fantastic holiday.

Thank you for your patience and good humour,how you endured the endless awful jokes, dreadful stories and reminiscences from us "oldies", I will never know!!!

With very best wishes and a thousand thanks

Rosie xx
PS 10cms of snow on our return and a giant Snowman made by the children on the Village Green.

I am now back, and just wanted to let you know what a wonderful time I
had. Mala Mala was superb.

Keith, just settling down today after arriving back in Canada late Friday
evening. Just wanted to send a quick note thanking you so much for taking
us on such a wonderful safari!! Can you believe we saw a palm nut
vulture?? LOL, here is the photo for your collection.

Hi Chris,

Sorry for the English.

Once again, thanks for a very good guiding and nice company.

I will try to tell you a little about our SA tour after you drop us in Durban.

We went to Hermanus and spend some wonderful days there.
We visit L´Agulhas and saw Southern right wale in The Kelders.
On our way to CapeTown we saw pingwins in Bettys bay.

In CapeTown we have a full program.
We visit Robben Island ( very intresting ), We go by car to Cape horn and Cape Point.
( Wonderful wiews at Chapman route )
We go by guided tours to Township and wineroute.
We took the cabin up to the Table mountain, visit the botanic garden and a lot more.
We eat a lot of good food in Waterfront.
We had no problems at all, everything was just great.
We did´nt have to use the " nödutgång" at any time.

If you comes to Sweden sometime, let us know. We will guide you !!!
I att. some pictures.

Best regards
Våge & Magdalena

Dear Jeremy
Just a short note to say that we had a fantastic trip. Chris was the most
wonderful guide and we were lucky enough to see much more game than we
expected in two days. I will be recommending you to a friend Gwyn Jolley
who will be travelling to South Africa next year. Thanks again Fran

Name; Emile
Date: 24 October 2007
Hi To the Far & Wild Team

Merci beacoup for the wonderful chalet and the fantastic time in Hilltop. Just wonderful and just as I remembered it. We Frenchies had lost in rugby on our very first night in Hluhluwe. You'll never believe it but we saw everything except Cats (but I wasn't counting on it) but especially NO ELEPHANTS, funny how nobody seems to believe me.

Will refer you to anybody wanting to go to the Elephant coast.

Baie dankie
Sandrine

From: Ron von Allworden
Sent: 27 November 2007 11:51 PM
To: Keith Marallich
Subject: South African Safari

Keith,

I am writing to let you know that our safari with Chris le Roux was most enjoyable. Chris' knowledge of the area, political and cultural insight and, of course, wildlife expertise made our safari unforgettable. You should consider yourself fortunate to have such professional assets as Chris. I'll recommend him to anyone headed to Durban.

Ron von Allworden
7809 Delaney Dr.
Antelope, CA 95843 USA

(Trip dates 04, 05, 06 Nov 2007)

From: Ian Gill
Sent: 01 July 2007

I wanted to tell you that we thoroughly enjoyed the 3 1/2 week tour of South Africa which you helped organize for us. You scored very high points for the accommodation you arranged, especially in Natal -- Hannah Lodge and Isandlwana and the Sani Va lley Lodge were all outstanding.

I heard good things about Far and Wild and they were justified as far as we were concerned.

Congratulations again on a job well done.

Keith, the pictures came yesterday! I am so thrilled. They are wonderful. I might mention that some of my zebra shots were pretty cool as well (out of the 15 or so I took!). No kidding, you are a real professional. Thanks so much for sending them. We really had a great time and you were a terrific guide. I do want to come back to Africa and see and do Cape Town and maybe another game park with you at our side. We would love for you and your family to visit here, you would always be welcome, so do keep in touch. Again, it was such a good time, Gail and Adrian

I have finally returned home to the United States from my holiday in South Africa.

Please, please, please tell Warrick thank you; he was a wonderful guide.
Warrick has such a warm personality, that he made us comfortable from the start. He not only guided us through Hluhluwe Imfolozi Park, but he also provided us with a great deal of South African history. His knowledge of South African and its people was magnificent. The history lesson that he provided during our 2-day Zululand and Safari visit enhanced our experience.

I will definitely use Far and Wild Safaris on my next visit to South Africa. Additionally, thank you for meeting our expectations. Feel free to use my comments as a reference.

Dear Jeremy, We are back from what turned out to be a SPLENDID trip. More details and pictures to follow. For now suffice it to say that we all had a wonderful time and are grateful for all you did to arrange it. There were times--such as when we flew from Camp Okavango to Kasane and were picked up by a driver who took us to the boarder, where we were met by a boat that took us over the river, where we were met by a van that drove us to Livingstone--that it seemed just miraculous that it all worked so flawlessly!

One thing that got left hanging was a credit we are supposed to get for the extra money we had to pay at Ongava for the saner transfer to Camp Moremi. Ho does that get handled?

