DE
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
From the Kalahari Desert - Moremi - Okavango Delta - Chobe and Vic Falls
Deception Valley Lodge and the Kalahari are well worth a visit. The Lodge was great and just by observing the area around the waterhole I could see plenty of big groups of tiny little birds up to Giraffes, Wilderbeest, Kudu and much more. The guides and the tracker was very knowledgeable so we could see lots, specially lions and also lots of birds, owls on the game drives. It is amazing what the guides and trackers can see and find on the drives. I also want to mention the amazing scenery and also the bushmen walk was very interesting. Accommodation, Food, Service and the activities was excellent.
Xakanaka - from the desert to the water. I think Xakanaka is another must visit on a trip to Botswana. The game drives were amazing, the guides very knowledgeable and excellent, the atmosphere in the Lodge was very personal and sleeping in tents while hippos walk through the camp is an experience!
Sanctuary Chiefs Camp - another change in the scenery. Accommodation, Service and Food were excellent. Unfortunately the transfer from Sanctuary Chiefs Camp to Sanctuary Baines Camp was delayed by 4 hours. We were waiting at the airstrip for 30 minutes when the guide asked at the lodge and they asked at Mackair. So then the lodge found out about the delay and we drove back to the lodge and they were already preparing a 3 course lunch menu for us. My compliments in preparing this in such a short notice.
Sanctuary Baines Camp - very personal service, I loved the Mokoru ride through the delta, the very surprising and romantic bath under the stars and sleeping outside. Due to the delayed transfer from Chiefs Camp I didn't have enough time to do the elephant acitivity. The drives through the waterways is certainly an experience you don't get anywhere else.
Chobe Game Lodge - this 3 days made this trip from excellent to "only" good. I cannot rate the Chobe Game Lodge as a 5 star Lodge. They only offer buffet style breakfast, lunch and dinners. In a 5 star property I expect dinner to be served on the table. In the 4 main meals I had, there was one pizza buffet (lunch)und one pasta buffet (dinner). If I want Italian food I don't need to travel all the way to Botswana. There are no waiters in both bars to take orders and bring the drinks to the table. I have seen 12 seater game drive vehicels from the Chobe Game Lodge packed up with 10 passengers of different parties and other cars had only 4 passengers. The staff didn't help elderly guests in and out of the cars. This was done by other guests and watched by the staff. In comparison to the other lodges I also need to say that I had the feeling that the guides are less knowledgeable then at other lodges.
I am sorry but in a 5 star Lodge I expect a higher quality of service.
The Chobe Nationalpark ist known worldwide for excellent game viewings and I was really looking forward to it. During my visit the game viewings were very poor and I believe one reason is that the access to the park is very limited. And when there is a sighting you might have to share with 20 or more other cars everyone fighting for the best spot. This is not a safari experience I would recommend.
Ichobezi Houseboat - very relaxing and a nice change to the Lodges.
Elephant Camp - all excellent, the Lodge, the staff, the food, the activites. I could do the walk with a Sylvester the cheetah and enjoyed the excellent guides and met the elephants. Also the tour to the Vic Falls was phantastic and our guide showed not only the falls but gave us also lots of information and showed us plants and wildlife.
Vic Falls Hotel - just awesome. You can feel and read about the history of this special place throughout the hotel. The location, the atmosphere, the service are phantastic. Thank you very much for this special place.
And finally the sunset cruise on the Zambesi River. That afternoon was a storm coming and I didn't realy feel to go on this cruise. But I went and it was a nice closing to this trip through Botswana and Zimbabwe. We had some great sightings and another amazing African sunset.
Thank you very much
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Excellent experience!
I honestly cannot say enough good things about KWSS. The organisation of my safairi's was exceptional, communication was always timely and appropriate and nothing was too much trouble for OT to sort out very quickly and professionally - including last minute changes to the itinerary (cause by me!).
KWSS played a large part in making my trip to east Africa the trip of a lifetime. Don't hesitate to use them if your planning a trip.
CH
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
the experience was good, and the assistance perfect
The programm was very interesting and the lodge of very high quality.
Maybe the time dedicated to the safari was a day too long.
The tour operator was always ready to help and we all have an extraordinary experience in South Africa, especcially with the two trips in balloon.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
An Amazing Safari
In 2013 my girlfriend and I decided to try something different for Christmas and booked a Safari with Msafiri Travels. It was a fantastic experience - we were flown to the Safari park on a tiny four-seat plane, where we were the only passengers. We were then met by the camp crew at the landing strip and taken to the camp, which was located right on the river shore nearby. The view was beautiful, the staff was friendly, and the accommodation was better than I expected it to be in the middle of nowhere, away from civilization.
There were numerous tours available, on all of which we were the only passengers, so it really felt like a romantic getaway instead of the usual packed-beyond-recognition zoo experience. We were able to see all the animals we wanted and even get very close to some of them.
All in all, it was a very pleasant experience and felt like a real adventure, while still being a great couple's getaway.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Super! Super! Super!
