In order to fine-tune our operation, we invite all our previous guests to provide feedback on their experience with VIVA SAFARIS. All comments may be e-mailed to PIERO at colia@icon.co.za
Below are a selection of comments from previous guests:
Click here to view the letter from the Durban Jewish Community
Click here to view the certificate of appreciation from OzCots Australia
Click here to view a photo album taken by a Viva Safaris client at Kruger in May 2008
Click here for an email + photos sent by a client who visited the Kruger Park in March 2008
Click here for photos of Tremisana by a satisfied client
| Randi Hansen and Pål Bredesen |
Hello Tremisana and Pearl !!
A proof of life from Norway finally - Pål and Randi – Helle and Hanne Bredesen
Its now 8 mnths since we stayed at Tremisana for four wonderful eventful days. Shoul have mailed you before but your adress was gone until now.
We came 8 persons – four adults and four children going on our two weeks journey to South Africa to see wild animals, nature and people.
And so we did!!
Tremisana and you gave us a great start. Your hospitality was warm and close!! And the fact that you had considered and planned how to ”room us in” at Tremisana was perfect for me as ’mother hen’ – with great problems in letting my children out of sight… ;-) Giving the children the guesthouse was perfect!!
We are every week still taking about things we saw, discovered and smelled in Africa.
The children always and often talk about the angry mammaelephant that almost attacked us(the car) in the bush… with Bongani.
We have a perfect video of it all and we look at it sometimes…. Its still gives us a bit adrenalin when looking at it…
The video has been sent to Germany to a couple that was with us on this safari this day.
We talk about the evening when the monkeys made noise and Bongani told us it was only a snake… – but the next day we saw liontracks outside the Lodge…. (hmm… calming women and children…?? ;)
We talk about the time we saw two WILD elephants by a waterhole in the Krügerpark – throwing water all over themselves… and the smaal Ginnyfowls that the children said: looked like small old ladies on shoppingtrip……incredible moments that are stuck with us forever…
And the Rhino who impressed us by smelling the shit in the road and then turned around slowly and made on himself in the middel of all the shit, in the middel of the road… and then wander on as nothing had happened …what a behavior….hahahah and what a laugh for us…
Then there was the African light and the sunset in the evenings… and the sunrise at 5 in the morning on the porch with a cup of tea, and the smells and the qute monkeys, and the dark African night with all the sounds …. And the BREAD – the sweatened bread was really good.. !! and the soups was perfect!!
As you see – the four days we stayed at your place has made us richer on experiences !! And with all this with you, we still had 10 days left to explore this wonderful country of South Africa. A truly special and uniq country with big resources and fantastic landscapes.
We drove 2800km on this journey.
Here in Norway we have had a hard winter. We did not have plusdegrees from 1.dec to 15.march. This is terrible and the minus was very often down to 20 – brrr…
We’we had a lot of snow too. You can be sure that we had the best christmascard-christmas ever… J But now it is spring and the warmth is back…. Jeiiiii!!
And then all of the cold winter is forotten – thats how we are made up here, because there will be another one..
Life is back to normal but our holiday has made us more relaxed- more hakuna matata….
Give your staff our best and hope to hear from you !!
Regards,
Randi Hansen and Pål Bredesen and the girls. With my best wishes |
| Benjamin Balak |
Dear Piero,
I'm finally home after a series of travels which started back in May in South Africa with my elderly parents, my wife, & 2 young kids. We had an amazing time both at Marc's Treehouse & in Johannesburg & cannot wait to come back. Everybody from Viva Safaris was charming, knowledgeable, & very helpful but I must mention in particular 2 people who stand out: Rhulani who took us to Kruger & Abi who took us to Soweto. I have been fortunate to travel quite a lot over the years & have experienced many excellent guides but Rhulani & Abi were exceptional.
Beyond being able to find all big 5 + many more in just 2 days at Kruger, Rhulani was extremely knowledgable about the wildlife & easily able to share his knowledge at a very sophisticated level & for my young kids--as a professor I can trully appreciate his skills. I also particularly appreciated the relaxed but efficient way he managed the tours, & our conversations around dinner.