We have been seeing almost every animal that are avialble to see. The only ones we didn't see was lions and lepards. Those we will see next time. Everything has been working perfect. We got an extra night at Hilltop.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Björn Löfgren
Skogforsk

Thanks very much for recommending Mpila camp at Umfolozi. For both my wife and I (although not used to getting so close to wildlife) it was an incredible experience seeing animals so close at hand (we were only told the next day that Mpila camp was not enclosed. IT WAS REALLY FANTASTIC.

I wonder if you could assist me with the following enquiry. I have a niece from Italy who is very keen to visit the Kruger Park round about July/August this year and she is looking for a guided tour of the park including accommodation and transfer to and from the park from her hotel in Johannesburg. Does your company provide such a service? If not is there a company that you would recommend. Your assistance will be appreciated.

Subject: Goucester study visit

Hi Chris
How are you? I guess it's 35 degrees there - here it's 3.5 degrees!
Just to let you know we arrived back safely. On behalf of my group I'd like to thank you very much for your excellent work during our stay. Everything ran like clockwork and therefore was hassle free. We all enjoyed your friendliness and your humour as well as benefitting from your considerable knowledge.

We had a fabulous week - personally and professionally. We have learned a tremendous amount and have all had experiences that will shape our lives. I think our lasting memory will be of the tremendous faith and hope that South Africans have in the future of the country. We realise there will be difficult times ahead for the country but the ambition and the belief is there.

Once again, thanks very much for your superb guidance, organisation and friendship.
May you live long and prosper
My very best wishes
Brian (Bartlett)

We had a fantastic time on the safari and what made it so special was having Peter Whylie as our guide. What a gracious, knowledgeable man he is. Thank you for arranging for him to be our guid e. My husband and I agree that he made the experience First Class.

Mr & Mrs Karg have asked me to convey their sincere appreciation for the efficient way their tour was handled as well as courteous manner of the tour operators and the friendliness of the staff and guides at the various locations.

From: Brian and Christine
Sent: 24 May 2006 12:12 PM
Subject: Trip to Kruger National Park

We expect you have spoken to Keith about our trip and hopefully he
enjoyed it as much as we did. Keith is one of the nicest people you
could wish to meet and once again he made the trip for us.

The choice of lodges was excellent, especially as the quality improved
through out the holiday. The locations also ensured that we saw a wide
variety of wild life, much of which we were able to photograph. We are
still using film and have sent our slides off for processing. Once we
have been through them we'll scan some in to send to you. We did
exceptionally well with Lions. We also saw Leopards on 3 separate
occasions, though not in positions that we could photograph.

We also saw plenty of birds. Both Christine and I thoroughly enjoyed
our 2 sessions in the hide at Skukuza, especially the second time when
the Hippos put on a bit of a show.

Keith has probably mentioned to you that I developed a bit of a cough.
I think I picked something up on the flight from London. It didn't
spoil any part of the trip for Christine or me and we hope it didn't
spoil it for Keith. Unfortunately, it deteriorated when we went to Mala
Mala. It was probably the dust in the open top vehicles and the flight
home more or less finished me off. I'm now off work with bronchitis but
hope to return next week.

Mala Mala was something else. Probably a bit over the top for Christine
and me, though you do get very well looked after.

We saw Leopard on the first drive on Tuesday afternoon and the last
drive on Thursday. On Tuesday we had a male dragging an Impala kill
towards a tree. We saw the same male on Thursday but he was stalking
some more Impala and didn't stay still for too long. We also saw a
female Cheetah with 2 fully grown cubs, but the light was too bad for
any decent shots.

On Wednesday we came upon a group of Lions on a male Kudu kill, though
getting decent shots was difficult as one of the females positioned
herself in an awkward spot.

Well that's about all for now other than to thank you once again for
arranging a truly memorable trip.

We are thinking about going to Namibia next year and would welcome any
thoughts you may have.

Keith also mentioned that you had to have an operation whilst we were in
SA. We both hope that it was successful and that you are now fully
recovered.

I just wanted to say thanks for arranging a nice trip for us! The whole group enjoyed it. And Keith was a first-rate guide.

We really enjoyed the Oyster Box - a good location! Thanks for recommending it. Your experience organizing trips really was helpful.

We really enjoyed the wildlife at Hluhluwe. The one in our group who skipped the morning walk was rewarded by seeing 7 wild dogs! And the whole group was lucky enough to watch the 100+ herd of elephants make their way across the park. Just awesome!

We didn't see quite as much wildlife at Ithala, but we loved the scenery and the opportunities to hike up near the lodge.

Just a line to thank you very much for the Safari and to say how pleased we were with Keith.

You have a good guy with Keith, in a couple of years we will be coming back so i will get in touch again. Our only moan is Durban nice people but not safe. Thanks once again.

It was a wonderful experience in terms of what we saw, what we learnt from our guides and the local people and the way they looked after us. From the moment we were picked up at Cape Town airport till we left Dulini Lodge everything was great. There was always someone to greet us whether at the airport, river crossing or camp. We were truly looked after.

