Martin Smith, Managing Director
Kingfisher Safaris
- Office In:
-
United Kingdom
- Size:
- 5-10 employees (Founded in 2012)
- Member Of:
- Botswana Guides Association
- Tour Types:
- Custom mid-range & luxury tours that can start every day
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $100 to $1,500 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
Email Julie Gale | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Kingfisher Safaris know their business and are excellent at it!
First rate at every turn! Martin, who has so much personal experience of Botswana, guided us through our options and found a perfect fit to match our request and answered any questions we had incredibly promptly. We went for a Mobile Tented Safari for 10days covering three camps; Chobe, Khawai and Moremi. We were met at Maun Airport by our guide, Pilot, and his team and they collectively saw to it we had an experience we could never have imagined as it was out of this world! I don't camp but was prepared to sleep little to see the animals in their natural environment. I was expecting basic. However, I did sleep and on a bed, there was a shower with hot water and hot water in basins supplied whenever it was required. There was also a loo with seat! Meals were plentiful and delicious (a three course every evening - 4*). Drinks and snacks beside a log fire watching the spectacular sunsets whilst hearing the elephants in the bush next to you or the hippos in the water even lions in the distance. The safaris themselves (generally two a day) were conducted by Pilot. I cannot rate Pilot highly enough. So many years of experience, so much respect from the other guides, incredible knowledge about the bush, the animals and birds - he had a wicked sense of humour too. He taught us how to track and as a consequence of his tracking ability we saw ALL the animals. Tented, yes. Basic, certainly not. Spectacular, absolutely!
US
Email Melissa Merickel | 65+ years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
I have never experienced such good customer service as we received from Martin Smith of Kingfisher S
We were lucky to find Kingfisher Safaris on this site for our trip to Botswana. Martin Smith of Kingfisher Safaris was perfect in our communications, extremely prompt and very specific answers. His details in putting together our three camp safari was outstanding. It was our best trip ever, and I highly recommend Kingfisher Safaris. He could teach a course in customer service! Melissa Merickel
IL
Email Shlomit | 65+ years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Great trip to the Okavango delta with Pilot and his team
We did a 7 day mobile safary with Kingfisher/Pilot and the quality of everything was excellent. Pilot, who is the local provider, is a hugely experienced and excellent guide. He knows where the animals will go next... We had some amazing sightings of wild dogs and lions that we will never forget. The rest of the team, the camping, the food etc were all of an excellent quality. The vehicle was in good shape and comfortable.
US
Email Jim S | 65+ years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Extraordinary Tour by Kingfisher Safaris
Martin at Kingfisher Safaris developed a fantastic 3 camp Botswana safari for us on relatively short notice. Each of the three camps (Delta, Linyanti Expedition, and Khwai Leadwood) were different, enjoyable and unique in their own ways. All three were relatively small with warm, hospitable staff and superb safari guides.
What impressed us about this overall experience was the excellent and prompt communication with Martin. He responded with choices in the itineraries and once formulated proceeded to completion quickly and efficiently. I hope to travel in the future on a trip organized by Kingfisher.
DE
Email Daniela | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Very mixed experience with a lot of downsides
It took me very long to write this review, but I think it´s just fair not to write only positive reviews which is of course much nicer. But we would like to let others know what we have experienced. We have been many times to Africa on all kind of safaris from budget to high-end luxury, but never left with this unhappy feeling. So lets start...
I found kingfisher safaris on this website announcing a "private" mobile camping safari operating in Botsuana. Meanwhile they changed the announcement in "shared", thats what we ended up but expecting a private safari . I still have got a screen shot of the original advertisement to proof it.
