Hosted Journeys to extra ordinary places
Cuckoo Safaris
- Located In:
- Size:
- 5-10 employees (Founded in 2019)
- Tour Types:
- Custom mid-range tours that can start every day
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $50 to $600 per person per day (USD, excl. int'l flights)
Reviews
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Email EH | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
They made the trip so easy and enjoyable!
Everything was perfectly organized. All of the guides and drivers were incredible, and the lodge was beautiful. Everyone was so helpful and communication was great. It was incredible to see all three countries in one visit, and I would book this trip again.
Email Ben H | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
A fantastic all round experience
We did the 6-Day Hwange NP, Victoria Falls & Chobe NP package which was fantastic overall.
Our Zimbabwe driver, Simon (and his offsider), our Hwange safari guide, Bheki, and the Chobe safari guide, Figo, were all amazing as were practically all people who helped us along the way, those part of the tour and those who we met along the way.
The accommodation at Shongwe was a bit more basic than we're used to put certainly had great service and a very welcome pool and the cruise along the Chobe river was certainly more basic too...but once we got over the initial surprises, we had a great time. Thanks all!
DE
Email Natalie & Rosi | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Very professional, kind and knowledgeable
It was very well organized, all guides were kind and obliging. We were very happy with our guide Simon. The Tour through the Victoria Falls was verätz impressing and he could answer all our questions. We had a really fun tour!
Email Sasha | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Friendly, organised, helpful and gave us the best experience possible
Tour is extremely good value for money. We did many things, but never felt rushed and all the staff were professional, helpful and friendly. The tour is very well organised and we visited 4 countries with ease. I highly recommend the Cuckoo Safaris for an excellent experience. Our guides were Simon who provided excellent communication and co-ordination, Shojun and Martha for the Victoria Falls, and our game reserve driver Gift and our guide for the Impalila Island David. We learnt so much about the culture, local people, conservation and animals. Thank you Cuckoo Safaris for sharing your beautiful countries with us.
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Email Jayme | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Hwange Day Trip
We enjoyed a terrific day venturing from Victoria Falls to Hwange national park.
Planning was handled very well from Tatenda. He was quick to respond to my various questions and provided thorough information. All our drivers and guides were terrific and we especially loved “Big M” our guide through the park. His infectious enthusiasm kept us engaged plus he is an expert at finding game with his “bush eyes”.
Email Sam and Karen | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Epic 10 day trip of Zimbabwe and Botswana with Cuckoo Safaris
We personalised the Cuckoo Safari 10 day tour with the help of Tatenda, adding Hwange NP and removing the Saltpans. We also upgraded our Chobe hotel and Tatenda was very helpful with all our queries. Before the trip we were added to a whats app group with our guide Simon who we had read about in previous reviews and was so happy to hear would be our guide. We stayed at the Pioneer Lodge in Victoria Falls which was a gorgeous lodge style hotel with lovely gardens, at Chobe we upgraded to a riverview apartment with 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms and an amazing balcony definetely worth the upgrade, elephant sands was our break inbetween kasane and maun accomodation was basic but comfortable and the elephants were the star of the show and at maun we stayed at Cresta Maun which was fine comfortable room and friendly staff. In Victoria Falls, we did the sunset cruise, the falls tour from both sides and a day trip to Hwange. The falls were at their best on the zimbwawe side and Simon took us round and was a brilliant guide, our guide on the Zambia side Delphister was lovely too and it was interesting seeing more of the geology on this side. Hwange was an interesting drive Simon and the other Tatenda did really well negotating the roads, we stopped at Hwange Safari Lodge to pick up our packed lunch and then met our guide Big M who was brilliant and took us out into the park, we saw 3 male lion, elephant, hippos, giraffe, antelope etc. We then went to Chobe where we did 3 game drives with Gift and a river boat cruise with July both from Puku safaris, both great guides, Gift was amazing at tracking the wildlife and we saw lions on every outing with him including cubs amazing. We also did a game drive from elephant sands and then in Maun we did the helicopter flight over the delta amazing but terrifying as we had never been in a helicopter before and then this one had no doors! A very peaceful and scenic mokoro trip with Gidean from the local village and then a long but brilliant day to Moremi game reserve with Lee where we saw wild dogs (and pups) and hyena. We were really lucky when it came to wildlife, but also through great guides tracking skills, our main guide through it all Simon was amazing so knowlegable and friendly he is a credit to cuckoo and I would highly recommend him as your guide, we had a few issues along the route as always happens on trips but they were all sorted and we always knew Simon was there to help either in person or through whats app. Zimbabwe and Botswana are both incredible countries, with wonderful people and the amount of wildlife is just incredible I never thought I'd lose count of the amount of lion we saw, we were also very lucky to see leopard, countless other wildlife, and beautiful scenery and sunsets if you are wondering whether to go we highly recommend as two sisters we never felt unsafe. One of us got a upset stomach towards the end of the trip but this did not spoil the trip just to be aware this may happen. We both managed to eat vegetarian fine at all times on the trip but found it more tricky to eat vegan although Simon did his best to help and this was really appreciated. We hope to travel with Cuckoo and Simon in the future and are excited to hear of their plans in Namibia.
