SANParks.org Forums

Here I am, at my desk, daydreaming about my June vacation to SA. So I pull up my reservation pdf....

....for the first time, I realize that my reservation is wrong.

Right dates
Right accommodations
Wrong # of visitors
Wrong adult/child ratio
Wrong prices charged

So...what to do? I don't want to risk having any of my bookings cancelled, but I do want the reservation to be accurate so I'm not trying to figure this out at an entry gate after a long series of flights.

Any thoughts on the best way to move forward? I'd prefer not having to call if possible.

Email it to me and we'll do our best to sort it out.

Sent!

And thank you, Jen!

Jen, I'll sacrifice my time and take his Roodewaal booking.

That will be the day!

I have a stake in this! Even if nothing else get sorted, the Roodewal booking has to be purrrfect!

Typical, us poor plebs never get to share in the gravy.

All fixed, JenB! Thank you!

And watch it, Robert! Hands off Roodewal!

Your satisfaction is our goal..... something like that!
All a pleasure and thanx to SANParks for giving it top priority!

Yah Robert!
Hands off Roodewal!

JenB and SANParks..........

I have two nights at Olifants and will then stay at Crocodile Bridge for two nights, unless Biyamiti or Lower Sabie have improved availability for August.

Do big safari companies block book, as I am so surprised Lower Sabie bungalows and tents are not available in August. I know Crocodile Bridge will be great, but everyone raves so much about sitting on the deck at LS, that I am desperate for someone to cancel a safari tent or bungalow!!

Hi Graham

From what I have been told there may be some cancellations 1 month before your booking. Apparently if you cancel your booking shortly before you travel you lose some of what you have paid.

I have long suspected some safari companies do block bookings of the camps (which in my opinion is not fair), and then release whatever they have not filled one month before. I have been desperately trying to get an en-suite tent at Tamboti in November and they have been "Sold Out". My trip to Kruger is now almost one month away, and last night when I checked their availability there were 4 available. Imagine my joy as I made the booking!

P.S. I wonder (should tour operators be block booking) exactly how much they charge unsuspecting overseas tourists for the accommodation?

Many things became available shortly after midnight and managed to get a perimeter Lower Sabie safari tent for two nights! The early hours seem to be a good time to book!

PLEASE HELP!

I made an online booking for Kruger from the 1st to 10th December many months ago. Today I added three days to the beginning of the booking, and also added an extra person to all the camps.

So far no problems. The online booking was instantly updated and an additional amount of money that needed to be paid was shown. The deadline for payment for the outstanding money is tomorrow. So I went ahead and tried to pay via credit card.

This is where the problems began. For some reason, it would not accept the payment, saying that I need to check the details presented. This is the same card I have used many times before; and indeed the one I used to pay for the booking before it was amended. The transaction was not declined, but simply not accepted because of supposed incorrect details.

I checked and rechecked the details, and resubmitted three times. Still no joy. I then tried a debit card, but this was declined. So I submitted for a fourth time. It would not accept my payment.

No problem, I thought; I'll contact SANParks tomorrow. Then I closed the whole thing, forgetting to first log out or move away from the "enter your credit-card details" screen.

To check that the amendment was still okay, I logged on again and went into "Existing Bookings".

Suddenly, the message came back:
"NO RESERVATIONS FOUND ... Error Encountered on the Reservation System"

I tried several times more, but always the same message.

What does this mean now? Has my original booking, including the payment that I made months ago, disappeared??!!
Who can I contact?
Can I pay the additional amounts directly at a SANparks office, or MUST it be online?

PLEASE HELP!

OWN, will alert SANParks .... just hang in there.

Hi DinkyBird (and everybody else reading the above).

Sorry for the freneticism, but I thought that my booking had disappeared into a black hole!

I rebooted the computer and retried; SANParks suddenly RECALLED the booking and I was able to make a credit card payment! It seems that the actual payment itself would only go through when I entered the card-holder's name in LOWERCASE (I had been trying in uppercase).

So, all has been sorted out ... and panic for nothing.