Your consultant Ute, y'r eyes & ears on the ground
Roho Ya Chui
- Offices In:
-
Netherlands
Germany
Austria
United States
Australia - Size:
- 1-5 employees (Founded in 2007)
- Member Of:
- ATTA, APTA & SATSA
- Tour Types:
- Custom mid-range & luxury tours that can start every day
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $500 to $900 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
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Email Mikko & Nicolas | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Impeccable
Once again Ute delivered an impeccable experience in Africa. Wow! Couldn’t be happier. From inquiries to all the information and questions, Ute always replies fast and helps in every possible way. It would be difficult to build such a smooth and wonderful vacation in Africa, without Ute’s touch. Highly recommend!
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Email David | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Excellent experience from planning through execution
We had a 6 day trip with Roho Ya Chui including Victoria Falls, Chobe and the Okovongo Delta.
Ute was always very prompt with responses, and planned some excellent accommodations (we especially loved Machaba camp in the Okovongo Delta).
She provided an excellent information package preparing us for all things we needed to take care of, (shots, tip amounts, visas etc), and provided an app to see our travel arrangements offline on our cell phone.
She worked with the lodges to ensure my wife's dietary restrictions were accommodated.
Everything on the 6 days went off without a hitch, and the wildlife viewing was incredible. The highlights had to be watching two hippos fighting from our cruise on the Chobe.
There were lots of little details that we weren't expecting that she planned. In Machaba we were assigned a guide who specialized in photography. At the Ilala lodge there was a bottle of champagne in our room to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary.
Overall great trip and great service, thanks so much.
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Email Tricia | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
5-star perfectly planned safari in South Africa and Botswana!
From our first email communications planning our family's first ever safari in South Africa and Botswana to helping locate a misplaced lens rental and its return, Ute's expertise and advice were impeccable! Ute planned the perfect safari for our family, and the intimate lodges and safari tours more than exceeded our expectations! The lodges were absolutely amazing. Food was delicious, even catering to one in our party with serious food allergies. The lodge staff and guides went out of their way to ensure that our safari experience was most memorable. Ute responded promptly to our inquiries and was extremely helpful! Our next safari will definitely be with Roho Ya Chui! Highly recommend Ute and Roho Ya Chui!
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Email Melanie H. | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
WOW! Amazing from start to finish! HIGHLY recommend!!
We were very happy we booked our safari with Ute at Roho Ya Chiu! This site, safaribookings, gave us great info, and the reviews were accurate.
Our family was a mom, grandmother, and 11-year old son. We chose a private safari (really the only way to go!), and got an incredible and experienced driver/guide, and fabulous safari vehicle. We spent 7 nights/8 days in late June 2018 in 3 camps/lodging facilities, and we visited 4 parks while in Tanzania.
Our safari was customized for us and where we wanted to be (Ute was very flexible when I kept tweaking our plans!). We were coming from a church mission trip in Uganda, so our flight arrived at 1pm (versus coming from the states & arriving at night). I changed from 2 doubles to one triple as my husband decided to not go, and we changed locations, dates, and number of days on safari more than once. So, Ute had to change things around for us more than once, and was always doing it quickly and with a pleasant tone in the email communications (I'm sure it was painful on her end).
We were picked up at the airport with our names on a sign, so our driver was easy to find. He stayed with us until HE put us AND our bags on our plane in Senora (Southern Serengeti). We were given choices on our lodging, so I looked up each option in TripAdvisor before agreeing to them. This helped me feel more comfortable and in control of our safari, which is kind of scary when booking (you never know if you are going to get what you paid for -- we did!!).
We paid by wire transfer (again, kind of scary for paranoid Americans), a deposit when booking and then payment in full before leaving the USA. Ute was always answering my many questions and ensuring our requests were taken care of. She emailed us right before and then followed up again right after our trip. She made sure everything went smoothly from start to finish! We did not need to contact her during our trip as we had no issues, but she was available in case we did.
Hassan, our guide & driver, was incredible!!! He was always very professional, attentive to all our needs, patient, extremely knowledgeable, and could find animals we could barely see with the binoculars! He could find animals even hidden in the tall grass and up in the trees! We were constantly amazed by his knowledge (every bird, animal, plant, & tree) and his sighting abilities. We looked up animals & plants in our guidebook we took with us, and found him to be accurate about everything. He taught us some Swahili words to use during our stay as well (asante!). He was truly a blessing to have for our first safari experience!!!
Our vehicle was a newer, pale yellow Landcruiser with popup roof that was very well maintained. No heat or A/C, but plenty of windows we could open plus the roof, and we were never uncomfortable (we took blankets for cool mornings and a pillow my son used for a nap one day). There were 6 seats in the back area plus a driver and side passenger (some groups required a translator in addition to their guide, which all speak English and Swahili). We had plenty of room to all be on one side of the car comfortably when the animal sightings called for it. Our seats had cushions on them, so they were very comfortable on the bumpy roads (sometimes long drives). We also had a small fridge stocked with plenty of water and could put our Cokes and snacks in it as well.
