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Nhongo Safaris Press Release

PRESS RELEASE

International luxury timepiece brand, Hublot, to unveil Black and White Rhino Support timepiece in South Africa at launch of partnership with cricketer Kevin Pietersen, and Care For Wild

Johannesburg, 30 August 2019

Global timepiece brand, Hublot, is currently in South Africa to launch a partnership with ex-cricketer Kevin Pietersen’s Save Our Rhinos Africa and India (SORAI), and South Africa’s Care For Wild, in a new drive towards the raising of awareness and funds for rhino protection.

The brand will be unveiling a special Black and While Rhino Support timepiece in support of the initiative. The watch is valued at R500 000 a piece, with the proceeds (Nhongo Team – do you know how the proceeds will be channelled for rhinos?).

The partnership was entered into with the aim of growing global awareness and funds for the protection of rhinos, which are facing extinction. Africa’s black and white rhino, and India’s Sumatran, Javan and India rhino, are critically in danger of extinction due to excessive poaching for their horns, making the partnership an invaluable collaboration.

Preferred tour operator for Care For Wild, Nhongo Safaris, has had a long-standing relationship with Care For Wild, and is the preferred safari tour operator on the property, with all safaris to Care For Wild operating through Nhongo Safaris. “We are proud to be a part of this initiative with Care For Wild, SORAI and Hublot; having such globally-recognised brands take to the trenches to help save our rhinos is such a progressive step in saving these incredible animals, which are in danger of extinction,” says XXX, designation from Nhongo Safaris.

Pietersen built SORAI because of his passion for rhino conservation, with the aim being to rescue abandoned, injured, and orphaned rhinos in an effort to rehabilitate them, with Pietersen’s initiative aiming for “the ongoing preservation and protection of Rhino’s in Africa and India and the ongoing education, awareness and public support of this issue globally”.

CEO of Hublot, Ricardo Guadalupe, is currently in South Africa to launch the partnership with Pietersen and Care For Wild.

ENDS

About Nhongo Safaris

Nhongo Safaris offers a range of safaris into the Kruger National Park, Zimbabwe and Botswana, giving guests a true taste of Africa and its incredible wildlife. A broad selection of exciting travel experiences and adventures – from luxury safaris, to budget safaris – give travellers with any budget the opportunity to see the Big Five, and experience the beauty of Africa’s landscape.

What makes Nhongo Safaris different is its incredible team, which is people-centric and always looking for ways to make guests experiences unforgettable.

For more information on Nhongo Safaris, visit www.nhongosafaris.com or contact marketing@nhongosafaris.com

Giraffes Fighting For Dominance

Please be careful as content shows death in the video

Hi Again Everybody,

What we have here in the video clip is two male giraffes fighting for dominance.

This is what happens when you get one old giraffe, and one younger giraffe where the younger of the two giraffes feels he needs to fight the older to get control of the females and then he is able to sow his seeds thereby been able to advance his bloodline. The video above shows you just how vicious it can become, with the actual noice of the horns hitting bones, and actually braking some of them. everybody visualises a giraffe to be a placid animal, that just forages on trees, and mates with females. It is not until you see something a viscous as the above that you get to know that giraffes can be come so violent in the defence of their females. Unfortunately the younger of the two giraffes dies in this video, as the blows to his body are all on target, and hurt hime immensely, that he just cannot continue, and falls to the ground dead. Nature is sometimes a ver brutal thing, but this is one of the ways, where the saying that the "Strongest Shall Survive". It is not uncommon the see giraffes fighting while on one of our Kruger Park Safaris, however seen them fight to the death is not a very common sight. 

For more information on our safaris, please visit www.nhongosafaris.co.za  

Lion Photos taken early morning

Good Morning Everybody,
It is always nice to see photos of wildlife, and especially lions, as it is one of the species of African Wildlife that most visiting guests when asked want to see. These photos were taken by one of our guides Amanda while out on an early morning game drive. It is always great to have guides that have good cameras, that can take good photos, but as good as the photo is, it is at the same moment that one must understand that there is a very fine line between guides taking photos and doing the job of guiding clients. Guides have to understand, that when coming into the sighting, their full concentration must be on their clients, and not on their personal job of taking or teying to take the best photos. This is deemed to be totally unprofessional, as your guests and their needs always comes first in every way, even if that means that you as the guide loose the shot of the dat, month or year. a guide never sacrifices their clients for self gain in any shape or form.

I in my days of been a guide, witnessed so many times, guides coming into a sighting, and you see the guide taking photos, before the vehicle has even come to a complete stop. and this goes on for ten minutes, before a word is said to the guests on the vehicle, all this time, the interpretation that should be taking place, is totally non existant, thereby leading to complaints, bad atmosphere on the open safari vehicle with the group or even boredom. Not a pleasant place to be.