What was also great was the range of experiences. Okavango seemed to us to be in the middle of no where and activities were water based, Moremi was land based, Victoria Falls and white water rafting down the Zambezi was awesome and Kruger though closer to the city was vast and inspiring. To finish with the luxury of Dulini was perfect. We were fortunate to be the only 4 at the lodge. To be able to be so close to the animals was unbelievable. In all three camps our guides and drivers were excellent. They were very knowledgeable and eagerly imparted their knowledge to us. In our two days driving ourselves around Kruger we appreciated just how good the guides were spotting animals – its hard work but thrilling when you see something.

Thank you so much for all your advice, and patience during our planning, and for putting together such a great holiday for us. You live in a lovely part of the world and we are delighted to have been able to share it.

Hi Jeremy.
I just wanted to let you know that Kath and I had a fantastic time. We thought that everything run very smoothly and that the accomodation and food and transport were great. As for Keith, he is a real assett to your company and a brilliant guide. We cannot speak highly enough of him!!!He really couldn't do enough for us...Thank - you, and when you either speak or see him again please Thank him profusley again for all that he did for us and all of his trained animals were great!
Once again thanks for everyting and we have recommended Far and Wild to everyone that we know so hopefully you will get some business from us.
Rebecca Tod

I have been asked by our party to thank you and particularly our guide for the wonderful experience we had on our safari in April.

We were very impressed by the smooth running of all out trips on the days, the knowledge and friendliness of our guide.

We had a brilliant time - the camp was great and Bongoni and Elliot were marvellous.

We are returning to South Africa in October and would like to stay at Nselweni again. Provisional dates are Thursday 20th October for 3 nights.
We would be looking at possibly 6 people staying again. Could you give me an indication of cost? One of the party is an OAP - does that make her eligible for a discount?

Thanks to you we had two very good 'breaks' in South Africa, which alleviated the stress of moving furniture and clearing storage etc.

I am sending you a few, hopefully constructive, comments. Despite these observations we still had a very good time and are extremely thankful that you did all these bookings for us, but in future we might ask you to look elsewhere.

If I had the contact details I would write directly to the Parks Board, but maybe you could forward my comments?

Hilltop Camp, Hluhluwe is showing signs of wear and tear. Our cottage, 38, needs to be thoroughly cleaned. The carpets felt sticky underfoot, as did the cupboard doors. The second bedroom smelled strongly of urine on the carpets and the bed. The overhead fan in the second bedroom could not be used as it makes a loud noise and the fan blades wobble so violently it looks unsafe. The bathroom attached to the first bedroom was adapted for disabled and most handles, pulls etc looked very poor quality and rusty.

The receptionist, although helpful, needs a few lessons in Marketing. The Parks Board might think they have a monopoly on Game Parks, but they do not and visitors cannot be blamed for looking elsewhere. We arrived at 15 minutes to 1pm as did 2 other parties. We were asked, by the Receptionist, to wait until 1pm to check in. At 1pm one of the other parties again approached the receptionist to check in and she said to him - OK, I am only supposed to check you in at 2pm, but I don't want you all hanging around in here so I'll check you in now. The said other party looked distinctly put out!

Didima Lodge is breathtaking in its location but again lacks the finesse of a top class establishment and cannot cater for long distance travellers arriving early. We arrived at 11am in order to enjoy as much time in the Berg as possible - again rooms can only be accessed at 2pm even if they are ready. My husband and son took the opportunity to start off on their walk as soon as we arrived and I thought I would have a rest (after the stress of our Durban furniture clearing experience) only to find I would have to sit in the main foyer. After a while I felt so embarrassingly sleepy, that I decided to sit in the car, but there is no where to park a car in the shade and the car was like an oven, so that didn't work. During this time I watched our cottage (25) and no cleaner went near it, so it must have been ready when we arrived.

When I eventually gained access to the cottage I found that there was no water in the washbasin in the main bathroom. Also the wardrobes in the main bedroom were very damp and soggy with water leaking from the adjoining shower. There are signs everywhere about saving water, but no one came to look at the geyser overflow which was pouring out a constant flow of water into the garden. The evening meal was only adequate. The dishes on the set menu were not properly described and "Drakensberg Trout" proved to be smothered in pepper sauce disguising the fresh taste of trout.

Jeremy, we took most of these problems in our stride - saying 'Oh, Parks Board', as having lived in SA all our lives we expect a different standard.
But I don't think Parks Board should charge tariffs that belie the higher standards concomitant with these tariffs.

I smiled at the traditional greeting of 'How are you? - I am fine - How are you?' and wondered what would have happened if I told them how I really felt!

Once again, thank you for all your help - I have and will continue to recommend your service to other travellers to SA.

Just a note to say what a brilliant time we had on our safari in Kruger.
What a fantastic experience!

Jeremy - thought i'd drop you a line to tell you how much we enjoyed the safari. it was far more comprehensive than we had realised from your e-mail.
And Peter was a marvel - so knowledgable and committed to esnuring that we enjoyed ourselves - and we certainly did.

