JDA Founders Patrick & Victoria Shah on safari
Journeys Discovering Africa
- Located In:
-
United Kingdom
United States
- Size:
- 20-50 employees (Founded in 2012)
- Member Of:
- Travel Trust Association
- Tour Types:
- Custom mid-range & luxury tours that can start every day
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $382 to $2,000 per person per day (USD, excl. int'l flights)
Reviews
65+ years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Uganda -Lovely country, wonderful people, exciting birding,marvellous guide, excellent lodges
Spent whole holiday in Uganda concentrating on bird life. Very well organized tour. Every detail had been thought of. Lodges very good and staff delightful.
Boat trips on Nile and Kazinga Channel were highlight of the tour.
Huge decline in numbers of antelope since last visit. Many fewer raptors and no vultures.Authorities will have to do something about poaching if game parks are to remain tourist attraction.
Excellent attention to detail with superb staff and guides
This is the second time i have organized a large group to travel with Journeys Discovering Africa/Far Horizons and, once again, we received excellent service. The booking process was facilitated by a competent staff. Accommodations, food, and service at all locations exceeded our expectations. The guides were friendly, knowledgeable and easy to communicate with. Overall we had a wonderful experience and will definitely travel with this tour operator again in the future.
US
Email Sandra | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
JDA is an excellent, trustworthy safari company with genuine interest in their clients and nature.
This was my fourth time working with Journeys Discovering Africa, and there are reasons I keep coming back. From my first contact with them, through the planning process, invoicing, travel, and follow up when the trip ends... they consistently treat me with respect and work very hard to ensure I am satisfied. They are also very conscientious about supporting the communities we travel in. They go the "extra mile" to ensure the best experience for all. I'm already planning another trip with them. I highly recommend using this knowledgable and ethical company!
US
Email Maggie | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Flexible, responsive team created a magical experience for us
Journeys discovering Africa created a magical custom itinerary for 3 women traveling together in Zambia and Botswana. Patrick and Peace were very accommodating of our needs and were responsive and flexible. Patrick quickly resolved a potential issue with our wire transfer. We loved the lodging at the Royal Livingston Hotel In Zambia and the Chobe Game Lodge in Botswana. All transfers went smoothly and we really had no problems whatsoever. I recommend JDA to anyone!
US
Email Amanda | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Top notch. JDA curated a unique safari itinerary based on our interests/needs. Highly recommend!
Patrick and Journey Discovering Africa are absolutely phenomenal!!! They plan every aspect of your trip so you can relax and completely enjoy your safari holiday. Patrick planned an 8 day / 7 night safari in Botswana, which included 3 different camps, 3 flights and an overland border crossing. Here's why I loved my experience with JDA:
1) Speedy communication. Patrick emailed and called me within 12 hours of my initial request.
2) Customized trip for your specific needs. The package on safaribookings.com was a suggested itinerary and Patrick explained that my friend and I could modify the route (including the start and end points), camps/lodges, number of nights, etc.
3) Knowledge of safari camps. There's endless info about all the different camps online, and it's pretty overwhelming. However, Patrick asked us about our interests/personalities, travel style, safari expectations, budget, things we wanted to see, etc. Based on that info, he curated a unique trip just for us. All 3 camps were perfect.
4) Handles last minute requests. Patrick must of thought I was crazy when I said our desired dates were less than 2 weeks away. August is peak season in the Okavango, but somehow he found availability at the camps and on the small planes used for transport between camps/lodges. I'm still not sure how he managed it all in 1.5 days. Really impressive!
5) Sit back, relax and enjoy. Once we arrived at the initial meeting point, we were always with a handler (outside of relax time) until the next handler greeted us.
Overall, I'd highly recommend Patrick and JDA. In fact, we're already used them again to coordinate another last minute safari in Etosha to find rhinos. We were fortunate enough to see black and white rhinos and even saw them mating!
CA
Email Evelyn Hazzard | 65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
Our trip to Africa was stunningly perfect in every way!