When we returned to Joburg we were in for a real intellectual & human treat. Abi took us shopping at the flee market & helped us find everything we wanted, but more importantly, we increasingly started asking questions about apartheid & the reforms since which is a topic of great professional & personal interest to me. The next day Abi took us to Soweto for one of the most moving days of my life. He exactly understood our interests & was able to strike a perfect balance between letting us explore some things on our own while adding his personal insights & experiences to fill in the gaps--once again, an outstanding guide.
Finally, I wanted to mention that I began discussing the possibility of organizing a student trip & possibly a separate faculty trip to South Africa at my college & look forward to having these remarkable 2 gentlemen as our guides. Academic administrations are quite slow so it may take some time before we can organize this but I want to return to South Africa & would definitely use your company.
All the very best,
Beni |
| Volkan Hizal |
Dear Piero, and his wonderful team,
I wanted to thank you so much for this lovely trip to Kruger National Park, at Marc's Tree Houses...
I'm so ashamed to say that I've forgotten the name of the lady who runs Marc's Tree Houses..
She was extremely nice, helpful, calm, and friendly.. Everyone has agreed that she does her job so well.. so good..
And all the other people who did their best to make us feel comfortable, I want to thank them all..
For the nice ride in Kruger.. For the nice meals.. and everything...
And for the surprise birthday cake she organized, you made me feel so happy and so good.. (on 4th of march)
I want to thank you over and over again..
Especially to that nice lady, "I'm really sorry that I can't remember her name now"
I will definitely come back again, but this time, I'm planning to bring my friends and family to show them how nice it was..
Thanks again,
And a huge hug from Turkey |
| Ray Hill |
Hi Piero, Brenda and I have arrived back to Canada with some very fond memories of Southern Africa. We started at Marc's and ended in Zimbabwe and Botswana. We had such a fantastic time at Marc's and Kruger, it was a great way to start the adventure. We were sorry we did not get a chance to meet you, but you have some very capable managers with Ronald and Pearl. Our guides Bertus and Rhulani, who I understand is new were great. I could not believe how much they knew, especially Bertus about birds. The treehouses were great, although my wife thought it was about as rough as she ever wanted to go, with the morning visitors inside. I thought it added tremendously to the African adventure. What can I say about the food, I thought we would have a chance to diet there, boy was I wrong. I would say my favorite was the soups especially the pumpkin. Your man Trevor does a great job behind the scenes as we were always looked after and never forgotten, people do notice these things. It is easy to see why it was so busy there. I really appreciated all you did before we arrived with the prompt and friendly e-mails, I just knew we were going to have a great time.
I finally had some time to sit at the computer and put a nice review on tripadvisor. I would not change a thing Piero it was perfect, Brenda and I could not have had a better time, South Africa is full of beautiful people and places. Thanks again. |
| Rod + Lyn Woodger |
Pierro, together with Graham and Sue Suttle we wish to thank you and your staff for the fantastic time we had staying at Tremisana and at Marc's during October. The food, hospitality and game drives surpassed our expectations.
Best wishes
Rod + Lyn Woodger |
| Randi Hansen and Pål Bredesen |
Hello Tremisana and Pearl !!
A proof of life from Norway finally - Pål and Randi – Helle and Hanne Bredesen
Its now 8 mnths since we stayed at Tremisana for four wonderful eventful days. Shoul have mailed you before but your adress was gone until now.
We came 8 persons – four adults and four children going on our two weeks journey to South Africa to see wild animals, nature and people.
And so we did!!
Tremisana and you gave us a great start. Your hospitality was warm and close!! And the fact that you had considered and planned how to ”room us in” at Tremisana was perfect for me as ’mother hen’ – with great problems in letting my children out of sight… ;-) Giving the children the guesthouse was perfect!!
We are every week still taking about things we saw, discovered and smelled in Africa.
The children always and often talk about the angry mammaelephant that almost attacked us(the car) in the bush… with Bongani.
We have a perfect video of it all and we look at it sometimes…. Its still gives us a bit adrenalin when looking at it…
The video has been sent to Germany to a couple that was with us on this safari this day.
