Part of the happy Pembury team having a laugh!
Pembury Tours
- Office In:
- Size:
- 20-50 employees (Founded in 1996)
- Member Of:
- Southern Africa Tourism Services Association
- Tour Types:
- Custom mid-range & luxury tours that can start every day
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $100 to $2,000 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 Sherry | 65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
Wonderful Tour Company!
Thanks to Pembury Tours and our agent, Anya Visser, we had the most wonderful trip to South Africa! Based on our general description of what we wanted (e.g., to see the animals and enjoy lovely lodges), Anya skillfully created a custom itinerary that exceeded our expectations and yet met our budget. She arranged for us to spend 3 nights each at the Sabi Sands and Timbavati game reserves, with a 2 night interlude between them at the fabulous umVangati House in the Blyde River Canyon area.
Both bush camps had expert guides, delicious food, and top notch accommodations. We had 2 game drives a day, with close-up sightings of the Big 5 (elephants, lions, leopards, rhinoceroses, and Cape buffalo) as well as numerous other animals such as giraffes, crocodiles, baboons, monkeys, zebras, impalas, antelopes, hyenas, and hippopotamuses. Many of the animals had babies which made the viewing even more special.
Our 2-day visit to the Blyde River Canyon area was magical. The third largest in the world, the Blyde River Canyon has incredible scenery and views. Our lodging at the umVangati House (located in a private nature preserve) was a 5-star experience — exceptional hosts, amazing food, fantastic accommodations, and spectacular views.
The entire trip was seamless; Anya arranged escorts for us at each destination to ensure transportation was smooth and timely, and everything was taken care of in advance so we could just relax and enjoy our trip. Anya was exceptionally easy to deal with and professional, and went out of her way to ensure the trip was everything we could have wanted. She even arranged COVID testing for us so we could meet travel requirements within time restrictions.
We would not have been able to experience a trip like this without the expertise and attention to detail that Anya and Pembury Tours provided. It was the trip of a lifetime. We highly recommend Pembury Tours to anyone wanting a fun and relaxing trip — they are the best!
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Email Albert S | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
East Africa Safari & Seychelles - A Magical Honeymoon
My wife and I worked with Anya Visser of Pembury Tours to craft and book our honeymoon in East Africa and Seychelles and we could not have had a more wonderful experience. Beginning more than 2 years ago, Anya worked with us to tailor an itinerary that matched exactly to the types of activities we were interested in, the resorts/camps we were looking for, all within the budget we outlined.
After COVID cancelled our trip as initially planned for Aug 2020, Anya worked hard to rebook our entire itinerary, and was able to accomplish it without a single cost increase. Leading up to the trip she prepared us well for everything we'd need on the trip, including outlining COVID requirements and coordinating tests/logistics while we were away.
Once the trip came, every detail was thought through and we felt looked after at all times. The level of service was fantastic and Anya was available at all times to answer questions and help us with anything we needed. Each camp and resort was beautiful and Anya had coordinated with each to let them know that it was our honeymoon and to set up a surprise for us. She also set us up with wonderful drivers/guides (Karato Marmo in Tanzania and Norman in Masai Mara, both of Leopard Tours).
Ultimately, it is difficult for us to overstate how great of an experience we had, and it is in large part thanks to Anya, Pembury Tours and the people and places they connected us with in Tanzania, Kenya and Seychelles. We highly recommend working with Anya and Pembury Tours.
BEST TOUR OPERATOR IN AFRICA (AND POSSIBLY THE WORLD)
If I could give Kerry at Pembury Tours ten stars, I would. I don't know if I will ever be able to fully express how grateful I am to Kerry and her team and just how much we appreciate everything they've done for us. Kerry has become more than a tour agent- I think she'll be a lifelong friend!
My husband and I had been planning our South African and Zambian safari for our honeymoon and we were originally supposed to travel June 2020. Our itinerary was Cape Town, South African Bush Safari (Umkumbe Safari Lodge), Chimp Eden (Nut Grove Manor) and Victoria Falls (Waterfront Lodge). Due to COVID, we had to postpone our trip and pushed it back to June 2022. Throughout the entire planning process, Kerry was not only extremely responsive and helpful, but she was truly on our side and had our best interests at heart. She took the time to answer all of my questions (even all of the long and rambling and repetitive ones that I would think of in the middle of the night and shoot her an email) and reassured me that our trip would still be just as great regardless of having to reschedule. She scoured every possible option in terms of what was available within our price points, what made the most sense logistically, what would give us the best experience, and made the entire planning process smooth, easy and feel like it was a collaboration between our vision and her planning. I pride myself on my traveling and itinerary making skills, but Kerry truly goes above and beyond and her attention to detail and thoroughness is on a completely different level. Especially with all of the new and ever-changing restrictions due to Covid, she laid out everything so nicely for us so that our travel was seamless. Even when we had a false-positive scare while we were in South Africa, Kerry was immediately on the phone figuring things out so we truly did not have to worry at all and just got to relax and enjoy ourselves.
