Kate & Darren Humphrys with Henry, Olive and Hume
Compass Odyssey
- Located In:
- Size:
- 1-5 employees (Founded in 2006)
- Member Of:
- Southern Africa Tourism Services Association
- Tour Types:
- Custom mid-range & luxury tours that can start every day
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $300 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
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Email Sue and Joe Greiner | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Our Trip of a Lifetime was Smooth as Silk
Our Compass Odyssey trip to Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe and Botswana was a fantastic experience!
Compass Odyssey organized every moment so well that it flowed perfectly! We had no problems with connections, flights, or border crossings, and every detail was covered.
We enjoyed all of our safaris immensely. The Hide in Hwange National Park was great! We saw so many animals every day, and the staff was so gracious, the food terrific, and our tent really fun. We enjoyed going down into the hide itself to watch the elephants drinking in the evening. What a special perspective. We saw several groups of cheetahs and lions, lots of elephants, buffalo, impalas, warthogs, water bucks, bush bucks, birds, zebras and more, including a large and majestic herd of sable antelope, and even a leopard! Even some wild dogs and a pride of 10 lions. The night drives were fun, too. And we got to go on a walking safari where we got up close and personal with some curious bull elephants!!! We loved this place!
We enjoyed the boat trips in Chobe very much. It was fun to watch the hippos in and out of the water, and to watch the elephants drink and play.. Crocodiles, buffalo, and birds, like the fish eagle, too. The Garden Lodge was very nice, and we enjoyed the owl who lives upstairs in the loft and the mongooses and warthogs who live in the yard. On our games drives, we saw loads of game animals, lots of elephants, and a beautiful male lion!
And of course, our trip to the Okavango Delta was fantastic. We enjoyed Rra Dinare. Our "tent" was luxurious and looked out over a large plain that was teeming with wildlife at almost every hour of the day. We twice saw lions from camp, once from our porch and once from the deck at the lodge. At camp and on safari, we saw lots of giraffes, elephants, zebras, kudus, and new antelope species we hadn't seen before, like Tsessabes and Red Lechees. We also saw hippos, secretary birds, cheetahs who had literally just brought down an impala and hadn't even killed it yet, lions, and a pack of 10 wild dogs finishing up a recent kill. Wow. The staff at Rra Dinare was superb. We felt very pampered and cared for. It would be fun to go back during wet season and see how different the delta is then. Maybe someday we will do that!
Our stay in Victoria Falls was also very memorable. Mortimer and Ruth were so helpful and took wonderful care of us. We loved the Zambezi Family Lodge. The staff there was excellent and very attentive, the room nice, and the grounds immaculate, lovely and comfortable. It was only a 10 minute walk to town. We bought food at the store and had our breakfasts and lunches at the Lodge.
My husband's Zambezi river trip went well, and I enjoyed my safari with Charles Brightman. He was a wealth of information and we saw lots of wonderful animals. It was so much fun. And I really enjoyed the visit to the Wildlife Trust, too. Although there weren't very many animals there when I visited, I learned a lot about what they do and I was able to talk with the veterinarian for a few minutes.
We loved the elephant cafe, the sunset cruise, the devil's pool, the Boma restaurant and the tours of the falls. The rhinos were great to see, too, although it was so hot that the poor things were sacked out under a tree napping!
Chic did a great job of showing us around Johannesburg on the last day of our trip. Our visit to Soweto and the Apartheid museum was eye opening and we learned a lot. The Rutland House was great, and Delia was a lovely host. She showed us her photos from her rafting trip in the Grand Canyon in 1983, sharing her happy memories of one of the best times of her life, and we shared ours from that wonderful place, too.
We want to thank Compass Odyssey's Darren and Kate so much for putting this spectacular trip together for us. We couldn't be happier with their efforts. We happily and enthusiastically recommend Compass Odyssey.
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Email Kevin | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Outstanding 3-Country Tour Package
Our experience with Compass Odyssey has been outstanding. The process of getting a quote, booking the trip, getting confirmation, and receiving support documents, were transparent and efficient. Darren and Kate were very responsive and attentive in answering our questions, checking up before, during, and after our trip. We always felt were were in good hands and could contact them for any matter. Thank you so much for providing an excellent tour for us.
The Garden Lodge in Boswana was a gem. It was the best lodge experience we ever had. The staff there were friendly, accommodating, and helpful. They took great care of our needs and gave us the best welcome every day. As part of their lodge tradition, one of their staff would join us at dinner every night and we had such a wonderful time with each of them as we learned about their work and life there. Both the game drives and river safari in Chobe National Park were fantastic.
