Pulse Africa
- Size:
- 10-20 employees (Founded in 1991)
- Member Of:
- ATTA & SATSA
- Destinations:
- Website:
- www.pulseafrica.com
Reviews
US
Email Erica | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Expert service, easy communications
Sandi Elkington of Pulse Africa did an excellent job booking our two week trip to South Africa and Botswana. Here are the highlights:
- Bookings. Our trip involved 14 flights, 10 of which were within Africa and booked by Sandi. Every flight was on time. We had zero problems with any of our bookings. Pick ups arrived on time and in the location expected. Camps greeted us, knowing we were coming.
- Flexibility. When we decided to make a change a month before our trip, Sandi made the change happily without making us feel badly for asking.
- Expert Advice. All of Sandi's advice was spot on. While we knew we wanted to go to two particular camps, we did not know where we wanted to stay in Capetown or the Delta. In Capetown, Sandi gave us four options. All looked beautiful so we asked her to pick. She picked Cape Grace Hotel by the marina, which was an excellent decision as it allowed us to walk around the harbor shops and listen to street musicians after long days of touring rather than having to pile our family into another car to go somewhere. In the Delta, Sandi recommended two camps that looked beautiful and were part of chains that we had heard were wonderful (e.g. And Beyond). When those camps were booked (as we were booking the trip just 9 monhts in advance), Sandi recommended a camp that had very mixed reviews on Tripadvisor. It was very expensive, so I was really concerned that we would be super disappointed with the camp, asked for another recommendation and contemplated skipping the Delta all together. Sandi strongly encouraged us to go with the camp she had found as any other (according to Sandi) would be a disappointing end to an otherwise fabulous trip, and we had to see the Delta. She also told me that the camp was due to rennovate the rooms. While I have no way of knowing whether any other camp in our price point would have been disappointing, I was thrilled with the camp Sandi selected and agreed that the Delta was worth the effort to see. It was everything she had promised, and we had a terrific time.
- Responsiveness: Sandi at least was tremendously responsive. When she was on vacation, an associate covered and was also very responsive.
- 24/7 Help Line: Pulse has a help line available during your entire trip so that you have someone to call if something goes wrong. We never needed to call, but I really liked this feature.
- Printed Booklet: In additoin to the gorgeous virtual itinerary, Pulse provided on our arrival in Africa a spiral bound book with all of our travel information in it. I loved this because it was so much easier to carry and read than my printouts from the virtual iternary and because it's a great keepsake from our trip; I know exactly where to go when friends ask me 10 years from now where we stayed!
- Clear Instructions/Warning: Sandi repeated on several occasions (at time of booking and multiple times before we left) that we needed birth certificates to get our kids in and out of Botswana. Incredibly, another family who had paid a private guide to take them everywhere and book their trip did not know about this requirement and were stuck in Botswana immigration trying to wake up family members half way around the world to get copies sent! Sandi also gave us plenty of warning about luggage weight restrictions, although not a single plane checked.
- Nonprofit donation and gifts. Pulse made a donation to a nonprofit in our name and gave each of our kids and us gifts upon our arrival. While unnecessary, I was actually thrilled with these gifts as they became meaningful souvenirs from our trip.
Our dream Holiday was a complete success all thanks to Pulse Africa
Our dream Holiday was a complete success all thanks to Pulse Africa
For many years My wife & I dreamed of visiting Kenya for a Safari & beach holiday, being well travelled people in the past we knew only to well that the advise from large tour companies are not always truthful, so on a friends recommendation we chose "Pulse Africa" we stayed at Galdessa safari camp in Tsavo east & Hemmingway's resort in Watamu, both were fantastic and more than we had dreamed of
Everything went like a dream we never had a thing to worry about from the 3 x hotels, internal flights, airport pick ups & drop offs, the Safari, accommodation, and beach resort were all perfect.
A very big thank you to Sandi who was so patient with us & fully understanding of our needs, we cant thank you enough, Would recommend you to anybody.