When planning my trip to Africa it was not easy to chose a tour operator online! I contacted quite a few & was disappointed with their replies (or lack of replies). Then Patrick Shaw of 'Journeys Discovering Africa' actually wrote to me like I was a real person & suggested I might like to share a trip to trek gorillas that he was planning. My reason for going to Africa was to see the majestic mountain gorillas & finally someone actually listened to ME & was thinking about what I wanted, rather than what trips they already had to offer! So I began to correspond with Patrick. The poor man must have shared dozens of emails with me! Patrick never, ever made me feel like I was a bother. He answered all of my questions with grace & patience. Then Patrick sent me a (marvelous) itinerary for my own personal 19 day trip! By then my daughters had come 'on board' & they could only get two weeks so we had to revise & delete. It was difficult but we relied on Patrick's wisdom & he was right all the way. Our 12 day adventure was absolutely perfect - for US! Patrick sent us our itinerary, all the information we needed about gorilla groups, Uganda & Kenya, summaries of each trek, each drive, & each (gorgeous) accommodation. We knew what to expect in terms of time, clothing, tipping, customs, etc., each day of our trip. So we decided (after months of Patrick's hard work) that yes, we'd do it! It was very difficult to send money to someone you'd only 'seen' on email! So I asked Patrick for references & I wrote every single one, including each of the lodges! Glowing reports came back! So I believed that this paragon was a real person & sent off our money. Best thing I ever did! What an amazing trip we had! We were greeted at every airport, every lodge, every trekking point, every restaurant by smiling, helpful, knowledgeable people from 'Journeys Discovering Africa'! We sat down with our guides & went over the trip in detail each step of the way. We were never in doubt about what was happening next! It was all what WE wanted to do, not what some tour was already doing! And the things that were planned for us were marvelous! Yes, we did two gorilla treks which were life changing experiences. We also did a chimp trek which Patrick suggested & which I would not have missed! We went on many tiny planes, from tiny air fields, & were escorted there, on time, with all our bookings checked & rechecked ahead of time. Every transfer, every meeting, everything went as 'smooth as silk'! After the gorillas, we went to Kenya. Patrick again, chose perfectly, for US. We loved Giraffe Manor. Our safari experience at Kicheche Camp on the Masai Mara was unbelievable! And again, our guides, our hosts, everyone was so kind & welcoming to us. One thing on my 'must do' list was to adopt a baby elephant at the Sheldrick Trust in Nairobi. Patrick made it happen, & I know it wasn't easy! We had a private viewing of the orphans! Because of the strict timing, Patrick had a long day in Nairobi to plan for us. He managed to give us a final day of animals, & gorgeous restaurants so we could get to see the elephants. I can't say enough at Patrick Shah & his staff at 'Journeys Discovering Africa'. He listens. He is meticulous in the details. He knows all the best places to go & all the best guides! He understands our fears & communicates well each step of the way. He cares & he delivers. If we ever go again, Patrick's email will be on my fingertips! Our marvelous trip to Africa exceeded all of our expectations! We had the best time of our lives! Thank you Patrick Shah & your great staff at 'Journeys'!
FR
Email Marie-Hélène | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Unforgettable trip and stay at Gorilla Forest Camp in Buhoma
We are just back from a wonderful trip in Uganda, tracking the mountain gorillas in the Bwindi Forest.
Our journey was perfectly organized by Patrick and his team from JDA, in a very professionnal way.
All ground and air transfers made by excellent drivers/pilots. All guides very knowledgable. The Gorilla Forest Camp is a wonderful place, with an excellent service and food !
The gorilla tracking has been very exciting and easier than expected. We saw a lot of them and made beautiful pictures !
CA
Email Louise Ishii & Gary Finkler, Rachael & Lauren Finkler | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Highly recommend Patrick Shah, Journeys Discovering Africa for a trip of a lifetime
Totally exceeded our expectations - every aspect of our trip from the initial contact with Patrick in the spring of 2018 to the final day of our safari. Patrick planned, customized & booked our entire trip, our first time in Africa and on safari.
Communications & Service: Patrick communicated regularly with us before and after our trip. He provided a lot of details and information about the safari, our stay in Victoria Falls & Kasane, as well guidelines for packing, tipping etc. He promptly replied back to my several emails and because of this I eventually lost my initial apprehension about my husband booking a trip from looking up safari brothers tv show on line, instead of going to our usual travel agent in Toronto! His referral travel agency in Uganda booked our flights within Africa flawlessly and I would have booked our air canada/South African airlines flights there and back via Patrick but I had to use my Air Canada discount voucher for the 6 of us before it expired. The service and care we received from Patrick was superb - first class in every aspect. Good idea to carry on our duffels instead of checking in as cargo luggage.
All transfers from airport to lodges, Kasane, and airports were hassle free, on time, clean and newer vehicles, polite drivers!
First 3 days in Victoria Falls and Kasane: Good that we took these days to get acclimatized and get rid of jet lag. A gentler introduction for first timers to Africa. The accommodations (the Bayete Guest Lodge, Vic.Falls, Zimbabwe and The Old House &/Chobe Bush Lodge in Kasane, Botswana) were clean and comfortable, actually way nicer than we expected. Food was fresh and delicious. The staff were so friendly and couldn’t do enough for all of us. Really enjoyed our brief stay. Patrick arranged a sundowner Zambezi river cruise, a private tour of victoria falls (our guide was excellent), a delicious lunch at the posh Ilala Lodge, helicopter ride over the falls (Brian, Paul, Rachael & Lauren loved it). Really worth the extra 3 days stay.