One of the biggest hurdles we experienced throughout this entire process was because of United Airlines (the worst). We had initially rescheduled our trip from June 2020 to June 2021. When we arrived at the airport to check in to our flights because we weren't able to online due to having to show a negative PCR test, United apparently had outdated travel requirements for South Africa and would not let us board. We exhausted all of our options at the airport to try to get them to let us go since we KNEW Kerry had provided us with the CORRECT information. However, we left the airport frustrated and angry and in tears, feeling like our entire trip and years of planning had just gone down the drain. When I arrived home, I contacted Kerry immediately and she worked tirelessly the next few days with her director who then got the South African tourism departments involved and got everything rebooked for us to go a few weeks later. I have traveled extensively my entire life and never had I felt so defeated. But Kerry would not give up and I absolutely credit her for getting us through this. It is now three weeks after we've returned from our trip and Kerry is STILL working on getting us a refund from a flight that had to be rebooked because of this. She won't let these awful airlines get away with cheating their paying customers anymore than they are already able to. Her ability to respond quickly, efficiently, and cost-effectively to issues that come up unexpectedly is unmatched.
In addition, all of the accommodations, tours, and excursions Kerry planned were also absolutely stunning. This was a trip of a lifetime that my husband and I will NEVER forget. We truly could not have imagined a more gorgeous first trip to Africa and we will absolutely be back and be using Pembury Tours for all of our African travel needs in the future.
I know I'm forgetting so much and will never be able to thank Kerry enough for everything she's done for us, but I hope this review helps encourage more travelers to use Pembury Tours and ask for the incredible Kerry! We love you! <3
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Email AC | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Outstanding
My partner and I had a 6 day/5 night safari including a layover in Johannesburg on our way home planned by Anya Visser and our trip was exceptional. During the planning phase, Anya was incredibly prompt and responsive with communications. She took time to really understand what we were looking for with our trip and every aspect of our itinerary was clearly well thought out. This translated into a very smooth vacation at amazing lodges. It was one of the most memorable trips we have ever taken and we are so grateful to Anya. Highly recommend Pembury tours for your safari planning.
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Email Christine | 65+ years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
African Vacation
Kerry did a great job organizing all the details of this 3 week trip. We visited Rwanda, Kenya, Tanzania and the island of Zanzibar. The accommodations were outstanding. Everyday we experienced a different safari adventure. Everything was done for us and we didn’t have to worry about a thing so we could enjoy our time at each spot. This is the second tour I have booked with Kerry at Pembury Tours and it won’t be the last.
Email Steele Party | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Uncomplicated, professional and knowledgeable.
We contacted Pembury Tours initially to gather prices and ideas of what we could do for our first time in South Africa and organise this ourselves, but we were so impressed with Tammy and her passion and knowledge and grasp of what we wanted as a group and as individuals, we decided that to not use their service would be a mistake. There were originally 6 of us in the group unfortunately this changed to four just weeks before our departure date and without any complications our accommodations and various tours and excursions were amended accordingly with no fuss. From the moment we arrived in Cape Town and then our tours through the wine regions up in to Ostrich country and then on to the Garden Route, Cape L'Aghulas and back to Cape Town for a few days, our internal flights to the Kruger National Park for our Safaris the Lodges and Tours not a thing was missed out, we all quite simply had the bestest of times and this was soley due to Tammy at Pembury Tours.. THANK YOU!..the Steele party..
Email Sam and Rachael Saunders | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Perfect 2 week honeymoon.
We booked our 2 week honeymoon through Anya and from start to finish she was so kind, helpful and gave an all round excellent service - we couldn't recommend her highly enough.
We had a vague idea of a route through the Eastern Cape to Western Cape in mind but Anya recommended places to stay (and reasons why), activities to do and was on hand to answer any questions we had very quickly, including changing plans last minute. She even sorted extra bits for us such as arranging to have someone collect us in Johannesburg to help transfer us to our next flight, she recommended several places for NYE and booked a restaurant for us and even managed to get us an upgrade on our car.
Our luggage was lost from leaving London (through no fault, except the airline) but Anya made sure we were sorted and OK, even though she was on her own holiday outside of South Africa.
All of our accommodation was excellent (we're rating them all 5*) and the safari was simply incredible.
To be honest we were slightly anxious about booking with a local company, but we can't recommend the company and Anya highly enough.
Email John Slaughter | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
A car tour of the Cape Garden Route and 3 day safari staying in first class accommodation on route.
Communication with Pembury tours was brilliant throughout the tour planning, it was tailor made to our specific needs whilst providing expert guidance on what to do and where to stay. Everything happened without a hitch providing us with a wonderful holiday experience. The safari at Lalibela was fantastic, the staff brilliant and the animals amazing.
Email Laura | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
A thorough and bespoke service
Melanie is a receptive and informed travel agent who helped us come up with the perfect itinerary for our trip to southern Africa. Having never been to this region before, she ensured we had all the information we needed, managed our expectations and provided a high level of service for our trip.
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Email Jessica Evans | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Africa tour
It was an amazing experience! Everything was arranged perfectly! No stress! Entire trip was amazing. Great quality of hotels and excursions! Have recommended to all my friends