Marianne Birrell, founder of MB Safaris.
Marianne Birrell Safaris
- Located In:
- Size:
- 1-5 employees (Founded in 2001)
- Tour Types:
- Custom luxury tours that can start every day
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $400 to $1,000 per person per day (USD, excl. int'l flights)
Reviews
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Email Heather | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Custom Safari Adventure
Was referred to Marianne by a friend in the States. She was excellent. I have planned trips for my friends before and we are always looking for something out of the ordinary that would not be found on regular tours or searching the internet. Marianne was very familiar with the countries in Africa and the various Safari lodges and arranged a tour around our interests. She spent months narrowing down the choices with the result being a once in a lifetime experience that was well within our budget. She knew what was important to spend money on and what was not. In coordinating the trip the fact that I lived in the United States and Marianne was in South Africa was not a problem. Excellent all around.
CA
Email Dale | 65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
A magical safari experience from beginning to end; everything well thought out and executed.
I cannot use enough superlatives to describe the perfection of our mother/daughter trip Marianne designed for us! She thought of every detail ensuring both our comfort and safety. The accommodation and food throughout all lodges and guest houses I would rate as a 10 and the people at each location were thoughtful and certainly aimed to please their guests. Our mail concern, being two women travelling alone, were the transfers between our many destinations and they all went smoothly as Marianne saw to that. She was professional and friendly in all our dealings and countless emails offering us suggestions and options to choose from within our budget. The safari lodges she chose for us were beautiful and comfortably appointed and their drivers and trackers ensured we saw eveything possible. Our trip was the dream of a life time and we owe it all to Marianne's careful and meticulous planning. We had a dream and she made it happen!
DE
Email Michael and Patrizia | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
great advice, great adventure
our safari experience was wonderful, and Marianne helped us to make it possible, giving us great advice on the lodge, activities, travel, health, timing ... She even helped us sorting out our international money transfer (no small feat when money gets trapped between banks). At our lodge, the Ngala ranger-tracker team of Mike and Fanny was amazingly professional and competent. We learnt and viewed so much for such a short period of time. Highly recommended!
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Email Steve & Ingrid | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Best travel experience ever
Marianne Birrell Safaris put together the most fantastic trip for us, giving excellent guidance and advice from beginning to end. Our four-day stay at Ngala Safari Lodge was outstanding in every respect, and our five days in Cape Town were superb. This was our first safari experience, but--as former airline employees--my wife and I are experienced travelers, including destinations in the Far East, South America, the Caribbean (lots!), Russia, and Europe (30+).
Marianne gave us excellent advice with respect to when to travel, what to bring, where to stay, and what to see.
She advised us to travel to the Kruger Park area before the bush vegetation started to fill in, which makes game viewing more difficult, and then continue to Cape Town to get slightly longer days and warmer temperatures. The weather was indeed ideal at the game reserve and the game viewing experience at Ngala could not have been better--notably rhinos, hippos (in the water), leopards, and plenty of lions, elephants, and buffalo. The Cape Town weather was also nearly perfect--one gray day out of five and just an occasional need for a light jacket. Marianne certainly knows the South Africa weather patterns!
Marianne's recommendation of the accommodations was also superb. We started planning the trip in August, which narrowed the choices due to decreased availability. We were lucky that one of Marianne's favorites, Ngala Safari Lodge, opened up during our Sept-Oct travel window. At Ngala, the thatched huts were quite comfortable, every meal was excellent , and the service was highly attentive. Every game drive brought a new and exciting experience. It was as if the six of us in the vehicle, in addition to our ranger Andre and our tracker Joseph (both amazing at spotting the animals), had the 35,000 acre private reserve all to ourselves. I don't know how Marianne did it, but we had one of the most private locations at the lodge--no walkways to any other hut passing near us.
In Cape Town we stayed at the Mount Nelson. Marianne would have us stay nowhere else. We had a fabulous room with a beautiful view to Table Mountain. The hotel service is excellent, the grounds are gorgeous, and the area is quiet at night . The breakfast buffet rivals that of any hotel in the world, and the high tea is just amazing. Thanks to Marianne's advice, we were able to get the right tours to see the most important highlights in the short time we had--wineries, Kirstenbosch, the peninsula (not impressed with the penguin colony, however), the V&A Waterfront (including harbor cruise), and whale watching in Hermanus.
