JDA Founders Patrick & Victoria Shah on safari
Journeys Discovering Africa
- Located In:
-
United Kingdom
United States
- Size:
- 20-50 employees (Founded in 2012)
- Member Of:
- Travel Trust Association
- Tour Types:
- Custom mid-range & luxury tours that can start every day
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $382 to $2,000 per person per day (USD, excl. int'l flights)
Reviews
Botswana was wonderful & would not have been possible without help of Journeys Discovering Africa
Everything was well organised and well communicated. So much so we need to reconsider our definition of 'African timing'.
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Email Holly | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Best Trip Ever! Perfect Planning From Journeys Discovering Africa
BEST trip ever! We are fortunate to be able to travel a lot due to our line of work and we always plan fairly independently. However, Africa was proving to be very tough to plan independently, so we enlisted Patrick from Journey's Discovering Africa. He was awesome. He listened to what we were seeking, presented options with good details on each option, and is actually the reason we ended up seeing the Wildebeest migration! My husband really wanted to see that, and once Patrick learned that, he suggested pushing out our travel dates by a few weeks for maximizing chances. He was excellent in his attitude and advice and expertise. Even if we hadn't seen the great migration it would have been a phenomenal and best trip, but the great migration was icing on the cake!
Our guides, (Raphiele for Tarangire and Ngorongoro) and Jairo (for Serengeti and Lamai Serengeti) were fantastic! Raphiele was our guide up until we went to the Serengeti, and he was great: energetic, enthusiastic, respectful of nature, got us up and out very early, fun to hang out with, good attitude, and very knowledgeable about the animals and behavior and finding the good spots. Same goes for Jairo... he really knows the Serengeti! It was fantastic to be with him: he literally found us amazing sitings with no other people around ... and he knew how to get us into the heart of the migration and was spot on for timing with the wildebeest crossings, which we witnessed in full! It was absolutely surreal and incredible to witness, both thrilling and heart-wrenching. I've never seen anything like it, and never will again. Just a once in a lifetime. Jairo was also really good about being super respectful to the animals and nature. He really knew how to give the animals enough space that we weren't totally encroaching or making the animals wary. He knows animal behavior very well and was so good about explaining it. He just knows so much about the Serengeti, it was obvious he knew how to survey the land, and what circumstances were happening that suggested what animal was nearby. He had an incredible instinct and eye for detail. We really appreciated that he let us witness some amazing sites (lion feedings etc.) but he also didn't do things that would make the animals skittish, so we got to enjoy watching and photographing without being disruptive. Nomad really was the perfect outfitter for us, from guides to lodging and the people hosting at the lodges. We loved it. We really felt like we had the "best guides ever" :).
We absolutely will touch base with Journeys Discovering Africa again for a future trip we hope we are able to do (Botswana, Namibia, Uganda, etc.) in a few years, should we be so fortunate. And I've already recommended Journeys Discovering Africa to friends who saw my posts on social media and started asking who we planned our trip with. You really nailed it for us with Nomad as guides/lodging and the itinerary, thank you so much! Special thanks to Patrick at Journeys Discovering Africa, and to Raphi, and Jairo from Nomad!
AE
Email Jamison | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Excellent and thoughtful service
We had the pleasure of Visiting Rwanda and Uganda this past Aug (2018). Journeys Discovering Africa helped us to tailor our trip to exactly what we desired to do. Our trip consisted of 4 four hotels, 4 major activities, 2 countries (Rwanda & Uganda), 2 regional flights, and 2 guides (one in each country). Our admin contact did a great job to inform us of what to expect at every step, sent us briefings of how to prepare and followed up with us (by phone) after each activity. At every stage of the trip we felt well looked after and very comfortable.
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Email Sandra K | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
My Third Excellent Safari Experience
I have now worked with Journeys Discovering Africa three years in a row for my safari trips to Uganda and Rwanda to see Gorillas, Chimpanzees, and Golden Monkeys. Each experience was excellent, and the communication and attention I received from Journeys Discovering Africa exceeded my expectations each time. They were easy to work with, friendly, professional, and got all of the details right. The integrated my preferences to the itinerary while using their own experience in the field to design a trip of my dreams.... three times!!!
