Holiday to South Africa
Aoife Moran, 6th September 2024We really enjoyed Phinda. Our guide Christy was the best guide we had ever had on safari. The Vinyard Hotel was mainly good apart from the room on the first night. All the transfer people arrived as arranged.

Accommodation Visited
Vineyard Hotel & Spa
“The room we had when we arrived was cold and damp, and there was an odd smell. Perhaps they opened up some unused rooms because the hotel was full, as the All Blacks rugby team was staying there prior to the match. It even had a stocked minibar (they have now discontinued these), which might indicate when the room was last used. On the other hand, the room we had for two nights on our return to Cape Town was lovely, and the service and food were good. The garden was lovely as well.”
Phinda Mountain Lodge
“We really enjoyed Phinda. They tried to help us contact our “emergency contacts” in South Africa when the rudder malfunctioned on the plane. They arranged a car and booked us a flight from Durban to Cape Town.”
Staff Review
“We would rate Aaron at 5 stars. We are unable to rate the Mahlatini team because they would not deal with us on the emergency numbers when we had an issue with the plane. They would only talk to us if we had a “contact name” which we didn’t. Obviously, we tried the South African numbers first and we had to leave for Durban before we tried Aaron. Once he was contacted by the lodge he sorted everything for us. However, we had no wifi or phone service in the car so we did not know who we were flying with or who was picking us up in Cape Town. Eventually, Aaron managed to get through to us and gave us the details we needed, however this cost us €60 in phone charges.”