Africa Wild

I believe it's still the case at Talamati, Biyamiti, etc but I'm not sure about Satara. I will try and find out, but getting a straight answer is often difficult

I was hoping that sanity would prevail with regards to the SANParks booking system and that they would start to have a more open and honest arrangement, but months later and still no change.

I see on the 1st of the month when bookings open 11 months in advance one can no longer view the online availability section on their website and this has been the case now for many months.

This for me has been instated purely because of the fact many key units were clearly booked prior to the official 7:30am opening and one could previously view this from 12am 11 months in advance and screen shot it, so rather than addressing the “problem” they just disable the online viewing until the 2nd of the month.

If they don't hide it then too many questions are asked and then they feel

Bushcraft wrote:I see on the 1st of the month when bookings open 11 months in advance one can no longer view the online availability section on their website and this has been the case now for many months.

This for me has been instated purely because of the fact many key units were clearly booked prior to the official 7:30am opening and one could previously view this from 12am 11 months in advance and screen shot it, so rather than addressing the “problem” they just disable the online viewing until the 2nd of the month.

Although it is total speculation I fully agree with this

There were too many questions asked and complaints filed about the fact that not only key units in the KNP but also parts of the popular wilderness camps were gone even before 7.30 am on a morning when reservations opened. And we're not talking about the whole camp as SanParks likes to claim as a reason why certain units are not available. There were only 2 out of 4 missing in the past (also all 4 were gone but that's what you know).

I find this unacceptable because like this I cannot direct my booking agent anymore when calling in. I'll have to rely on him doing his best to get an itinerary close to what I might have done myself. But it was always helpful to re-arrange the original plans in your head yourself and have the agent grab it accordingly.

Luckily, it's still some time before I have to go into competition again...

try 2 and a Half hours just to get through using all numbers and satellite numbers as well , only to get scraps, bots was just as bad. Polentswa booked out from 1 july to 20 july Nossob nil

Definitely check again for Nossob tomorrow. There must be something coming up again
But Polentswa is bad... with only 4 camp sites and it being so popular as well...

We were also aiming for a trip July 2017 but everywhere was booked out by the time I got through
I suppose I shouldn't be surprised... maybe we'll aim for something in term time and just pull the kids out of school for a while

KNP, PJL?

PJL wrote:We were also aiming for a trip July 2017 but everywhere was booked out by the time I got through
I suppose I shouldn't be surprised... maybe we'll aim for something in term time and just pull the kids out of school for a while

PJL you want to go to KTP, how many are you guys

Mel wrote:Although it is total speculation

Why else would they block something from guests who use it to guide booking agents and to plan their own mix of camps. After all, it’s their holiday.

The main thing I personally want is a guarantee that nobody has preference, including Sanparks staff who may book for those who are connected, which Sanparks gave, however many don’t seem to believe them because it was clear that this wasn’t the case and proven via their online availability screen shots. (I still have many if some are looking for them) I posted many on their forum, as did others, but all were deleted without explanation, however the fact they were rapidly deleted each time leads me and many others to believe that it’s an admission that things aren’t what they seem.

The deletions were questioned each time also by the original poster and no clear explanation was given, so if there was nothing to hide, why the continued evasive type behavior.

The second thing is a clear explanation and press release on the best booking procedure to secure the accommodation you want, but this still hasn’t materialized, why.

I have been told that all offices handle walk in customers on the day bookings open prior to answering the phone and I have witnessed this also at 2 different Sanparks offices. Today, like many others, I phoned multiple Sanparks offices on multiple phones from 7:25am until 9:32am which is when I finally got through and only had the scraps left, so couldn’t even put a trip together for July next year. I also phoned and mailed the Stellenbosch satellite office last week, as I had been advised they were the best, my booking excel spreadsheet with 5 different unit options per camp so the booking agent had options. She advised me that she would assist with our booking as soon as it opened at 7:30am. The rocket scientist completely forgot and this is the 3rd time it’s happened at 3 different offices, so toss that idea.

For an organized planned individual the above isn’t acceptable. I can tell Sanparks when I want to book my 2022 trip and what units I want in which camp, but can’t even put a trip together because of their system.