We had the most amazing experience during our stay with shinzelle. The guides were funny, friendly and super knowledgeable. I really enjoyed picking their brains to find out about the animals, their biology and their habits and learned loads. The staff tool great care of us and we felt really looked after. Everyone was friendly and approachable and they made up a big part of our positive experience. It is really heartening to see people passionate about what they do. The safari rides themselves were incredible, stunning scenery, intimate animal encounters and such a wide variety of wildlife. We didn't know what to expect as it was our first trip to south africa, but it exceeded expectations and made our honeymoon unforgettable. Couldn't recommend it enough! Trip of a lifetime and we are already counting the days to our next visit.

The Trips with our tour guide were awesome. Everyday new animals were spotted and the Rangers informed each other about interesting spots so you won't miss anything. Our Ranger Jeffery was able to give information and answers to all kinds of different things which lead to awesome three days.

Stay at Tomo Safari Lodge with a three-day package. Overall, a 3-star experience with a 5-star cost. • The toilet in the room doesn’t flush well. • The bathroom light is white, which ruins the vibe. It should be yellow. • One waiter doesn’t smile while serving. He also spilled red wine on the table without noticing it himself and couldn’t remember the dishes for a group of four. He’s not familiar with the drink list at all. A young waiter on a working holiday, who’s only been here for a week, knows it better than him. • On a windy day, the waiters kept forgetting to close the door during dinner, even though two groups reminded them multiple times. This was awful and inconsiderate. • The guide skipped the coffee on the morning safari without explanation. His hospitality changes when there are more white guests on the safari car, raising concerns about racism. Such differentiated treatment is completely unacceptable. • The suggested tip is 450 ZAR for the guide and 450 ZAR for the villa staff per day, which guests are informed about upon arrival. This doesn’t feel right and isn’t a good practice for a luxury package. While tipping culture exists in the U.S. where employers often don’t pay a good base wage, when we’ve already spent tens of thousands of ZAR on a luxury package, the staff and guide should be paid well and shouldn’t expect tips. It’s quite disappointing to find so many flaws every day when you’ve booked a luxury package.

Truly a life changing experience! Far exceeded my expectations and I can’t wait to do this again! We were picked up on time every day. Our driver (s) were very knowledgeable and explained so much. I really learned a lot aside from seeing the beautiful wildlife and scenery. I would rate the safari experience a 10 out of 10!!!

Absolutely amazing organization and support. One of the participants could make it due to a illness, and Danielle reorganized everything effortless. I strongly suggest Shinzelle Safaris.

I definitely recommend Shinzelle Safaris!! In the first place, we wanted a custom 6-days tour for our family, which Danielle from Shinzelle arranged exactly as we wanted at a good price. Unfortunately, part of our group missed a flight connection and arrived 3 days later than expected with a complete uncertainty about their luck day by day. Danielle was amazingly helpful, trying to set everything "in real time" so that all the scheduled activities would be squeezed in the remaining days and the unlucky ones could enjoy them all, while the rest of us were enjoying nice game drives as planned. In addition, the quality of all the services provided in the package was awesome. The lodge in which we were accommodated was just fantastic (African Rock Lodge), the guides and drivers (Jeffrey, Vincent, Sibu) were extremely nice, kind and helpful. Thanks to all of you guys, you made our experience great in spite of the mishap!

Excellent service despite last minute lodge change. Kruger guide Edson was fantastic 5/5 Have had excellent experience with Danielle via email and whats app. Despite last minute change in lodge we have enjoyed Tshukudu lodge. Great service and sunrise sunset safari. Our guide Edson is amazing had a adventure packed Kruger day safari with a unique and unforgettable experience. Saw white lion mating. Dingo family. Leopard. Cheetah stalking. Elephant families with little ones. Zebras. Wilderbeast. Impala and so much more. Hipos and zebras. Lunch was in a great restaurant. Exceeded all our expectations.

Great day in Kruger National Park! We had a lovely day in the park, which started a bit slowly with the hot weather, but ended excellent with beautiful lion and leopard sightings! Very thankful to our guide Edson who took us on this trip! Very good guide with great knowledge, but also a great sense of humor. I was also very impressed by how helpful he was with other guides on their tours, turning around and catching up with them to give them tips about sightings. Very considerate! Thank you for this lovely day!

