Jo Stallmann, owner
Adventure Purists
- Office In:
- Size:
- 1-5 employees (Founded in 2005)
- Tour Types:
- Budget & mid-range tours with set start dates and a fixed itinerary
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $150 to $700 per person per day (USD, excl. int'l flights)
Reviews
DE
Email Sabine | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
We feel the spirit of Africa close to the nature and enjoy unique experience
We went to a special 25-day safari tour across Botswana through the wilderness of the Kalahari.
Jo (the owner of the company) and Andrew did a really good job. Andrew managed the camp with all the stuff and equipment, he had always a heedful helping hand for us and surprised us every day with delicious, fresh meals, mostly prepared on open fire.
Jo brought us save through all flooded roads in the Linyanti-Region. He knows a lot about nature, plants and wildlife and gave us special experience while observe and walking close to suricate or having sundowner with a male lion, walk away from us. He explained us some constellations of the African terrific starry sky. We had a very good time with a lot of wildlife in unique landscape. A little bit away from the main tourist routes, we supported the local people and used community campsites, in beautiful areas. The good organisation (Thank's as well to Christa), Jo and Andrew and especially the small group with 7 people, made the tour to an awesome trip. We quickly became a good team and it felt like travelling with friends.
CH
Email Kerstin Treydte | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
What a stunning journey!
Our 17-day tour combining “Wild West of Zambia” and South Luangwa was a stunning experience, and I just can highly recommend this tour and tour operator. We had the pleasure to be guided and driven by the owner of ‘Adventure Purists’ himself, Jo Stallmann, supported by a trained cook (Emmanuel) and two camp helpers (Biggy and Sims). Everything was very well organized, all logistics were taken care of (transportation, accommodation, food) and the whole team made us feel at ease. They were always very committed, friendly, available, flexible, and ready to help us in case of any needs. I specifically liked their great sense of humour (representative for many other locals we met). Camping was luxury with very spacious tents providing ample room for camping beds and luggage. The meal, often cooked on open fire was always super-yummy and prepared with lots of fresh vegetables and meat. When it came to dessert Emmanuel did outperform himself.
Most importantly the actual safari part was fantastic. Most of the days we had two pretty extended game drives, and sun-downer tours enjoying gorgeous sunsets with cold beer outside the car – sometimes with breath-taking hippo or hyena encounters. The spectacular custom-built vehicle was perfectly adapted to our needs and obviously also to any terrific wet-season off-road conditions we could only roughly imagine during our stay in the dry season (by the way, it’s up to the participants to always be aware of bumpy roads!). Thanks to Jo’s awesome expert knowledge, driving skills, and long-term record in spotting game we had great sightings every day and impressively experienced the variety of wildlife, animal behaviour and botany in a very nice and educational way. Just as one example we were lucky enough to spot the Lion Queen ‘Lady Liuwa’, the sole survivor of massive poaching in the 1990s. Beyond nature he also provided us with an authentic local’s view onto various human-related issues of the country such as daily life, culture, education, history, politics etc. including some touching visits at local villages.
To conclude from my perspective all promises made in the program have been fully achieved if not even partly excelled. At the Liuwa plains wildlife may have been a bit less present than in other regions (I was, nevertheless, fully satisfied) but this was easily compensated by uniquely beautiful scenery. I just can repeat myself in highly recommending this tour operator. If I would do this trip again, I would probably add a day for a white water rafting tour on the Zambesi offered by their sister company ‘Bundu Adventures’. Seems to be a blast, possibly even the ‘Chicken Run’… Thanks ‘Adventure Purists’ and all the best for the future!