Aquila Safari from Cape Town: Price, Real Time Needed, Criticism
Updated September 11, 2026 · 6 min read
The Aquila Big Five Game Reserve with options costs from €201.72, holds 4.6 stars from 2,621 reviews and is thereby the most-reviewed safari among the 59 safari listings from Cape Town that this site tracks (as of 11 September 2026). According to the booking page, it’s run by Cullinan Guided Journeys. The page states 5 hours. This article works out how long the day really is, what gets added to the price, and why some guests come back disappointed.
What’s included in the price – and what isn’t
According to the booking page, included:
- Pickup and return in an air-conditioned minibus, from hotels in the city centre, Sea Point, Green Point and the V&A Waterfront; under “Good to know”, Camps Bay is also listed. The page lists 81 hotels as pickup points. If yours isn’t on it, you’re asked to contact the operator.
- Entry to the Aquila reserve
- A game drive in an open safari vehicle with an English-speaking ranger
- One meal, depending on the option: breakfast on the early-morning safari, lunch on the afternoon safari, snacks on the sunset option, breakfast and lunch buffet on the full-day options. The full-day combo includes a second game drive.
Not included are all drinks and tips. That surprises some guests; in the reviews, someone complains that lunch didn’t even include water. So bring cash or a card, and add drinks and tips to the price.
Which option exactly carries the entry price of €201.72 only shows up once you check availability on the booking page. The options differ in start time, meal and number of game drives.
The day in hours: not 5, more like 8
The itinerary on the same booking page works out like this:
| Section | Duration per itinerary |
|---|---|
| Drive from Cape Town to the reserve | 2.5 hrs |
| Lunch at the lodge | 1 hr |
| Game drive | 2 hrs |
| Return drive | 2.5 hrs |
| total | 8 hrs |
So the 5 hours in the headline describe, at best, the time in the reserve, not the outing. With the pickup round and breaks, you’re likely on the road for longer than eight hours, hotel to hotel. Reviewers mention a stop at a petrol station halfway. One writes that in strong wind the Huguenot Tunnel was closed and the return trip took an hour longer.
The reserve lies inland near Touws River, and the drive there goes over mountain passes and through wine-growing areas. Many guests explicitly praise the route; for some the drive was “almost better than the safari”. But if you don’t cope well with long bus journeys, you should know: five of the eight hours you’re sitting in the minibus.
What you’ll see in the reserve
According to the booking page, Aquila is home to the Big Five – lion, leopard, elephant, rhino and buffalo – plus giraffes, zebras, hippos, antelope, wildebeest and ostriches, as well as up to 172 bird species. The operator itself notes that leopards are nocturnal and rarely seen during the day. In more recent reviews, guests repeatedly write that they saw four of the five – without the leopard.
According to the itinerary, the game drive lasts two hours. One guest describes it like this: about an hour of driving, a break, then another hour. Another writes that the length depends on the ranger and on where the animals happen to be, putting it at two to two and a half hours.
Important for your expectations: you travel there in a minibus with at most 11 guests, but you’re not alone in the reserve. That’s what the booking page says. Lunch and the game drive are shared with groups from other operators. One reviewer writes that check-in and food are the same for everyone, no matter which company you booked through.
The criticism: “a big zoo”
Aquila is a fenced private reserve, not open wilderness like Kruger National Park. In the worst reviews, the same complaint keeps coming up, in English, German and Danish: that this is more of a big zoo than a safari. Some guests write that you can see the motorway from certain spots, or that the lions live in a separate enclosure. Others criticise the lunch with very many guests at once, and the ratio of five hours of driving to two hours of game drive.
The positive voices are in the majority – 4.6 stars from over 2,600 reviews don’t happen by themselves. Praised are the drivers, rangers, food and the closeness to the animals. Several guests explicitly call the tour a good “beginner’s safari”. That’s fitting: anyone wanting to see Africa’s big animals for the first time, with only one day available, has a good chance of photographing elephants, rhinos and giraffes up close. Anyone who has already been to Kruger or Botswana is more likely to experience Aquila as an enclosure.
Weather: the underestimated variable
The booking page recommends bringing a jacket, and there’s a reason for that. The reviews mention freezing, windy days when guests got cold in the open safari vehicle, and rainy days when the animals retreated. One guest reports that the operator postponed the tour by two days because of severe weather. Other guests write that they went ahead despite storm and rain, and saw little.
According to the booking page, cancellation is free up to three days before the start. For changes to date, names or number of people made from seven days before the tour, the operator charges a surcharge. So if you have flexibility, don’t book for the last day of your trip, and check the forecast three days beforehand.
With children
The Western Cape is considered malaria-free; talk to your paediatrician about what you need health-wise for the trip. The booking page doesn’t state an age limit. Before booking, ask the operator whether, and from what age, children can ride in the open safari vehicle, and whether a child seat is available for them in the minibus. Keep the five hours of driving in mind: for young children, that’s the actually tiring part. More on this under Cape Town tours with kids: which age applies where and Cape Town excursions with kids: half-day instead of full-day.
Aquila versus the similar offers
| Tour | Price from | Duration per page | Stars | Reviews |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aquila Big Five with options | €201.72 | 5 hrs | 4.6 | 2,621 |
| Big Five sunset safari with lunch and pickup | €159.41 | 9 hrs | 4.5 | 819 |
| Big Five safari with sunset game drive | €127.89 | 9 hrs | 4.6 | 719 |
| Aquila Game Reserve safari tour with lunch | €263.65 | 8 hrs | 4.4 | 189 |
| 2-day safari at Garden Route Game Lodge | €549 | 2 days | 4.8 | 1,030 |
The sunset tour for €159.41 also goes to Aquila, according to the description, for a late-afternoon game drive. It’s listed with a more honest 9 hours and is around €42 cheaper than the entry price of the main tour.
The tour for €127.89 doesn’t name a reserve, only a “private game reserve”. Where it actually goes only shows up on the booking page – check there before booking on price alone.
For €263.65, the operator promises a three-hour game drive at Aquila instead of two hours. The short description gives no other reason for the higher price.
The two-day Garden Route safari addresses the main problem of the day tour: with an overnight stay, there’s more time in the reserve than the two hours of game drive on a day trip. How many game drives are included is set out in the booking page’s itinerary. In return, it costs almost three times as much.
You’ll find all 59 listings under Safari from Cape Town. If you’d rather see whales than lions: Whale watching in Hermanus.
Who Aquila is worth it for – and who it isn’t
Worth it: for a first encounter with Africa’s big animals, if only one day is on the schedule and you don’t fancy driving yourself. With pickup, food and entry in one price, it’s a comfortable way to elephants and rhinos from Cape Town.
Not worth it: if you’re expecting a wilderness safari, have already been to a large national park, don’t cope well with long drives, or have to schedule the tour on a windy winter’s day. In that case, the two-day version with an overnight stay, or a completely different day on the coast, is the better choice – for instance the Cape of Good Hope tour with penguins.
An overview of all excursion destinations outside the city, from the Winelands to the whale coast, is at What to see in the Western Cape. More ideas for your days in the city: Things to do in Cape Town and Winelands wine tours.
