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
CH
Email Caroline and Rob | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Fantastic service, helpful, informative, friendly and supportive. Highly recommend.
We are a British family, who live in Switzerland, that decided to go on our first safari and visit to South Africa. We usually travel independently and organise all our travel ourselves but this was new to us. We found Pembury Tours online and after reading previous positive reviews reached out to ask for help with planning our holiday. From the very first email,we were impressed by the openness and friendliness and absolute willingness to help.
Kerry Ririe was very quick to reply to all our questions and worries and changes. She guided us through the whole process, offering suggestions and options, and even back up plans!! As we got closer to our travel time we were slightly concerned that our incoming flight had been delayed several times that month - this would have meant missing our internal flight to the safari lodge. Kerry quickly offered alternatives, passed on emergency contact numbers and made is feel very relaxed. As it happened our flight arrived on time, the collection, transfer and internal flight was smooth and the lodge she booked us into was the most amazing place ever. We had a fantastic holiday, the kids agree that our four nights at Madikwe Safari Lodge (Lelapa) was the best holiday ever. Kerry listened to our needs and did everything we needed and more. She also offered advice about other places to visit, shared itineraries from previous clients for ideas and made us feel that she was there for us whatever we wanted to ask. Perfect. Thanks and we will recommend you to anyone travelling in the area.
CA
Email Janelle | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Dream Vacation to Africa and we owe all our thanks to Kerry Ririe at Pembury Tours! Thank you Kerry!
Visiting Africa has always been a bucket list dream of ours, so when my husband and I were finally ready to book our trip, we reached out to several custom tour operators to design our perfect vacation. We received close to a dozen quotes and itinerary recommendations from other vendors but Kerry from Pembury Tours had such a friendly and positive manner from the beginning that I knew she was the right travel advisor for our perfect trip. Kerry was amazing throughout our entire booking experience, right until the last minute when we arrived home. Kerry’s professional and positive personality, combined with her extensive travel experience and knowledge, was what hooked us to do business with Pembury. She was more than happy to redesign our custom itinerary a number of times (dates not working out, price adjustments, activity recommendations, etc) and she was always quick to reply and acknowledge our questions and share her knowledge with us.
I cannot express enough how amazing our trip turned out to be. A trip of a lifetime, and I have so much gratitude for Kerry and the experience she helped design for us. We did not have to worry about anything! Nothing! This is the first time we’ve ever trusted a travel advisor (normally I plan all our travel itineraries, accommodations, activities, etc) and I am so thankful for Kerry’s expertise and friendly advice… I would 110% recommend Kerry to any one of my family and friends. The entire experience was extraordinary – she put together our dream 14-day itinerary, at a price we could afford, in a quick and efficient manner. All of our transfers, accommodations, activities – everything – were taken care of for us and we always had a direct line to call the company during our entire trip if we had any questions or concerns.
Pembury is an excellent company. Highly recommend using them. Kerry was the icing on the cake – she was beyond excellent – professional – positive – and absolutely a dream to work with to prepare our vacation. Highly, highly recommend Kerry as your travel advisor. I cannot say enough good things about her, and we are just so thankful for absolutely everything Kerry did for us! Thank you Kerry! We had the trip of a lifetime!!
CH
Email Jelena | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Visit to South Africa was perfectly organized by Kerry Ririe from Pembury Tours
My boyfriend and I have visited South Africa for the first time in September. Kerry fully organized our trip and made sure that everything goes smoothly. She helped us create our personalized itinerary and took all of our wishes into account.
The trip was amazing! The accommodations were nice and well located, the guides were punctual and ready to answer our questions, and all the transfers were on time. We firstly spent a couple of days in Cape Town, then a few days at Livingstone visiting Victoria Falls, and we finished our trip with a panoramic route near Hazyview and a safari. We went to the Umkumbe lodge, where the atmosphere was very relaxed and friendly.
It was a great experience and I am happy that we chose Pembury Tours to help us make the best of it.
US
Email Jay Kumar | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Pembury Tours! Pride of the Industry
Pembury tours, what a great name in the industry. Well it was kind of a last minute decision to visit South Africa in Aug 2016. One fine morning in the month of June 2016 my son came to me and said, "let us go to Cape Town for our summer vacation Dad". Not knowing what I was about to face, I went to work on the web instantly. I picked places to visit and sent out requests to few agencies with dates in August. I kept getting rejections from several agencies due to non-availability because of the start of peak season as those game drive lodges get booked year in advance. Needless to say I was getting a little depressed and worried as to not be able to fulfill my son's request.
On a particular morning, sipping my cup of coffee, I opened my computer expecting more rejections. As I was sifting through my emails, I came across this particular email, signed Heidi Bedford, Travel Consultant, Pembury Tours with a PDF attachment. With certain amount of reluctance and anxiety, I double clicked on that PDF file. It immediately blossomed into a colorful itinerary with meticulous construction of our entire trip with exact dates, hotels, guided tours, local transfers with photos etc. I was in a pleasant shock and felt a mountain being lifted off my shoulder instantly. After certain minor adjustments, I confirmed my trip with payment.
When I informed my parents in India about our trip, they too got interested and expressed their wish to join us on the tour! Of course, I called Heidi to delegate this new challenge. Heidi didn't seem to be bothered, took my parents names, anticipated dates, etc., and told me that she would get back to me in a couple of days. As promised, I got another email with a whole new colorful itinerary for my parents coordinating theirs with ours. Every time I called them, Anya always answered the phone on the first ring. What a treat!