But already the beginning was difficult. We were picked up late, Pilot arrived than eventually in a hurry, the car packed up with food, equipment up to the roof etc. There was no excuse. Instead he told us, that due to a late arrival of the trip the day before he had to pack new. At this time we were still fine. But as he stopped a little later at the main road offloading us with two chairs and a cooler box, he drove quickly away. My bag with everything like passports, money was still at the backseat and could have fallen off easily from the safari vehicle. We had no idea how long it would take and where he drove to. This was the first time I felt very unhappy. The rest I will write in keywords.
First the positive aspects:
- The staff was extremely nice and welcoming. Pauline the chef did a wonderful job. Elena the host, was such a warmly and attentive person and Collin did everything that the campsite was in a perfect condition.
-The locations of the campsites were magical.
-All the equipment was good.
- Our unexpected co-travelers turned out to be very lovely persons and we appreciated their company a lot.
Now the negative aspects:
- Guiding was less than mediocre. (here I have to be more detailed) I'm pretty sure that Pilot knows his stuff, but didn't show it to us. At Khwai Privat Concession he was only at the radio and driving us from sighting to sighting which others told him. He never was reading any animal tracks, always the windows closed never listening to alarm calls etc. At Moremi as there were just a few vehicles he had to work a bit harder. We wished he would have explained us more about the unique ecosystem of the Okavango Delta and all the connections between fauna and flora. Pilot almost never stoped for birds, mangooses etc. We felt racing from lion sighting to lion sighting, but none of us four was so extremely interested in them. Once I asked Pilot to stop at the zebras which have been in a wonderful light (we are photographers) but instead he was driving to the next lions. He never really attended to our requests. Maybe the worst was, that he was teasing animals , which is an absolutely unethical behavior. For example he provoked a male hippo to attack the car several times. Another example was playing hyena calls from the mobile to a lion family with tiny cubs.
- Logistic is not the strong side of Pilot. We tried to help and let him know before what kind of beverages we like to avoid buying useless drinks. Didn't work. The first evening we were offered an already open bottle of Merlot and I did write before that the only the wine we don't like is Merlot. After half of the time he run out of gin, and to mention we are not heavy drinkers. In the end no tonic water, no Coca Cola, no white wine, no red wine..... and no excuse.
- Driving style of Pilot was fast, sometimes reckless. We had to use the seatbelts first time on a safari. Pilot general did not respond well to criticism or suggestions. In this case when we asked to drive more carefully, he reacted grumpy and kept driving almost the whole afternoon without stopping and talking to us.
Summarising this was unfortunately our worst safari experience so far even though the magical nature of Botsuana and the wonderful staff of Pilot were hard to beat.
Reply from Kingfisher Safaris
Posted on Mar 28, 2023I'm really sorry to hear you had a poor time on safari, it is certainly not the result we would like. Firstly this client did NOT book through the Safari Bookings website and at no point during the booking process did they tell us that they had seen Safari Bookings or that they were expecting a private trip and nowhere on our website does it say that our Mobile Safaris are private where it says there can be up to 6 people on each trip, as it does on Safari Bookings too and always has and we had no way of knowing this was their expectation, they simply did not tell us. It is very tricky for us to convey this message if it has not been read correctly as they booked directly with us, through our website where the description is clear, so for that we have learnt from the experience and now make sure this is 100% known before any trip begins that we have up to 6 on any one trip and to be sure they have read the terms of the trip before committing.
Sadly I believe their mistake has tainted this review and their reaction to this did not engender them well to the guide from the start as it seems they were unaware until they arrived and were thus not happy with the guide who it was that told them after i spoke to him when he collected them from the airport. To be clear they had 3 nights to themselves at the start of the mobile safari plus two nights prior to the trip in a lodge. They were joined by another two on this itinerary for the remaining 6 nights who had a different experience and are already planning a second trip with us, although they haven't booked yet.
We even offered them a private vehicle which was the one they were already using so that the other clients who joined them could have a different guide and vehicle but they refused for an unknown reason, so they could still have had a private trip, so I am really confused about some of these comments as we did everything we could to offer them the private experience despite us not knowing beforehand this is what they wanted and this would have been at our own expense, they would have paid nothing extra.
