Gondwana Tours & Safaris on safari in the Okavango
Gondwana Tours & Safaris
- Offices In:
-
United Kingdom
Portugal
Germany
- Size:
- 10-20 employees (Founded in 2008)
- Tour Types:
- Custom mid-range & luxury tours that can start every day
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $100 to $1,200 per person per day (USD, excl. int'l flights)
Reviews
Wonderful experience in the Okavango Delta, Chobe and Victoria Falls
This was an amazing tripped booked by Gondwana Tours. Considering that I was a bit tardy in booking and didn't have the largest budget, it is remarkable how fantastic our experience was. No doubt the trip's success was due to Mark Hathaway of Gondwana Tours' excellent attention to detail and perfect communication. Honestly, not one thing went astray. Our trip involved bush pilots, land transfers across borders, connecting with other members of the party and fabulous game drives. The properties selected by Mark were wonderful -- again, completely exceeding expectation. I would highly recommend Gondwana Tours and Safaris.
SG
Email Kin | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Knowledgable, responsive and overall very effective. Excellent value!
We decided to do a last minute safaris trip to Botswana during the peak season. We reached out to several tour companies, but not many responded. Mark Hathaway at Gondwana responded and proposed an initial package that has largely met our requirements. He was very patient in answering our questions and adjusting the itinerary accordingly. Email communications were responsive and effective. Able to find us good camps at a last minute and at a very reasonable price. I would definitely recommend Mark and Gondwana....
Email Kelly Foster | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Serengeti
We added a short, 3 night safari in the Serengeti to our holiday , after spending 10 days in Zanzibar in September this year.
All ideas for camps and lodges were made by Gondwana Tours & Safaris. We found all their suggestions spot on and had a fablous time.
Olakira Camp in the north Serengeti was, in short, fantastic! Pascal, the camp manager, and his team were wonderful, polite, well informed and amazing.
We saw more wildlife than we expected - thanks to very knowledgeable rangers who drove us around. We saw the Big 5 nearly every day! the river crossing was quite an experience too! The meals were absolutely delicious - them taking into account of different dietary needs.
Sitting around the camp fire, having sundowners along the river beds (with crocodiles and hippos wallowing nearby!), adventurous and exciting game drives, resting in the magnificent tents, sitting in the communal lounge area - each and every experience was priceless!
We could not have asked for a better experience, and would recommend it to anyone.
Thanks to Gondwana Tours and Safaris for making all the arrangements for us. They all worked perfectly without any delays (except for our friends from Fastjet on the day we left Zanzibar).
A trip of a lifetime!
Thank you again to Gondwana Tours & Safaris
US
Email Eric | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Birthday in Botswana
Mark with Gondwana was extremely helpful. I emailed him to suggest an itinerary that fit my budget. Within a few minutes I had several options to choose from. I picked one that looked good and emailed Mark. There was some confusion on my end with whether my daughter could join us. At one point she was gong then she couldn't and finally she ended up joining us. Needless to say Mark handled all of our going back and forth with no problem. We did alter his suggested itinerary a bit and stayed a little longer in the bush camp so we could do an elephant activity. Again Mark handled this no problem. We ended up staying 2 nights in Vic Falls, I booked my own Devil's Pool and an incredible dinner cruise with Zambezi Explorer. We then transferred to Kasane, Botswana and stayed at the Bakwena Lodge for 2 nights and 3 days and then flew to Stanley's Camp in the Delta. Mark arranged all of the lodging and ground transfers. Everything went smoothly, including special requests for vegetarian meals for my daughter and he also informed the staff at Bakwena about my wife's birthday and they sang a nice song. Overall it was a painless experience and fit our budget with no surprises.
US
Email Yasmin | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
7 day Safari and Victoria Falls
We just got back from a fantastic trip organized by Mark Hathaway of Gondwana tours and Safari. Everything surpassed our expectations and the various transfers went like clockwork. Mark was excellent with communications before our trip and recommended the camps to us. We stayed at Stanley's and Khwai tented camp where the wildlife viewing was outstanding, our hotel in Victoria Fall was also lovely. All in all a fantastic trip!! We added three days in Cape Town on our own and that was just as gorgeous!