SG
Email Jenny | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Awesome itinerary, seamless coordination, wonderful experience
The itinerary was awesome, giving us a comprehensive and wonderful experience exploring the Victoria Falls, the wildlife in Chobe and getting a peek into the local way of life in a rural Zimbabwean village. The coordination was seamless though we had to cross Zambian and Botswana borders. Very safe countries. A special callout to Simon for doing a great job with the coordination. The guides and rangers assigned to us helped in making everything awesome too. Thanks!
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Email Dustin | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Excellent choice to plan a safari trip
A safari trip is no easy task to plan, and I'm glad I chose Cuckoo to help! I honestly had no clue where to start, but came across Cuckoo, and appreciated that they had clear itineraries and prices listed right from the get-go instead of having to inquire, so that I was able to use that as a benchmark as I looked at other options.
Once I reached out, communications were quick and Tatenda was able to address all the questions I had, including around customizing the tour. The deposit was easy and can be paid with card.
I ended up with the 8-day trip that includes visits to Vic Falls, Chobe, the Nwetwe Pan, and the Okavango Delta including a helicopter ride, which was amazing. The pickups and transfers were mostly seamless and clear, and everyone I interacted with from Cuckoo were lovely (Louis, Shelton, and a different Tatenda). The lodging started out strong at the Shongwe in Vic Falls, but did slowly go downhill as the trip went on. I would ask to swap out Cresta in Maun if I were to do this tour again. In terms of the itinerary and the activities, I think it is generally well planned with a good balance between early starts and more relaxed days, but would recommend an extra night at Planet Baobab to avoid a very long day (5 hours on bumpy roads in an open air Land Cruiser, then another 2 to Maun, then the helicopter ride) and having some time to actually enjoy the facilities there (I'd swap it too but I don't think there are other options in that area).
When I come back to this region of Africa, I would definitely work with Cuckoo again and would recommend them to anyone!
Email @Girls_goneworld | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great experience
The guide was friendly and the evening was lovely! The busy dinner in particular was fantastic
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Email Lucy and Brian | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Fantastic Experience with Cuckoo Safaris!
We had an excellent experience with Cuckoo Safaris who arranged an 8-day Safari across Zimbabwe and Botswana. We were a group of 10 (two families with kids ranging age 11 to 15 years old) and we traveled in August 2024. We experienced spectacular game drives across several major parks where we saw an amazing array of animals, including a plethora of elephants, lions, leopard, zebra, giraffes, hippos, crocodiles, wildebeest, cape buffalo, impala, warthogs, plus lots of interesting birds. Interspersed with the game drives were really fun activities like an evening dinner cruise down the Zambezi river, a feast fit for a king during a cookout under the stars at one of the game parks, and a helicopter flight over the Okavanka Delta. What really made the trip fabulous was our guide, Simon, who regaled us with fascinating stories about the animals, as well as educating us about the local customs and culture of the people. He made the whole experience come to life – we couldn’t have asked for a better guide. We highly recommend Cuckoo Safaris, both for overall experience and value for money. They were responsive throughout our trip and flexible if we wanted to make tweaks to the itinerary. The only issue we had was in the Okavango Delta after Simon was no longer with us - the tour guide person who was supposed to meet us, Veronica, did not show up. Another person came the next day (Lwe) and he was very good.