Morning Jeremy, fist tiime to have a chance to say we had a great trip to RSA. many thanks for all the bookings and guidance. we saw a far and wild landrover at itala so not alone...had a quick stop at ladysmith for the air conditioned anglo boer museum, traded our last night at hilltop for a rondevaal at st lucia, saw hippo on the way. should by any chance you get a communication re refund from hilltop/charters creek please donate to the charters creek sight as they 'got the animals before the rangers had been trained' and so it wasn't possible to walk or take a drive and they need a lot of support there. all good wishes, liz statham

Now we are back to the artic. Thank you for all your efforts. The trip was a success. Everything you arranged went very smoothly (everything else as well) and fulfilled our expectations. I did see hunting dogs in Umfolozi (four of them resting on a riverbank - great!). Thonga beach was very good (the beach is fantastic - we did not see a single person for a hole day) but I think they must improve their food. At that price you expect seafood and game but you get chicken and rather poor fish.

I think a trip like the one we did would attract the Scandinavian market, especially now when Thailand is down. There are already quite a lot of charter to South Africa but mostly to Kruger and The Garden route. You should give it a try. One way is to contact the big Scandinavian Charter companies and offer them to be their local partner.
If you want help let me know.

It is so very far and so very expensive. Otherwise, we would be on your doorstep every year.

By now you know the gift book was really whimsical and directed to you and your daughter and your fantasy project. Something silly is useful to fill in all the serious parts of a day, don't you think?

Children - no matter how old they become - are a never ending project and presence in our lives. You and Lana are wonderful, loving and supportive parents. Your son and daughter are fortunate, indeed, to have you on their side. It is very obvious you love them dearly.

We had a busy year with family. We had two weddings: Doug's younger son, Nathan, wed in August in New Jersey. And Doug's younger daughter, Abigail, wed in October in New York. That called for two long drives from our home in Michigan. On the August trip we combined the celebration with a stop at Hawk Mountain in Pennsylvania. We went for a ten pm moonlight “owl” walk with a ranger and a small group, using only the moon for illumination. I was at first distressed to discover we were the only folks to show up without a flashlight. And then relieved when the ranger told them all to turn off the flashlights. It was interesting to sit quietly on top of a small mountain rise and listen to the night sounds. He identified the owls by their calls. We didn't have to worry about lions and other beasties.

In December we flew to California to have Christmas with my brother. Then we drove to Utah and arranged to sell a piece of property out there before we flew home.

We plan to either sell or close our store by June. It has been open for 8 years and, frankly, I am bored with it. We need something new to feel challenged . . . don't know what yet.

Also, we have had two houses the past five years. Our house of 40 years in the city and a cottage on the river. We have decided to sell the city house and move permanently to the river house. We love it there. The river is at our front door and the big freighters pass back and forth. There are birds and ducks and a huge state park near by. But that means disposing of all that 'stuff' collected over the years that fills every nook and cranny of the house. A huge undertaking that makes me want to crawl under the bed and hide. We hope to put it up for sale by summer.

The move means we will be doing some remodeling of the cottage house to make it a more permanent year around house. Should be fun and there is no hurry. We plan to add a bedroom and that means there will be a place for you to stay when you come to visit us in America.

Our President Bush was sworn in yesterday for the second term. He is a very good and strong and inspired man. We think very highly of him and we thank God that he is our leader in these difficult times. The media is dominated by the Left and perhaps you hear only negative stories about him. Don't believe them. He is much beloved by our country's citizens. He is from Texas and so we got out our Texas cowboy hats and wore them yesterday in celebration of his inauguration. You do remember how funny we can be. Sending a picture along that will give you a smile.

Have you ever contacted the cruise lines to offer your services on day trips for the passengers? Wonder if that would be worthwhile. Loved seeing our pictures on your website. Dough suggests you put the city and state below the names on the comments page. Grosse Pointe, Michigan is meaningful to people. You may even put our email if someone decides to contact us directly. And the email of other happy clients – with their permission, of course.

We are back in Holland and we would like to thank you very very much for the reservations you have made us in Hilltop Camp. It was really wonderfull. When we arrived there was a biog buffalo in our backgarden, which came back every morning we stayed there. During the first game drive we have seen the BIG 5 !!! Excellent!.

Many many thanks, we have enjoyed our stay in your beautiful country very very much. If we get the chance we will surely return to South Africa again!

Thanks and kind regards,

Ron & Gerrie van Duij

Thank you for handling that transaction, I was rather at a loss for how else to get funds to her. Yes, I will just make advance payments on her credit card, and her lodging and transport are already paid for so it will mostly be just some meals and odds and ends.
Please extend my thanks to your wife for her kindness to Suzy. And of course thanks to you for your extra help and support, above and beyond the call of duty. I know Suzy has had a wonderful time which she will remember the rest of her life.
Best Regards,

Well, we have finally arrived back from our trip to Africa and as we imagined it was an amazing place. To say it was spiritual would be an understatement as we were all moved very much by its beauty and drama.

Firstly, I would like to pass on a heartfelt thanks to you from all of us for helping put the Safari trip together - your suggestions were spot on! I believe I speak for our group when I say the Safari exceeded all our expectations.