It is not my experience or the experience of our clients that our Guide, Pilot, will not stop at any sighting where he is asked to do so and with over 35 years of experience with lots of happy clients, it may just be that there was a language barrier as his first language is not English and sometimes he may struggle with accents that he is not familiar with.
It is normal for all guides in any lodge, super high end or basic, to use the radio for sightings from other guides as most people travelling on safari want to see the predators in particular and I would disagree that his driving style is reckless, he holds all the requisite permits and licenses for driving clients in Botswana and undergoes annual tests, I do not believe he would drive like this, as you can see from all our other reviews. I've known and worked with him for over 15 years and i know he will do everything within his power to make sure clients have the best possible time.
Once again I'm sorry to hear you had a poor experience but to reiterate the other clients who joined this itinerary for the last 6 nights had a very different experience and thoroughly enjoyed their safari. We did offer you an extra, private vehicle and I believe we did everything we could to accommodate you but you decided against our offer. We have implemented changes because of your comments to us privately and I thought because of that we had resolved the issue as I made it clear last year that you had never told us of your need or expectation of a private trip so I am disappointed to see this poor review some 6 months later. We will keep trying to improve our service.
Email Sheila Cosford | 65+ years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Everything worked like clockwork
extremely happy with the organisation and the time spent in Botswana.
Organisation was faultless. We can recommend Kingfisher Safaris.
DE
Email Lo | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Honest and very helpful
Martin is the guy who you will write emails with. He responded very quickly and gave us an answer to a lot of questions we had. He was also very open and honest about the rainy season and our concerns.
He works together with the tour guide Pilot which we really really can recommand to everybody. Pilot is very friendly and eager to show you all the animals out there. We even sometimes had to tell him that we were very happy with the day and that it is fine that we leave now. He once got the tip that there are lion babys and we went to the same place 3 times and than the last time he really found them in the bushes.
Email Marilyn and Kathy | 65+ years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Outstanding. Far exceeded our expectations in every aspect. Staff, helpful, friendly, food amazing.
Everything amazing. Cannot fault. Value for money.
CA
Email Rose and Les | 65+ years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Martin is prompt and efficient; a pleasure to work with.
My partner and I have taken many safaris in East Africa but this was our first time to Botswana and we loved the country and our safari. Sleeping in the tents on the mobile safari was thrilling with the sounds of hippos and lions at night. The food was varied and excellent. We seemed famished after a morning of photography and fell on the skewers of beef and potato salad like hungry leopards. Everything on the tour was well organized. This was our first mobile safari trip and we were astounded at the value and high level of guiding. Pilot, Kingfisher’s chief guide really throws his heart into searching out unusual wildlife sightings. He knows the landscape of the Okavango Delta intimately.
CA
Email Melissa | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Exceeded our expectations! 10/10
Martin who arranged the trip responded quickly to our inquiry. We told him what we were looking for/ budget and he put together an itinerary that was perfect. We did a 9 night mobile safari at 3 different camps in Botswana. As outdoorsy people, we're used to camping but we were pleasantly surprised by well organized it was and the excellent service we received at camp. The food was delicious and they we're happy to accommodate my lactose intolerance and made me separate meals when necessary which I really appreciate. We had the larger tent which was really nice when we had downtime in the middle of the day and to spread out our luggage. Pilot, our guide, went above and beyond to make sure everything and everyone was take care of and his expert knowledge of the area and animals was what made the game drives so special, we saw all the animals we wanted to and more. He was also very respectful of the animals space and made sure we felt safe the whole time. We finished the trip at a hotel in Victoria Falls and they had all the transfers arranged so we didn't have to worry about a thing the whole time. Overall 10/10, great value for the money and we loved our experience in the bush.
PS. it's colder in the mornings in the open vehicle than you might expect so pack some warm clothes, I wore my wool hat almost every morning