The Bartonka Lodge in Zimbabwe was likewise nice and within easy walking distance to Victorial Fall city center. The ride to Victoria Falls was short and was all part of the tour, and that made it enjoyable.
Overall, we really enjoyed our safari tour with Compass Odyssey and will highly recommend it to our friends.
CA
Email Eliana and Laura Marengo | 65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
Compass Odyssey surpassed our expectations from beginning to end!
Compass Odyssey was highly recommended to us, by 2 family friends who had used their services on 3 separate occasions. As we had never been to Southern Africa or on safari, we had to trust Compass Odyssey to plan every aspect of our trip; to tailor it to our specific wants and needs; and to execute it according to plan. Mission accomplished, with patience, kindness, RELIABILITY and the utmost professionalism! This trip was a dream come true! We were taken care of from beginning to end. In the planning stages, no question was too big or small for Darren, who always went out of his way to make sure that our questions were answered promptly and completely, and to ensure that we had all the information we needed to make informed decisions. He walked us through every aspect of our trip, ahead of time, which made for a smooth transition upon arrival. In Africa, everything was perfect: the choice of hotels/camps; the attentive staff; the superlative and personalized service; the excellent food; the dependable transportation; the magical game drives and knowledgeable guides etc etc etc. It was wonderful to know that we could count on Compass Odyssey's services and attention throughout our trip! We felt pampered and taken care of, every single day. Our journey covered 3 countries, and we were excited, happy and grateful to see and experience everything we did, at every location (the magnificent animals; the culture; the wonderful people; the visual stimulation; the choice of activities ; and always someone to assist us and organize those activities and accompany us everywhere, including to airports and at border crossings). If you want to have an experience that will continue to make you smile long after you're back home, trust Darren of Compass Odyssey to make it happen! We will be going back to Africa and using Compass Odyssey, again, as soon as we can! Darren, if Laura moves to Africa, it'll be your fault :)
KW
Email Laurel Parr & Justin Dupuis | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Compass Odyssey is focused on customer satisfaction over their bottom line.
Darren was wonderful to work with! He did not put any pressure on me at all to book with him and issued me multiple itineraries without any guarantee that I would end up becoming a paying customer, consistently reminding me that I had no obligation to but rather to make the best choice for myself. It’s a husband and wife team that own this operation and they are very caring and supportive at all times! At the same time, they are very professional. They provide comprehensive and detailed itineraries, as well as tons of additional information to help you through all the planning that comes with travel to Africa. They always provided prompt responses and were incredibly supportive and caring. We would book with them again in a heartbeat! The trip itself was absolutely amazing and they take great care when choosing their guides, lodges, etc. Everything was exceptional for us!
DE
Email Ro Kumar | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Trustworth, efficient, timely, organized, peace of mind, smooth
Communicating with Darren and Kate was easy. Both are very responsive. I'd get answers to my many questions almost immediately. I did not ever get the sense I was being channeled into making a decision. I was provided with a lot of information because, let's face it, there is a lot of stuff to organize for the tour. Darren was patient with me throughout as I pondered and evaluated all options. Emailing frequently definitely helped me develop trust and confidence the team.
All arrangements were spot on. Logistics for pick-up, transfers, hand-offs were executed flawlessly by their operators in the field. For the first couple of hand-offs we were anxious. Naturally. But, it was a unnecessary waste of nervous energy. We relaxed and enjoyed being treated as royalty as we travelled through 4 countries in 12 days.
Accomodations, safaris, activities were all well organized. The tour far exceeded our expectations. I am looking forward to the next tour with Compass Odyssey. Kudos to Darren & Kate and their team in the field.
CN
Email Frederic and Julie Guiral | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
The best trip ever organised for me
From the offset the communication with Darren was very smooth. Fast, reactive and to the point. We told him where and when we would land and depart from. We told him what we absolutely wanted to see (Victoria Falls...) and the things that one goes to Africa for (safaris...). We spoke about our budget range and our needs (shared room, vegetarian meals...). From there he organised the smoothest and most interesting trip i may have had. And i am a fairly well traveled person.
Connections between various locations were very smooth. Each location had something different to offer with its own personality. Over our 10 days trip across South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana .. we never felt tired of moving, never waited for too long between 2 trips. Each lodge and location had something very unique to offer and every lodge was a different experience. People were lovely and the team working with Darren in various locations, picking up travelers and making their trip the smooth experience we lived are all great individuals.