A professional guide, always thinks of their guests, and puts everything else second. Always keep it clean, and professional with no room for complaints and guests finding fault.

Below are some phots from the same sighting:

For more info on our safaris, please visit www.nhongosafaris.co.za

Drawing a living Eye

WOULD YOU LIKE TO LEARN TO RECREATE AN EYE LIKE THIS ????? Then you need to keep a look out for our four special "Art Safaris" coming soon. all done in conjunction with one of South Africas best wildlife photographer and artist. keep a watch on our website at www.nhongosafaris.com for all the information you will need need. We will only be doing four of the Artist Safaris a year, with a maximum of six people for seven days. Two will be in the "Greater Kruger National Park", and two will be at "Tiger Canyon" in the Orange Free State.
So for all those wanting to experience and learn something completely different, this is for you.

For more info on our safaris, please visit www.nhongosafaris.co.za

Photos By Amanda

Hi There Everybody,

Thought for today, i would just share what i think to be some excellent photos taken by one of our guides Amanda, while on safari in the Kruger National Park. The safari took her for the first night at the camp of Pretoriuskop, a camp known  for is great sighting of leopard. after a successful day, it was off to the camp of Nkambeni. A tented private camp that we have used for nearly ten years with great food for the clients to enjoy. The following night, Amanda was scheduled to stay at the southern most camp of Berg En Dal. Known as one of the more modern camps in the Kruger Park.
When choosing a safari, one needs to take into account, the density of animals in the park, this is where the "Kruger National Park" has the highest densities of animals found in any National Park, thereby making it a lot easier for the visitor to either find or see the animal looked for, as there are good numbers of each species found in the park.

For more info on our safaris, please visit www.nhongosafaris.co.za

 

Nhongo Safaris Safety App

Link to the Google Play Store: http://bit.ly/NhongoSafarisGoogleStore

Link to the Apple App Store  : http://bit.ly/NhongoSafarisAppleAppStore

Above is the Nhongo Safaris App, together with the links to download it of both respective app stores.

This is an app that has been developed solely with the International visitor in mind with regards to their safety in mind. When you find yourself in a foreign country, and you suddenly are faced with a tight situation,  such as a medical emergency, or something more severe, such as crime, which can happen in any country around the world today, by pressing one of the buttons during this time will link yourself with a "Call Centre Operator", who is authorised to despatch response vehicles and ambulances to your location, which they can see from the app on your phone. Our response times to you the phone user is around two minutes, and after that it is around a five minute wait for backup to arrive, and have first responders on the ground.

We have taken a lot of time and effort to get this app up and running in conjunction with a company by the name of "Response 24". Nhongo Safaris also has a very unique feature built into their app, where you as the user can insert friends and family members, into the app that will get notifies when you are in a situation, and where family members will be able to follow you as you are taken to safety, There is also a page with locations of numerous places that a tourist might need while on business or vocation in the country.

We have tried to keep the charges very low, for this app, so for thirty days access it cost R49.99 per month, but if the visitor is somebody that is here longer, we have a subscription that is for one year long at a price of R399.99. Still a very reasonable cost for an app that has so much technology built into it. 

For more info on our safaris, please visit www.nhongosafaris.co.za

The importance of happy clients

When in the tourism industry it is the ultimate requirement that one develops a product that is aligned to the visiting guest, and is something that they can not only enjoy, but also learn from, thereby taking home new knowledge gained from their visit to South Africa. Guests under all circumstances have to be told of both the good and the bad things of the country, thereby giving them a balanced view of the country.

A lot of safari operators have always taken a stance regarding the discussion around politics and race relations in the South African context, we at Nhongo Safaris, have always regarded this conversation as important an necessary for firstly people to understand where South Africa has come from, and where the country is currently heading.

We have certainly experienced over the years that the necessity for a well balanced guide, who is firstly very knowledgeable about the bush and wildlife together with environmental interpretation skills, but at the same time, is well up to date with what is going on in the country of South Africa, and the the world, so in order to keep guests concentration and entertained, it is extremely important to have somebody who has a wonderful knowledge of all that is going on.

It takes time to nurture a guide from the time that they start working with you, that you invest the time and content to get them up to a certain level. Once this level has been achieved, what is the tendency to happen, is that the guest or clients, get an overall experience, go home or proceeding further on their holiday with a huge positive outlook on the country, and a client or guest that is happy and does not actually want to leave.

We have been very lucky over the years, to be a balanced safari operator, that have put a lot of time and effort into our staff as a whole, and we continue to reap the benefits of this, as we have received a lot of feedback from our visitors on this subject. Keep up the good work guys, as we are definetly are on the right road.  

