Martin Smith, Managing Director
Kingfisher Safaris
- Office In:
-
United Kingdom
- Size:
- 5-10 employees (Founded in 2012)
- Member Of:
- Botswana Guides Association
- Tour Types:
- Custom mid-range & luxury tours that can start every day
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $100 to $1,500 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
Professionally organised trip, good lodges, excellent wildlife guides
Kingfisher Safaris arranged our trip in a very professional manner, with no communication glitches, and with excellent liaison with the local Zambian tour company. We stayed in two lodges in South Luangwa National Park. The lodges were actually situated very close to each other and game drives from each covered the same territory, but we saw different wildlife on each drive, so this was not a serious drawback. The lodges were very well run and the time was organised in a very efficient manner between rest, daytime safaris and night drives. The lodge staff were friendly and professional, and our wildlife guides were excellent.
Excellent experience and superior service
Martin helped us to plan a varied two week safari trip in Botswana and Zimbabwe. He constructed a bespoke itinerary that perfectly suited our wants and needs for the trip, patiently tweaking it and answering all our questions until it was exactly right. Once there, we could see that everything had been organised very well and there was excellent communication - all the camps knew that I was a vegetarian for example, and this was easily catered for. When we wanted to change a transfer while out there, Martin helped us with this over email very quickly and efficiently. Pilot was a great source of local help and knowledge and an excellent guide - I hope one day to return for a mobile safari with him!
Martin has excellent first hand knowledge of the area and connections with top notch camps and this really showed - everywhere we stayed was great and exceeded our expectations. Both accommodation and activities were excellent.
Overall, a very professional, friendly and helpful service that delivered a holiday to remember..
ES
Email Federico | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Great experience, unforgetable safari.
I visited South Luangwa National Park with Kingfisher safaris and it was gorgeous. Lodge was amazing and all pre safari issues were sorted out very profesionally with Kingfisher staff. Will definetely repeat with them (doing Uganda in a few weeks ) in the future, since they are very good experts in Africa.
BR
Email Marcus Alencar | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Always Online
After my &Beyond operator let me down I contacted some operators to schedule a 15 day trip to Botswana, Simbabwe, Zambia..my 4th experience in Africa. Martin was the one chosen and after some talking designed a Safari for me. Everything met my expectations and I’m taking this time to write this because I lost my first flight to Harare and a Sharter to the Lodge in my first day of the trip ( I tnx Latam for that - never trust them) and as soon as I contacted Martin in Johannesburg he managed to help me promptly. I’m so glad I choose him. Don’t think twice. It’s in the bad times that you can see what kind of service you are getting and he was amazing.
US
Email Grace Chen | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Excellent! Service and Great Safari Experience!
We booked our very first mobile camping safari trip to Khwai and Moremi Game Reserve, Botswana with Kingfisher Safaris. Everything went well from start to finish. We spent a total of 3.5 weeks in the Southern Africa and this camping trip was the highlight and so unforgettable. Martin was very easy to communicate with at the planning stage. He replied to all my emails very quickly with detailed answers. You can tell he is very knowledgeable and experienced about Botswana. Our mobile camping guide/driver, Pilot, was very friendly with tons of humors! He has more than 30 years experience and knows the area really well. Our chef, Peggy Sue, cooked very delicious food every day and she has tons of humors as well! The waitress and the camper hand were both very nice people as well and made sure hot water was ready when we came back from game drive and also made our room multiple times dueing the day. The camping experience was way beyond our expectations. Plus all the wildlife we encountered during the tour. We loved it! Thank you Martin, Pilot, and the team for making our Safari in Okavango Delta so memorable and unforgettable!
Email David | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Superb
My girlfriend and I booked the 3 night tamarind canoe safari with Martin from Kingfisher Safaris and we absolutely loved it. We started at Chirundu and canoed around 70km to Mana Pools (only an average level of fitness is required) with nights spent on sand islands in the middle of the Zambezi river. As soon as we set off we were greeted with a large pod of hippos and then a herd of elephants on a sand bank ahead of us. That was the start of an incredible experience viewing so much wildlife including gliding just 5 yards away from a 14ft crocodile sun bathing on the bank! There were hundreds of hippos, many crocodiles, elephants, birdlife and also zebras, impala and waterbuck viewed on the banks to name a few. The feeling of being in a canoe sat 6 inches above the water and feeling so close to the animals was amazing and something we’ll never forget.