Marianne also has put together a most helpful list of what to bring. We try to travel only with carry-on (thank goodness Ngala does laundry!), and we had everything we needed (including binoculars and three cameras) and nothing that was surplus (except the mosquito spray--hardly any mosquitoes around anywhere).
Communications with Marianne Birrell Safaris were excellent. We exchanged probably fifty or more emails planning and confirming details of the trip, and the responses were always prompt. Marianne also kept in touch with us while we were traveling, either by email or text, which was quite comforting although we had no glitches (for the first time ever in all our travels) anywhere along the way. She made sure we had the contact information also for the taxi service she arranged for the airport transfers, but they were reliable and on time. Marianne prepared every aspect of our trip so that it could not have run smoother.
For our next trip to South Africa, we will definitely turn to Marianne Birrell Safaris!
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Email Susan | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amazing experience
From the start to the finish Marianne listened to our wants and delivered! It is sometimes frightening to know who to trust when planning such a large trip via Internet. Each step of the way, though, everything was done exactly when she said it would be and how she said it would be. Wonderful experience and cannot say enough about how responsive and caring Marianne is. I would highly recommend her and hope to be fortunate enough to have her plan another trip for me.
MY
Email John | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
A truly great African Spectacular with supberb itinerary and wildlife sightings
Out of five tour operators we contacted, Marianne Birrell Safaris responses stood out from the others due to their detailed itineraries and suggestions. Marianne personally was involved in advising us and getting the best value for our budget. The holiday itself in Cape Town, Sabi Sands, Victoria Falls, Chobe and Okavango was overall above our expectations and all the logistics and transfers went smoothly. Our only issue was at the tented camp at Moremi Crossing which had low water problems and staff which didn't meet the high standard of the other lodges. Southern Africa can be daunting but Marianne passed on tips and additional tour suggestions right up to our departure date, and came back promptly to all our questions. We would definitely use Marianne again for other tours and have passed on a recommendation already to our family and friends.
Email Laura | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Fantastic
We went to Africa on our honeymoon and Marianne really did make it the trip of a lifetime! Through every step of the planning she was thorough, helpful and organised. She listened to what we liked doing and what we wanted out of the trip and made some fantastic suggestions. She was so enthusiastic, answered all our questions and sent through a lot of really helpful information.
The trip itself ran extremely smoothly. Everything was well organised and really easy on our part. We went to South Africa, Zimbabwe and Botswana. The lodges were fantastic and the whole trip was better than we could have imagined.
We can't thank Marianne enough for all she did and are so glad we decided to book through her. We would definitely use her again and will recommend her to all our friends and family.
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Email Hina | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Excellent Safari trip thanks to Marianne's attention to detail
We had a wonderful trip in June. Marianne was very responsive to our requests and concerns. She organized a virtually snag-free trip for 2 weeks to a place we'd never been. We enjoyed every moment. Accommodations and travel exceeded our expectations. We have already recommended her to friends and will definitely use her again when we are ready to go back.
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Email Aaron | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Everything went as smoothly as possible
I normally do everything myself, but knowing that inside knowledge in Africa is very helpful, this time I went with an agent to set up a few safaris in South Africa. Marianne Birrell set everything up for me better than I could have done it myself after weeks of research. She arranged the flight to and from Hoedspruit, the transfers between camps, and the camp reservations themselves. She did an excellent job choosing service providers, every one of which was top-notch. I'll recommend her without hesitation to anyone going on a safari in East Africa.
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Email Lesley and Paul | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Brilliant Safari and Cape Town Experience!
We had an amazing time on our recent trip to South Africa arranged by Marianne Birrell Safaris . We fell in love with both the Mt. Nelson Hotel and the &Beyond Ngala Safari Lodge. The staff at the "Nellie" went out of their way to help us with all kinds of crazy requests, including assistance with shipping two large boxes of African art we purchased. Further, we had a flight leaving at midnight, and they kindly offered the hotel as our home base as we finished up our shopping and errands.
I now consider the &Beyond Ngala Safari Lodge home. The staff, safari guides and trackers all wound their way into our hearts. The attention to details--our wash, favorite kind of wine, reminders to dress warmly, special tours to the kitchens of the lodge and the local community--were all handled with professionalism, kindness, and genuine authenticity.
Thank you for a beautifully planned trip, Marianne. Your choices of the Mt. Nelson Hotel and the Ngala Safari Lodge were brilliant.