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 $472 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
Email Helen Milne | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Beyond Our Wildest Dreams
Kathi at African Welcome was brilliant, working expertly and efficiently at very short notice to help us arrange the trip of a lifetime. The Safari arranged for us at Madikwe Hills lodge was beyond our wildest dreams and everything was so completely stress free as it was all taken care of by African Safaris.
The staff was amazing, the place fantastic and the game drives awesome
Kathi (Simon) was so helpful. She was very informative and responsive. She quickly answered my questions and concerns and was a great resource. The safari camp, Kapama, she booked me at was fantastic.
I was so impressed with her. When I come back I will 100% use her to book my trip again. The
CA
Email Charles Caza | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great Tour!
African Welcome Safaris put together a trip that was excellent, well organized and made it easy for us to relax. Our guide was always flexible and available to adjust per our needs and what we wanted to see. He was knowledgeable and enthusiastic in responding to all our questions about SA. It was great value to have the whole trip organized at a cost that didn't seem higher than we what we would have paid for everything.
Smooth ride into South Africa
All planned wonderfully, very good advise provided to guide pur decisions, seamless execution with friendly tour guides and experienced partners.
We had a fantastic time.
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Email Laurie Zionts | 65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
African Welcome Safaris was an absolute pleasure to work with!
Kathi Simons of African Welcome Safaris was terrific to work with. She communicated promptly and provided us with knowledgeable and professional private guides. She listened to our interests, and tailored our tours to create a memorable journey in Cape Town and Johannesburg. We would not hesitate to recommend her to all of our friends, and have already done so!
Email Sue Williams | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Fantastic family holiday
Kathi at African Welcome Safari’s was excellent from the point we contacted her to help us plan our holiday in South Africa. We gave her some ideas of the things we wanted to do and she came back with an itinerary that hit all our requirements. The communication and service was exemplary, even though we had to rearrange the trip several times due to the pandemic. We travelled as a family, with two teenagers to satisfy and they also loved the whole trip.
The standard of the hotels and lodges was very high, with a wonderful welcome and great service and comfort. Every stage of the itinerary went to plan, even when we moved locations. Kathi kept in touch with us throughout the holiday to ensure we were happy and be on hand if we needed her.
We loved Cape Town, the hotel location on the waterfront was perfect with lots of shops and restaurants. Then we went on to the Grootbos nature reserve, which was also excellent. We joined a whale watching boat tour and were lucky enough to see Southern Right Whales. Finally, we flew up to Johannesburg and then on to the Madikwe Game Reserve at the Motswiri Lodge - our ranger Stewart was brilliant, as were all the staff. We saw a wide range of animals including lions, cheetahs, elephants, hyena, buffalo, giraffes and many others.
We would highly recommend a trip to South Africa and definitely use African Welcome Safaris to book your holiday.
Email Jack Tucker | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Superb Trip!
A great trip travelling around South Africa with incredible ease thanks to the organisation by Alex!
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Email Nicole Shafer | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Kathi catered to our every need and truly made it a trip of a lifetime.
Kathi was very knowledgable and was always available. Everything was planned out so precisely and perfectly. Our private tour guide in Cape Town was super knowledgable and top notch. Our stay in Sabi Sands was incredible. The accommodations were stellar and the ranger and tracker were amazing and made the overall safari experience very special. She really made this trip "a trip of a lifetime". Anyone considering going to South Africa should definitely reach out to her.
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Email Asima Azam | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Exceptional service in planning a magical South African city and safari vacation!
I began coordinating our safari vacation in 2019 with Kathi Simon. From the beginning she was prompt, informative, and very professional in providing travel itineraries and catering the vacation to our budget, ages of the children and interests! The travel quotes were significantly lower than the prices charged by Adventures by Disney and Tauck Bridges which we have used before.
Due to COVID the trip was canceled and rescheduled 3 times and Kathi was patient and diligent in promptly confirming all of the reschedules of flights and accommodations. She was also very helpful in keeping us apprised of Covid testing requirements etc.
We finally took our vacation in May/June 2022 and the trip exceeded all our expectations and was worth the wait! My husband and I traveled With our 15 and 13 year old children and everyone was wowed by every experience. The landscape, diversity of culture and cuisine and history of Cape Town was stunning. We visited Robben island and learned a lot about the dark history surrounding apartheid, visited the winelands and even went parasaling off Signal Mountain!
We then traveled to Zimbabwe which while not as luxe as the South African accommodation was one of our favorite stops. The lodge was beautiful and authentic and had nightly visits of game to the watering hole. We visited a local village and also zilpined at the falls!
We end our trip in Kruger at the Sabi Sabi game reserve which was outstanding. The accommodations were lovely and the fed us 24/7 with tea time and breakfast and big lavish dinners. The game drives were spectacular and the guides and trackers were so knowledgeable and became friends.
If I changed anything, with the 2 kids, we likely could have stayed at less luxurious accommodations on safari and still had a great time, if anyone is looking to lower the tour price a bit!
On departure from Vic Falls our flight was cancelled and Kathi Simon quickly rebooked us and arranged for us to cross the border into Zambia and depart from Livingstone. We would have been stressed without her help.
Highly recommend the trip and tour company!
DE
Email Bert | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
As always brilliant Service provided by African Welcome Safaris , Thank you Kathi
This was our 3rd Safari organized by Kathi and she took care on everything , very fast responses on my many questions during preparation of the trip. We were sure this trip will be perfectly organized and it was . Thank you Kathi and team
We arrived at Johannesburg early morning and Kathi organized a pick up at the plane exit , we went through a special fast lane and only 15 minutes after touch down we were outside the air port and were transferred to the cozy FedAir Lounge and the Safari started just 20 minutes later in a very small plane. We had only 1hour transfer time between fligths from JNB main airport to FedAir airport, but due to the special service arranged by Kathi we made it easily.
Our First lodge for 3 nigths was Madikwe Hills private game lodge, absolutely perfect in each and every aspect, Good game viewing, good ranger, excellent service, spectacular food, beautiful room with an incredible look on a waterhole , animals were passing all the time, very good management taking care for all of our needs , this lodge I would give 6 out of 5 stars, outstanding
Second stop for 3 nigths was Kings Hill, also very nice touch, somehow a colonial time atmosphere with a lot of African elements, all perfect , rooms very nice, food is very good, but not fully on Madikwe level . You see certainly Leopard during game drives which you hardly find in Madikwe , but game drives are at both lodges very enjoyable (but in June game drives are chilly you should be prepared) , Kings Camp I would rate 5 out of 5 stars
So we had a fantastic trip and we will certainly come back on Safari and we will definitely use African Welcome Safari again as it is a brilliant agency. We are so happy that now it is possible to travel again safe and without any restriction to beautiful Africa.