Barbara and Peter Plebankiewicz - owners
Safpol Safaris
- Located In:
- Size:
- 5-10 employees (Founded in 1997)
- Member Of:
- Southern Africa Tourism Services Association
- Tour Types:
- Custom mid-range tours that can start every day
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $190 to $550 per person per day (USD, excl. int'l flights)
Reviews
PL
Email Marcin Szopa | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Safpol Safaris certainly met the criteria.
In November, with a group of friends we took a trip to South Africa and Zimbabwe organized by Safpol Safaris.
We have been travelling for many years to the world's most remote places and that destination was another challenge for us. We can definitely consider ourselves as experienced travellers, and very demanding ones for sure. The itinerary is vital to us. It should be extensive, intensive and, last but not least, well thought-out, and the one suggested by Safpol Safaris certainly met the criteria. Bearing in mind the combination of the high standard transport, board and accommodation, we think that the trip was prepared in a perfect manner. In the opinion of our entire group our guide, Ms Mariola Pawelczyk, commands particular praise as a competent, caring and simply professional person.
Email Katarzyna | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
A wonderful trip to Victoria Falls & Chobe – professional service and the best value for money
Safpol Safaris is a great tour operator – definitely worth a recommendation. From the very beginning of our contacts, staff working at Safpol was extremely professional and helpful going above and beyond to prepare the best possible offer that would meet all our expectations. My parents wanted to go for a short trip to Victoria Falls with a one- or two-day gateway to Chobe. Barbara from Safpol came up with the best offer. The trip included accommodation with breakfasts and dinners included, the sunset cruise on Zambezi, visiting Victoria Falls with a guide as well as a one-day trip to Chobe National Park. Parents absolutely loved all the activities especially that Safpol took care of everything, including all transport arrangements. The Victoria Falls Rainbow Hotel was decent and in line with my parents’ expectations but if one wishes to have an upper-class accommodation, should rather go for other option. Many thanks to the Safpol Safaris Team for the fantastic trip!
PL
Email Dorota | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Professional, interesting and well organised
Safpol organised a great 16 days long private tour of Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe for me and a group of friends. We often travel all over the world, however I must say that this was one of the best trips. We saw incredible African countries, we had great safaris and absolutely amazing sitings of wild animals. We stayed in elegant and beautifully designed lodges and hotels, our guide new all countries very well and had super knowledge of not only geography, flora and fauna, but also history of the countries. He also spoke our language in addition to English and German. He could bring us very close to the way of life in Africa and its people. The program was designed very well and allowed us to visit and experience the most interesting places in all visited countries. The food and the variety was excellent and least but not last I must say we had the most comfortable car we could imagine: luxurious Toyota Land-cruiser, which made our travel as comfortable as possible, taking into consideration that majority of roads in Namibia are dirt and sand roads and we did approx 3500 km during this tour. We certainly received a good value for money and we really enjoyed our time.
I would definitely recommend Safpol Safaris as the Tour Operator for organisation of complicated tours in Southern Africa.
PL
Email Iwona | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
THOROUGHLY PROFESSIONAL AND AMAZING
An unforgettable trip, superbly organised, professionally delivered - we loved every minute of it, thank you!
Fantastic company to deal with and their expertise provided us with an amazing holiday.
It was a pleasure to deal with Safpol Safaris in planning our trip to Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe. They designed a brilliant itinerary for our long 16 days trip and were on hand to answer all our queries and concerns. The quality of the accommodation they booked was exceptional and they provided great service to us on arrival in Windhoek and throughout our holiday. The Guide was knowledgeable and very professional. The car in which we travelled was the best and most comfortable Toyota Land-cruiser which made our, over 3500 km trip on sand roads very comfortable.. We would certainly use them again and have no hesitation recommending them to others.
PL
Email Sergiusz Piotrowski | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Amazing trip.
Namibia – fantastic introduction to Africa.
