We spent 3 nights at Kapama Karula two in a tent and one in room. The complex is very easy to get to if you are in a hire car. The welcome was very friendly and our tent was luxurious with a bath as well as an outside shower, which was great. The tent was set away from the main rooms and had a nice balcony from which one could view the local waterbuck and a mongoose family. Although not camping in the boy scout sense of the word it did make you feel nearer to the animals. In contrast the room was really large and luxurious with a huge balcony overlooking the river. All the staff were extremely friendly and did their best to make you feel welcome. The lounge and dining areas were like those in a top notch hotel and the food was very good and included some unusual dishes like crocodile carpaccio. There were other excellent facilities like and decent sized pool but as we had lots of exciting game drives we really needed an extra day or two to make use of these. The only problem was that because we stayed out late on several of the evening drives we had very little time to have a drink in the bar before dinner and to compare our day's experiences with other guests.
The game drives were the highlight of our stay, our ranger Ryan and tracker Vusi were both among the best we've had. Their respect for the animals and their ability to spot them was exceptional, especially after dark. Ryan really encouraged us to take an interest not just in the big five but also in smaller animals, reptiles and insects. One of the most memorable moments being to see a column of Matabele ants off on a foraging expedition, but best of all was the rare sighting of a pangolin, we really were lucky.
Even when animals were being elusive it was a pleasure to see how the ranger/tracker team set about trying to find game, and even though on one drive we were not having much success just the fact that stopped for our coffee along with some impala, warthogs and zebra surrounding us was a pleasure and gave us the chance to observe them close to.

Overall the experience was fantastic and we had an unforgetable experience.

Di and Pete

There are simply no words to describe the Kapama experience. Setting - picture perfect. Rooms - exquisite. Food - great swlection, with brilliant ambience. Hospitality - pleasurable. Game drives - some of the best rangers you will ever get and the closest experiece one will ever have with African game. From the amarula on camp to pointing a black mamaba from 3 metres away - this was the most complete experience I could ever ask for. Strongly recommend 2-3 nights here.

The last stop on our South Africa Honeymoon could not have been better than a stay at Kapama Karula! It is a smaller and more intimate property with as much luxury and service a vacationer would want. More impressive is the smaller footprint Karula offers leaves the guests feeling they are much farther in the bush than you really are! The staff warmly greets each guest and sends them off in the same intimate style. Wait and bar staff are very friendly and work long hours to ensure each guest has a fantastic experience.

We flew into Eastgate Airport (HDS) from Cape Town (CPT) via Johannesburg (a non-stop is seasonally offered CPT-HDS but does not operate daily--this is highly recommended if you do not have travel plans that involve time in Gauteng Province). The Kapama Private Reserve is located directly south of the airport property and would leave most people wondering how private or intrusive having such proximity to the airport would make this experience? It was a non-factor in seeing the big 5 plus more in native environments while never hearing any aircraft in operation and it couldn't have made the journey to Kapama any easier. Save on vehicle rentals and fly in/out of Eastgate...you won't need a vehicle while at Karula.

Game drives were twice daily and our guides Moses and Petro were absolute pros. Kapama offers open top vehicles and get quite close to many species without interfering in their native habitat. This allows for easy photo opportunities without complications. This also isn't some gimmicky park where nature is over-engineered for marketing. We really required knowledgeable trackers to find the larger predators and would even go off-road to find them (sounds more dangerous than it actually is...far more exciting too). Game drives were also when housekeeping would provide excellent service without interruption to your experiences.

Meal times were positioned around game drives so you never had to choose one or the other which is very helpful. Food was always well presented and with care. You could tell the emphasis on upscale service was a point of pride for the property. A range of international guests would feel very comfortable with the level or service and care as well as dietary considerations.

Rooms were recently renovated from damaging floods so everything had a new feel. With that, we were patient with an ant intrusion that manifested over the 4 days but the staff assisted us as best they could. We were never immersed with an insect problem but if stray ants or spiders would affect you adversely, stay in the cities because no building in the bush is 100% safe. Fully stocked amenities and open floor plan makes for a pleasant accommodation while the
territorial views from the outside deck (or from inside through the floor to ceiling sliding doors/windows) offer random glimpses of game traveling in native fashion. Security is provided to the property through high walls and electric fencing so there should be no fear or predators on property. Smaller creatures, like velvet monkeys, are able to cross through the property without danger to themselves or guests making the area feel less sterile and more wild.

I would agree that visiting different reserves would offer visitors more diversity in landscape and game density (we never saw the big 5 during any same days drives but did see each at separate times) and 3 nights on property certainly was enough time, Karula is worthy of long-range planning to make bookings for this property as part of your game reserve experiences.

We visited 5 properties during this South Africa vacation and were truly impressed with the level of service and quality of experiences. Although this was ranked #2 of 5 for our trip (behind Ellerman House and above Grande Roche, The Marine Hermanus and Hilton Cape Town) the memories from here will resonate our lifetime. We would stay at this property again and would go out of our way to do so.

We had a wonderful experience! Everyone really rolled out the red carpet for us to make it one of the best experiences ever. Our guides Decklin and Herbert always went out of their way for us and would let us start game drives a little earlier and later than normal. Both of them helped to make this a great trip with both their knowledge and genuinely caring about showing us as much as possible.

The food was always excellent and the rooms were perfect. The facilities are the equivalent to a five star hotel. Everyone at Karula was so nice to us. I don’t think it could have been possible to have a better safari experience than the one that we had!