Encompass Africa
- Located In:
-
Australia
- Size:
- 5-10 employees (Founded in 2009)
- Member Of:
- ATTA, CATO & ATAS
- Tour Types:
- Custom luxury tours that can start every day
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $228 to $1,953 per person per day (USD, excl. int'l flights)
Reviews
Amazing family adventure
We travelled to South Africa in June this year with our 2 children aged 11 and 14. Encompass Africa organised the whole trip, with every detail apart from international airfares. The trip was incredible, we loved Cape Town and the tours we took there (uthando, winery tour and Cape peninsula) and then the 3 Safari lodges that we experienced( Chitwa Chitwa, Tswalu and Madikwe). Danica from encompass Africa is so enthusiastic, it was hard to choose which trip to take there were so many incredible opportunities! The accommodation in every place was excellent in every place, we were even accommodated in an alternative lodge in Madikwe after a fire destroyed the family lodging. The trip was exceptional in every way and the organisation is second to none. We can’t wait to go back.
Email elleyn johnston | 65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
You cannot better perfection in organizing a tour that met and surpassed all out expections.
After meeting Jonathon and giving him a list of places and things we wanted to see he arranged a holiday of a lifetime. As we were 2 ladies travelling alone we required to be met at each city and arrange for transport and personal guided tours. Our 3 days in Cape Town accom and tours well organised. Our 9 day safari with Letaka Tented Camp in the Okavango Delta taking in Moremi, Khwai and Chobe Areas was magic. Our guide Matambo a walking encyclopedia. We saw all the animals including 3 different leopards at very close range. Our safari staff and organisation fantastic. Meals and comfort first class. Our accommodation in Victoria Falls, ,Johannesburg, Nairobi, excellent. Lastly our 3 day safari in Masai Mara staying at the Sentinel Mara Camp which is a permanent camp situated on the Mari River. Words cannot describe this camp, glamour and luxurious tenting, owned and run by Peter and Wendy Dwycross. Peter, Wendy, Minny our hostess, and staff very professional. The meals, including lunch and breakfast in the bush, were 5 star. Our guide Jackson, found our cheetahs, and to see the great migration and this sight will remain with us forever. We also had the privilege of visiting a Masai village and meeting the villagers who danced and sang for us. Our reasons for going to Kenya were to see both the migration and visit a village. And so came the end of a magnificent holiday organised with perfection down to the last minor detail. Thank you Jonathon and the staff at Encompass Africa.
Email Robyn Wilson | 65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
Professional,friendly,surperbly organised and thoughly enjoyable
From the moment we meet Jono and introduced to his company we felt his professional and caring approach was very comforting.He put together a trip we asked for and his experience and knowledge of not only Africa but accomodation,connections, security was outstanding.I totally recommend this company and Jono to anyone.
Email Karen and Jim | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Excellent service, smooth, safe ,reliable, Encompass do all the hard work we just enjoyed Africa !
The trip of a life time with so much to remember. All the hard work was done by Jono and his team.
Nothing was left to chance it could not have been better, simply faultless. All transfers were effortless and on time we were never left wondering what happens next.
We did 5 Safari parks which we think might have been 1 too many even though each one was quite unique and had different things to offer.The Garden Route was amazing and wish we could have spent a bit more time there.
All the accommodation organised for us was better than we could have hoped for, a real treat, glam camping at its best.
Email Robin | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
An amazing holiday with Encompass Africa
Jonathon and his team not only organised one of the best holidays we have ever done but in the process made it an easy and enjoyable experience. The process was complicated a little by the fact that this was a secret for my wife's birthday and we were locked into a specific date, but they worked around that easily. It was great to be able to sit down and go though my ideas for the holiday but essentially I left it to Jonathon to build the program and to suggest all accommodation, which I am happy to say I accepted as it all turned out to be first-class. We got lots of information - detailed itineraries, contacts for all providers, suggestions of things to do, driving instructions for our self-drive component etc. Anything that was organised beforehand by EA such as airport greeting, transfers, day tour etc took place as planned and at no time did we have any issues or problems. Throughout the process there was good communication, email reminders for things and good follow-up on return. Jonathon and his team clearly know their stuff and have the network to organise great holidays. The highlight of our holiday was the safari at Londolozi in the Kruger - just superb. I would have no hesitation in recommending Encompass Africa based on my experience.