Our first African safari exceeded our expectations; it was simply wonderful. Of course it could hardly have been anything else given the sheer beauty of the Namibian landscape and the wonderful wildlife in Etosha. But we have to thank Safpol Safaris for putting it all together so that we could experience so much of that incredible country. The organisation worked perfectly, the program was very well prepared. The accommodation was excellent, particularly some remote lodges like Hohenstein, Ugab or Opuwo. Every one of them with magnificent views. The food was also good in almost all lodges. Surprisingly we had lot of rain in Damaraland and Etosha but our Toyota Cruiser and our guide Peter handled lakes of water without a problem. Peter’s experience and exceptional knowledge of Namibia allowed us to relax completely in those remote areas.
Our initial apprehension to Namibian safari changed into outstanding experience thanks to Safpol and our guide Peter. Truly fantastic holiday which we advertise now to all our friends.
US
Email Richard Fox | 65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
Super vacation in southern Africa--Cape Town, Kruger Park, Victoria Falls
We really enjoyed the tour arranged for us by Safpol. The guides we had were excellent and went out of their way to make sure we had a great experience. We particularly appreciated the way we were able to make adjustments to our itinerary, for example inserting a free day in Cape Town so that we could each do different activities, and changing two of the hotels for ones with a better location.
We'd recommend against taking the "sunset cruise" that is frequently included with visits to Victoria Falls. We had expected at least some view of the falls or the gorge, but the boat goes in the opposite direction. It’s just a booze cruise, the crew are too busy serving drinks to point out anything along the way, and the sunset is nothing special, so skip it and spend the extra time at the falls. By the way, you'll see more at the falls if you go in the low water season, rather than in May when there is so much mist and rain near the falls.
We particularly scheduled game drives at 3 different parks: Kruger in South Africa, a nearly private park called Tshukudu, and Chobe which is in Botswana but close enough to Victoria Falls for a day trip. Tshukudu has radio collars on their animals so it was pretty certain that we would be able to see lions and a cheetah, after seeing lots of prey but no predators at Kruger Park. It’s a lot easier to see animals in Chobe, so it was good to have that trip as a backup in case we hadn’t seen so much at the other parks. All in all, a wonderful vacation.
CA
Email Marek Adamski | 65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
Extraordinary and excellent!!!!!
Service like that will bring us to Africa again! Thank you Safpol Safaris
US
Email Amanda Chenault | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Bogdan was the backbone of our trip! Incredibly knowledgable, fun and a true delight!
The tour through Swaziland to Durban was a bore. Otherwise, the package was well worth every cent spent. Memories of a lifetime!
US
Email KC | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Superb....and a few suggestions
Safpol came highly-recommended by friend of mine who took a customized tour of S. Africa, Zimbabwe/Victoria Falls and day trip of Chobe last year. Basia Combrinck worked tirelessly with us for weeks via email to put together our itinerary (3 nts in Cape Town, 2 nts in Kruger, 1 nt at Tshukudu Private Game Reserve, 2 nts in Johannesburg, 2 nts in Victoria Falls [day trip to Chobe] and 1 nt in Hwange). Basia was responsive and accommodating. She suggested that we move our travel dates forward one day to take advantage of lower domestic airfares. This worked well with our international airfares too, so good call from Basia! One thing to note: I had previously used foreign travel agencies (in Asia) which did not charge credit card fees, so I was taken by surprise when it came time to pay Safpol and was told I had to cover the extra 4% VISA card fee (4.5% for AMEX). I had also gotten a different visa card with the sole intention of taking advantage of its free travel insurance... When it's all said and done, I ended up paying Safpol via bank wire transfer and buying separate travel insurance. It would have been helpful if the cc fee was disclosed upfront.
