Hosted Journeys to extra ordinary places
Cuckoo Safaris
- Located In:
- Size:
- 5-10 employees (Founded in 2019)
- Tour Types:
- Custom mid-range tours that can start every day
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $50 to $600 per person per day (USD, excl. int'l flights)
Reviews
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Email Michael C. | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Outstanding!
This tour exceeded our expectations. Victoria Falls was amazing and well informed and the accommodations were very quiet with beautiful grounds and exceptionally friendly and responsive staff. The tour of Hwange National Park was very enjoyable with a sighting of a pride of nine lions just after a kill. Cuckoo also arranged a very nice unplanned private game drive and night dinner with bush meat!
But Simon, our driver and guide, took our tour to a whole different level. He shared his amazing story of how he, against all odds, was determined to make something special of his life and even took us to meet his father. We learned so much about his beloved Zimbabwe and its culture!
The whole experience was amazing!
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Email Jessica L | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
More than just a safari
My husband and I went on the 9 day safari tour through Victoria Falls and Botswana for our honeymoon. It was truly one of the best experiences of our lives and the best choice we could have made!
Starting from the beginning, Tatenda was extremely reliable and responded to all of my emails right away. He answered tons of my questions and helped me customize and add additional days on to the tour so we could make the tour just how we wanted.
Then to the tour itself, many of the other tours on safari bookings only include game drives, we chose this tour because it had a ton of variety and were so glad we did! Not only did we see a ton of animals and natural landscapes we also got a chance to do multiple boat rides, cultural experiences and a helicopter ride! Plus the hotels and food included were excellent! They even set up a special honeymoon poolside dinner for us as a surprise for free! Everything was prompt and reliable and they really went out of their way to do everything we wanted. We definitely got value for our money on this tour.
But now to the best part of our tour was our guide Simon! Simon was more than just a safari guide, he also became a friend and an ambassador to Africa as a whole. He went above and beyond to make us comfortable and explained not only the landscape but the history, culture, politics, and customs of all of Southern Africa. The warmth and humor of Africa totally shines through Simons personality and you can tell his passion for his job. We will remember this trip for the rest of our lives, thank you Tatenda, Simon, and Cuckoo Safaris!
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Email Hernan | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Good and reliable service!
Our safari with Cuckoo was overall excellent, though there were a few exceptions. Everything was exactly as described. Upon our arrival at Victoria Falls Airport, Simon was there to greet us with a sign bearing my name for easy identification. He then escorted us to our lodge, allowing us some time to check in and refresh ourselves. Afterward, Simon took us on a tour of Victoria National Park, providing informative explanations about the falls.
However, it was disappointing that Simon didn't suggest a visit to the Zambia side of the falls, even though we mentioned having obtained the Kaza visa for multiple entries. Another drawback was the extensive travel the next day, requiring a 6-hour round trip to Hwange National Park in Zimbabwe from our lodge. The safari experience itself was good, but the long drive in a small car was uncomfortable. We had hoped for a more suitable vehicle like a van or 4x4.
The highlight of our journey with Cuckoo was undoubtedly our visit to Chobe National Park in Botswana. It was conveniently closer to our lodge, approximately 1 hour and 45 minutes away, and we traveled in a spacious van. The adventure, which encompassed both land and water components, was exceptional.
In conclusion, we were generally satisfied with our safari experience, but the extended journeys in small cars and the missed opportunity to view Victoria Falls from the Zambia side were minor drawbacks.
A very customized safari with lots of moving pieces that was executed perfectly by Cuckoo Safaris
We worked with Cuckoo safaris on a custom itinerary that was exactly what we were looking for. They had a good price, and worked quickly with us to confirm what we were looking for. This safari crossed national borders, and was definitely logistically challenging. Cuckoo Safaris made sure everything went smoothly and all the various transfers and exchanges worked perfectly. I would not hesitate to trust them with something like this in the future.
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Email Ann D. | 65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
Cuckoo Safari provided a perfect adventure for us!
Our adventure from beginning to end was spectacular! We chose the 8 day Tour arriving in Harare, traveling on to Ancient City of Zimbabwe, then onto Hwange and finishing in Victoria Falls. Each day we saw and learned interesting, wondrous things and information. Our guide Simon Peter Dube attended to every detail & ensured a seamless and happy trip. Our time included historical, archaeological and cultural aspects as well as multiple game drives. We saw so many animals living their daily lives, even now reviewing our photos I am awed. Our accommodations were lovely and the food tasty. The only improvement for us would have been to stay at a lodge in Victoria Falls instead of the elegant hotel closest to the falls as the guests seemed reticent to interact unlike those staying at our previous locations. Thank you Simon and Cuckoo Safaris for the trip of a lifetime!
CH
Email Julia | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Great guides and a very enjoyable week in Botswana.