Email Denise | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Fantastic itinerary created for our family with two boys aged 10 and 12 - very special memories!
Encompass Africa were very receptive to our initial enquiry and created an itinerary that they thought best matched our needs. They were very prompt in responses, and tweaked the itinerary until we were 100% happy with it. They provided regular communication during the booking process, prior to our departure and during our trip. The trip itself surpassed all our expectations. We had 5 days in Cape Town with our own arrangements, then a 6 day private mobile safari with Safari Guide Services in Botswana that was the highlight of the trip, 2 days on the Chobe Princess houseboat, and then 3 nights in Victoria Falls where we had a blast swimming in Devil's Pool, jumping from the Gorge Swing and doing a helicopter flight over the falls. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend Encompass Africa to anyone considering planning a trip to Africa, and we will certainly use them for any future trips to Africa.
Email Rebecca | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Fantastic experience - brilliant guide, fantastic camp crew and memories to last a lifetime
We completed a two week tour that was organised through Encompass Africa. The highlight of the two week trip was the six day mobile safari that we did in Botswana. The memories I will take away from this are the sounds of hyenas wandering through the campsite, elephants playing in the river nearby and elephants roaring in the distance. Our guide was extremely knowledgeable and had excellent English. He was so friendly and became a part of our family for the duration of the safari. The camp crew of four who set up camp and cooked were also amazing. Lovely friendly guys. My memory of them is their happy smiling faces and two hand waves every time we rolled back into camp. Each night we would enter camp and there was the fire all set up, with the chairs arranged and the wines/beers etc all laid out for us. A great way to celebrate yet another unique day on safari. Our twice daily safaris got us up close and personal to so many animals including lions, leopards, zebra, giraffes, elephants, gnu...to name just a few. The remaining time was spent in Johannesburg, Vic Falls, Chobe River and Capetown. All in all it was a fantastic trip. We have travelled widely previously but nothing will come close to our Africa experience.
Email April | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Well balanced, perfect itinerary - just enough to make me lose my heart to Africa and need more!
The email I wrote to Encompass Africa -
Hello to the Encompass Team
I have a bit of to time to pass on our last day in Africa waiting for our flight from Kasane to Johannesburg and then onward to Dubai and ultimately home in a few more days - so thought I would start writing down some thoughts and reflections about our trip for you.
Firstly, every single arrangement, transfer, tour, accommodation, flight etc has gone off without a hitch. We have simply had to turn up, relax and enjoy the experience. The arrangements really were seamless and an absolute credit to your planning and team.
Cape Town was a stunning place to begin our holiday and Trevoyan was the loveliest place to stay. It was so pretty, such a convenient location and so comfortable. I loved waking up to a glimpse of Table Mountain.
Our bike tour got us off to an active start and it was an excellent way to see some of the dramatic coastline. Our guides were so friendly and so eager for us to enjoy our experience.
The walking and eating tour was fabulous. We should not have even had a light breakfast though! We could not resist one single morsel that was offered to us. We loved checking out local places that we never would have discovered on our own and returned to a couple of spots in the following days. Ryan was an excellent guide and we really enjoyed his laid back style and learning about modern and historical Cape Town.
I loved the tour with Uthando. Time with the kids was a little overwhelming and emotional - just to be in the presence of such gorgeousness I think! But I also really appreciated learning about the efforts to educate, care for them and change the future for them. I also loved the last stop - I can’t remember the name, but another community centre where some young guys performed for us (so so much fun) and we met some women beading. The townships were mind boggling - at a distance and up close - worthwhile visiting though and learning about efforts to effect change.
