65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
Completely Amazing
We just returned from an incredible 13-day Great Apes & Africa Safari trip, and we can't say enough good things about our experience with Lush Africa Safaris. Abbey did an outstanding job planning our itinerary, spending extra time to adjust it to include additional locations we wanted to visit. The itinerary featured breathtaking sites in Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania. The trip was very reasonably priced. The only glitch was a minor hotel reservation mess-up in Kigali. Our guide, together with Lush Africa Safari regional office got the issue quickly resolved. (By the way, the hotel was the Hotel Des Mille Collins, the same hotel where the event described in the movie Hotel Rwanda took place.) Although it was most likely an error by the hotel and not Lush's fault, Abbey even upgraded two of our hotels and tents as we traveled.
Our guides Yves in Rwanda and Uganda, Peter in Kenya, and Joseph in Tanzania were all professional, reliable and did their best so that we can see as much wild life as possible. Their knowledge, experience, and keen eyes made our journey unforgettable. They knew the parks and reserves inside and out, spotting animals that other visitors often missed. Peter and Joseph always took us out very early in the morning and stayed later for game drives. Peter seemed to be a leader among the tour guides; he was often the first to find wildlife and would then radio the other drivers. During traffic jams (yes, believe it or not, there were traffic jams in African parks and reserves!), Peter acted like a traffic controller, directing drivers to back up or move to resolve the gridlock. Somehow, the other drivers seem always listened to him.
Seeing the great migration was a challenge. At the Masai Mara Reserve, the rangers blocked the road due to the many jeeps, so we could only
see the wildebeests running into and out of the Mara River, but not crossing it (Peter was even more upset about this than we were). On our first afternoon in Serengeti Park, Joseph spotted possible crossing site three times. However, over 30 inexperienced drivers rushed ahead and blocked the animals access to the river! We told Joseph to give up and move on, but he refused. The following morning, he drove an extra 1.5
hours back to the crossing site. Unlike others who rushed to the riverbank, where more than 50 jeeps were jammed up, Joseph stayed
back on a hill, watching closely. Then, suddenly, he turned in a different direction and drove like a maniac. Guess what! He beat the others and got us to the crossing site just in time. We witnessed the great migration with our own eyes! Another example, also in Serengeti park. We were waiting, with several other jeeps, for a group of leopards, hidden behind bushes, to come out. Joe intensely looked at horizon far away. Then he said "these leopards are not coming out anytime soon. I saw a elephant group in that direction, probably cross a road soon. Let's go there first." Even with a binocular, I saw nothing. I thought Joe must be kidding. We went anyway. After 3 or 4 mins fast driving, a family of elephants was about to cross the road right in front of us. Exactly the right time, Exactly the right spot. Exactly as Joe said! Amazing! He must have a 20/5 vision! Thanks to Joseph, we saw so much more than we ever expected. I must add this additional comment. In the morning of the last day of our trip, we drove from Serengeti Park to Ngorongoro Crater. On the way, we saw a disabled jeep. Joe and several other jeeps stopped to help. However, the problems could not be fixed, and other jeeps left. Joe asked us if it is ok if we took the passengers and the driver of the disabled jeep into our vehicle. (Our Land-cruiser can take 6 passengers, I and my wife were the only passengers). It would add a bit inconvenience to us. But of course, we said fine. So we continued our game drive to Ngorongoro Crater (also the designation of the disabled jeep). After the drive was done, Joe sent us to our hotel. Then took the rescued passengers to their hotel. We must praise Joe for his professionalism. Not only he helped his
fellow tour guide, he saved a young Italian couple's dream vacation!
Because we were so close to the wildlife, lions, elephants, leopards, rhinoceroses, cheetahs, giraffes, hippos, zebras, buffalo's, crocodiles,
wildebeests, wild dogs, baboons, warthogs, impalas, kudus, gazelles, ostriches, and more. We took so many photos and videos. We could even
submit some to National Geographic!
Staying in the tents for several nights was a great experience! The quality of the tents and the services were exceptional. We could see wild animals from inside our tents. One night, a few buffaloes even slept right next to our door!
In addition to the wildlife, our guides enriched our trip by sharing fascinating insights into Africa's history and cultures, allowing us to learn a great deal along the way. We feel incredibly fortunate to have chosen Lush Africa Safaris for this adventure. The trip was absolutely amazing, and witnessing the great migration was the highlight of a lifetime. Words can't describe our feelings about this trip.
One thing we missed on this trip was hiking Mount Kilimanjaro. (But, I assure you, this was not the fault of Lush Africa Safari or any of the
drivers). We will have to do it in our next life!
Again, thanks for everything, Abbey, Yves, Peter, and Joseph!