For more info on our safaris, please visit www.nhongosafaris.co.za

"Lux Magazine" "Global Excellence Award"

While we are on the subject of "Awards", we got a shock last week, as we were told that we had won an award from "Lux Magazine"and their "Global Excellence Awards". Nhongo Safaris was crowned the "Best Traditional Safari Tour Operator - South Africa" for the 2018. We see at the same time, we have been selected under in the same competition, just under a different category which is the "Family and Visitor Attraction Award Category", where we have been crowned as the "Best Open Safari Vehicle Operator - South Africa". We have never been a company that has placed a large enfaces on awards, but as the company gets older, and the industry gets larger, with more players, it is a good thing to be recognised for your contribution towards tourism, and the impact the the company has had on so many visiting tourists lives. As I posted in the post yesterday, We now truly know that "Our Journeys Do Change Lives".

For more info on our safaris, please visit www.nhongosafaris.co.za

2019 TripAdvisor Award

It is May 2019, and time for the "TripAdvisor Awards". It is with great happiness that we announce that in 2019 we have managed to get another "Certificate Of Excellence", as well as from time to time, we have also had "Editorials" written about us.
We would just like to take the opportunity to thank our wonderful guides and staff, that have worked really hard to make sure all the guests have a wonderful experience, and are well taken care of.
Without these guys, it would be impossible to get the recognition from "TripAdvisor" that we do.
2019 is a special year, as it is the tenth year that we have got this award, and it has been a long road to get our product offering right, that potential guests and clients feel comfortable booking with us, to experience a wonderful "Kruger National Park safari".
Nhongo Safaris over the years has always lived by one slogan, and that is to "Arrive As a Stranger, But to Leave as A Friend". It is great to see that we have taken over and own the saying that "Our Journeys Change Lives".   

For more info on our safaris, please visit www.nhongosafaris.co.za

The passing of a great friend

Marc, Dorothy and family, there are no words that can be said at this time, in the passing of your dad and brother "Franscois", there is never the right time for anything like this. We count ourselves so lucky to have had him as a friend. We are certainly going to miss the laughs, the chats, the hard times, the good times, but most of all we will remember the friendship we had.
Your dad loved his elephants, and we have certainly lost a man that was a great elephant in the tourism industry in South Africa. But always remember it is not for ever, as you will see him in heaven one day. Francois my friend, it is not goodbye, but see you in heaven, regards to your mom and dad and Katinka as i am sure they are really enjoying seen you again my friend.

Black and White, a bit of a change

Today we have a bit of a change. Some nice photos taken on Shannon and Kara's last safari with a group from the UK. The girls and guests had a smashing time, with all of the big five been seen, and more. It is the first time, we have tried black and white, and i must say, it makes for a pleasant change.

Just remember to book your safari early, as it gets pretty booked up. Now that South Africa has been named the best safari destination in the world.

Wild animals electrocuted in freak accident

South African National Parks (SANParks) today confirmed that an elephant, giraffe and a vulture were electrocuted in the Kruger National Park (KNP).  The incident took place at Shingwedzi Section in the north of the KNP. The animals were electrocuted after an Eskom Power line collapsed on Tuesday night and the Section Ranger was notified on Wednesday morning 8 May 2019 and immediately notified Eskom who have despatched a team to attend to the scene.

Power has been switched off to enable Rangers to remove tusks for safe keeping and the generator will supply power to the camp until the area has been attended to by both SANParks and Eskom technicians. Voting in the area will not be affected as power is available and visitors and staff are exercising their democratic right.    

An investigation will be established to find the cause of the collapse and an update will be issued in due course. 

Is South Africa safe to visit for inbound Tourists

The question is always asked by either some family members of tourists wanting to visit South Africa, also it is not uncommon to hear family members standing gasping at some peoples decision to visit South Africa.
Let us put some of your concerns in perspective, from a safari operators point of view, and somebody who has lived in the country for their whole life.

SOUTH AFRICA is not as bad as people and the press make it out to be, we get questions quite often, where clients tell us, that they do not want to stay the night in Johannesburg, due to the high crime rate. Well our answer to that is the following,

Most of the crime is secluded to the lower income areas, due tom the widening gap in the economy between rich and poor, alot of the crime is also gang related, and the surprising part of it all, it is not any worse that a lot of the cities around the world, where petty crime is the order of the day.

It is a well known fact, that the crime rate in Johannesburg is not as high as the crime rate in Cape Town, it is the media that has painted this picture to the world, which is in fact "Very Skew", with very few reporters actually coming to the country to see what is going on in the country for them selves.

Whether you are flying into South Africa, to start a "Wildlife Safari", and then fly down to "Cape Town" and then onto the "Garden Route" down to "Port Elizabeth. You as the visiting tourist will meet some of the friendliest people, always willing to help, and lots of people that will go out of their way to want to make your visit a memorable time while in South Africa.

