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
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Email Ben Krug | 65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
Excellent at providing comprehensive package and answering any and all questions promptly.
My primary goal was to see Victoria Falls, and do a safari (my first) since already in Africa. After research on Safaribookings.com, I found that Gondwana offered the most attractive package. I worked with Mark at Gondwana who not only answered all questions, including those I wasn't smart enough to ask, but also made suggestions to improve the affordability. Final result was an fantastic experience not only at Victoria Falls, but Hwange National Park and Matopos as well. The amount and variety of wildlife I was amazing. And the lodging at Vic Falls (Batonka Lodge), Hwange (Ivory Lodge), and Matopos (Amalinda Lodge) was well beyond anything I was expecting. The service was amazing: they truly do anticipate your needs before you think to ask. With Mark's suggestions, the trip was more affordable than I had expected and everything went according to plan. I have nothing but positive to convey about the entire trip.
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Email Lisa | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Third travel with Gondwana Tours: Unique journey to Zambia and Zimbabwe
We just came back from a stunning, exciting and to Zambia and Zimbabwe. It was already our third trip with Gondwana Tours & Safaris and again perfectly organized by Mark Hathaway. During booking our second trip with Mark from Gondwana Tours to Botswana, Mark told us about Zambia / South Luangwe, that it is still wild and he believes it would be ideal for us. To be honest we had never considered Zambia as a destination before but were completely enthusiastic about the information, stories and lodge suggestions he shared with us. Thus, we started planning our third trip with Gondwana Tours. The service and consultation was again fabulous, the routing was a bit complex and Mark was extremely patient in answering all our questions and rearranging the journey so it fit our flight dates. The travel was as always perfectly organized, the lodges knew all our wishes and preferences and everybody knew that we are Mark’s clients. Also during our holiday in Zimbabwe, when one information about the flight was somehow “lost” at the hotel and not transferred to us, Mark was within seconds available via WhatsApp and immediately solved the problem for us (even though it was a holiday). We loved South Luangwe National Park and Mana Pools and had wonderful sightings and stayed in fabulous camps. To sum it up, we can only recommend Zambia and Zimbabwe and will never book our Africa travels with another agent again. Thank you Mark for proposing us Zambia and planning this unforgettable trip for us!!!
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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!!!
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.
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Email Alan Z | 65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
A trip of a lifetime
We planned an African trip of a lifetime to see wildlife. We chose Gondwana Tours & Safaris in Botswana because of their reasonable prices, great reviews, an office based in Botswana and their willingness to customize a tour to suit our needs and budget.
Wow did they deliver! Mark Hathaway worked with us for almost a year, answering our questions with a reply usually within 24 hours. Their itinerary took us to four different safari camps through Botswana, followed by a lovely two-day cruise up the Chobe River by houseboat. The trip ended with a stay at Victoria Falls, which was the perfect way to wind down before heading home. We ended up finding and photographing 41 mammal species and saw hundreds of species of birds. Thanks to Gondwana's planning, everything went off smoothly. The camps were ready and waiting for us, and transport was where it needed to be, and precisely on time. The camps themselves were delightful, with good food, a reasonable number of other guests, and eight hours a day in the field. We did not fully appreciate all the planning Gondwana did until we saw it all in action.
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Email Aimee | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Perfect trip and mix of activities for solo female
Just as I was booking my Botwswana trip, my traveling partner canceled on me. I didn't want to spend as much money as we were going to spend if I were going alone, so Mark came up with a great trip for me. It was a great combination of types of safaris and geography (Khwai, Inner Delta, Chobe) and the places I stayed I was very happy with, the guides are very knowledgeable and well-trained, the hospitality was ideal, and the food was very good (and there are a lot of things I don't eat which they all catered to). I needed to end in Chobe because I was meeting another friend for Victoria Falls, but if I hadn't needed to take his schedule into account or the zambezi river level, I think it would be best to start with Vic Falls and then Chobe, Inner Delta, Khwai. I like Inner Delta in the middle because you can do walking safaris there and it was good to have that as the middle activity between the game drives you do in Chobe & Khwai. I also would have stayed a 3rd night in the Inner Delta instead of just 2 because the walking safari was my favorite. But considering my schedule needs, what Mark arranged for me was perfect. It was so shocking to get just a few meters away from a lion with nothing but the car door between it and me (no glass and only a very high roof), but then it became normal and later when lions are "only" 10 m away you are like oh those lions are kind of far away. The transfers and flights all worked seamlessly and my whole job was to show up at the right time, which made that part very relaxing and the animals made it exciting.
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35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Personal, professional, amazing knowledge – simply an excellent service and a wonderful safari!