From the moment we landed in Botswana we were looked after impeccably by the very good people at Chiefs. Their professionalism and service was outstanding but even more impressive was their warmth and good spirits which made our trip that much better. The wildlife we were told is world class and we agree – Lion, Rhino, Elephant, Zebra, Giraffe, Impala, Water Buffalo and many more, and that was just in the FIRST 24 hours! The General Manager of Chiefs, Matt was a wonderful host as was our guide, Comic as they certainly left a wonderful impression on all of us. The camp itself was beautiful and we could not have asked for anything more (maybe air-con for our American friends who had just come out of a North American winter..haha). On the first morning of our stay were awakened (I believe we were all awake by the sounds of the delta anyway) to see a Lion and Water Buffalo ‘standoff’ some 50 metres from the camp…unbelievable! And we thought they were joking when they warned us of the Lions around the camp!!! From there it just got better….Lion Cubs, wonderful food and spectacular scenery.

After two days at Chiefs we were almost sad to leave but we knew Baines would be exceptional as well (The previous GM of Chiefs was now at Baines). Our flights with Safari air were good and HOT (middle of the day) but I knew we were in good hands as the pilots were from New Zealand and Australia. The flight between Chiefs and Baines was spectacular for game – flying at 1000 feet we must have counted about 20-40 Elephant plus many Giraffe.

Once we arrived at Baines we were met by our guide, Martin (great sense of humour and very cheeky – he pretended to get lost!) who finally got us to camp where we were greeted by some wonderful singing by the camp staff – just beautiful! Craig, the GM was a great lad and was full of good stories and information – his walk through Safari was a highlight, Sarah was sticking to him like glue as he was the only one with an Elephant Gun!!! I’m not sure if you have seen the camp, as it is new, but it is stunning – the main part of the camp is situated on a hippo pond and the view is simply breathtaking. The private lodgings which flow on from a raised boardwalk make it very personal and each offers a piece of scenery which is very inviting - I imagine that when the camp has settled in after a number of years it will be one of the best. One of the highlights on the whole trip would have to have been our first encounter with a Leopard. It almost seemed surreal as Martin asked us what we would like to see next (Leopard was the cry as our team of seasoned Safari travellers had seen everything else?), sure enough we get the call and off we go to ‘Spot a Leopard’. We encounter our first ‘traffic jam’ in Botswana (two other trucks from Stanley’s) and push, shove, mow, barrage and plough our way through thickets, trees and bush to finally come face to face with a stunning female Leopard (we came so close that Martin said it was the closest for him – 4-5 feet and even to the point we nearly ran over the poor girl as one of our Safari experts suggested!). For me it was a highlight, a Cat that has it all, beauty, power and speed and of course very hard to see. Of course this story gets better when we were able to see two more the next day! Another first for Martin (or he was just pulling our leg).

Both camps were everything we hoped for and thanks again for dealing with the many emails I sent you over the past year. I know Sarah and I will always cherish the trip and to be quite honest we can’t wait to go back!

I will be putting a slide show together and will post it on the internet very shortly, I will copy you. There are some amazing photos.

Hlhuhluwe = Great for closeup Rhinos & giraffes. Hilltop Camp is beautifully located.
Pilanesberg = Elephants (we got stuck in a big herd indecisive about x-ing the road) MalaMala = Leopards (saw 3 different ones up close) and an after-dusk impala kill by a pack of 9 lions.
This made up for no Rhino there. Kirkman's land is incredubly lush - not cheetah territory.
Kirkman's was in fact only half full over New Year = car+ranger to ourselves. A very comfortable camp.

Throw in the cheetah we went to see at both DeWildt and Spier and we were very happy.

Thanks for the arrangements. I've never spent this much on a holiday before but I have no regrets.

Thanks for agreeing to chase the flight refund - however I thought I'd save you acting as mailbox so I send
the tickets straight to your travel agents for them to process. The
important thing apparently was informing SAA which I did the day before our flights. No rush.

I just wanted to wish you and Lana a Merry Christmas. I can't believe it has been over four years since my mom and I took our safari with you. It is still so vivid in my memory.

I saw the last half of a movie last week. The movie was called Askari. Have you heard of it? I believe it was actually filmed in South Africa and it was even supposed to take place there.
It was a 2003 movie and our TV guide says this about the movie:"Warm family tale of an orphaned teen who goes to Africa to live with her aunt." It was great to see a movie about your neck of the woods.

Due to lack of funds, I will be out of a job at the end of the year.
If my boss is able to get more funding, she will re-hire me. It is such a shame. We just moved into a brand new lab last December and we have several state of art mass specs and I am the only one who knows how to run them.

I hope your company is doing well. Have you been out on any tours recently? I hope all your family had a good 2004.
My Great Dane turns four next month. Even though he is 155 lbs, he still thinks he is a puppy. My mom is doing well. We are headed out tomorrow to spend Christmas with the rest of the family down at the beach.

Had a great time Jeremy I have got a new sun hat now do not need the old one thanks anyway take care and say hi to Peter.

This is to thank you for arranging a wonderful trip for us. We really appreciate the planning, the thinking and care you have taken for each and every part of our trip. I have to admit that before we started the trip I had little idea about where and what we would visit and see. I trusted in you . Now that we learned more about the region I can realize that you have put much thinking and planning into the trip. My trust was definitely well placed.

