African Welcome Safaris
- Office In:
- Size:
- 5-10 employees (Founded in 1999)
- Member Of:
- Southern Africa Tourism Services Association
- Tour Types:
- Custom mid-range & luxury tours that can start every day
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $123 to $469 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
CA
Email Ann-Marie | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Excellent safari company. Highly recommended.
We worked with Kathi at African Welcome Safaris to plan our three weeks in South Africa. She provided an extremely high level of service from the beginning planning stages -- sharing suggestions and useful information with us -- through to support and recommendations while we were there. She was patient and responsive to requests for information and clarification. The arrangements she made on our behalf for accommodation, car rental and suggestions for additional activities were excellent. She went above and beyond to provide guidance to address a medical issue. We felt very well taken care of! Our time on safari at Sabi Sabi was truly magical. Visiting and witnessing these animals in their natural habitat was remarkable. The staff -- from rangers and trackers to wait staff in the restaurant -- were attentive, knowledgeable and shared with us their passion for what they were doing.
Email Simon | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Introduction to South Africa (Cape Town , Garden Route and Safari).
This was a well planned holiday and the service provided by African Welcome Safari was world class. Everything for the hotels locations to the standard of service whilst on safari , couldn't have gone any better.
Would recommend the service of African Welcome Safari to anybody.
This became a trip of a lifetime for us-we thank African Welcome Safaris.
We absolutely enjoyed and highly recommend our trip and lifetime experience on our recent visit to Africa. We believe African Safararis played a huge part in this. Right from meeting our first driver (always there before scheduled, professional in exceptionally clean cars) to our accommodations (these first class accommodations really made the trip special), to planned activities (do not know what we would do different), to our very informed guides. If you are fortunate enough to plan a vacation to Africa, i would certainly begin with a call to Welcome Safaris.
CA
Email Rowena | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Works without a hitch
Kathi Simons was very helpful in planning out our itinerary. Everything went very smoothly.
US
Email Tricia | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Safari Dreams a Reality!
African Welcome Safaris and Kathi Simon made my safari dreams a reality (bucket list item checked off!). I was referred to African Welcome Safaris and Kathi from a friend who booked her African vacation a few years ago. I attempted to mimic her same itinerary and was so fortunate to work with Kathi. I reached out to her with my available dates and requests, and she responded so quickly with a quote and options. Unfortunately, the lodge I had requested was not available, but Kathi researched and provided two options along with price differentials. My friend and I ended up choosing the Elephant Plains Game Lodge in Sabi Sands, and we couldn't be happier with the experience!
Communication: Excellent from day 1! Every time I reached out to Kathi, she responded within 24 hours. We even encountered a flight delay on our way to South Africa, and she responded to assure us that our guide would be tracking our flights and would be there to assist when we did land. We also encountered a cancelled tour (due to weather) in Cape Town, and Kathi was available to discuss our options and even went out of her way to call the tour operator to discuss rescheduling during the remainder of our stay. She also moved our other tours around just in case to avoid conflicts.
Safari: The Elephant Plains Game Lodge exceeded every expectation I had! I still can't believe that I was fortunate enough to stay there and see all the animals in the area. We saw all the Big 5 multiple times. The accommodations are incredible, and the game drives so thrilling. The food was terrific and plentiful.
Service: It was so stress-free working with Kathi! I didn't have to worry about arranging transportation to/from airports or domestic flights, times, or airlines. The timing for everything worked out perfectly so that I could maximize the time spent on safari. My friend and I landed from our international flight, proceeded on a domestic flight to the safari area, and transported to the safari lodge all in time to catch the afternoon game drive! All the arrangements were perfect; we didn't encounter any issues during our travels. It's such a relief to get off a plane and have someone waiting for you. I'm so grateful to have met so many friendly people during my vacation. Everyone made our stay so special, and I learned so much about the culture and history from each person we met.
Value: I've been all around the world, and I would say that this vacation to South Africa was the most unique and affordable experience. When I was first doing my research, this vacation was not a possibility because all the safari lodges I came across were very expensive and not within my budget. I'm so happy I reached out to Kathi because she kept my budget in mind, and I'm actually shocked by the value received.
It was a breeze working with Kathi, and I definitely plan on visiting again. I wouldn't hesitate with reaching out to African Welcome Safaris and Kathi for my next African vacation. I only wish there was a similar company available for all my international travels!
IT
Email Brenda | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Perfect organization and great safaris
Many thanks to Kathi at African Welcome Safaris for planning a wonderful two-lodge safari in Kruger: great accommodation (Thorny Bush River Lodge and Narina Lodge at Lion Sands) and spectacular animal sightings. A very special holiday that allowed us to sit back and enjoy the experience as everything had been looked after to perfection.
Email Rowena and James | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
An amazing, once in a lifetime trip for our honeymoon.
Would definitely recommend this company to our friends and family, Kathi was fantastic at sorting out everything for us and nothing was a problem. Communication was fantastic, and our trip was planned exactly to our needs.
While on our honeymoon we had a brilliant time, and everything was planned to perfection. We did not have to worry about anything, everything had been organised for us it was fantastic. All of the places which we stayed at were super and made us feel so welcome. We had a fantastic honeymoon and really loved South Africa particularly our safari. Thank you Kathi.
NZ
Email Andrew | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Fantastically well organized Botswana/south Africa safari
Kathi was outstanding throughout. Same day replies and perfect trip as requested
We will be using African Welcome Safaris again.
Family trip to South Africa
I entrusted our vacation to Kathi from African Welcome Safaris completely and was thrilled with the result. She put together a rich but relaxing 14 day itinerary. For example we did four days on safari versus the two or three that many others did. I think we had a much deeper exciting experience as a result.
Everything was smooth and seamless. The hotels were so much nicer than we'd imagined our budget would allow.
We had no real problems but the way Kathi kept in touch during our trip, I have no doubt that she would have been there to help resolve them.
US
Email Sean | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
First Class Experience with African Welcome Safaris
From the time we first contacted African Welcome Safaris to the very end of our trip, Kathi was top-notch in helping us have the best vacation ever! Kathi worked with us and our schedule to figure out the best dates for our trip. She was then able to figure out how to put everything we asked to do, which was a lot, into our time in the country. Kathi was extremely easy to deal with and everything was ready for our trip to South Africa!
Once in country, everything that was set up for us to do was just plain awesome! Rhys picked us up at the airport and was our tour guide for our time in the Cape Town area. He was a wealth of knowledge, easy-going, and was a great guy to spend 5 days with. Laura was a great guide up Table Mountain and we enjoyed our time with her as well! Again, everything we did in Cape Town, Gansbaai, and the surrounding area was taken care of and the only thing we had to worry about was getting our luggage from the airline. Hikings, paragliding, cage diving with sharks, and a trip to the Cape of Good Hope were just a few highlights of our time in the area.
After our time in Cape Town, we headed up to Sabi Sabi Little Bush Camp for an amazing safari experience. Again, Kathi took care of all the bookings, including lodging and our plane trips from Cape Town to Sabi Sabi and later from Sabi Sabi to Johannesburg. Little Bush Camp was an amazing place and we wouldn't have picked it without Kathi's help. We would definitely recommend Little Bush Camp to anyone looking for safari.
This vacation was the best of our lives! We could not have had such an amazing time without the help of Kathi and African Welcome Safaris!