I want to thank Steffi and Mark of Gondwana Tours & Safaris for their excellent service from the very first email to my final departure. My wife and I had a breathtaking trip to the Victoria Falls and the Okavango Delta and thanks to Gondwana everything went perfectly well. The recommended camps and lodges were all superb, with very friendly service and stunning game drives (we saw lions, leopards, cheetahs, giraffes, wilddogs, buffalos, lots of elephants, hippos, crocs and much more!). The itinerary that Steffi had compiled was totally tailor-made according to our wishes and expectations (walk with Sylvester the cheetah at Elephant Camp in Vic Falls and the Khwai River Lodge as the highlights!). She gave prompt answers to every single question we had previously and she and Mark were available during the trip for 24h. Mark met us at the airport in Maun to welcome us and make sure that everything went alright. He double-checked all the flights and even helped us with the check-in. After all we can highly recommend Gondwana Tours and Safaris as it might be hard to find another tour-operator with such a personal and professional service. First class!
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Email Erik | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
World class operator
This was my fourth safari, and my favorite one. From day one, Christelle and Gondwana proved invaluable. She was responsive, professional, yet incredibly personable and genuine. She had granular knowledge and opinions on each safari destination and accommodation, and took thoughtful care to engineer the perfect safari for my fiancé and I. The attention to detail was second to none. It was abundantly clear that she listened and understood our personalities and our safari ambitions. On a personal note, she was instrumental in helping me propose to my fiancé on this trip. Sparing the details - it was a personal and intimate moment, and it would have been impossible without her connections and acumen on/in the region. She subsequently went to grand efforts to make sure that we felt loved and recognized on this trip through various incredibly thoughtful actions. Every trip with Christelle will be unique and I have already been recommending Gondwana and Christelle to my friends and family.
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Email Dr Yiadvinder | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
The itinerary was perfectly planned and the service provided was excellent.
Ms Steffi Presske from Gondwana Tours and Safaris did an excellent job in planning the itinerary for the 4 of us in the group. She provided us with all the information required and answered all our questions promptly via email. From the moment we landed in Botswana to the time we left, everything was well taken care off. Our charter flights from one lodge to the other , our accommodation at the lodges and our transfers were all well planned. Personally by far this was the most adventurous and most outstanding trip I have participated in. The staff at the lodges we stayed in , Khwai River lodge at Okavango Delta and Savute Elephant Camp at Chobe were friendly and very attentive to our every need. Our Safari guides at both camps, Ms L.G and Mr J.R were so accommodating and knowledgeable about the wildlife. A big thank you to Ms Presske and her team at Gondwana Tours and Safaris for coming up with the itinerary which went above and beyond anything we have experienced.
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Email Daniel | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Life time experience exceedi expectations for a very spoiled and seasoned traveler and nature lover.
I always wanted to go to subsaharian africa to experience safari. I had the chance to go in February this year, as I was on work related matters in Botswana. I had no idea about how it works, what are the options, tourist traps and so on. I also had a limited time to plan. My first encouter with gondwana was on Safaribookings where I was ghoing through offers and reviews. I wrote a generic and very simple and naive set of requests and sent it out to 5 tour operators. I had a fixed date for the Safari, between 31 January and 8th February. Did I mention that first contact made was on 21st January? Yes. it took only 10 days between my first contact with Mark Hathaway from Gondwana to the actual start of my safari. apparently people plan it months ahead. I had not the luxury to do so.
anyway, based on my very rudimentary perspective what I want and what I THINK I want, Mark was a perfect consultant. dont get me wrong, the other offers I received were also interesting, at least I had three final contenders. However Mark was the must responsive, quickest in responses and grasping what my wishes are and what I can have in such a short time frame. I also had the feeling like talking to a real person doing a personalized safari for me, not like being tossed a prepared safari schedule.
I gave my financial limit so we can plan more easily and Mark came up with several options, in my opinion stretching as much as possible the benefit for me. I know for sure he could have sent me to some mediocre places and have another customer in his pocket.
I to four different places, Splash camp by kwando, Lagoon by Kwando, Pangolin in Chobe, and one night at Vic Falls. everything was seamles, meticoulusly planned. The camps were faboulous. when Mark suggested one site I was not so much sure about given my preferences I have not raised before, he was responsiove and changed the offer and customized it - to my absolute satisfaction. I went during !low season! but I have not seen anything low in my experience, except of the number of people - there were times when it was just three people in the whole camp with all the activities. Or the animales, the game, I had encouters I would never dream off. Marks choices of the sites was perfect. the staff at kwando properties is super professional, friendly, and curteous. I really enjoyed every minute spent there. Pangolin in Chobe with their photographic equipment was an amazing end for the safari, before I went to the Vic Falls. Mark knew exactly what I wanted, or at least he had enough customers to help lost causes like myself who want to see as much as possible but dont know enough. I really assure you that it is worth going with gondwana, instead of the usual safaris I have seen in chobe, overcrowded cars with 9 people staring and trying to get a picture of one animal. tracking, walking safari, boat cruises, in lagoon and rivers, mokoro, all that was perfectly managed and complemented with the professional attitude of the Kwando staff either in camps or outside such as the guides or trackers. superb Job!
I would definitely recommend Mark and Gondwana Tours. And I am definitely coming back.