Thank you too for selecting two excellent guides , Ray for the first part of our Lesotho visit and Keith for the entire trip. Ray brought an enthusiasm and love for Lesotho and its nature. He was the ever lasting optimist. It was fun to be with Ray. As to Keith, he is a true and dependable professional, very knowledgeable and very capable. As we spent more time with him, we began to appreciate more and more his outstanding qualities. My wife and I both enjoyed discussing with him all subjects, especially those relating to South Africa, the regions we were visiting and many historical backgrounds. If we were to do another trip in his area of coverage we would be very happy to be in his company again.

Lesotho is a hidden jewel. The mountains are extra-ordinarily beautiful.
Each time we climbed a pass we were struck with awe at the beauty of the scenery. Pass after pass and mountain range after another. Totally unspoiled. The people were kind, smiling and seemed to be hard working. At no time did we feel threatened or in danger. The lodges where we stayed were nice and comfortable, except perhaps for the Katse Lodge which was just ok. The food was like home made. It is a real shame that not many people know about Lesotho. I for one will give our travel agent in Switzerland a good brief and will encourage him to recommend a tour of Lesotho to his clients .

The various places where we stayed in the Drakensberg area were also excellent. We loved in particular our stay at Didima Lodge and Montusi Moutain Lodge. It was unfortunate that the Witsieshoek Mountain Lodge had no water and was run down. We do understand why you had selected it originally. The location is perhaps one of the most spectacular. But regrettably it seems that its management had run it down over time. Anyway, we thank you for taking immediate action to relocate us for the second night to a more suitable place.

We really have little to critique. It was fun overall and as one says.....all is well that ends well. Thanks again for all your help. We hope to stay in touch.

Just to let you know that we had a great time at Hilltop and Shakaland - apart from the weather.

Thanks for arranging them.

Good morning Jeremy,

We are back home again, safe and sound.

Everything we agreed went well, for which I thank you.

The only accommodation that was not to our expectations was: Mkuze.

The watertaps, the warmwater, the bath ,the outside watersinck ,it was not working well.

We filled in the sercice level enquiry, so hopefull they do something with that.

Back at work here - Its a chilly 11C. Really enjoyed my trip in Imfolozi and SA in general. Will be back next year - maybe June and November.

I just wanted to say thanks for your excellent work with this safari booking, everything went perfectly! Well done. I look forward to booking with you again in the future.

Just to let you know that we have arrived home after a wonderful 3 weeks.
The safari you set up for us was excellant and I cant fault any of it.
Keith was very helpful and informative and certainly knew his stuff.
We were able to find plenty of animals, although the cats eluded us but I gather from others that this was a problem for them too. However this didnt mar anything.
We thourgherly enjoyed being driven about and this took a lot off us, in not having to worry where we were heading.
Keith was a very good guide and companion for the 7 days. We felt quite spolit having him to ourselves.
The weather was good apart from 1 day in Cape Town.
All the accommadtion was very good and so was the food, I'm sure ive put on pounds.
We really enjoyed the drive via the garden route and found by staying 2 nights most places it gave us a chance to settle and get a good feel of the area.
The whole area is beautiful.
We saw loads of whales at hermanus, but the shraks eluded us as the weather was quite windy and the boats werent going out. never mind.
I cant believe how quickly the holiday went by and we are now back in cold , rainy weather.
I would just like to say thank you for all you did in making it a wonderful holiday.
A big thank you to keith for an excellant first week.

First, the trip was superb and I want to thank you for your professional arrangements and especially working out the details of Warwick and the KZN tour.
Everything was professional.

2. Also I have not had a chance to review the details of the itinerary and the charges for each segment, but a cursory glance at selected items attract my attention. For example, as I indicated to Warwick, my documentation seems to indicate that we paid twice for the JNB>Londolozi flight. Don't address that yet, as I want to go over the entire trip, and look at each segment again. I will follow up with you on this.

3. Perhaps Warwick has already indicated that we would like to make a contribution, in Warwicks name, to the Environmental organization that he (and you) support.
If this makes sense, I will need to know the name of the individual to whom I will send any documentation etc. Warwick indicated that you could help in this area.

4. The left front mirror on the Avis Polo was damaged during the time we rented it. I left them (Avis) a note so indicating when I turned the car in at the Vinyard.

Just a note to thank you and Dean for making my recent photogs tour work so flawlessly. Your very professional approach is very comforting especially in dealing with my own tailored style of working with photographers. I look forward to working with you again.

This week I had the kidney stone problem sorted out - not an exercise I want to repeat in a hurry - and after a brief bit of contract photographic work this month it's off to the US for Virginia in The Fall.

With regard to future visits to your neck of the woods I have several ideas at planning stage as well as repeating this recent successful one. With specialist photographers like Des Drury and Alec Jones I would like to spend extra time in places where they can concentrate on close-up work like Tembe elephants.

Anyway must end off here. Let me know if you want anything brought back from the US. Hope the Landrover problems are now sorted out....