DE
Email Jorg | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Fantastic experience - perfect organization
Fantastic experience during our 8 days Uganda Gorilla and Chimps Safari - we saw a lot of animals.
We travelled with Journeys Discovering Africa which we can recommend in every aspects (Communication, Drivers, Guide etc.)
Thank you very much for this fantastic trip and organization.
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Email Maggie | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Flexible, responsive team created a magical experience for us
Journeys discovering Africa created a magical custom itinerary for 3 women traveling together in Zambia and Botswana. Patrick and Peace were very accommodating of our needs and were responsive and flexible. Patrick quickly resolved a potential issue with our wire transfer. We loved the lodging at the Royal Livingston Hotel In Zambia and the Chobe Game Lodge in Botswana. All transfers went smoothly and we really had no problems whatsoever. I recommend JDA to anyone!
SE
Email Magnus Carlehed | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Excellent planning for a family with a 10y child
Journeys Discovering Africa tailor-made a safari tour (6 nights) in northern Botswana for our family. The agency was very good in responding to our various questions and demands during the planning phase and was able to put together a great tour suitable for travelling with a child. All our wishes were catered for and the service they provided when some trouble with flights later occurred was more than helpful.
We had a lovely tour and saw a lot of animals plus made a tour to Tsodilo Hills. We were all excited!
CA
Email Louise Ishii & Gary Finkler, Rachael & Lauren Finkler | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Highly recommend Patrick Shah, Journeys Discovering Africa for a trip of a lifetime
Totally exceeded our expectations - every aspect of our trip from the initial contact with Patrick in the spring of 2018 to the final day of our safari. Patrick planned, customized & booked our entire trip, our first time in Africa and on safari.
Communications & Service: Patrick communicated regularly with us before and after our trip. He provided a lot of details and information about the safari, our stay in Victoria Falls & Kasane, as well guidelines for packing, tipping etc. He promptly replied back to my several emails and because of this I eventually lost my initial apprehension about my husband booking a trip from looking up safari brothers tv show on line, instead of going to our usual travel agent in Toronto! His referral travel agency in Uganda booked our flights within Africa flawlessly and I would have booked our air canada/South African airlines flights there and back via Patrick but I had to use my Air Canada discount voucher for the 6 of us before it expired. The service and care we received from Patrick was superb - first class in every aspect. Good idea to carry on our duffels instead of checking in as cargo luggage.
All transfers from airport to lodges, Kasane, and airports were hassle free, on time, clean and newer vehicles, polite drivers!
First 3 days in Victoria Falls and Kasane: Good that we took these days to get acclimatized and get rid of jet lag. A gentler introduction for first timers to Africa. The accommodations (the Bayete Guest Lodge, Vic.Falls, Zimbabwe and The Old House &/Chobe Bush Lodge in Kasane, Botswana) were clean and comfortable, actually way nicer than we expected. Food was fresh and delicious. The staff were so friendly and couldn’t do enough for all of us. Really enjoyed our brief stay. Patrick arranged a sundowner Zambezi river cruise, a private tour of victoria falls (our guide was excellent), a delicious lunch at the posh Ilala Lodge, helicopter ride over the falls (Brian, Paul, Rachael & Lauren loved it). Really worth the extra 3 days stay.
Safari 10 days 9 nights in mobile tented camps 3 nights each in Savuti, Khwai & Moremi. All 3 camps were in unbelievable spots each one different. Savuti was semi arid desert sand, with north pride lions patrolling around us and elephants all around us, Khwai we were right in front of a hippo pond with resident bachelor male hippo and lots of visiting elephants bathing and mud bathing, water bucks resting, Moremi we were in front of grasslands that zebras, baboons, elephants, warthogs visited daily and nightly. These animals came so close to us that we could hear them crunching and chewing! Still can’t believe all that we saw and experienced. Every safari game drive was awe inspiring and jaw dropping at times we didn’t even want to take photos as we wanted to savour the moments. We saw so many elephants, impala, and other antelopes, zebras, hippos, giraffes, baboons, Cape buffalo, Wildebeest, beautiful birds like the violet breasted roller my favourite! I lost count ..... every turn on the roads provided an “Ah ha”,”omg” “is this for real” moment for us.... we also saw quite a few different lion prides, a couple of jackals, 3 ostrich, a few leopards, 2 male cheetahs, a bat Earred fox, hyena, wild dog packs, honey badgers, mongoose, wart hogs, a wild African cat, vervet monkeys, scrub hare, ground squirrels, and 1 black Rhino.
