US
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Great gorilla trekking trip with Silverbird
Last July, I had booked a 2-day tour to Akagera with Silverbird Tours Agency, and it was one of the best experiences of my life. So when I was back in Kigali I went straight to Silverbird to book a 1-day gorilla trekking trip in Volcanoes National Park. I contacted Peter and he arranged all the details--including the ride up, purchasing the trekking permit, helping me get a COVID test, and lunch after the trek. Damascene was the Silverbird employee who drove me up to Silverbird and made sure everything ran smoothly - I didn't have to worry about a thing. I truly enjoyed his company and learning more about Rwanda from him.
The Silverbird staff are professional yet personable and I trust them 100%. If I travel again to Rwanda for work, there's no doubt in my mind that I would go straight to SIlverbird to arrange any side trips - hopefully next time to Nyungwe!
Thank you, Peter and Damascene, and all the staff at Silverbird! You make Rwanda feel like a home away from home.
Best,
Michelle
US
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Wonderful!
We recently spent 11 days on a vacation in South Africa. Our tour was organized by Discover Africa and they did a fantastic job. We had originally made a deposit on a group tour with a well known international tour operator, but I was concerned about the amount of travel time between destinations. Discover Africa was able to customize our trip and the price was much better, even when we lost the deposit on the group tour.
I worked with Antoinette to plan our trip. She made recommendations which I reviewed and made any changes that I requested. For our transfers and tours, she booked Jarat Tours. The transfers were always on time, courteous, and used very nice Mercedes vehicles. The tours were well organized and we had a great guide, Sorita, for our Peninsula Tour.
In Cape Town, we stayed at the Radisson Blu Waterfront which we felt was in a great location for us. We easily walked from the V&A Waterfront to the hotel, we used their free shuttle service, and we used Uber very easily here. They have a great breakfast buffet.
Next, we went to Stellenbosch. Sorita with Jarat Tours was again our guide and driver and she shared her knowledge of the wine industry there. We had enjoyed three wine tastings. We had lunch at a really nice restaurant in Franschhoek. Reservations were made by the tour operator.
We stayed at the Oulde Werf Hotel, which is near many restaurants. It was a charming and comfortable place to stay.
The main reason for our trip was to go on safari. We went to the Hoyo Hoyo Safari Lodge in the Mluwati Concession in Kruger National Park. With only six charming thatched cottages, it felt like a very intimate safari experience. We saw so many animals and enjoyed delicious meals – it was simply wonderful. We probably would not have found out about this place on our own, so we are thankful that Antoinette recommended it.
South Africa is a beautiful country. Even my husband said that he would like to go back – even with the really long flight!
All of the hotel, tour, transfer, safari and domestic air arrangements were made by Antoinette at Discover Africa. They provided a very detailed online itinerary, contact information, and general information that was very useful. If we have the opportunity to return, I wouldn’t hesitate to use Discover Africa again.
US
Beyond my expectation: extremely professional and attentive
Easy Travel went beyond my expectation in providing us an amazing safari experience. The communication was proactive, clear and very detailed. The service was extremely attentive: they accommodated all of our preferences and even things we didn't think of like a birthday surprise upon our arrival. And our tour guide Herry was simply amazing: he has the sharpest eyes for spotting animals and we were able to see all of the big fives multiple times. We even saw lion hunting which was such an unexpected surprise! And the camp and the food was also incredible: we feel like we are staying at a five star hotel in nature! Overall this tour was extremely good value for the high quality experience it provided, can't recommend it enough.
US
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Awesome African Safari adventure with Leadwood Holidays!
I highly recommend Leadwood Holidays for your Safari adventure! My husband and I spent 16 days on Safari in Tanzania with them in late November. The team was very professional, .considerate and knowledgeable. The accommodations were lovely with great service and delicious food. We got up close where lions, leopards, giraffes, zebras, wildebeests and elephants, to name a few wild animals, were right outside our safari vehicle window. We could’ve reached out and touched them. John had excellent instincts in where to find them. We saw gazelles, ostriches, secretary birds, a rhino a cheetah, warthogs, water buffaloes, hyenas, hippos, and monkeys. The vast array of wildlife and close proximity to them was beyond our expectation. I only had an iPhone camera but it was sufficient because of how close we were able to get. I have celiac disease and other food allergies and John took great care to introduce me to the chef at each hotel so they could help me to navigate the food. Elias was excellent at helping us plan the trip and customize it to our needs. He readily answered all our questions. We also visited Zanzibar with them for some snorkeling and history. Leadwood Holidays gave us personalized care the whole way through. I highly recommend them! Excellent value for your money!
CA
65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
Savannah Explorers & Soraiya Sharma & Felix were excellent . Made our trip the most memorable.
We had a very organized & comfortable Safari trip with Savannah Explorers . Soraiya Sharma from Savannah Explorers was excellent and did all our arrangements for Safaris, Accommodation & Internal flights.
Soraya’s due diligence and making sure all our travel requirements were met were truly remarkable. We were very grateful and appreciative with all her efforts and time spent to make sure we had a successful trip.
