Reviews

An enjoyable tour of Kruger, Johannesburg, and Cape Town with a happy group of travellers.
The tour Guides (Tefo Legobate & Nabeel Daniels) were both knowledgeable, and passionate in showing off their country.
Nothing was too much trouble in making the tour memorable for all of us.
Our third trip with Wendy Wu; we will be back.

Generally the trip was very good and the itinerary was amazing, however it was full on, all days busy often with very early starts so be warned. We did feel that the “Gods Window” & “Tsitsikamma Forest” were a bit more than the level 1 fitness stated as they were both very long and steep climbs.
The 6 safari drives were amazing and we got to see all of the big 5
We very much enjoyed the Wendy Wu experience as we have on all previous holiday but would make 2 points.
1 The coach used on the Port Elizabeth to Cape Town section was too small & uncomfortable for journeys up to 12 hrs long.
2 we all paid our $180 tip money which added up to $3240 for the 18 on the trip. We were often urged to pay more direct to people. On previous Wendy Wu trips the national guides handed out the tips openly especially to local guides, which there were none on this trip. Obviously there were the Rangers & trackers plus hotel staff but it was difficult to know where all that money went. I should add we are happy to pay it if we knew where it was all going.

Overall a very good holiday, good accommodation, good meals, and the coaches were OK but could have been newer (and quieter with better sound systems), both drivers were first class. For our first week, we found our guide Lizwe to be excellent.
The itinerary was satisfactory, but too rushed on the first day when visiting the Apartheid Museum and then travel to Mpumalanga - consequently we did not stop to appreciate view points on route and arrived at Angel's View after dark.
A separate day for Johannesburg sight seeing then travel to Mpumalanga the following day would have been preferable.
Sightseeing on the Panorama Route was spoilt due to bad weather, so it would be sensible to have an alternative sightseeing opportunity if necessary.
The Shiduli Game Reserve was a highlight (in spite of cold weather) and could not be faulted. It would have been good to have had more notice of the optional safari on the last morning so more people would have joined this.
On the Garden Route, the highlight was the Featherbed Eco Experience. We would have liked stops at view points on the route (we travelled the Garden Route but felt there was more to see).
The worst day - which needs to be addressed - was the journey from Knysna to Cape Town. The itinerary said this would take 8 hours including sightseeing, but actually took 13.5 hours even though we only had the planned times for sightseeing, lunch and comfort breaks. We had to buy food at a service station as we would have arrived in Cape Town too late to eat.
We would suggest staying overnight part way to Cape Town to avoid this excessively long journey and enable more enjoyment of sights on route.
In Cape Town the sightseeing trips were good and we included a visit to Signal Hill as there was plenty of time for this.
The queues for the Table Mountain cable car were probably well over and hour, so the group opted to pay extra for the fast track tickets - we feel this should be included as standard.
The trip to the winelands included a gourmet lunch at Haute Cabriere. The service was vey slow but the meal delicious. In the evening we went to the Gold restaurant, so had a second substantial meal - may be a bit too much in one day. We don't know how it would be best to improve this.
OVERALL we felt that an additional day at the beginning (or effectively starting the tour at lunch on the first day, since most of the group had travelled overnight) would be beneficial. Similarly, an extra day on the Garden Route is essential to ensure it is a holiday not a route march!