Only praises for Darren and his team. If you are going to Africa be certain you will have the experience of a life time with them. We certainly did !
Email David | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Simply outstanding
The quality and responsiveness of Darren pre the trip was one of the reasons we choose Compass. Out trip involved two days in Johannesburg, a safari in Chobe, Botswana, a visit to Victoria falls and we made our own arrangments for the last part of our trip in Cape Town. Darren swas genuinely interested in helping us put together our perfect trip and he clealy had good relationships with all the accomodaton we stayed at. We liked the use of small but high qulaity accomodation beginning with the B and B in a pleasant Joburg suburb where we could walk to an excellent local restaurant, to the superb river side lodge in Chobe, Botswana. Local guides were all excellent, expereinced, interesting to talk with and well informed too. We liked the personalised approach throughout . Our safari highlight by seeing a lioness and her cubs some 2 metres from our truck duing the ealry morning safari. We would unreservedly recommend Compass and will use them again when we return,
Email Mike and Jen | 65+ years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
A wonderful trip backed up by meticulous planning and engaging staff.
My Wife and I have been on a number of planned trips similar to the one provided by Compass Odyssey but none have provided the detailed planning, advice, support and attention to detail that Kate & Darren provided for us on our visit to the Victoria Falls (Zimbabwe) and Chobe NP (Botswana). We were treated to some excellent accommodation, bountiful refreshments / meals and well trained staff who were totally focussed on providing a caring and attentive service.
The trip produced for us, two significant highlights (1) to see and experience the Victoria Falls in all their glory from both the Zimbabwean and Zambian sides, accompanied by a knowledgeable and interesting guide and (2) three days of safaris providing us with close up views of all manner of wildlife, birds and insight into the ecosystem in which they all live.
Certainly a trip that will live long in the memory - along with the hundreds of photos taken.
Email Greg and Victoria | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Compass Odyssey deserves its 5/5 rating.
From the first inquiry to the end of our trip, Darren was outstanding in providing a service with the aim of ensuring we had a holiday that met all our needs and expectations, leaving nothing to chance. We were never left wondering or waiting for a response.
Darren took the time to listen and understand our brief. Senalala Lodge delivered a beautiful understated, high quality standard of accommodation, meals and safari drives that left us with wonderful memories of a beautiful country full of extraordinary wildlife and a unique landscape. The extra touches such as the managers, James and Corlia and their outstanding guides joining us for meals made the whole experience very rewarding. We learnt that their lives are much broader than the Big 5.
If you ever thought a Safari was about driving around on a set route looking at the same animals then you will be in for a real treat at Senalala Lodge. Whilst on an early morning walk, we glanced side-wards to discover the surprise of a life time – a large white Rhino. With our guide's great skill we were able to spend time observing this magnificent beauty. Our guides, Ivan and Connor, had the greatest respect for the wildlife yet ensured our safety at all times.
We have no hesitation in recommending Compass Odyssey to travellers who like adventure combined with simple luxury and every detail ticked off. To know that there is a local person on the ground with every resource at his finger-tips was very reassuring.
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Email Holly Romo | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
I would give then 100 stars if I could!!
We actually didn't get to go in June 2020 but I needed to write this review anyway!!
In 2019, I began planning an Africa trip with Darren at Compass Odyssey for 7 people in June 2020. He was amazing from the very beginning. Always available to answer any questions we had, patient with us when we changed our minds about exactly what we wanted to do, and planning a great trip that would fit into our budget. Over the planning time, we had people drop out, people who wanted to extend their trip, concerns about what "shots" we might need and a myriad of other concerns. Through all of that, Darren was a champ. He handled every change we wanted made, answered all of our questions and allayed all of our concerns.
Then comes COVID! We had to postpone our trip, which Darren handled brilliantly. He made sure that all of our deposits would hold until June 2021 and took care of all the legwork involved in moving our trip out a year.
Here we are approaching June, 2021, and we are now having to postpone again, as some of our travelers are still uncomfortable with going. I assumed we were going to have to just cancel and try to get reimbursed by our travel insurance for nonrefundable expenses already paid.
Well, that didn't happen. Darren stepped up to the plate and all of our deposits, etc, have been extended until at least the end of 2022. So our trip of a lifetime isn't gone, just on hold!
I'm pretty positive that we will go in 2022, but I know for a fact that if we can't, Darren will make it right for us. I'm sure that, eventually, I will be back here writing another glowing review after we get back from our trip.
If you ever want to go to Africa, you could not find a better company than Compass Odyssey or a better person than Darren, to plan YOUR trip of a lifetime!!