The safari tour most definitely met all our expectations: our private tour guides (Warren Tilling in Cape Town and Per Larsen in Kruger, Tshukudu and Johannesburg) were knowledgeable, friendly and caring. We learned a lot about not just the tourist sites, but also the people, history, current affairs and etc.. Prior to our trip, I had (in hindsight, unnecessarily) worked my anxiety up via internet searches and was quite apprehensive about S. Africa, esp. Johannesburg and Kruger. Per Larsen took such good care of us that we always felt safe. The best part of our 2-nt in Johannesburg was that we did get to visit Soweto and even Cyrildene(our special request). We saw all the Big 5...which we were told, had a lot to do with luck. If we had to go it again, I'd definitely add one extra night in Cape Town to give ourselves time to recover from our long flight from NYC (19 hrs incl. transit at JNB and flight times) . Even though safari tours weren't not on our Cape Town agenda, the city and surroundings had a lot to offer...we actually didn't get to visit a couple of tourist spots such as Greenmarket Square and Signal Hill due to weather and (ofc) our action-packed schedule.
In terms of accommodations, we loved the Lagoon Beach location, except when we had noisy neighbors one night and found ourselves unsure whom to contact ...as there's no actual front desk (security guards were on site). Luckily, neighbors did quiet down eventually.
Kruger Park Lounge was spacious, clean and very comfortable. There was, however, slight confusion with whether we got breakfast on date of our departure (though it was stated as included in our itin.). I went to the front desk to have it straightened out and yes, we did get our included breakfast.
In general, we found food prices in S. Africa very reasonable and food very good.
The one damper on our trip was the theft of an old mobile phone (used as backup) from our son's suitcase en-route from CPT to JNB. Our 2 bigger and heavier suitcases made their way out onto baggage claim sooner than son's lighter midsize suitcase. The Masterlock (combination) lock and luggage strap were gone. Phone was removed but phone case was left, so son didn't realize phone was stolen til a couple of days later. ....Along the same vein, even though South Africa Airways will book you on their domestic connection from JNB to CPT within 2 hours after your international flight arrival (ours from JFK), do NOT be tempted. We RUSHED the whole time: through immigration(40-50 people line), extra time for baggage, and a shock to us: the 'fast bag drop re-check desk' still had a 10+ people line (we had our bags through-checked to CPT).....then 20-30 people security line at the domestic terminal.......we had to plead our ways through all these lines and relied on kindness of fellow passengers and security personnel. It's a journey in itself which I vow never to repeat! (Basia did warn us about the tight transit....live-and-learn...sigh)
Our 3 day visit to Zimbabwe was also arranged by Safpol but run by ShearWater Victoria Falls. Our guide Dingee was as well-informed and detail-oriented as our two guides in S. Africa. As happened to my friends during their 2017 visit, there was again confusion wrt airport transfer on the last day. Luckily, Dingee called the ShearWater office and made last-minute arrangements to accompany us to Hwange Safari Lodge for the day and take us to VFA the following morning. Accommodation-wise, the two hotels in Zimbabwe (Rainbow Hotel in Victoria Falls and Hwange Safari Lodge in Hwange) were definitely a step-down from what we had in S. Africa. Both looked outdated and somewhat worn. I'd definitely look for alternative in Victoria Falls given the vast number of options. Hwange Safari Lodge looked very promising as it abuts Hwange National Park. You can see wildlife visiting the watering hole from our room windows. We arrived on a hot afternoon (90's) after a 2-hr drive. Flying insects everywhere: ladies room in the lobby, the restaurant where we had our late lunch, and our rooms. Somehow very few bugs were found in the same restaurant during dinner and breakfast the following morning. So I'm praying/hoping that hotel management could do something more about the 'bug' situation, as it would be a shame given how beautiful the hotel ground is.
Despite minor hiccups, the trip was very worthwhile. Thank you Basia, Warren, Per and Dingee for making our trip to Africa most memorable.
PL
Email Bartekd | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Safpol Safaris offers services at the highest level and that's why I recommend them.
I used their services four times (South Africa with Botswana and Zimbabwe, Madagascar, Seycheles, Mauritius).Preparation of the program and fine tuning of all details took place very smoothly.Barbara and Peter are the best guides I have ever met.