Franschhoek was gorgeous! Again, beautiful accommodation. We were very content to pass our day there browsing and more eating and drinking! We were so pleased you suggested this little detour Jono - we wouldn’t have made the time for it otherwise.
And then onto safari. I am not exaggerating when I say that it took more than 24 hours for me to get my head around where I was and what I was seeing. Before we even pulled up at Garonga we saw a giraffe, Buffalo, wildebeest, zebra, warthog and elephant. When we did arrive I could barely speak apart from just saying hello and grinning like an idiot. The main building, our room, the bush location...was more than I had even dreamed of. Pictures are meaningless compared with the reality of being there. On our first afternoon game drive we saw cheetahs, lions and elephants! I looked at my photos and could hardly reconcile that I had just seen those animals - I thought they looked like pics out of a National Geographic mag! The whole experience at Garonga was very special and I get emotional just writing about it! (I cried when I wrote my trip advisor review!).
Even though I was reluctant to leave Garonga we did continue on - busy Johannesburg airport and an airport hotel were harsh reality checks - but of course I survived!
Victoria Falls was impressive and Ilala Lodge was a lovely place to stay. We did a sunset cruise on Ra-Ikane and a canopy tour with Wild Horizons (some nice low level adventure!). We also enjoyed strolling around the Victoria Falls Hotel grounds for the beautiful decor and great views.
We are also so happy with your choice of Chobe Game Lodge. Completely different game drive experience here - excellent to have the contrasting experiences. The lodge experience was exceptional. I loved all the different options and how they changed up the itinerary with game drives, morning, lunch or sunset cruises, breakfast by the river, dinner in the boma etc. And the staff could never do enough for you. We got to see the elusive leopard here on three occasions. And I might have hit emotional overload when we sat in the boat watching hundreds of elephants at the waterhole for two hours.
I’ve always wanted to ‘go to Africa and see the animals’. I didn’t know really what to expect and even still, anything I might have even hoped for was far exceeded. Thanks for taking the broadest of ideas Jono and making it a well planned, well balanced and pretty spectacular itinerary. It was without a doubt the experience of a life time for both of us. Both of us have an understanding now of how it happens that people travel to Africa and it takes up a special place in their heart. We will join the list of annoying people who (asked or not) will rattle on endlessly about all of our experiences in Africa...and of course be sending them all your way!
Thank you again to you and the whole Encompass team.
Email Brian Salisbury | 65+ years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Fantastic, as always (my third trip!!)
As this was my third time with Encompass Africa I know everything would go well. The difference this time was my extended family was along for a safari that had been dreamed about and planned over a number of years.
Eleven of us with ages from 11 to 69 and all went brilliantly - without any hitches, whatsoever.
To see the looks on their faces was absolutely priceless and the experience will last forever.
Thanks Jono, and thanks to your great team.
Email Cheryl | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
The perfect bespoke holiday by Encompass Africa, a very professional and experienced safari operator
My husband and I had no expectations of our first ever safari to Africa, but certainly came away feeling like we had the best safari experience!
I usually like to research and book our holidays myself, but was unsure of when would be the best time to go, how long to go for, what accommodation was most suitable and how to organise the transfers. I had read some reviews of several safari tour operators in Australia and narrowed my search down to Encompass and another agency. After speaking to both agencies, I was most impressed with Danica Wilson at Encompass, as she really listened to me and asked all the right questions and tailored her suggestions accordingly. She was also very warm and friendly, and super efficient. Her personal experiences of the various accommodations were very insightful and we were extremely happy of our decision to stay at the Selinda Explorers camp. I also found it very useful to have the team (including Katie, Gen and Nicola) touch base with me at every step of our trip (before, during and after) and they were instantaneous in answering any queries I had.
We have already recommended Encompass Africa to a colleague and definitely recommend them to anyone thinking of going on safari in Africa.
Thank you to all of the team at Encompass Africa for helping to organise our once-in-a-lifetime adventure in Botswana (and ensuring my 40th birthday was a memorable one!), and for taking such good care of us along the way. We are proud to be part of the Encompass family!
Cheryl and Nick
