First Trip, and Already Planning the Next: Vibha and Jitendra's South Africa Trip with Thrillophilia
Thrillophilia Verified Booking
PNR: BKDQ3WV70IO
Rating: ★★★★★
Travellers: Vibha Patel and Jitendra Patel
Trip Duration: 10 Days | 9 Nights
Date of Travel: 31 Jul 2025 to 09 Aug 2025
Package Booked: South Africa Highlights | A Journey of Game Drives and Coastal Escapes
A first international trip with a new travel company is always a small leap of faith.
You have read the reviews. You have spoken to the salesperson. You have paid the deposit. But you can bet there is always a quiet voice whispering in the back of your mind, right up to the airport pickup on day one and your hotel check-in being saved in exactly the way it was supposed to.
Vibha and Jitendra Patel booked their first Thrillophilia trip for a particularly demanding itinerary. A 10-day trip to South Africa, six different lodges and hotels, multiple safari operators and three currencies on the ground.
"We had our 1st trip with the Thrillophilia tour company, and it was an excellent experience. Everything was on time, and they responded right away and helped."
The kind of trip where small things going wrong is almost statistically certain. For a first booking on a ten-day multi-country itinerary, that review is the one Thrillophilia probably keeps a copy of.
Cape Town Was the Soft Opener
They landed at Cape Town International on the 31st of July. South African winter, which means it's colder than most Indian travellers expect, but the daylight is still usable. The transfer to the Rockefeller Hotel and Residence was waiting at arrivals. The first night was kept at leisure, which is the right call after a long-haul flight from India.
For the V&A Waterfront and the Cape Town coast, a leisurely first day means you get to step outside, walk a bit, eat something, and figure out which way is north before the structured days begin.
The Long Haul to Chobe and Victoria Falls
Day two was the big crossover. Cape Town to Victoria Falls Airport on a morning internal flight, then the road transfer into Botswana for Chobe National Park.
The Chobe leg is the part of any South Africa itinerary that travellers come back talking about, even years later. Two nights at Chobe Safari Lodge. The Chobe River sunset boat safari that first evening, with elephants and hippos coming down to the water as the light drops.
Day four brought one more morning game drive at Chobe before the transfer to Livingstone in Zambia. Royal Livingstone Victoria Falls Hotel by Anantara for two nights, which sits right on the Zambezi River with the falls a short walk away.
Day five was the Victoria Falls guided walking tour and the sunset Zambezi cruise. The mist rising off the gorge, the rainforest around the viewing trails, and the silhouette of the bridge with the bungee jumpers, if you are at the right viewpoint at the right time.
The Kruger Stretch
Day six was another internal flight. Victoria Falls to MQP airport for Kruger National Park. The transfer from Skukuza Airport into the park was on a 4x4 Land Cruiser, and that night was at Kruger Shalati – The Train on the Bridge. A converted train carriage suspended on the historic Selati railway bridge across the Sabie River.
The sunset safari that evening was the first proper Big Five game drive of the trip. Two days at Kruger gave them two more game drives across two different lodges, including a night at Mdluli Safari Lodge with luxury tented safari suites the next night.
Big Five sightings are not guaranteed at any safari, but Kruger is one of the most consistent reserves on the continent for them.
Cape Town Closed the Trip
Day eight was the MQP-CPT flight. Taj Cape Town for the last two nights. The Cape Peninsula tour on day nine covered Boulders Beach (the African penguin colony) and Cape Point (where the Atlantic and Indian oceans meet on a clear day). Day ten was Table Mountain by cable car and Robben Island in the morning before the airport drop.
Where Mrigendra Made the Trip Work
The trip was structured as six separate bookings to allow for split payment across the larger group of travellers, with Vibha and Jitendra's booking being one of those parts. That kind of split-booking coordination is its own planning challenge. Mrigendra at Thrillophilia handled all of it.
Vibha's review flagged two specific things. Everything was on time. The team responded right away when they needed help. For a four-flight, three-country, six-hotel itinerary, "everything was on time" is the line that does the most work.
That is the kind of South Africa trip review that does not need any dressing up.