Safari 10 days 9 nights in mobile tented camps 3 nights each in Savuti, Khwai & Moremi. All 3 camps were in unbelievable spots each one different. Savuti was semi arid desert sand, with north pride lions patrolling around us and elephants all around us, Khwai we were right in front of a hippo pond with resident bachelor male hippo and lots of visiting elephants bathing and mud bathing, water bucks resting, Moremi we were in front of grasslands that zebras, baboons, elephants, warthogs visited daily and nightly. These animals came so close to us that we could hear them crunching and chewing! Still can’t believe all that we saw and experienced. Every safari game drive was awe inspiring and jaw dropping at times we didn’t even want to take photos as we wanted to savour the moments. We saw so many elephants, impala, and other antelopes, zebras, hippos, giraffes, baboons, Cape buffalo, Wildebeest, beautiful birds like the violet breasted roller my favourite! I lost count ..... every turn on the roads provided an “Ah ha”,”omg” “is this for real” moment for us.... we also saw quite a few different lion prides, a couple of jackals, 3 ostrich, a few leopards, 2 male cheetahs, a bat Earred fox, hyena, wild dog packs, honey badgers, mongoose, wart hogs, a wild African cat, vervet monkeys, scrub hare, ground squirrels, and 1 black Rhino.
Here are a a few of our “National Geographic moments:
A leopard eating impala kill up in a tree, then his dad growled and basically told him he has to wait for his turn to eat so the smaller leopard was pushed off the branch and went to lie beside his mother.
A mother lioness nursing her 2 small cubs.
4 lion cubs left on their own - apparently their mother is a negligent lioness and her previous cubs died last year.
Elephants, zebras and giraffes all peacefully drinking from a waterhole where the entire marsh pride lions were chased and trumpeted away by bull elephants.
2 male cheetahs digesting their food, just lying in the grass soaking up the sun.
two different lion couples that were mating didn’t see the mating but saw them lying down together. One lioness was ready to mate again and preformed her dance around the male’s head but he was too exhausted to mate again!
A female leopard eating her small red lechwe kill away from her 2 small cubs which we saw - they were so tiny our guide estimated they were a month old she hid then under a tree root.
A small giraffe trying to mate with a taller female giraffe - unsuccessful he wasn’t tall enough!
A family of over 24 wild dogs with 3 puppies who were getting ready for the chase and hunt we saw them begin the chase then they stopped and waited for impala herd - we couldn’t stay as it was after 6 pm and we had to get back to camp before curfew.
Morkoro pole driver boat ride - peaceful beautiful, saw many hippos, elephants and birds
There are more moments....every day something unique happened.
Safari Guide, cook and camp aides: our safari guide Matambo was absolutely the BEST So knowledgeable told us a lot about the animals, their tracks, bird, the habitat, trees, grasses - I was thrilled to see a sausage tree, umbrella acacia, toothbrush bush, papyrus grass, fungus growing termite mounds, mamba hotels.and so on. Loved the blacksmith bird’s sound, beauty of the violet breasted roller, green African pigeon, parrots, finches, Fish eagles, owls and so on. He would stop,and show us the tracks of the animals he was following. He could really drive that Jeep - we got to truly experience off roading!
We called Mueller our Master Chef along wth camp aides Kabelo & Dave. They made us gourmet meals in bush ovens and bush grilles! The meals and picnic lunches were really over the top and beats our boring canadian campground burgers and steaks. We all looked forward to every meal. They also kept our camp clean, did our laundry, made us hot water for showers and washing up, greeted us after game drives with cold ice teas and warm hand towels, put a hot water bottle in our beds each night (very nice touch) and told us a little about themselves. Dave even wrote down a few Botswana phrases for me and gave us the recipe of red lentil soup. My husband doesn’t get these gourmet meals at home. Matambo also arranged for a bottle of Jameson’s scotch to be delivered to Brian in Khwai via air from Maun, the driven from Savuti we couldn’t believe this! And Brian was so happy for scotch lol it was like he won a lottery.
All of us just can’t stop talking about our wonderful African vacation.......should I start packing for the next one.....of course booking for sure through Patrick at Journeys Discovering Africa
Thanks a million for a truly wonderful, memory filled family trip.
SE
Email Magnus Carlehed | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Excellent planning for a family with a 10y child
Journeys Discovering Africa tailor-made a safari tour (6 nights) in northern Botswana for our family. The agency was very good in responding to our various questions and demands during the planning phase and was able to put together a great tour suitable for travelling with a child. All our wishes were catered for and the service they provided when some trouble with flights later occurred was more than helpful.
We had a lovely tour and saw a lot of animals plus made a tour to Tsodilo Hills. We were all excited!
DE
Email Jorg | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Fantastic experience - perfect organization
Fantastic experience during our 8 days Uganda Gorilla and Chimps Safari - we saw a lot of animals.
We travelled with Journeys Discovering Africa which we can recommend in every aspects (Communication, Drivers, Guide etc.)
Thank you very much for this fantastic trip and organization.