DE
Email Miriam | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Unbelievable and stunning experience in Okawango Delta
I wanted to go to the Delta already for years and never had the time to organize it and on top I knew that my budget would be very tide. Finally I got in touch with Steffi from Gondwana tours and Safari. She gave me her ideas and actually she had to convince me into some things. And lucky enough - she did. Everything surpassed my expectations. Every pick up, every appoinment was on time. The communication went very good. The camps where great, the experience and the game drives excellent, the service incredable nice and good food. Steffi was even able to organize the super moon on top of the stars during my stay. So I can highly recommand Gondwana tours and Safari - also for single travelers like me.
Link to this review
Fantastic experience
We booked through Gondwana Tours & Safaris in May 2016 for a 2 week holiday to Botswana, Victoria Falls and Rwanda.
Mark was very knowledgable and answered any questions we had leading up to our Safari.
All our accommodation was superb and exactly what we hoped for. The safaris and organisiation of our entire trip went smoothly and all very well explained in our itenrary from Gondwana.
Overall we were externally happy with Gondwana and their service and expertise. Our next African adventure will be booked through them.
Email Brian Hoath | 65+ years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Well planned, very reasonably priced, personalised, leisurely and rewarding
My wife and I did an eleven day tour of Botswana in April 2017. This tour was put together by Mark Hathaway of Gondwana Tours. In a long initial e-mail Mark set out various alternatives while at the same time making comparisons and expressing what he thought would be preferable. From that original e-mail I gained a sense of confidence which turned out not to be misplaced. His planning was thorough, his response to any question was immediate the overall cost was very reasonable and the whole tour went without a hitch. The lodges we stayed at were exceptional value with very good facilities and meals, very personalised service, excellent guides, and extended game drives with an abundance of game. The lodges we stayed at were private concessions which enabled you to go off road and view the game from a matter of metres away. Although they were private concessions they were not unduly expensive. Good guides and the ability to get up close to the animals made our tour a most memorable one.
NZ
Email Sarah | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Honeymoon in the Delta
We were initially mind boggled with options on how to best spend time in Southern Africa, and definitely wanted to go to the Delta. We didn't have a huge budget and were starting to think it wouldn't be possible, but then came across this company: Gondwana Tours & Safaris. Mark Hathaway was superb in his dealings with us: all the advice, knowledge, patience and expertise he had was fantastic. The itinerary we chose suited us perfectly for the land and water options we were keen on, and the locations and prices. We had an amazing 4 nights at Guns & Pompoms. We were surprised with a candle lit dinner by the water as a honeymoon surprise, had some memorable wildlife encounters , and everything met our expectations.Thanks Mark for all your help !
DE
Email Lisa | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Outstanding, individual consulting, great responsiveness and a perfectly organized trip
It was always one of our dreams to visit the Okavango Delta in Botswana. However, after contacting and seeing the (totally overrated) prices of several big German tour operators, we doubted that we can realize our dream due to our budget restraints. Thus, we reached out to several local tour companies, including Gondwana Tours & Safaris, Mark Hathaway answered and immediately stood out from the rest with his extreme responsiveness, individual consulting and high expertise and knowledge of Botswana. Thus, it was the easiest decision only to continue our travel plans with Mark. Mark immediately understood what we are looking for, proposed us great camps and did a great job in tailoring a perfect and very individual safari for us. The journey was perfectly organized, the transfers worked out perfectly (even though we had several border crossings in our trip!) the camps completely met our expectations and ideas and it was great to meet Mark in Maun and to know someone is close just in case sth. goes wrong. Gondwana Tours & Safaris did not only provide much better service and individual consultation than german agents (who do not really tailorize journeys but rather sell and combine modular blocks) but above all was significantly cheaper and reasonably priced, which is why I cannot understand why people still book with German agencies. In summary, I can only recommend you to book your travels with Gondwana Tours & Safaris. You won't regret it!!!