Kate & Darren Humphrys with Henry, Olive and Hume
Compass Odyssey
- Located In:
- Size:
- 1-5 employees (Founded in 2006)
- Member Of:
- Southern Africa Tourism Services Association
- Tour Types:
- Custom mid-range & luxury tours that can start every day
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $750 to $2,500 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
Email Mike | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Poor value and doesn't take responsibility for anything
Our guide to the Victoria falls area was of poor quality in general. She barely provided any guiding and just drove us around. One thing that really stuck out to me was when we pre booked dinner at the Lookout Cafe through the company. Only after we got there we realized they booked us after Sunset when it was pitch black outside with no visible view!
The places is called the Lookout Cafe, the whole point is to eat with a view. The brochure they gave us focused on the view. We were very much looking forward to it. There was not enough time to rebook us at any other point during our trip. The response we got was laughable. They didn't take any responsibility and tried to blame us for not looking up the sunset time ahead!? As a tour organizer it is your basic responsibility to check these things when you make a booking on behalf of a client. Then they just said the local guide booked it and didn't realize. Again, as the organizer it is your sole responsibility to make sure things are booked appropriately. Darren offered absolutely no resolution and got snarky when we brought it up.
Reply from Compass Odyssey
Posted on May 25, 2026Hello again, Michael (and Regan).
Oh dear. Even after receiving our detailed, explanatory, lengthy and sympathetic reply, you still feel the need to insert one last jab at us. In turn, we regrettably now feel the need to justify your review by responding, and we apologise in advance to the reader for this somewhat distasteful process.
Specifically related to the instance that you mention in this review, we have previously empathised that it must have been disappointing for you to find that the sun had already set by the time our lovely guide, Ruth delivered you to The Lookout Cafe in Victoria Falls. Regan emailed us previously to request us to make the dinner reservation there. We passed on this request to our local guides, Mortimer and Ruth. They booked the table for dinner time (7:00pm), which happened to be after sunset at that time of the year. We are sorry that at no time did any of us (you included) think to specifically ask/mention that you wanted to arrive during the daylight hours to enjoy the view. What you fail to mention is that your (Michael) reaction at the time to this almighty misfortune was to shout at and belittle poor Ruth in front of diners and staff. She was so upset but still managed to apologise and when you demanded that she transport you to an alternative dinner establishment, she did so with dignity and respect for you.
To provide even more context, shall we mention that earlier in the day you (Michael) had shouted at, and shown disrespectful behaviour to, the Immigration officers at the Zimbabwe border despite knowing that the issue was totally due to you both acquiring the incorrect visa when arriving in Zimbabwe. We provided you with specific information about what visa to acquire when arriving into Zimbabwe from Namibia and what visa to acquire when arriving into Zimbabwe from Zambia. You didn’t heed this information and proceeded to acquire the incorrect visa. The Immigration official at the Zambia/Zimbabwe border was correctly advising you that you needed to acquire another visa and make extra payment of US$30pp. Michael’s shouting and disrespectful behaviour caused great embarrassment to Mortimer who has had to mend some bridges with particular officers at that border and who in turn advised Mortimer that Michael was very, very lucky not to have been denied entry into Zimbabwe. We were truly shocked that a Compass Odyssey traveller had behaved that way.
Seeing that you have posted this negative review and titled it “Poor value and doesn't take responsibility for anything”, shall we let the reader know about the following:
1. You required in-room air-conditioning at each of your accommodations but neglected to actually advise us of this. That in itself is your prerogative. But you then contacted us after the first night of a 2-night stay in Swakopmund Namibia, greeting us as “you guys” and demanding us to find you an alternative hotel for the second night and pay for it. Shall we let the reader know that even though you failed to let us know your requirements, we took immediate responsibility for the enjoyment of your safari and not only did we quickly find you alternative accommodation for the night that did offer in-room air-conditioning (in a town with an average nighttime temperature of just 15°C/59°F), but for the sake of wanting you and Regan to stay happy, we bore the cost.
2. The overall cost of your safari was mainly due to the actual costs of the accommodations, guides, transport etc of your journey, which included 10 accommodations, 7 ground operators/guides (including a private guide/transport throughout Namibia) and 3 airlines and making 22 bank payments. The cost of your safari was certainly not due to our profit margin, which has come out at less than 10% for your particular trip. Within that cost, we co-ordinated every small detail of your journey, which included notifying every service provider of your details, arrival/departure arrangements, and requesting a special honeymoon welcome at each of your accommodations, which you of course received as complimentary. We wonder if the reader will concur with you that this is poor value?
What a shame that out of a 20-day private honeymoon journey through five amazing countries and accompanied by the most welcoming, warm guides, you continue to concentrate on one instance of arriving at an eatery too late for you to see the view.
As we mentioned in our post-safari message to you both, we had hoped that our responses/thoughts would have enabled all of us to agree-to-disagree and move on.
We wish you both the very best on your next journey as parents,
Darren and Kate
We again apologise to the reader for having to make public this unfortunate record of events.