We'd rather take your smile to the bank!
Lush Africa Safaris
- Offices In:
-
United States
- Size:
- 10-20 employees (Founded in 2004)
- Member Of:
- Association of Uganda Tour Operators
- Tour Types:
- Customizable private tours and fixed group tours
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $100 to $1,000 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
US
Email Maricel | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Deceiving, not professional, stay away!
Abbey from Lush African Safari responded to my Safari booking request for a quote with a very expensive package for a 14 days Kenya and Tanzania safari. The quote had places’ names and pics of cars and accommodation included. Upon arrival to Kenya I found out none of the places he quoted were actually available at the time he sent me that quote. In fact, he did ask me to pay immediately to book everything, which I did, but it was just a scam since the places weren’t available. And he hired local companies that book something else. He even tried to put me in a minivan instead of a landrover in Kenya, which at least at last minute the local company was able to fix. In Amboseli, he sent me to a tent instead of a nice 3-4 start hotel I paid, I was scared for my life there. Not a joke. Solo woman traveler I paid more to him, a company based in USA, to guarantee that this situation didn’t happen :(
In Tanzania he tried to send me to another tent and I was literally crying that day contacting the Safaribooking team begging to please not to be sent to a tent. I paid for a nice hotel, he was making up all sort of reasons why me going to a tent was best for me, among them so I can see the great migration.
He didn’t even know I already saw the great migration in Kenya!
Finally they sent me to a hotel, not like the one promised but I was so grateful for having walls and feel safe that I didn’t mind. Both local tours realized what was been done and were very sympathetic. I’d strongly recommend to use those companies directly, they will be honest and not lure you with some pics. I paid thousands of dollars to stay in the nicest hotel with great food and they sent me to a tent without electricity, shower outside that actually didn’t work, he gave me a $300 refund which felt like an insult, but I was powerless.
When I told him he couldn’t just go against the client wishes and going to a tent instead of nice accommodations I booked were not my wishes he said: “we are going to have to agree to disagree”. So he feels he is in power to sent you wherever he wants regardless of what you paid for. Here is another, when I send the pics he sent me of a fancy place that I paid for and the ones of the horrible tent he was sending me to, his response was:”some places take deceiving pics”. We have internet and the local tours were honest so they did told me how wonderful the other places I had in the quote were and how they didn’t compared in location food quality and overall with what I was given.
US
Email Mike Henrickson | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
The best there is!
Abbey is the best, he is the CEO of lush African Safaris. I did a thorough vetting of all tour operators, and he was by far away, responsive. He almost always got back to me immediately. He put together an amazing trip for me and my family, and he beat the prices of other five star tour operators. I am so glad I spent my money with his outfit and I did a thorough investigation of other five star operators and I can tell you none are comparable.
I have already referred multiple friends and family to Lush Africa Safari’s and I will be using them again!
US
Email Xin and Hwa | 65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
Completely Amazing
We just returned from an incredible 13-day Great Apes & Africa Safari trip, and we can't say enough good things about our experience with Lush Africa Safaris. Abbey did an outstanding job planning our itinerary, spending extra time to adjust it to include additional locations we wanted to visit. The itinerary featured breathtaking sites in Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania. The trip was very reasonably priced. The only glitch was a minor hotel reservation mess-up in Kigali. Our guide, together with Lush Africa Safari regional office got the issue quickly resolved. (By the way, the hotel was the Hotel Des Mille Collins, the same hotel where the event described in the movie Hotel Rwanda took place.) Although it was most likely an error by the hotel and not Lush's fault, Abbey even upgraded two of our hotels and tents as we traveled.
Our guides Yves in Rwanda and Uganda, Peter in Kenya, and Joseph in Tanzania were all professional, reliable and did their best so that we can see as much wild life as possible. Their knowledge, experience, and keen eyes made our journey unforgettable. They knew the parks and reserves inside and out, spotting animals that other visitors often missed. Peter and Joseph always took us out very early in the morning and stayed later for game drives. Peter seemed to be a leader among the tour guides; he was often the first to find wildlife and would then radio the other drivers. During traffic jams (yes, believe it or not, there were traffic jams in African parks and reserves!), Peter acted like a traffic controller, directing drivers to back up or move to resolve the gridlock. Somehow, the other drivers seem always listened to him.