What a sham of a company. Indecent and money hungry. The first day our driver seemed disgruntled and went out of the way to be unhelpful. He never even introduced himself or asked our names. Before we took off, I made sure to tell him my knee was giving me issues. However, whenever we made a stop, he went out of his way to park as far away as he could to watch me struggle to get in and out of the vehicle and walk an unnecessary distance when he could have parked closer. I believe any courteous man, especially a guide, would've at least offered to help. He didn't speak to us until we had to sign papers before entering the park. While on the safari, water was supposed to be included, instead, the driver took a bottle out of the case for himself and not even once offered us any. I have not received such poor service on a tour and I've been to over 40 countries. Also just having met this man, we had done nothing to him, but this was how he decided to treat paying customers. I've completed other safaris in Africa, including the Serengeti and never received such offensive service from a company. I did not travel this far to South Africa, especially for my birthday to deal with a boorish and disgruntled driver. After mentioning our concerns to the company, the lady who coordinated the trip's first response was: "I am incredibly shocked and disappointed to hear the feedback from today and we do certainly value our guest experience above all! This is very unlike Jeffery and there are a few points that I have seriously addressed with him. I am sincerely disappointed that this was your first impression and certainly trust that we can redeem ourselves for the rest of your trip. I did give Jeffery your names and so I suppose as he knew them he did not ask - but again this is not who he is and certainly have never received this kind of feedback about him before". What a complete joke of a response! This is the feedback we have given and clearly how we were treated. I don't have the creativity or time to make this nonsense up, they have implied. Seems she cared more to defend the driver than accept our feedback. She also wanted us to take the same driver for the rest of our tour. Clearly showing they didn't care about our feedback. However, we refused, and they found us a new driver who was the opposite of the first. He was polite, cared about what my friend wanted to see, informative, and come to find out, was from a different company. Making me believe all their drivers are rude or the first driver is known to be disgruntled and gets the last minute customers, as we booked our tour a day or so before. The company then offered a bottle of wine as a "nice" gesture. However, it seemed disingenuous and not acceptable considering the driver ruined our day and experience. Additionally, the coordinator was told I was not feeling well and the lodge never gave us the bottle. After falling ill I was unable to participate in the final two safaris. I reached out to the coordinator for a refund for those days, and was told no, because everything was a package, and the company didn't offer refunds. I then asked for at least a refund for the entrance fees to Kruger and that became an issue as well. The coordinator then proceeded to go back and forth with me and say that she had done so much to accommodate us. I don't think people deserve sympathy or rewards for doing their jobs. Additionally, she kept mentioning how she accommodated us, by finding a new driver, something that would not have been an issue if the first one hadn't been inconsiderate. I then spoke to the manager who was also arrogant and unaware of what customer service is. I asked for a refund for the driver the first day as his attitude and demeanor was unacceptable. His response was that refund of any sort wasn't necessary as the driver provided a service. Again, clearly diminishing and invalidating our concerns, and defending a useless driver. Even after asking if it's ok to provide poor service, he said his driver still deserved to get paid! I did not ask him for any other reimbursement, outside of the refund for the driver and the entrance fees for the park that clearly were not used, as I did not participate in the other safaris. He declined to reimburse for the driver and said he would reach out to the other company to see if they would reimburse. Also, in the beginning of our conversation said if the other company said no, they would reimburse. That sentiment changed towards the end of the conversation. I guess after not backing down that the whole company has poor customer service and was unbelievable.As of today, I still have not heard back from this deceitful company. I guess the company isn't doing well as they choose to hold onto every dollar they receive at the expense of customers, even in the presence of poor service. I have never had to write a poor review for a tour company, but for this company, it is more than deserved. Please find another company!!

What an unforgettable experience on our safari with Shinzelle! Everything was perfect and we will be forever grateful to Danielle for stepping in and rearranging everything at very short notice at our request! Our guide - Jason's encyclopaedic knowledge of the sights and sounds of Kruger was very interesting and entertaining. The accommodation was fabulous and our time on safari will stay with us forever.