Since I booked the trip Martin has been first class in his rapid response to emails (mostly within an hour/couple of hours) and arranging extras not even part of our canoe trip such as charter flights and transfers. His fast and helpful replies really put my mind at ease, he is so well organised and always contactable if you have any problems or questions so right away the stress of waiting for a response is removed.
We certainly recommend people do the tamarind canoe trip as we had an unforgettable experience, and without doubt I would advise people to book with Martin of Kingfisher Safaris, I can’t recommend him enough.
Email Warren and Emma | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amazing tour and fantastic service from start to finish
My girlfriend and I recently did a 7 day camping safari in the Delta which we organised through Martin at Kingfisher Safaris. When booking some months ago, we found Martin online and were immediately impressed by his responsiveness and helpful and accommodating service in planning our trip. Once we booked our safari, Martin also assisted us in booking our own self drive camping trip in Namibia beforehand, providing some great tips and knowledge for our planning, but also making arrangements for us on the ground which meant we had the piece of mind and backup of his 'on the ground' support network. This was invaluable in making our trip efficient, practical and safe.
Our Delta safari was run by guides Charles (for 3 days) and then Pilot for the remainder. Both of them are fantastic, super knowledgeable and experienced (which you can tell by the way they are respected by other guides in the park) and are perfectionists in making the safari experience as perfect as possible. Right up to the day we started our safari, Martin was available by email to answer any question. The assistants on tour are equally helpful and friendly. We had an amazing and unforgettable experience through Kingfisher and highly recommend it. We look forward to one day hopefully being able to do it again.
IT
Email Roberto Fattori | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Professionalism and efficiency for a fantastic safari
We went on a safari in Zimbabwe last April and we have to thank Kingfisher Safaris and Martin in particular for the experience we experienced. Martin and his agency are of a kindness, a willingness, a seriousness and a truly unique professionalism. We visited the parks of Northern Zimbabwe, the Mana Pools NP, the area adjacent to Lake Kariba and Hwange NP. We stayed in fantastic tented camps and in really excellent lodges where the quality of food, service and staff were superb. We were also quite lucky both in terms of quality and quantity of sightings, especially in Hwange NP. In conclusion, we strongly recommend choosing Kingfisher Safaris to anyone who wants to experience an intense, true African experience in contact with uncontaminated nature.
IT
Email Elisa Cei | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Recommended
Kingfischer Safaris organized a 10-days safari in Zimbabwes for us in April 2019. Martin is a professional and very correct person and above all available to clarify all matters. The correspondence is very fast. Tented camps and lodges are charming and equipped with every comfort; the staff are really welcoming and helpful, i felt like i was in family; great food anytime and anywhere. (Fantastic experience was celebrating Easter lunch in Hwange NP with a big table in the middle of the busch all together with guests from other camps, really a beautiful surprise!)
Kingfischer safari organizes your trip in detail, for this I recommend this for your next trip!
Email Russell | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Outstanding - Highly Recommended
My family (my wife and I and two young adult daughters) have just returned from a safari tour organised by Martin at Kingfisher Safaris and cannot recommend the service that he provided highly enough. From our very first email contact with Martin he was always incredibly responsive and extremely helpful. He first took the time to understand who we were and what we wanted so he could help to set out and book the perfect itinerary for us. Martin answered every one of our follow-up questions over several emails and phone calls amazingly quickly and effectively. He is clearly both knowledgeable and passionate about what he does.
We spent 5 days/4 nights at andBeyond Phinda Private Game Reserve in South Africa, followed by 4 days/3 nights at andBeyond Benguerra Island in Mozambique. The staff, service, food and accommodation in the three lodges were simply amazing; and most importantly we had spectacular game drives in Phinda and incredible activities on Benguerra Island. We very much like the philosophy of andBeyond - their support both for the local communities and for the environment is very apparent. As guests, we also like their style - relaxed but unobtrusively attentive to your every need. They aim to "go beyond your expectations" and I can honestly say they are one of the few companies that I have experienced that actually achieve this. We were frequently genuinely surprised (and delighted) by the things they did for us.
Because of our choice of locations, our itinerary required several transfers and internal flights in Africa and every single one worked perfectly - thanks to Martin who planned and booked everything for us.
We have had an amazing experience, and Martin played a key role in making it all work so well and so smoothly.
I have no hesitation in highly recommending Kingfisher Safaris to anyone who is interested in exploring the beauty and wonder of Africa.