Extreme Nature ToursExtreme Nature

Tours & Travel cc

Based in St Lucia - South Africa
St Lucia South Africa activities
From tours on the mild side to living on the wild side, we have something for everyone


Reviews


Extreme Nature Tours & Travel  

Reviews

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Extreme Nature Tours has evolved into Extreme Nature Tours Travel Services, offering a range of services including free travel information and advice, route planning and accommodation search and reservations.

8 April 2015
“Awesome Experience All Around”
5 of 5 stars Reviewed  via mobile on Tripadvisor

I was so lucky to have been booked on 2 weekend getaways with Extreme Nature Tours last month by my volunteer group, one to Mozambique and one to Kosi Bay. Both times our groups were in absolutely excellent hands. Our expert Guide, Pete did anything and everything to make sure we're were all comfortable, well fed, entertained, safe and feeling at home, at all times. These experiences were filled with so many of what felt like once-in-a-lifetime moments and created lasting friendships, as well as some amazing photo opportunities. Above all, being around Pete himself was a total pleasure and I'd totally love to book with him again in the future when I'm back in the area! I hope to be soon!
Visited March 2015

8 April 2015
“Pete WILL make your trip amazing!”
5 of 5 stars Reviewed on Tripadvisor

This is by far the best tour company you will find in St Lucia, and they offer a wide variety of tours over a huge area. Everything is customizable and Pete goes out of his way to make sure his guests have an outstanding experience. He is incredibly knowledgeable about the area, and chooses only the best destinations and partner tour companies.

You can count on adventure and fun with Pete, with lots of laughs along the way. I would never choose another tour group in that area again now that I've experienced Extreme Nature Tours.
Visited March 2015

12 February 2015
“The best guide in Zululand”
5 of 5 stars Reviewed on Tripadvisor

The tour guide, Peter, was fantastic. We filmed an insert about St Lucia and used Peter as a guide and fixer. He was fantastic! He was extremely knowledgeable about Zululand and its animals. He was certainly the best tour guide we've ever encountered.

29 December 2014
 “Much more than anything we expected.”
5 of 5 stars Reviewed on Tripadvisor

Excellent e-mail communication with Peter Koen created a fabulous two day (off a cruise ship) adventure. Everything was pre-arranged and went as planned. The plan was a morning safari - lunch at the Hilltop Restaurant - afternoon safari - then travel to another location for an 8pm-11pm night safari. A local Saint Lucia B & B for the night - then early morning estuary boat safari on the Saint Lucia River, a stop in the local town for an early lunch (and simple shopping for the ladies) and a return to the ship. This is what Extreme Nature Tours arranged and it was perfect for four 60 year olds.
But what made this adventure for us was the education, knowledge, and the communication skills to convey all this to us by Charl Koen (owner with his brother - Peter).
I am a retired international air line pilot - have travelled all over the world - and the tour we received was in every way world class. I am not talking about 5 star accommodations here - I am talking about world class knowledge presented in a way that made us feel as if we were getting the highest quality presentation possible about what we were viewing.
I can and do recommend Extreme Nature Tours without hesitation or reservation.
Visited December 2014

5 April 2011

We have just launched our new SA Travel website .... www.toursinsa.com

10 February 2011

Hi Charl 
Well, we are all back from our trip and ensconced behind our desks at work again with happy memories and sun tans!!
I just wanted to thank you once more for the wonderful experience you created for us at Jozini dam. It was definitely a highlight. Your organization and preparation was great, and so too your knowledge of the water. It was also a pleasure being in your company, both on and off the water. Best of luck with your plans for growing your business.

I attach a foto of the fish Michael landed whilst fishing off the boat McFire (also foto) out of Richards Bay. The skipper first thought it was a striped marlin with its bill broken off, then a wahoo, then a ... Only after we got back were some old timers able to identify it as a short billed spearfish (apparently very rarely caught), weighing just over 22kg's. It turns out that the official record for the species along the north coast is less than that. The fish was caught Monday. Other than a missed strike, and another big fish which Paul had on long enough for us to have brought in all the other lines but which then dropped the hook (supposedly a big marlin that actually damaged the lure and frayed the leader to the lure - we believe the fish struck then had line wrapped around its bill without actually being hooked), we caught nothing on Tuesday.
All the best to you. Hopefully we will cross paths again in future.
Regards Neal


If you want a ranger who knows Hluhluwe Umfolozi Park like the back of his hand as your personal wildlife guide who better than Charl Koen?  However, if you also enjoy watching birds, then you’ve struck gold.  By the way, he is also very knowledgeable about butterflies, plants and their indigenous medicinal uses and many other subjects related to nature.
We used Charl as guide for just over a week in November 2008.  He was consistently competent, good-humoured, modest and adaptable.  Thanks to him we were alone and close up to a pride of six lions early one morning in Hluhluwe.  Thanks to him we saw and identified well over a hundred species of birds (and this in spite of the main motivation for the trip being animal watching!).  We could have seen far more birds, but the view and changing light from our Hilltop camp cabin was so beautiful that late afternoon we preferred to sit on the terrace while Charl prepared the braai backstage.

Charl appears to know the whole St Lucia wetland area very well and took us to many isolated and beautiful places, including sand tracks through protected areas that we would never have found on our own.  One memorable afternoon we drove for three and a half hours and only saw one car (and that was parked!).  The few children that we saw ran out to wave and call out, so unused were they to seeing white people.  Charl’s fluent Zulu was everywhere greeted with surprise and happy smiles and certainly made a huge difference to our relationship with local people.  At the end of our drive we stayed at a basic camp overlooking one of the Kosi Bay lakes and a short distance from the beach where we saw a turtle lay her eggs.  We had the camp and the beach to ourselves!
Perhaps one of the most important qualities in a guide is trust and we would trust Charl with our lives; when you are with him, in whatever situation, you always feel safe.

By the way, for the non-guided part of our holiday, Charl’s company, Extreme Nature Tours, arranged accommodation and all transfers between sites, both in South Africa and Mozambique.  All worked like clockwork, which is not always the way in Africa.  This avoided all the hassle of renting a car and left us free to look elsewhere than at the road.
On our last day Charl himself took us to the airport.  Our goodbyes were tinged with sadness, as we had become good friends during our time together. 
If you are planning a wildlife tour to Kwazulu, whether or not you are birders, then I can strongly recommend Charl.  If any-one doubts the authenticity of this recommendation, please feel free to contact chris28045@yahoo.es .  I speak English French and Spanish.  By the way, if you think we are young adventurous types, I am 61 and Nathalie is 42.

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