Savannah Explorers and Soraiya were awesome. We highly recommend Savannah Explorers as they went over & above in their service to us!!!
Felix our Guide & Driver was fantastic. His care & knowledge made our journey very memorable and comfortable. His efforts made our Safari experience the best trip of our travel to date . He was well versed and highly knowledgeable with safaris and went over & above his call of duty.
We had a terrific time on this most memorable travel experience.
Akbar & Azmina
CH
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
An incredible, wonderful and stunning adventure with MMA safaris
It was such a great experience. It was definitely worth it. Everything was well organized. We saw a lot and it was so beautiful. It is stunning to see the different animals in their natural environment. Our safari guide has a huge know how about all the animals and the environment and his sense of direction really impressed me. And our chef was just the best. He always conjured up the best food on the table. They are such a great team and they are very caring. We were a nice group. Asante sana for everything - it was amazing and so much fun! :)
US
Varied highlights of Namibia
We booked this tour last minute. Blue Crane Safaris was great, from the communication to the planning to arrival and departure. And the pricing was fair. I can't say enough great things about John, our tour guide. He went out of his way to check that we were enjoying our safari. He was knowledgeable, professional, fun, and friendly. While some unexpected, minor complications arose out of his control, he was quick and resourceful to get us back on track. The food was repetitive at times, and this has more to do with the lodges than Blue Crane. In late January/early February (wet season) the animals are apparently not as visible, but we still got to see many. This safari was an excellent way to see the highlights of Namibia with little planning on our part. I wish we had more time to spend at the lodges just relaxing. Highly recommended!
FR
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
we just returned from a 9 day safari in kenya (masai mara/ amboseli) and tanzania (serengeti/ndutu/n
Brenda was incredibly responsive to our many emails as we planned our trip. We even spoke by phone a couple of times. She was able to get us exactly the trip we wanted and was able to get us into some amazing camps. Ndutu in February is an incredible highlight, as it is the birthing season for the wildebeest and zebras. It is a sight not to be missed. The rest of the safari was spectacular as well- our guides in both countries were wonderful, the vehicles terrific, the food and people were fantastic. We could not have asked for a better experience.
I would highly recommend booking a safari with Beyond The Plains Kenya Safaris. We were delighted from start to finish.
we had 2 different guides in kenya (both named Duncan) and Goodluck in tanzania. happy with all.
US
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Wow is the best way to describe my experience this past week with Marurumi Safaris.
At all times, James went above and beyond the expectations of a safari guide. He has been guiding for a long time, knows where the best spots are to take you, and his English is flawless.
We did the 4 day Masai Mara, Lake Naivasha, budget tour. We spent a lot of time browsing options before booking our trip and we are so grateful we chose this tour.
James, the owner of the company was our guide. He was timely on pickups, flexible with the schedule and allowed us to see more than we would have with any other guide.
During the first evening game drive, he got us up close to a black rhino, family of elephants, multiple groups of giraffes, zebras and more. The best part of the evening was the endless amount of cool facts James knew off the top of his head about each animal. Watching the sun set over the savanna while watching ostriches run right in front of our tour van was also a highlight.
Every restaurant he brought us to had great food, a nice private seating, an awesome vibe, and great scenery views. The safari accommodations were by far the nicest and cleanest places we stayed in Nairobi, which was a perk as well. I also appreciated his dedication to cleaning out the van every night, restocking the water cooler, and giving us the option of what time to start the day. We usually started between 6:45-7:45am.
The last 3 days were a blur of good experiences as well… the next day game drive was BEYOND exciting, our van was 10 feet away from with a lion eating a zebra for breakfast, then we saw hippos, leopards, gazelles, hyenas, warthogs, the Tanzania border, parked in the road and had a family of ~13 lions walk around us (on either side), had an awesome picnic lunch and then learned about the Masai culture with a personal tour guide and by visiting a village.
The lake navasha tour was super unique, being on the boat and seeing eagles swoop to grab fish right besides our boat, and cruising past hippos at sunset was amazing.
I highly recommend the Hells Gate Bicycle tour, as we biked past zebras and giraffes, saw some rock climbing, collected obsidian rocks, and learned about the history of the Hells Gate national park.
The short hike at the end of the bike tour had jaw dropping views of Africas version of the Grand Canyon.
Last but definitely not least we had the opportunity to do a walking safari before heading back to town… standing 5-10 ft away from giraffes, zebras, antelope and more was an unexpected and amazing surprise. Seeing a 7 hour old zebra and a 8 day old giraffe was precious.
To top it all off, after dropping us off at our hotel that evening, James offered to take us to the train station the next afternoon at 3pm.
All in all, James and his team are amazing and if you ever get the chance- book a safari with Marurumi safaris, it won’t disappoint you!!
50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Review about Moremi Game Reserve by Jennifer Jackson
We saw some nice heards of Red Lechwe and quite a few tsessebe, hippos, wildebeest, giraffe, zebra, warthogs, elephants, lots of bird life. We did not find the area teaming with game and we didn’t see any cats. It was a new area to us so we were excited about everything we saw, but it wasn’t as prolific as Chobe National Park.
The roads were really terrible and the grass really was as high as an elephants eye.