NOTE: We saw several cars with all the seats filled, which looked extremely uncomfortable! Either they did not get a private safari, or they had too many people in their group. Be sure you have enough room to spread out -- you spend a LOT of time in the vehicle! I think 4 people in one car would be the max for comfort, even though there are seats for 6-8.
We did request extra binoculars for our car, so we got 2 pair and brought 1 pair so we could all enjoy the sightings (you definitely want them!). We also brought lots of snacks with us as the lunches made by the lodges/camps were not as filling as we needed while out all day.
We highly recommend this company and especially Ute!!! Thanks to her for our memorable trip!
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Email Cathy | 65+ years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
We were really happy with the agency and our agent Ute Sonnenberg
In reviewing any company it is the people that you work with that make the difference. Ute was able to not only give us the vacation we wanted, but make adjustments to our personal tastes. She listened to what we wanted and saw that we got it, rather than trying to fit us into her program, she adjusted the program to fit us! Everything went off as planned and without any hitches. Seems Ute anticipated everything we needed and when we would need it. We were really pleased with her service and professionalism! The Tour was lovely...in so many ways! Real attention to details. Top notch resorts, top class details.....Lots of laughs and fun! Plan to use Ute in the future, she is a real find and Roho Ya Chui seems to have all the right connections in all the right places. Would do it all again! ...or should I say "will" do it again.....the palns are in the works!
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Email James | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Ute at Roho Ya Chui was very helpful and quick to respond to all of our questions.
Ute was great! There was a slight mix up the how the local flights were booked, the airline was given a name that didn't match a passport but all in all Roho Ya Chui was outstanding. I think using a tour operator in a country like Zambia can make booking a safari much easier. And of the companies we worked with, Roho Ya Chui was among the best.
Email Scott | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
An outstanding experience that gave us the best of all worlds in Kruger
This was our first trip to Kruger, so we really needed to rely on an expert. The itinerary Ute suggested we felt was just perfect. We experienced 3 camps, and each offered something different. As a result, we felt that we got a really balanced view of Kruger, that would have been missed by just going to one camp. Ute was easy to deal with, super helpful throughout, provided great advice, suggestions and support. I would happily go back to Ute if we head in that direction again and would definitely recommend her to anyone looking for a safari.
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Email Marc Grahame | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Roho exceeded our expectations with our Safari, from the smooth running to the quality of the guides
Ute was super helpful and incredibly professional and honest in helping us plan and book our safari to meet our travel schedule and budget.
Our guides were very good and punctual, we saw the most incredible animal sightings and were able to completely relax and enjoy the safari. I would highly recommend Roho and Ute and I look forward to booking our next African adventure with them.
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Email Lisa Colella | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Great Communication, Beautiful Accommodations, Amazing Wildlife
We began working with Ute earlier this year. When we initially reached out, we weren't certain on dates, so in the coming months as we determined our timing, we had to follow-up with Ute several times to find dates that would work with the itinerary we wanted. Ute was very accommodating throughout this process, and planned a great trip for us. Because of the date change, one of the initial lodges she recommended wasn't available, so she recommended Pangolin Lodge in Chobe. We were a bit nervous as it hadn't yet opened, and was only scheduled to open one month before our trip. As it turns out, we're quite lucky we ended up with this accommodation as it was amazing! They offer photo safaris with really nice cameras, and we got amazing photos with the team. We saw all kinds of animals and had a great time. The lodge was great as was the food. Our guide Aubrey was fantastic, as was all of the staff at the lodge. Prior to Chobe, we stayed at Victoria Falls Hotel, and initially had a bit of an issue when we checked-in with two twin beds in each of our two rooms. We didn't believe this had been booked for us as Ute knew we were two couples traveling. After speaking to the Victoria Falls Hotel and also Ute via WhatsApp/e-mail, we were able to get the beds pushed together and it turned out just fine. They also left each one of our rooms a bottle of wine, which I imagine was because of this mix-up - very thoughtful and appreciated. Lastly, we stayed at Machaba Camp in Okavango Delta - likely the best aspect of our entire trip. The staff there are absolutely amazing, our guide Glen was fantastic, the food was wonderful, saw lots of animals. This was one of - if not the best - trips we've ever taken and couldn't be happier with the experience. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend Roho Ya Chui and Ute. We would certainly use them again in the future. We never use travel agents and typically book directly ourselves, but glad we booked how we did. Knowing the price of each of the the individual components of the trip, the overall price was completely fair. I believe it was actually better priced to book together with Roho than had we booked each piece on our own (plus the complexity aspect!) Thank you Ute and Roho!!!
RO
Email Emanuela | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Very good advices received throughout the preparation phase which led to a wonderful experience.
Ute was extremely helpful and her advices and recommendations proved to be of real value once we started our trip. The safari tour was just perfect, Gavin and Gap Tours were a solid and reliable partner. We could enjoy our holiday to the fullest knowing that we are surrounded by professionals.
