Director Michelle on a mokoro in Botswana
Explore and Travel Africa
- Office In:
- Size:
- 1-5 employees (Founded in 2020)
- Tour Types:
- Custom mid-range & luxury tours that can start every day
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $500 to $2,000 per person per day (USD, excl. int'l flights)
Reviews
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Email Walt | 65+ years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Excellent pre-safari planning as well as on safari support.
We have used Michelle for our the majority of our 8 trips to Africa and her service is spot on. She listens to what you think you want to see and do, respects your budget and travel needs and always matches up the perfect experience. From lodge selection, transport between venues and attendance to detail, she provides gear customer service.
This year we visited 3 lodges, 4 nights each, all in areas we had previously been to. Each was unique, very comfortable and all provided a great experience . We extended two days in Hoedspruit and Michelle selected the perfect accommodation. A lodge with a terrific room, excellent staff and really great food.
We highly recommend Michelle at Explore and Travel Africa if you want exceptional service from an extremely knowledgeable travel expert.
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Email Liz | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Fantastic, helpful, friendly, flexible, reliable
Michelle Astbury, our travel consultant was essential in planning this trip. Our daughter had used her a few years ago and suggested her. We haven’t used an agent in 20 years and always plan trips ourselves but for an African safari plus Capetown and Victoria Falls, having someone from the country to help plan was the best way to go for us. Michelle was knowledgeable and booked wonderful places within our budget and all the excursions, flights, transfers hotels, dinners, etc. she was responsive and flexible and available to help even during the trip. I would highly recommend Michelle.
Knowledgeable, professional and adventurous
All aspects of our tour were met with a rep to help us reach our next destination. The help was getting to our next stay, entering/leaving different countries and most of all our tours and safaris.
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Email Mary | 65+ years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Cape Town - Victoria Falls - Botswana Safaris
We started out in Cape Town staying at the Victoria & Albert Hotel. Visited the local market on Saturday and then spent the next three days touring with a guide: (1) Table Mountain (2) Cape Peninsula; and (3) Winelands. Food, accommodations and service were excellent. Tours were interesting and guides were friendly and knowledgeable. Fly to Victoria Falls and lunch at the Lookout Cafe followed by a tour of the falls from the Zimbabwe side. Traveled by van to the Zambia side of the falls with a two-night stay at the Royal Livingston Hotel. Walked from hotel to see the falls. Wear sandals and shorts with rain gear and umbrella when visiting the falls. It's wet! Giraffes and zebras roam the hotel grounds, providing a glimpse of what is to come on safari. We traveled to Botswana and spent three nights in four separate safari camps. We started with Chobe Game Lodge on the Chobe River. Safari by boat and jeep twice a day. Lots of elephants, impala, baboons, giraffes. A nice transition into the safari daily routine and staying in the park cut down on drive time. Next stop, Wilderness Savuti, a tented camp in the Linyanti Concession followed by Little Vumbura and finished up with Wilderness Qorokwe. We were assigned a guide for each tented camp stay. Guides were knowledgeable about animals, plants, birds and the local community. Accommodations were nice and staff were polite, friendly and helpful. Food was good! Lots and lots of animals and birds. We were gone for three weeks but it went by fast! Explore & Travel Africa made this the easiest and best trip we have taken. The Travelkey app they use is great; no paper to carry around. And once you are in the safari camps, they take care of your schedule and daily needs, including laundry! Pack light.
Email Ron and Sally | 65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
Michelle is a really professional and knowledgeable operator who overdelivered on our expectations
We decided to use Michelle, as a local South African-based travel agent who had first-hand experience, rather than an Australian agent operating from a desk and screen, and we were not disappointed. In fact, Michelle far exceeded our expectations in every way.
We gave her an outline of where we wanted to go and suggested that five-star experiences is what we wanted, without going over the top. Her communication was outstanding, including a couple of phone calls, and her suggestions and attention to detail, particularly with tour, driver, accommodation and meal options.
The itinerary and tours that she planned was amazing:
We arrived in Cape Town, from London and stayed at the beautiful Victoria and Albert hotel at the Waterfront - so convenient to everything. We did wine and Cape Peninsular tours, along with Robben Island and Table Mountain and we even squeezed in a rugby game.
At Victoria Falls, we had superb accommodation at Ilala Lodge, where we could see the mist from the falls. A Zambezi River cruise, with dinner after. The helicopter ride over the falls and upstream and downstream was spectacular. A guided tour of both sides of the falls and a walk across the bridge was followed by lunch at The Lookout Cafe, downstream from the Falls and then to a the amazing Dusty Road Township Restaurant for dinner. Then a day tour to Chobe, including a boat cruise and game drive and a lunch at a local hotel.
We then flew to Kruger and overnighted at Oliver's, a beautiful boutique hotel located on the White River Country Estate, where we wished we could have stayed longer to at play the renowned golf course.
The two game lodges we stayed at were sensational with amazing accommodation, meals and, best of all, great guides - we saw not only the big Five of Lions, Elephants, Rhinos, Buffalos and Leopards but also Cheetahs and Wild Dogs to make the Super 7, plus Giraffes, Zebra, Impala, Hippos, Monkeys and amazing birdlife.
At Inyati Game Lodge, in Sabi Sand, we had a beautiful chalet near the river, with monkeys and Impala wandering through, great food and twice daily game drives. Our day two post on Facebook: Walk to the Giraffes, a pair of Leopards (mating), Lions resting after a kill and more elephants - a cute baby that got startled when our guide started the engine and it gave out a trumpet and charged three metres at us as we slowly drove off. He looked quite proud of himself and will dine out on the story for years.
After three nights, it was a three-hour drive to another of the private game parks in the Kruger, Thabamati Luxury Tented Camp in the private Timbavati Nature reserve, for three nights. Wow. This was Luxury personified, with only four rooms. Our "tent" was absolutely stunning, just metres from the dam. We arrived in time for tea, before the evening game drive, to be greeted by a herd of 25 elephants, of which many also come for tea at the dam every day, much to the annoyance of the resident Hippos and two Egyptian geese.
Our, too short, tour ended with a flight to Johannesburg and then back to Sydney.
Thanks, Michelle for a real "Bucket list" experience.
