John. 26 May 2018

Fantastic fun day in the Addo Elephant National Park

— original message —

Review on Tripadvisor, 26 May 2018

Great day out

When looking for companies to go on Safari with, reviews and value for money play a big part. Instinct also had a big say in me going with Alan Tours, namely because of my initial communication with Angelika, Alan’s heartbeat in the office. As other Safari companies were slow to respond when I was searching for who I would be going with, Angelika was back in touch with me as soon as I sent my first email, answering every question that I had asked. You don’t get a second chance to make a first impression and Angelika was on the ball from the very start – my instinct told me to book with Alan Tours and how glad I am that I did.

All communication before the Safari was handled in a very easy and professional manner, Angelika always making sure that I was aware exactly what would be happening on the day of our Addo Safari trip. On the day itself Alan picked my wife and I up along with his assistant, Andrew at the designated time. His vehicle was spotless both inside and out. Immediately there was a warmth between each other which made for a very relaxing atmosphere. Both Alan and Andrew are very passionate about their job and were more than happy to answer any questions we asked.

After one more pickup we made our way into the park and immediately starting looking for wildlife. With his expert knowledge Alan knew the best area’s to look and within minutes Elephants, Zebra, Warthog and Kudu were strolling right past our vehicle. We then made our way above a watering hole where we viewed plenty of Elephants and Zebra taking a drink in the hot sun. We had a mid-morning break for coffee and biscuits, enabling us all to have a good chat about the mornings events. After the break we had another long spell of searching for animals, anytime we came across the wildlife Alan made sure that we had enough time to take photos, video etc.

A lunch break was taken where we had a choice of meals to choose from (this is included in the price), Alan and Andrew made sure that everything was to our satisfaction, once again we all had things to say about our day so far, it was as if five friends were having a discussion round the table not five people who barely knew each other.

After our meal we continued our afternoon hunt for animals, at the same time Alan pointed out any interesting landmarks along the way. The one animal we hadn’t seen was a Lion but unknown to us Alan had got wind of two in our area. Sure enough suddenly at the top of a hill lay two Lions looking down on us though still a fair distance away. Other vehicles came and went, seemingly impatient as the Lions did not move but Alan was convinced that some action would take place as long as we bided our time. Alan’s call was correct, after waiting over thirty minutes the two Lions sprang into life, coming down the hill, through the bushes and onto the road directly in front of us. We then watched as they took a drink and had a stretch oblivious that we were there. Alan then hit on the idea of slowly driving past the Lions, doing a U turn and waiting for them to come toward us. As we had just turned round and parked the two Lions got up walked towards us and strolled down the side of our vehicle – a truly memorable experience.

All the previous waiting around meant that we arrived back in Port Elizabeth an hour after schedule but this did not bother Alan in the slightest, he was just so pleased that we had all enjoyed our day. We had indeed enjoyed a fantastic day and most of it was down to Alan Tours. I can honestly say that if anyone is thinking of the day experience at Addo then Alan’s tour company is the one to go with.