Seeing the great migration was a challenge. At the Masai Mara Reserve, the rangers blocked the road due to the many jeeps, so we could only
see the wildebeests running into and out of the Mara River, but not crossing it (Peter was even more upset about this than we were). On our first afternoon in Serengeti Park, Joseph spotted possible crossing site three times. However, over 30 inexperienced drivers rushed ahead and blocked the animals access to the river! We told Joseph to give up and move on, but he refused. The following morning, he drove an extra 1.5
hours back to the crossing site. Unlike others who rushed to the riverbank, where more than 50 jeeps were jammed up, Joseph stayed
back on a hill, watching closely. Then, suddenly, he turned in a different direction and drove like a maniac. Guess what! He beat the others and got us to the crossing site just in time. We witnessed the great migration with our own eyes! Another example, also in Serengeti park. We were waiting, with several other jeeps, for a group of leopards, hidden behind bushes, to come out. Joe intensely looked at horizon far away. Then he said "these leopards are not coming out anytime soon. I saw a elephant group in that direction, probably cross a road soon. Let's go there first." Even with a binocular, I saw nothing. I thought Joe must be kidding. We went anyway. After 3 or 4 mins fast driving, a family of elephants was about to cross the road right in front of us. Exactly the right time, Exactly the right spot. Exactly as Joe said! Amazing! He must have a 20/5 vision! Thanks to Joseph, we saw so much more than we ever expected. I must add this additional comment. In the morning of the last day of our trip, we drove from Serengeti Park to Ngorongoro Crater. On the way, we saw a disabled jeep. Joe and several other jeeps stopped to help. However, the problems could not be fixed, and other jeeps left. Joe asked us if it is ok if we took the passengers and the driver of the disabled jeep into our vehicle. (Our Land-cruiser can take 6 passengers, I and my wife were the only passengers). It would add a bit inconvenience to us. But of course, we said fine. So we continued our game drive to Ngorongoro Crater (also the designation of the disabled jeep). After the drive was done, Joe sent us to our hotel. Then took the rescued passengers to their hotel. We must praise Joe for his professionalism. Not only he helped his
fellow tour guide, he saved a young Italian couple's dream vacation!
Because we were so close to the wildlife, lions, elephants, leopards, rhinoceroses, cheetahs, giraffes, hippos, zebras, buffalo's, crocodiles,
wildebeests, wild dogs, baboons, warthogs, impalas, kudus, gazelles, ostriches, and more. We took so many photos and videos. We could even
submit some to National Geographic!
Staying in the tents for several nights was a great experience! The quality of the tents and the services were exceptional. We could see wild animals from inside our tents. One night, a few buffaloes even slept right next to our door!
In addition to the wildlife, our guides enriched our trip by sharing fascinating insights into Africa's history and cultures, allowing us to learn a great deal along the way. We feel incredibly fortunate to have chosen Lush Africa Safaris for this adventure. The trip was absolutely amazing, and witnessing the great migration was the highlight of a lifetime. Words can't describe our feelings about this trip.
One thing we missed on this trip was hiking Mount Kilimanjaro. (But, I assure you, this was not the fault of Lush Africa Safari or any of the
drivers). We will have to do it in our next life!
Again, thanks for everything, Abbey, Yves, Peter, and Joseph!
US
Email Alyson Mosher Gray | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Smooth, easy to work with and made our dreams come true
You can’t beat Lush safaris for what they do. From meeting us at the airport after countless rescheduled flights, which they helped us rearrange, to making my 45th birthday a big celebration out in the bush, this team went above and beyond. We will never forget Abbey and how helpful he was. He even helped me find a pair of special beaded shoes made by the Maasai. We thank your team for the adventure of a lifetime
QA
Email Steven Palmer | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Lush Safari provided a safari that met our requirements and exceeded our expectations.
Planning a 50th birthday safari for my wife with a party of 6 aged between 5 and 55 with a teenager thrown in was going to a bit of a challenge but everything worked out thanks to Lush Safaris who were able to meet my needs.
I had specific dates and Abbey changed our itinerary to suit, I was really happy with his speed of response and is always important to me. He generally replied within a few hours or overnight (given he was US based and I was in the Middle East).
From the moment we were met by Flouzine at the airport arrivals in Nairobi to our departure in Kilimanjaro we were taken care of all the way.
Lenny was our driver / guide in Kenya and Jospeh in Tanzania, both were amazing and flexible to our needs and keeping us advised on plans for the day, we made small changes as required and both were very accommodating.
Over the 8 days we saw the Big 5 as well the great migration river crossing and so many memories that will last a lifetime.