I am not by any means telling you that there is no crime, as we as South Africans living in the country, absolutely hate having to live under this vail of crime, as we are not used to this type of lifestyle. and it makes us quite sick, that the powers that be, have allowed the country to spiral into what we South Africans call chaos.

I would like to close with some possible questions together with their answers, that i have been asked over the years, while i was still a tourist guide, just starting out my own business, but before we get there, i would like to give you two facts that have come out of statistics South Africa, which you will not hear everyday. South Africa had an influx of international tourists in 2017 of 16 Million Arrivals. in 2018, the number went up to 16,5 Million through our different ports of entry. So as you can see, South Africa is very much a tourist destination, with a 3000 Km Coast Line, and a Land Mass of around 1.219,912 square kilometers.

I hope i have been able to give you some background on the situation currently in the country, and also some useful information, that will make you want to visit South Africa, and come and see and enjoy many of the great tourist attractions offered in the country.

One must also keep in mind, that South Africa has just been awarded the worlds best "Safari" destination for 2019. So you can be really assured of a great safari experience.

I have a list of questions, put to me over the years, that maybe of help, in making your decision when wanting to visit South Africa.

Is South Africa Safe to visit?

For those who are tourists, the picture is actually far rosier. According to the UK Government travel advisory, the risk of violent crime in South Africa is generally low. ... Like anywhere in the world, it's petty crime, credit card fraud, muggings and theft that you really need to look out for

Is South Africa safe for tourists?

Government Travel Warnings. As of October 2018, the U.S. Department of State has issued a Level 2 travel advisory for South Africa, which recommends that visitors exercise increased caution. In particular, the advisory warns about the prevalence of violent crime, especially in the CBDs of major cities after dark.

Is Johannesburg dangerous for tourists

Johannesburg has a lot of tension between the citizens because of how the poverty and wealth levels are not shared equally. As a result, Johannesburg has a very high crime rate that takes place day and night. There are plenty of safe areas to go, however every tourist should take some precautions to avoid any problems.

How safe is South Africa for tourists

The country has a high crime rate, with violent crime in certain communities and locations. You are safe if you keep to the beaten tourist path and don't venture into high risk areas. Tourist scams from around the world are alive and happening in South Africa.

Is Cape Town dangerous for tourists

As one Cape Town tourist puts it; “Cape Town is safe enough if you take precautions. ... The poor communities of the Cape Flats see 95% of the crime while the city centre and suburbs are pretty safe in terms of violent crime.”

Warnings and Dangers in Cape Town: Areas to Avoid. Cape Town is one of the most beautiful and highly visited cities in South Africa, but it's not immune to thieves and muggings, which are commonplace in some parts of the city.

The V&A Waterfront and Camps Bay are popular with tourists and are safe during the day and during the night too (but always avoid quiet areas / streets as muggers exist all over the world). Central Cape Town at night would not be a good place to walk around alone.

Despite its criminal reputation, Cape Town is still a popular tourist destination. ... Some parts of Cape Town's city centre, as well as the suburbs, are relatively safe; malls, business districts, and tourist areas have a high-security presence.

 Is Johannesburg safer than Cape Town?

Johannesburg 'safer than Cape Town' Pretoria - Cape Town, Durban and Port Elizabeth are more dangerous than Johannesburg, according to a new study from a Mexican research group. Cape Town is the 34th most dangerous place in the world and Johannesburg is 50th.

 Is Durban Safe for tourists?

However, South Africa does have a reputation as a high crime country, and Durban is no exception. Central Durban is broadly defined as Durban CBD, CBD Fringe, Kingsmead, Point and Berea. ... Durban is the largest city in the province of KwaZulu-Natal and is located approximately 600km from Johannesburg making it very popular with local and international tourist due to its subtropical climate and excellent beaches.

zulu (primarily spoken by South African Blacks) is widely spoken in KwaZulu-Natal, but is also spoken by the Indian, White and Coloured population. English is the administrative language and is spoken and understood by the majority people as well. Xhosa and Afrikaans are also commonly spoken languages in KwaZulu-Natal.

OVERALL RISK : Durban is ranked 127th out of 162 of most dangerous cities. However, the safety level depends on the district. So, if you exercise a high degree of caution and avoid the troubled areas, your vacation in sunny Durban might only be spoiled by petty theft at the airport or at the beach.

Where does South Africa rank in the world by GDP?

South Africa ranks 30th in the world by GDP (794.706 million international dollars). The top 10 countries by GDP (PPP) are: World, China, United States, India, Japan, Germany, Russia, Indonesia, Brazil, United Kingdom, France.