Due to COVID we had been waiting 3 years to do this Safari and it didn't disappoint! Many thanks to Danielle, our guides and hosts who looked after us and ensured that we had an amazing experience. We had 2 safaris in the Pridelands conservancy and spent 2 full days in Kruger where we got incredibly close to the big 5 animals. We also had very rare and special encounters with wild dogs and cheetahs! Seeing wild dog pups and hyena cubs was like something from David Attenborough. We also did a 1 day tour of the Blyde River Canyon which showed us beautiful areas and taught us a lot about the local culture. African Rock Lodge where we stayed was extremely comfortable, with excellent food, staff and very friendly hosts. It also had lots of interesting wildlife wandering close by as it is inside the Hoedspruit Wildlife Estate. All in all, an unforgettable trip!

Sensational experience with Shinzelle Safaris! We enjoyed every minute in the park, seeing the Big Five! Everything was perfectly coordinated. We spent five days in the park, which was enough to see all the animals you could hope for if you're lucky. The attention and coordination with our ranger were flawless. Whenever we needed something, they went out of their way to assist us. An amazing week!

We had an amazing 5 days Kruger Safari with Shinzelle and especially with our ranger / guide Jeffrey. We could see not just the big 5 but ….. the 7 magnificents! Our guide made it so especial. He knew absolutely everything about animals’ behavior…. and with a great sense of humor. Always on time and always ready to go a bit further seeking for the animals. If we ever go back to Kruger we’ll repeat with Shinzelle and Jeffrey.

Best Holiday Ever!!! Everything about this holiday was brilliant, wonderful location & accommodation. The communication was excellent & the way the whole trip was organised was fantastic from start to finish. I do not want to do any other type of holiday ever again! The Manor house was wonderful, every person there made our trip what it was, our guides, both from Shinzelle & at the Manor House were great & knowledgeable. Food was delicious, the watering hole opposite the pool was fabulous too. Beautiful place, wonderful people, best trip of my life, cannot wait to come back & I will!

We enjoyed an outstanding and truly memorable safari with Shinzelle in March 2023. It was five days and four nights split between two lodges in different private game reserves in the Hoedspruit/Balule area. We toured the Blyde River Canyon area one day and another a full-day safari in the Kruger National Park. Otherwise it was early morning and evening safari drives in the reserves, including the evening of our arrival and the morning of our departure. The lodges were beautifully set in wild areas, but yet comfortable, with great service, and great food. Each had its own distinctive character, the first we especially loved the shaded dining area with "infinity" pool on an elevation with a view-to-die-for of the Drakensberg mountains and the sunsets. We found this lodge hard to leave. The second, we loved the separate, private, comfortable, round-cottage-type rooms with airy, high thatched-roof ceilings. Throughout, we enjoyed fabulous game drives, with different types of experiences in the different reserves and Kruger NP. Our first drive, in the light of the early evening, and then into the dark, we spent much of the time following a pride of lions on the move and looking to hunt. In another we found ourselves surrounded by 40 or more elephants for an extended period, with many young, and many large females, all happily feeding. I think the highlight was the all-day Kruger tour, simply for the abundance of wildlife, large herds of zebra, giraffes, buffalo, elephants, impala, and too many others to be listed. (It was March, there had been good rains and things were very green with abundant grass, very beautiful.) Also, birds. The only predators we saw at Kruger were a pack of wild dogs that were resting and relaxing beside the road, and that we sat and watched just a few feet from us for quite a while. But we had already had multiple intimate encounters with lions, so no problem there. Logistically, things were well organized and smooth. Shinzelle had a guide (Johnny, who we loved) assigned to take care of us for other than the safari drives in the private reserves. So he guided our Blyde and Kruger tours. A nice thing about visiting in March (other than the nice weather and the bountiful grass and flowers) was that the lodges were not very busy so we had very small groups on the drives, and it was just us for Blyde and Kruger, so we had a good chance to get to know our guide. We took the transfer van from OR Tambo to Hoedspruit and back. This was efficient and worked out fine. My thought is that the journey is quite long and in some places the road is not great. If cost is not important you might consider flying.