I was fortunate enough to have had a tour by OpenTour Africa during my visit to Cape Town in October 2014. It was undoubtedly the highlight of my two week holiday. The day started with coffee unlike you’ve ever seen or experienced before -expertly brewed in what looked like a science experiment right in front of you. Our tour guide, Ozzy then took us on a graffiti tour of Cape Town. This quickly turned into a much richer and deeper experience than simply appreciating art. Ozzy is incredibly well informed about the history and political landscape of South Africa. We ended the day with a couple of vineyard tours and a wine tasting. It was obvious that a lot of thought had gone into picking the finest wine farms to give us the best experience possible. Best of all was that Ozzy had all the time in the world and even though we overran by nearly two hours, he still had a smile on his face and wanted to show us more. Incredible! OpenTourAfrica, you made my holiday.
This is outstanding company. Charles our safari Guide was amazing, He is well trained.
It was not easy to choose a tour Operator, I and my Husband decided to choose Snow Africa Adventures. We booked through Caroline, She was great lady. She replied our email very soon. We booked 5 days lodge safari. Serengeti, Ngorongoro and Tarangire National parks. Charles our driver guide was perfect. Wonderful knowledge for wildlife and great English. We highly recommend Snow Africa Adventures to any one thinking about safari in Tanzania.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Most Wonderful Girls' Road Trip
With short notice Monika from the Safari Source helped me to organize a fantastic road trip to western Zimbabwe when a friend of mine came to visit me from Germany. She found just the right accomodations for us, always had some useful advice for the overall planning and made our trip become a very special and unforgettable one. Service and communication is just excellent as Monika can be called any time and will take care of your needs immediately.
JP
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
By Far the best DMC on young dymanic minds
We booked the 7 day by far Best of kenya safari, and SS(sylvester sila),organised everything superbly and suprices on how a a company managed by a young mind wld be so so proffessional,,from the name seven by far,,wow ,book with them and u will get by far the best ever ,,,have 7th anniversary in advance''
Experience Professionals with friendly environment, understand needs on grass root levels and delivers results above expectation, Open Business minded people great to work with them.
JP
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
10 days Turukana camping tour
We went to a 10 days Turukana tour. Since we were 5, we could change the length of the tour and the departing date as we like. The tour was much more wonderful than we had expected. The scenery on the way was breathtaking, especially Lake Turukana was beautiful. We were amazed when we saw hundreds of hundreds camels in the deserts and the mirages of them to the horizon. Also we visited some village of nomadic tribe. The color of their clothes and necklaces was fantastic.
Our driver and cook were excellent.
Alfred prepared very nice food though most of us were on diet. Whenever we go somewhere we are disappointed about food but we really enjoyed his meal everyday. Also Karnbo showed us many interesting places and he did his best to entertain us. Fusain, our guardman was very kind and help us a lot. Our tour was superb. I think they must have been tired after this tour. Thank you very much for letting us to have such a wonderful tour.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Ticked all the boxes and that little bit more... you can have confidence in EAS&TC!
So to try and keep this short and sweet (as I know the hours it takes researching the different Safrai operators, reading reviews etc.. it is almost a full time job!!
Planning the safari
- They say patience is a virtue and it is!! Thankfully Simon of East African Safari had plenty of it as we had questions, questions and more questions and never once did it become a big deal. He was even happy to provide guidance on the areas of our trip that we weren't going to be booking through him. His brochures and itineraries were not as high end as some of the other operators but it is simple things like that that allow him to be the most competitive Safari company, pricewise that I researched (I resarched 8 in great depth.) He provided really honest and solid advice on some other things like visiting an orphanage.
On the Safari
- We were really pleased with our itinerary and got to see everything - except the elusive Rhino but we were just unlucky with the weather and nature has a mind of it's own!!
Our guide
Jimmy looked after us so well over the 5 days went to great lengths on the last day to make sure we saw cheetahs and leopards. He knew everything and dealt with my million questions everyday very well.
Accommodation
We stayed in a mix of tented camps and lodges - all were great but Boundary Hill lodge at Tarangire was stand out - it was beyond our wildest dreams. The beautiful brick lodges, the outside dining and the amazing service made it one of the most special nights of our whole holiday - you actually need to see this place to believe. Our morning walk with the Masai gifted us with a leopard sighting which added to specialness of this gem.
Food
Really good everywhere and plenty of it.. Don't go on Safari expecting Heston style but be assured that you will get great basic food that is full of taste and you will never be left hungry!
The extra stuff that makes a difference
We were a group of three girls travelling together and unfortunately one of the our bags never arrived to Dar Es Saleem. When we explained this to Simon he invited us to his house the day of Safari to drop off the missing baggage form and to chase the bag when we were on Safari. Unfortunately due to the airline's mistake the bag didn't show up over the Safari but Simon had someone trying everyday. The day after we finished safari he organised for us to be collected at our accommodation to collect the form and had a cuppa waiting for us. It's nice to know that an operator will go that extra mile for you, even after payments have been made!!
I would highly recommend East Africa on all fronts!