65+ years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Knowledgeable, responsive, and a pleasure to deal with
We traveled to Kruger in South Africa, Vic Falls, Hwange in Zimbabwe, and the northern Serengeti in Tanzania for a 3 week multi camp trip over June and July 2024 and used The Explore and Travel Company to put together the bookings and logistics for us. We live in Australia and wanted to deal with someone local and after intense research decided upon this company located in Cape Town. We dealt directly with the Director of the company, Michelle, and couldn’t have asked for a better experience all round. My 22 year old niece did all the initial enquiries and communication and was extremely impressed with how well Michelle listened to and understood our needs and gave appropriate expert advice. She gave us choices that matched our strict criteria and our budget and helped us decide on the best camps for us with great patience as we peppered her with multiple questions over both Zoom meetings and emails. Michelle kept all her promises, was extremely knowledgeable and was absolutely lovely to deal with. She really went above and beyond to find out the answers to our questions if she did not know by contacting the properties themselves to ensure we got the most trustworthy information. All this care and attention to detail resulted in a most wonderful trip where properties lived up to or exceeded our expectations, ground and air partners were reliable and professional and gave us great value for money. Absolutely nothing went amiss and our experiences were very special and bespoke. We also loved the digital itinerary technology that Michelle used that we could download to our phones and simply check offline anything we wanted to know. We could not more highly recommend Michelle and her company and we would engage her again in a heat-beat.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
3 Day Gorilla and Golden Monkey Trekking
I booked the 3 day gorilla and golden monkey trekking tour with Katsam in early August 2024. Booking was easy and Richard was always prompt on responding. Overall the tour was a great experience and my guide and driver Medard was very friendly and easy to talk to. In the morning of my gorilla trekking day i had woken up an hour late due to the time difference in Rwanda and Uganda but Medard had already been to the park to reserve my spot and still waited patiently for me to have breakfast, an absolute lifesaver! I would definitely recommend doing your Gorilla trekking tour with Katsam and am looking forward to booking another tour with them when i return.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Trip of a Lifetime
The 4 day guided tour by Gifted African Adventures was a dream come true! This was my 4th time visiting Africa-Gift did an amazing job in creating a trip of a lifetime. I did the tour with a group of friends. We started our tour by visiting the Serengeti. We were lucky enough to see all Big 5 and we stayed in a beautiful tented camp within the Serengeti. We saw the Ngorongoro crater, hiked the Maturini waterfall, visited a coffee plantation, and swam in the Chemka hot springs. Gift did a great job in creating a custom itinerary for us. Gift arranged transportation to and from the airport for us and also provided lodging choices-which is very helpful. Gift went above and beyond to make sure that we were having fun, were comfortable, and also safe. He is also a wealth of knowledge that knows a lot about the National Parks and their animals, Tanzania’s culture and history.
I highly recommend Gifted African Adventures for your trip to Tanzania. You will not be disappointed.
65+ years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Knowledge + Service = WOW!
Rex and the great folks from Kalahari Tours coordinated tours of Chobe National Park & River for 4 days for our group of 12. Every single person was very experienced and knowledgeable. Most had been with the company for years, were very personable, and knew all the best secrets and tips to locating the animals. They were easy to understand, funny, and great smiles. They seemed to truly love guiding us.
Every jeep was stocked with all sorts of cold beverages to keep us hydrated and happy. After a morning expedition on our day tour of the park, we dined on a delicious spread of foods and beverages in a picnic area. The tables were covered with colorful African material, and the buffet food line was mouth watering. Martha Stewart would have been envious!
Our experience was delightful from start to finish. Trust Kalahari - they know how to do it right!
IT
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Reactive
The Gorilla trekking is something amazing, once in a lifetime. The agency help me to adapt the tour to me needs and to buy permits outside working hours.
IT
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Simply extraordinary!
Dear Viatu-Team, yesterday we came back home from our beautiful trip to South Africa, and our hearts are full! We had an amazing trip discovering wonderful places, we‘ve met very friendly and welcoming people and we‘ve stayed in awesome hotels & lodges. We were lucky to see the „Big 5“ in less than 2 hrs of Game Drive and our rangers taught us to use our bush eyes (and also all the other senses). We discovered the beauty of watching out for animals and now we love observing whales. We felt very grateful because everybody tried to spoil us in million different ways. Everything went perfectly, also our transfers. We appresciated a lot the route of our trip because it showed us the variety of South Africa. Our trip was magic thanks to -your perfect organization -your right advices -your good taste -your empathy for us, trying to understand what was the right tour and which were the right places for us to stay. Especially we would like to credit two fantastic places we have stayed in: 1. The Mthembu Lodge, the combination of the beauty of the lodge and it’s amazing surrounding, their excellent service and their warm smiles made us feel home. Their passion for nature taught us a new sense of life. 2. The Pineapple Boutique Hotel, is truely ithe expression of “welcome” – sense of beauty, friendship, hospitality and warmth and we appresciated the position of the Sea Point neighborhood under the Lion‘s Head and very close to Camps Bay. Their breakfast is unforgettable. We are not sad that it is over, we are happy because it happened! Thank you Viatu team, great work!!!!
IT
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
The best trip in Tanzania
Crossing southern Tanzania, from Mikumi National Park to Ruaha National Park passing between small villages and City in the mountains, we discovered Tanzania less touristy Tanzania, which I wanted to see with my children. A perfectly organized trip, personalized according to our needs and desires.
We were always accompanied by a local guide who spoke perfect Italian, not easy in Tanzania, who with sympathy and professionalism introduced us to the history, culture and nature of this wonderful country. Both safaris were really exciting, with their Diversity, we came into contact with the animals up close and we admired them from afar. Each lodge had its own peculiarity, all beautiful, perfectly clean, integrated into the environment and with attention to detail. How wonderful to wake up at dawn to the sounds of birds and admire the colors of the sky!
Thank you Alessandra Gnesutta, thanks to you! We will remember this trip forever!
SG
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Authentic Safari Experience
I felt safe throughout my safari experience under the management of Discover Africa Safaris and I was also able to experience the wildlife in the bush up close. I paid slightly more for comfort in a premium safari but there are also cheaper alternate options.
SI
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Excellent, amazing!
We booked a trip to lake Nakuru, Masai mara, lake Naivasha and Amboseli. It was organized really well and we saw everything we wanted. Excellent organization, amazing game drives and the best safari in Kenya!