African Welcome Safaris
- Office In:
- Size:
- 5-10 employees (Founded in 1999)
- Member Of:
- Southern Africa Tourism Services Association
- Tour Types:
- Custom mid-range & luxury tours that can start every day
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $115 to $442 per person per day (USD, excl. int'l flights)
for a custom tour
Your request will be sent directly to the operator
If preferred, you can contact the operator directly
Reviews
US
Email Nicole Shafer | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Kathi catered to our every need and truly made it a trip of a lifetime.
Kathi was very knowledgable and was always available. Everything was planned out so precisely and perfectly. Our private tour guide in Cape Town was super knowledgable and top notch. Our stay in Sabi Sands was incredible. The accommodations were stellar and the ranger and tracker were amazing and made the overall safari experience very special. She really made this trip "a trip of a lifetime". Anyone considering going to South Africa should definitely reach out to her.
US
Email Asima Azam | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Exceptional service in planning a magical South African city and safari vacation!
I began coordinating our safari vacation in 2019 with Kathi Simon. From the beginning she was prompt, informative, and very professional in providing travel itineraries and catering the vacation to our budget, ages of the children and interests! The travel quotes were significantly lower than the prices charged by Adventures by Disney and Tauck Bridges which we have used before.
Due to COVID the trip was canceled and rescheduled 3 times and Kathi was patient and diligent in promptly confirming all of the reschedules of flights and accommodations. She was also very helpful in keeping us apprised of Covid testing requirements etc.
We finally took our vacation in May/June 2022 and the trip exceeded all our expectations and was worth the wait! My husband and I traveled With our 15 and 13 year old children and everyone was wowed by every experience. The landscape, diversity of culture and cuisine and history of Cape Town was stunning. We visited Robben island and learned a lot about the dark history surrounding apartheid, visited the winelands and even went parasaling off Signal Mountain!
We then traveled to Zimbabwe which while not as luxe as the South African accommodation was one of our favorite stops. The lodge was beautiful and authentic and had nightly visits of game to the watering hole. We visited a local village and also zilpined at the falls!
We end our trip in Kruger at the Sabi Sabi game reserve which was outstanding. The accommodations were lovely and the fed us 24/7 with tea time and breakfast and big lavish dinners. The game drives were spectacular and the guides and trackers were so knowledgeable and became friends.
If I changed anything, with the 2 kids, we likely could have stayed at less luxurious accommodations on safari and still had a great time, if anyone is looking to lower the tour price a bit!
On departure from Vic Falls our flight was cancelled and Kathi Simon quickly rebooked us and arranged for us to cross the border into Zambia and depart from Livingstone. We would have been stressed without her help.
Highly recommend the trip and tour company!
DE
Email Bert | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
As always brilliant Service provided by African Welcome Safaris , Thank you Kathi
This was our 3rd Safari organized by Kathi and she took care on everything , very fast responses on my many questions during preparation of the trip. We were sure this trip will be perfectly organized and it was . Thank you Kathi and team
We arrived at Johannesburg early morning and Kathi organized a pick up at the plane exit , we went through a special fast lane and only 15 minutes after touch down we were outside the air port and were transferred to the cozy FedAir Lounge and the Safari started just 20 minutes later in a very small plane. We had only 1hour transfer time between fligths from JNB main airport to FedAir airport, but due to the special service arranged by Kathi we made it easily.
Our First lodge for 3 nigths was Madikwe Hills private game lodge, absolutely perfect in each and every aspect, Good game viewing, good ranger, excellent service, spectacular food, beautiful room with an incredible look on a waterhole , animals were passing all the time, very good management taking care for all of our needs , this lodge I would give 6 out of 5 stars, outstanding
Second stop for 3 nigths was Kings Hill, also very nice touch, somehow a colonial time atmosphere with a lot of African elements, all perfect , rooms very nice, food is very good, but not fully on Madikwe level . You see certainly Leopard during game drives which you hardly find in Madikwe , but game drives are at both lodges very enjoyable (but in June game drives are chilly you should be prepared) , Kings Camp I would rate 5 out of 5 stars
So we had a fantastic trip and we will certainly come back on Safari and we will definitely use African Welcome Safari again as it is a brilliant agency. We are so happy that now it is possible to travel again safe and without any restriction to beautiful Africa.