To make things more challenging, my Dad's luggage did not arrive at Johannesburg from India. We were at Victoria Falls and not knowing what to do, I informed Heidi regarding the situation. Of course she replied with her pleasant South African slang, "no worries and cheers". Next afternoon, we joined with our parents at Nelspruit as per our itinerary and proceeded to Bohm’s Zeederberg Country Lodge for the night stay. The owner and her son were extremely kind and helpful. The dining experience with a private butler was mind-blowing. That night, Pambury's team went out of their way to surprise my son of his 18th birthday with a great tasting chocolate birthday cake and a card signed by the entire team.
As promised my Dad’s luggage was delivered on the following day that put a smile on his face. Our entire trip was very well organized. Everyone was very kind and accommodative and everyplace we stayed provided us great hospitality. Transfers were very smooth and timely. We could see the passion and dedication on our tour guides and drivers. The most experienced safari drivers and the trackers made our game drive safe and unforgettable. Campfire dinner under the starts of southern hemisphere and the Milky Way was a special treat.
As we know, "People make the country and employees make the company". We experienced both at first hand. Our South Africa trip was made memorable not simply what the great land had offered, but most importantly people at Pembury Tours and their associates made our trip very special. I recommend Pembury tours to everyone in full confidence with great pleasure.
US
Email A. Hussain | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
One of the most memorable trips we have taken.
My wife and I had been planning a trip to South Africa for several months but scheduling the trips and tours and finding the right accomodation was taking too much time. While surfing the web I came across Safari Bookings and saw that Pembury Tours offered customized tour itineraries for South Africa. Once I submitted a request for help in arranging our trip, Heidi from Pembury Tours contacted me within 24 hours. I gave her the dates that we had in mind and the places we wanted to visit. She took care of all the details. We could set aside only 7 days for the trip but she was able to come up with the perfect itinerary. We spent 3 days on Safari and stayed at the Narina Lodge which was excellent. We loved the lodge and the attentive service there was excellent. They made the game drives extremely pleasant and comfortable. And we saw the Big Five.
From Kruger National Park we went to Capetown. We loved Capetown. We stayed at the Table Bay Hotel on the Victoria and Albert Waterfront. The waterfront area was great for shopping and dining and simply loitering around enjoying the nightlife. But the hotel was disappointing. Taking a shower was challenging. The water was either too cold or scalding hot. Though most of the staff was attentive, the staff at the main desk were not helpful and rather condescending. They were more worried about the minibar in the room being under lock and key than making our stay more enjoyable. Our room had been paid in full by Pembury Tours in advance but the hotel charged us again, though they did ultimately refund the charge after Heidi called to complain.
In Johannesburg we stayed at a very nice boutique hotel in an upscale area of town before catching our return flight to New York.
While in South Africa we did not have to worry about transportation or booking any tours because Heidi had arranged for private tours in and around Capetown and Johannesburg. She took care of all internal flights and hotel bookings well ahead of our arrival even though we gave her only 2-3 weeks notice. There was always someone waiting to pick us up at the airport to take us to our hotel or to drop us off at the airport in tine for our flights. and Heidi was always available on the phone. The guides who took us sight seeing were very knowledgeable and helpful, especially Graham who was extremely gracious, accompanying us in and around Capetown for 3 days.
All in all this was one of our best vacations and we will have pleasant memories for years to come.
US
Email Amanda | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amazing Trip!
Working with Tammy at Pembury to plan our trip to Africa was so easy and quick! Tammy was able to help us modify the 11 Day Cape Town, Kruger, Victoria Falls trip itinerary to meet our budget and include a day in the Winelands. We loved that when we arrived we did not have to worry about anything - all transfers, flights, hotels and activities were already booked and paid for. When we arrived a day late due to flight delay and our luggage was lost, Tammy stepped in and helped so we didnt have to worry about anything. We absolutely loved Cape Town, the Winelands and private safari lodge! Only thing we would change about this trip would be to spend more time in Botswana and do a day trip to Victoria Falls (we did a day trip to Botswana when staying in Victoria Falls). We would definitely recommend working with Pembury Tours to plan a trip to Africa!
Cape Town accommodation
Pembury Tours arranged a Waterfront apartment for our week in Cape Town. The accommodation was well situated, comfortable and well equipped. There were communication difficulties within the administration office of the complex, as we needed to make several complaints before action was taken to remedy our wi-fi and air-conditioning issues which were simple when attended to.
KW
Email Jayashree Guha | 65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
Overall it was an excellent trip.
We (group of eight) had a great experience! Prompt communication and excellent service for tailored made itinerary are worth noting. We would highly recommend Pemburytours to all our friends who whoever wants to visit South Africa.
Email Tom | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great customer service, excellent high-qaulity tour
Tammy at Pembury Tours took great care pulling together our itinerary. She provided lots of options along with pros and cons and good visibility over price and standard. Very quick to respond to questions and no request was too much hassle. Some good "insider" insights too which helped us decide where to go and how long to stay. The cost of the trip represented good value for money I think. The welcome pack was of high quality and very clear and professional. We felt very comfortable and safe in Tammy's hands and had a wonderful trip - thank you!
DE
Email Stones | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great vacation, wonderful support from Laurette
Had a wonderful holiday planned by Pembury Tours. Laurette was extremely helpful and put together an amazing itinerary for us. We were amazed by the great customer service and personalization. Highly recommended.