Now back in England and dreading the beginning of term and hordes of unruly British teenagers! SA is truly God's country, I must return soon. Thank you so much for arranging our fantastic safari at such short notice, we truly had the experience of a lifetime. I am recommending you to everyone who asks.

The one (very slightly) sour note, which I didn't mention when we saw you in Durban, was our host in St Lucia. The accommodation was wonderful, the food excellent and his wife charming, but he has a very unfortunate manner and embarrassed my entire family with a number of quite offensive racist remarks which he seemed to think were for our amusement. I thought you should know - we were polite, but would not want to stay there again! St Lucia itself was wonderful, though, and a brilliant coda to the journey.

sorry it has taken me so long to contact you, but this week we have both got back to our working routine.

Thank you for organising another great Holiday for us.

The views and walking around Blyde River Canyon were great as was the sunshine. Kruger - although we saw lots of animals, I don't think we would visit the National Park again. Most camps reminded us of a F1 race at 05.30 a.m. waiting fo r the camp gates to open, with the exception of Berg en Dal. Our wilderness trail was not a patch on the one we done at Umfolozi, unfortunately our ranger although interesting, I think he was "trailed out".

Kirkmans Camp at Sabie was fantastic and worth every penny also would recommend Walkerson's at Dullstroom.

Still we really enjoyed it all

will be in touch soon

Well, thank you - they both had a great holiday and all the reservations were fine!

They were amazed at how cold it was - they both wished they had taken gloves, scarves, hats and even ski-jackets - especially for the morning and evening game drives. We all thought that Africa was permanently hot! Obviously not!

It was raining and misty when they arrived and, sitting on the terrace of the hotel, they couldn't even see Table Mountain. They never got up it but they did get to the bottom of the cable car which was high and still had a very nice view.

They went out to Cape Point and saw lots of baboons. They went out on a whale watch - apparently most boats are allowed to motor only to within 200m but their boat (presumably because it was the most expensive in
town) was allowed to motor to within 50m. Anyway, having found some whales and approached to 50m, the whales then swam to within 12 feet, so they were very lucky (fin whales, I think!)

They went into Shark Alley and saw some Great Whites - Sam said that they swam under the boat.

They went to an ostrich farm where Sam rode on an ostrich - we have a video of him falling off. We also have a video of him standing on a termites mound.

I can't remember what they did at Knysna - I think they didn't do much - I probably didn't prepare them well enough.

They had an excellent time at Sanbona - the park has two widely separated groups of lion and, most, most unusually, they saw both in one day and, as an extra, they saw four lion stalking some springbok. They saw cheetah and kudu and everything else apart from the black rhino.
That park had four but one of them had killed the other three. They have to find him and take him out but they can't find him - only the spores. Sanbona had a dramatic storm last year (?) which flooded their lake which then broke the dam and largely drained the lake - so that part of it wasn't so good. They said the dam and the lake would take at least five years to re-build/fill.

They also felt that they tried to do too much and to drive far too far.
The roads, albeit very well signposted (UK motorway standards) were dirt roads and very slow. They found themselves driving for hours and hours which screwed up the timing. For example, when they arrived at the entrance to Sanbona, it took them an hour to get from the gates to the centre!

We have just returned from our stay in SA/Mauritius and want to thank you for sorting out our stay at Phinda some three weeks ago.

We had a fabulous time and took a total of 1000 photographs ! (Thanks God for digital).

I will not fail to contact you next time we come out (Easter 2005 ?) as this time we will be thinking about lots of hippos in Botswana.

I have just returned to the Lodge after a visit to the U.S. and I discovered something while there that you may find interesting.

As I was cleaning our files (to make room for more paper!) I came across an exchange of e-mails between us that went back to April of 1997. I was then putting a trip together for the two friends who came to Isandlwana with me for the first look-see at this sight.

I found you on the internet, then asked for some suggestions which you kindly gave. After all was said and done, I didn't use you to book the trip, but I did make this notation, "Try to use them next time. Jeremy was very nice to me."

It didn't occur to me when we first met that we had corresponded before but I do remember that your name was familiar. Now I know why.

Trust your business has been good. We are, hopefully, seeing a little pickup in bookings at this time. The short-lead time is making me nervous. I like to look months ahead and see some significant bookings!

Let us know if we can do anything for you in this area.

Yves and I wanted to let you know that our safari with Far and Wild was
fantastic, truly a trip of a lifetime. The most outstanding part of the
experience was being guided by Keith. His knowledge of wildlife and history was amazing and we had many great conversations about South Africa. We came home very well informed, relaxed and with many great memories.

In terms of venues, the variety of locations, ecosystems and lodge experiences made for an interesting trip. Of the four lodges, Amakhosi stands out. The combination of excellent food, a beautiful setting, first class service and great game viewing made it difficult to leave. I would highly recommend this lodge to others and I would go back in a flash.

The accommodation at African Ambience in St. Lucia was good as well, although we were a bit surprised at the amount of our bar bill when we left the next morning. They were very generous with the bar service but the costs could have been made more transparent! In retrospect, I think it would have been better to proceed directly to Hilltop rather than stay the night in St. Lucia.