US
Email Nerilda Miller | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Phenomenal experience from start to finish!
Our experience with African welcome Safari was exceptional. Kathi who handled all of our bookings for the entire trip and paid a great deal of attention to our needs and expectations. The trip stayed within our budget and the value for the money was better than expected. The tours in Cape Town, the Winelands and Safari were ALL wonderful. Our tour guides were knowledgeable and friendly. Our hotel accommodations were wonderful and what we were expecting. We traveled with our daughter and husband and you would think that it would be hard to to please all 4 people. Somehow we all came away extremely satisfied with the entire trip. I highly recommend using African Welcome Safari. You will not be disappointed!!
US
Email Natalie Alfredson | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Kathi was excellent in providing all the details and answers for our trip!
Kathi was excellent in executing our trip to SA! She was professional, easily accessible and made all of our trip SO seamless! We can’t wait to come back!
Email Jayne | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Absolutely first class personal service.
Our trip to South Africa and Mauritius was tailor made for us by African Welcome Safaris (AWS had been recommended to us by colleagues who had previously used AWS). At the start of planning, we discussed the type/style of hotels we like to stay in, the type of safari we'd like to do. AWS gave us suggestions as to 'on the ground tours' we could do. From there, a personalised draft itinerary was created and agreed with us.
So - what was it like? Absolutely fabulous. AWS got it 'spot on' with the hotels, the private guided tours, the safari and the Mauritius 'unwind' part at the end. The other great thing was that we were regularly communicated with by WhatsApp during our trip to check everything was okay and going to plan. Any questions etc were immediately resolved.
What did we do? Our trip started with 6 nights in Cape Town. We stayed on the V&A Waterfront and had a number of private tours organised by AWS - including Stellenbosch and Cape Point. We then flew across to Johannesburg and then onto Madikwe for a 3 night safari. The lodge 'blew us away' as did all of the game viewing. After that, we returned to J'Burg and spent a night there (AWS organised a Soweto tour and a visit to the Apartheid museum for us). After that, we flew to Mauritius for 5 nights. Like I say, an absolutely splendid trip - we'd go so far as to say our best ever family holiday (we were travelling with kids of 11 and 13). We wouldn't hesitate to recommend AWS!
SE
Email Henrik Nambord | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Well planned and organised
Communications and service was very good. We would recommend African welcome Safari to anyone who wants a personalised and well planned trip.
CA
Email Gordon & Dale Viberg | 65+ years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Great Organization and Superb Execution
This trip was planned almost 2 years ago however due to Covid was postponed giving us the bonus of time to fine tune our original itinerary to insure visiting the areas we had determined in the time frame desired. We did not want to be part of a "tour group" but rather wanted to have a personalized and tailor made a la carte adventure. African Welcome Safaris gave us all that and more as from our Cape Town arrival to the Vineland area to Kruger, Chobe and the Trans Frontier Parks we were able to experience all the Big 5 and many more animals in their varied natural habitats. The bonus was seeing a huge variety of eagles, hawks and birds in tropical to desert environments. Kathi Simon of African Welcome Safaris was terrific all through the 2 year process dealing with making, canceling reservations and adjusting to our desire to do the trip in 25 days. We got to know Kathi face to face via WhatsApp which gave us that personal attention and upon arrival we met her and felt we had a friend. We also knew that she would be following our agenda every day (24/7 as she would say) making sure nothing failed as far as pick up, guides and transportation were concerned. We actually hated to leave this South African adventure as we found the people to be very friendly, extremely helpful and so very welcoming to their respective beautiful countries. In the end we could not have been more satisfied and would highly recommend African Welcome Safaris and in particular Kathi Simon as a 5 star knowledgeable outfitter for seeing Southern Africa at its best.
US
Email Max | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Excellent!
We loved African Welcome Safaris - they were excellent! We could not have had a better experience. Thanks, all!
US
Email Craig & Mary Lou Anderson | 65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
22 Days in Africa
Alex on planning and Kathi on follow through could not have done a better job. We started oour planning in 2019 to get bookings and scheduled for Sept 2020. We cancelled and Alex rescheduled us for May 2021. Again we had to reschedule and Alex made all arrangements for Sept 2021. Each time he meet our requirements to be first class and followed through on the trip.
Kathi arranged all the Covid test (6) and never once did we have a travel problem.
We gave him our objectives and he more than delivered