Here are a a few of our “National Geographic moments:
A leopard eating impala kill up in a tree, then his dad growled and basically told him he has to wait for his turn to eat so the smaller leopard was pushed off the branch and went to lie beside his mother.
A mother lioness nursing her 2 small cubs.
4 lion cubs left on their own - apparently their mother is a negligent lioness and her previous cubs died last year.
Elephants, zebras and giraffes all peacefully drinking from a waterhole where the entire marsh pride lions were chased and trumpeted away by bull elephants.
2 male cheetahs digesting their food, just lying in the grass soaking up the sun.
two different lion couples that were mating didn’t see the mating but saw them lying down together. One lioness was ready to mate again and preformed her dance around the male’s head but he was too exhausted to mate again!
A female leopard eating her small red lechwe kill away from her 2 small cubs which we saw - they were so tiny our guide estimated they were a month old she hid then under a tree root.
A small giraffe trying to mate with a taller female giraffe - unsuccessful he wasn’t tall enough!
A family of over 24 wild dogs with 3 puppies who were getting ready for the chase and hunt we saw them begin the chase then they stopped and waited for impala herd - we couldn’t stay as it was after 6 pm and we had to get back to camp before curfew.
Morkoro pole driver boat ride - peaceful beautiful, saw many hippos, elephants and birds
There are more moments....every day something unique happened.
Safari Guide, cook and camp aides: our safari guide Matambo was absolutely the BEST So knowledgeable told us a lot about the animals, their tracks, bird, the habitat, trees, grasses - I was thrilled to see a sausage tree, umbrella acacia, toothbrush bush, papyrus grass, fungus growing termite mounds, mamba hotels.and so on. Loved the blacksmith bird’s sound, beauty of the violet breasted roller, green African pigeon, parrots, finches, Fish eagles, owls and so on. He would stop,and show us the tracks of the animals he was following. He could really drive that Jeep - we got to truly experience off roading!
We called Mueller our Master Chef along wth camp aides Kabelo & Dave. They made us gourmet meals in bush ovens and bush grilles! The meals and picnic lunches were really over the top and beats our boring canadian campground burgers and steaks. We all looked forward to every meal. They also kept our camp clean, did our laundry, made us hot water for showers and washing up, greeted us after game drives with cold ice teas and warm hand towels, put a hot water bottle in our beds each night (very nice touch) and told us a little about themselves. Dave even wrote down a few Botswana phrases for me and gave us the recipe of red lentil soup. My husband doesn’t get these gourmet meals at home. Matambo also arranged for a bottle of Jameson’s scotch to be delivered to Brian in Khwai via air from Maun, the driven from Savuti we couldn’t believe this! And Brian was so happy for scotch lol it was like he won a lottery.
All of us just can’t stop talking about our wonderful African vacation.......should I start packing for the next one.....of course booking for sure through Patrick at Journeys Discovering Africa
Thanks a million for a truly wonderful, memory filled family trip.
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Email Sandra | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
JDA is an excellent, trustworthy safari company with genuine interest in their clients and nature.
This was my fourth time working with Journeys Discovering Africa, and there are reasons I keep coming back. From my first contact with them, through the planning process, invoicing, travel, and follow up when the trip ends... they consistently treat me with respect and work very hard to ensure I am satisfied. They are also very conscientious about supporting the communities we travel in. They go the "extra mile" to ensure the best experience for all. I'm already planning another trip with them. I highly recommend using this knowledgable and ethical company!