The accommodation was amazing and great to recharge for the next day. We even had WiFi in the tented camps, much to the relief of my teenage daughter.
Overall, an amazing experience made even better by the care Lush put in to arrangements before and during our trip. I can’t recommend Lush highly enough.
US
Email Allen | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
No need to worry. Everything is taken care of
There are a lot of companies that offer African safaris. While I have only been on one, I would return with Lush. Abbey set everything up and even taylored some aspects of the trip to what we wanted. He even gave us a couple surprises along the way. Our drivers Derick, Chris, and Joseph I would say went above and beyond. We even had comments from the drivers stating how they like working for lush over the other companies. The drivers even kept in contact with us after we departed making sure we are having a good trip. We went to Uganda, Kenya, and Tanaznia and Lush knows how to get it done. When booking with them ask for suggestions and tell them what you’re expecting. They are upfront and tell you if something can or can’t be done or an alternative idea. And the only warning I believe should be stated is you are in the safari vehicle for a very long time. Sometimes 11 hour drive from one destination to another. Especially if you’re in Uganda for the gorilla trecking (totally worth it). To combat that the vehicles have charging ports for devices and the driver will stop when ever you need a break.
CH
Email Hansruedi N. | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Very professional and quick responses.
We got within a extremely short time a beautiful and comprehensive quote including a lot of nce pictures, additional activities and a reasonable price.
The few question that were still open or came to our mind in the month before the trip started were answered within a few hours. Payment was quick and worked perfectly.
We had a trip with 3 different guides in 4 countries, all were safe and cautious drivers, highly knowledgable and would find us a lot of animals. They organised every detail of the 11 days professionally and reliable.
The hotels and lodges were very nice, spotless clean and with very friendly and well trained employees, enthusiastic hosts and very helpful and attentive.
Our trip was rather short with only eleven days but offered a few unforgetable highlights. Due to the strict timing of the trip we had as well some long drives and we would have loved to stay here and there a day or two longer, what would give the chance for more relaxation and even more experiences.
US
Email Frank | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Abbey was very accommodating, detailed, thorough and made sure our trip exceeded our expectations!
Simply stated, our African trip arranged by Abbey and Lush Africa Safaris was an extraordinary experience for the members of our travel party and truly exceeded all of our expectations.
Our trip encompassed 10 to 11 days and included time spent in Nairobi, numerous safari drives in the Masai Mara, time spent in Kigali and Gorilla and Golden Monkey Trekking in Rwanda.
Everything regarding our trip, from the initial planning to our departure from the U.S. and arrival in Africa, our stay and travel within Africa and our return to the U.S., went off without complications or delays. Abbey was incredibly accommodating and patient with our travel concerns/questions and significant requested modifications from the original plan.
Our Guides/Drivers arranged by Lush were knowledgeable, always timely, courteous and a major component of our incredible trip. The Guide/Driver for our numerous Safari Drives in the Masai Mara was Samuel and in a word, he was terrific. Always timely and gracious, Samuel was extremely flexible and knowledgeable and we could not have asked for more extraordinary animal sightings that his expertise provided. In Rwanda, Cyprien was equally courteous, knowledgeable, timely and flexible regarding our excursions for our sight seeing and Gorilla and Golden Monkey Trekking. Throughout our time in Africa, Steve and Abbey were present via phone and text messages to ensure our trip went off without complication.
In summary, our first trip to Africa exceeded all of our expectations and Lush Africa Safaris was a significant part of that success. Suffice to say that our future travel plans to Africa will be arranged through Abbey and Lush. Further, we will refer any relatives/friends/acquaintances who express an interest in traveling to Africa, to Lush Africa Safaris and Abbey. Thanks to Abbey, Samuel, Cyprien, Steve and everyone at Lush who had a hand in making our trip an outstanding success!!
US
Email Kam | 65+ years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Excellent. Very attentive
We were very happy with the tour operator and the local tour guide.
US
Email Wendy B. | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Professional, thoughtful, detail-oriented and exceptional effort to ensure all sightseeing goals!
Lush African Safaris and the guides we had were professional, thoughtful and extremely detail-oriented to ensure our lodging, food, sightseeing and safety were at the highest standards at all times. Throughout the tour we enjoyed ongoing information and personable conversation that enhanced the trip throughout the itinerary as well. While celebrating our anniversary and a birthday, there were incredible gestures and effort to make them memories of a lifetime.
My family and I highly recommend Lush Africa Safaris for your travel plans. The communication, service, value, reliability and in-depth tour was exceptional!