Mahlatini Luxury Travel Avis 

I spent considerable time trying to book a safari with Mahlatini.
In January I asked for availability and quote for August. I received an attractive booking summary, except, this was for July. When asked, the agent said it's the same price. The response time was not good, however, this was not too much of a problem. Then the agent was pushing for confirmation when I reminded that the dates are August, and she had to go back and check availability. Later, the agent asked if I prefer to travel July or August. to cut the story short, in March, i got a confirmation for a honey moon, where as the trip enquiry was for me and my daughter!!! That's it, they proved that the term "luxury" can be loosely used. I decided to use one of the much better service, much better product, much better value offered by many other travel agencies or even direct bookings that are available in Kenya.

We decided to do something a little different for our honeymoon and splashed out on a trip to South Africa and Mauritius: best decision we ever made. We’d heard about Mahlatini from a friend and found the recommendation to be a good one. Nikki was very attentive to our needs and got us a bundle of honeymoon extras. Service was prompt, helpful, and the trip very smooth. My wife and I had a fabulous time and are longing to get back to Africa as soon as we can.

Being of a certain age and not sure if we could cope with the physical challenges of a gorilla walk, we contacted the experts in Mahlatini Luxury tours. Their answer was encouraging, we could simply be booked to visit the gorilla family living the shortest distance from the starting point of the walks.
Unfortunately it turned out to be pure rubbish. A local guide told us, that the walking distance to all the families were pure chance, and age or physical condition was not taken into considerations when allocating guests to the different groups.
Our tour included 5 hours hard walk and climbing in the altitude of 2800 m. We saw the gorillas, but my wife came back on a stretcher, and I was more dead than alive.
If you are over 65 remember to bring extra 300 USD to pay for a possible stretcher party.
Mahlatini stands for luxury, but that did not include the "private safari car". It was an old banger with a weak engine, bad springs, raged interior and uncomfortable seats with safety belts that did not work properly. Driving on unpaved roads was a torture, and most roads were unpaved. Complaints to the local agent were ignored, and so have inquiries to Mahlatini also been.
The 3 stars are for the hotels and camps,that were excellent, the chimp.walk and the boat trip on the Kazinga Channel.

I have been lucky enough to travel quite extensively in my life and have dealt with a number of the leading tour operators both in the UK and internationally.
The first and last time that I actually went on safari was in the late 1980s on a trip to South Africa- an experience that I enjoyed with my late wife and that still lives fondly in my memories today.
After the death of my wife last year I decided to take stock of my life and to do all of the things that I had never quite got round too and one of those was returning to South Africa to explore the country and perhaps discover how it and I have changed over the years. Living in Belfast I was already aware of Mahlatini as a company who has an office in the city. After doing some research of my own and looking online I made an enquiry with Mahlatini and was promptly contacted by Chris who went to great lengths to discuss my needs and wants for the trip. He suggested visiting in september when the weather would be starting to warm up a little but still with great conditions for game viewing which was something I was very keen on.
I arranged a tour of the Western Cape including Cape Town, Franschhoek and then a transfer via Cape Town International to Kruger in the north east.
Although I was a little apprehensive about travelling alone for the first time in some years I managed to make some wonderful friends and the staff at the Mount Nelson Hotel in particular were just brilliant. Cape Town doesn't seem to have changed as much as I might have expected since my first visit and that air of friendly community spirit still seems to encompass the city.
My two nights in Franschhoek were equally memorable and again the Franschhoek Country House was a wonderful choice of accommodation and I must admit that I did help myself to a couple of bottles of white and red to take home with me.
The Elephants plain lodge in Kruger National Park was very smart and comfortable and the game drives a real thrill.
Overall I had a wonderful experience and I think Mahlatini did a fantastic job of helping to rekindle those old memories and giving me a fantastic holiday