We really enjoyed our trip with Cuckoo Safaris! Our booking process was smooth and the office staff we dealt with were very responsive, enabling us to book a trip that met all our needs with relatively short notice. All the guides we had during the trip were great, very friendly and helpful - local tour guides ran most of the activities during the day in each place which meant we had people who were local to and/or knew the area well which was good. We loved the itinerary of the tour we did also - a really good mix of different safari days (drives, mokoro trip, river cruise, walking, etc) as well as other activities/sights (like seeing baobabs, salt pans, etc) which was what we were looking for. Overall we had a great week trip in Botswana and would recommend Cuckoo Safaris to other travellers.
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Email Tony | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Seamless & Spectacular Safari!
My family and I absolutely loved our extended day tour to Chobe National Park with Cuckoo! To be fully transparent, though we booked with Cuckoo and they drove us to the Botswana border, the tour was actually provided by Puku Safaris - as I understand it, they have some partnership and work together. Either way, it was a marvelous experience and I highly recommend the extended day - yes it means getting up before the crack of dawn and it's a marathon of a day - but it's so worth it for the wildlife experience. We lucked out by seeing not only one lion but an entire pride. There must have been close to 20 lions! It seemed like we were able to stay twice as long as the other tours there because we had more time to spare. We also got up close with giraffes, elephants - SO MANY ELEPHANTS - and on the river cruise, crocodiles. Our guide Cobra was fabulous - he seemed to be a local celebrity the way everyone knew him. He was funny and informative. The buffet lunch was delicious. Cuckoo/Puku made the experience - including crossing over into Botswana - seamless. The staff at Cuckoo was very communicative and answered my (many) questions prior to the trip. I could not have imagined a better day trip safari!
CA
Email Eyad ( Eddie ) | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Excellent very accommodating great customer service and knowledge
I took my 13 year old son for his birthday to a safari in Zimbabwe and Botswana organized by Cuckoo Safari we had a long list of wishes including:
Seeing the lions that kill elephants in Hwange and Chobe, seeing wild dogs cheetahs and leopards , rare antelopes like sable roan and tsessebe , flying over the Okavango delta and watching elephants swim… they made all that happen while staying in great accommodations and for a reasonable price. I highly recommend them
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Email Michael and Tami | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Would definitely use Cuckoo Safaris again!
We only had a week so reached out to Cuckoo to create an itinerary so see as much variety as possible. Tatenda Tarzan was excellent! Communication was very fast and knowledgeable. He suggested a couple changes that worked perfectly for us. We wanted to go to church while visiting and he even went the extra mile and contacted a church member to pick us up for the service and was able to communicate with them before going which was very helpful. They offer airport pick up and return and the groups are smaller than most. That was one of the main reasons I chose them initially.
Having Cuckoo for the entire week was great. We had the same driver most of the days and Luwis is THE BEST! He is now a forever friend and went beyond so many times not only for us but other clients we had a safari with.
We enjoyed all the tours and safaris, the Safari guides are so knowledgable its amazing how much they know. TK at Hwange National Park catered to our interests and we learned so much. Also a shout out to Cedric at Stanley & Livingstone Private Game Reserve; he used old-fashioned tracking to guide us, and was a pleasure to visit with.
I could go on, but won’t. We would go back in a heartbeat and highly recommend Cuckoo Safaris.
NL
Email Paul | 65+ years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Well organized travel agent
We made a nice 10 day s trip with Cuckoo Safaris.
We first did all kinds of activities in Victoria Falls, like Rafting , Helicopter flight, Jetboat, dinnercruise, ad vissiting both the Zimbabwe and Zabian site of the waterfalls, all highly recommended.
ADVICE, when visiting the Falls, take a poncho and a good umbrella with you, is idial for taking pictures and protecting the camera against the water mist, also for rent opposite the entrance.
After this our tour started with Cuckoo Safaris, we met Tatenda and Simon and discussed the trip.
They have fulfilled all agreements and activities that were offered in the tour perfectly.
Also all hotels we stayed in were excellent.
We also went an extra day to Hwange with Cuckoo Safaris very worthwhile.
ADVICE If you do the tour in june or july bring warm clothes and a winter coat because with a early game drive it is quite cold in the open safari car (8 degrees Celsius).
During the trip Simon told us a lot of interesting facts.
Highlights of the tour, Nakavango privite Game reserve, seeing the rhinoceroses
Game drive and rivercruise in Chobe seeing a lot of different animals, and swimming elephants.
Elephant sands, where we ate 5 meters from e herd of 50 elephants drinking at a waterhole.
Planet Baohab lodge , where we made a game drive to see the Meerkats.
Okavango delta wher we made a 45 minutes helicopter flight over the delta.
Mukoro dug-out canoeing experience through the delta.
Full day game drive Moremi national park where wa saw lions and leopards, and many other animals
All these activeties and more were exellently arranged by Cukoo Safaris, we never had to wait , everything went as agreed.
We did the entire tour privately this is definitely recommended you see and hear much more than with a group you sitting always first class when making foto's and video.
When you make the trip with Cuckoo Safaris , the price is not higher than many providers ask for a group trip.
We have made a wonderful trip with Cuckoo Safaris.
Thanks Tatenda and Simon
Best regards Paul