We talk about the evening when the monkeys made noise and Bongani told us it was only a snake… – but the next day we saw liontracks outside the Lodge…. (hmm… calming women and children…?? ;)
We talk about the time we saw two WILD elephants by a waterhole in the Krügerpark – throwing water all over themselves… and the smaal Ginnyfowls that the children said: looked like small old ladies on shoppingtrip……incredible moments that are stuck with us forever…
And the Rhino who impressed us by smelling the shit in the road and then turned around slowly and made on himself in the middel of all the shit, in the middel of the road… and then wander on as nothing had happened …what a behavior….hahahah and what a laugh for us…
Then there was the African light and the sunset in the evenings… and the sunrise at 5 in the morning on the porch with a cup of tea, and the smells and the qute monkeys, and the dark African night with all the sounds …. And the BREAD – the sweatened bread was really good.. !! and the soups was perfect!!
As you see – the four days we stayed at your place has made us richer on experiences !! And with all this with you, we still had 10 days left to explore this wonderful country of South Africa. A truly special and uniq country with big resources and fantastic landscapes.
We drove 2800km on this journey.
Here in Norway we have had a hard winter. We did not have plusdegrees from 1.dec to 15.march. This is terrible and the minus was very often down to 20 – brrr…
We’we had a lot of snow too. You can be sure that we had the best christmascard-christmas ever… J But now it is spring and the warmth is back…. Jeiiiii!!
And then all of the cold winter is forotten – thats how we are made up here, because there will be another one..
Life is back to normal but our holiday has made us more relaxed- more hakuna matata….
Give your staff our best and hope to hear from you !!
Regards,
Randi Hansen and Pål Bredesen and the girls. With my best wishes |
Jim & Linda King
Dallas, Georgia |
Our safari at Tremisana:
My husband and I were there 10-13 May 2008 and had an unbelievable time and want to go back. Pearl is truly a gem and made sure we were always on time for all our adventures. Our guides, Steve and Bertis made sure we had ample opportunities to view the surroundings and see as many of the animals as possible and their knowledge of the plants, animal habits, etc. was truly remarkable. They even kept us safe when, on our 4-hour walking safari, we were "stalked" by a mad elephant - they both kept their cool - which we all appreciated.
The day in Kruger Park was more than we ever could have wished for - except it would have been nice if the lions and the leopards woke up!!! We were in South Africa for three weeks and the safari was our final adventure before returning home - we are glad it was, for everything else we did, while exciting and enjoyable, pales in comparison. |
| Claudine COMBRIE |
We are back in the UK now.
We had a great time at Tremisana - Bongani was a brilliant guide with his extremely good knowledge of the park and the wildlife, his incredible eyesight and his easy going approach. Can you please tell him that we eventually saw some rhinos in the Wetland National Park in St Lucia as we were just about giving up on them.
We were delighted to have booked with Viva Safari - From Anthony collecting us from the airport and taking us to his place, making us feel very welcome with a copious breakfast to the stay at Tremisana with a packed schedule for 5 days and good food and accomodation, we couldn't have hoped for better.
The visit to Moholoholo was very good - the guy in charge (Brian?) gave us a very inspiring presentation.
The only activity that we were more reserved about is the bush walk in the Kruger park. I think it is probably because we had such a personal service from Bongani that it was difficult for the Kruger guides to match this service. We enjoyed the sunrise walk much more as after hearing a lion during the night, Bongani made us follow the route the lion took to the water hole.
So thank you to all your team for a great start to our holidays in South Africa.
If we know of anyone looking for a Safari tour, we will certainly recommend Viva Safaris! |
| Almaret du Toit |
Dear Trevor
Please receive our greatest thanks for all you've done for us while Hexvalley High School's netball teams was on tour last month. Your service was really great. We really appreciate the way you rearranged transport after our flight was delayed and we couldn't land at Lanseria Airport. Everybody at Viva Safaris were really very helpful and friendly, especially Pearl at Tremisana. We will definitely use your company in the future.
Regards,
Almaret du Toit
Teacher and netball coach
Hexvalley High School
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