The experience at Kosi Forest Lodge was a welcome change of pace from game viewing. The atmosphere there was very informal, relaxed and intimate, especially at night with the kerosene lamps, candles and fire and great conversations with the other guests. We ended up doing a boat trip in the lake system rather than the 4-wheel drive excursion that you had originally arranged. It seemed like a more relaxing option and we certainly had great views of the fish traps. The canoe trip was okay and we opted not to do another activity on the morning we left. I would recommend this lodge as a good place to relax but not for its activities/game viewing.

We had the same issue at Kosi that we did at St. Lucia with our bar bill.
Costs were not made clear up front nor was there any obvious accounting of what we consumed, especially on the excursions. We ended up with a large bar bill at the end that was not itemized. After two days we could not remember exactly what we had consumed and did not want to make an issue of it, so paid. However we thought we should let you know in case you use this lodge again. (When we got to Amakhosi, we made sure we knew exactly what the situation was vis-a-vis drinks....in turned out that everything was included, including a very well-stocked mini bar in our room!)

My husband left a rain jacket at Kosi Forest Lodge. We tried to contact the lodge when we were at Amakhosi but could only get through to a central reservation system. Do you have a local number or address for the lodge so we can contact them about the jacket?

Thank you again for arranging such a wonderful trip for us. We would love to come back some day...
Lois

> [Original Message]
> From: Far & Wild Safaris - Jeremy Williamson
> Date: 6/25/2004 8:56:31 AM
> Subject: Re: In Passing
>
> Good morning Dawn
>
> Thank you for sharing the loss of Shaka with me. I so admire what you
have done and
> for what you do. There has to be so much that will follow from the
exposure of your
> cause that was made possible by him.
>
> Keep in touch. There have been so many changes here within our Park
structure -
> here's hoping that it is all going to turn out to be positive and
beneficial to our wildlife.
>
> Love
>
> Jeremy--
> Ezemvel KZN Wildlife Honorary Officers Regional co-ordinator, Zululand

It is my sad duty to let you all know that our precious cheetah Shaka died today. Thank God that he died naturally and with people he loved around him. And my hope is that in death, just as in life, he can teach researchers so mething more about the rare and unusual diseases that plague cheetahs. His sister Zulu has never been alone without her brother, but she apparently knew that something was not right and is not burdened as we humans are with the emotional grie f that we put ourselves through. She is doing fine.

Shaka was always "my boy", as I often called him. Zulu is sweet as can be and everyone loves her for it. But Shaka could be challenging at times and I felt so privileged to be selected by him for comfort. When he wa s a cub he was more skittish than his sister, maybe he felt it was his responsibility to be big and strong, and she was always in tow, letting big brother worry about the monsters. When he was scared as a youngster, I would just open my arms wide and call to him and often he would rush into them, purring loudly. Momma made it okay. And as an adult, magnificent predator, he still would soften his wide eyed fear when he'd see me anywhere with my arms outstretched to him and I woul d hear the rumble of his purr get louder.

As my Dad said to me just yesterday, when an animal looks at you like that, like you are their savior, it is like being touched by the hand of God. I will never forget it. I will never forget him. He will always live on in the les sons he taught us about cheetah health, and in the funds that he raised for cheetah conservation in the wild, and most importantly in the hearts of all the many people that looked into those beautiful eyes and felt as if they too were touched by the hand of God.

Goodbye my Sweet Boy. I will see you again.

Dawn

Jeremy, I'm back in the US now after my Africa vacation. I had a fabulous time in South Africa, especially at Singita Boulders. That lodge was possibly the best place that I've ever stayed in. The room, staff, food, scenery ...everything was first class. AND, I saw all the Big 5 within the first two safari rides. It was all quite exciting.

Sent: Tuesday, June 01, 2004 11:22 PM

Just wanted to thank you again for making our trip to S. Africa as interesting and fun as possible. Feel free to use our names as references, any time!

Things have been hectic since our return. Dina had her pole vaulting... which she performed well... but not well enough to medal. Then Dina & younger sister Jamie had their dance recitals. Frankie is now home from college, and she needed my help getting summer employment. She found a great job choreographing shows for a local performing arts camp. This past weekend was big family time, Memorial Day. Now things should get back to "normal".

Hope all's well with you... and that your wife is not working such long hours/days.

Jeremy,
Just a note to tell you that we haven't fallen off the edge of the earth, even though it has been five years since last we saw you (April 1999). We think of our trip to South Africa -- Durban, Hluhluwe, Kruger, the Zulu battlefields -- with a great deal of fondness, much of it due to your care.

Since then, Patty and I have gotten all of the kids out of college and out of the house. Of the kids who took the trip with us, Ginny has gotten married and John has become a veterinary doctor and plans to get married this fall.

I keep looking for your photo book "Butt, of course" and have not found it, not even on Amazon.com.
Drop us a note and let us know how life is treating you. Your wee one should be out of the house as well.
John L Dyer

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