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 Mariangela | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Beyond my expectations!
I recently returned from a trip to southern Africa. I went with my 12 year old son. At first I was very nervous considering I was traveling alone with my son. Darren put my thoughts at ease and answered all of my questions patiently. The trip was amazing, we felt very safe and comfortable. Everything was perfectly organized and went very smoothly. Darren was very nice to my son and patiently explained some of the South African history and the places we visited while we were in Cape Town.
I highly recommend this company, this was a trip we surely never will forget.
Darren planned a great, kid-friendly, Southern Africa safari for my family of four.
I reached out to Compass Odyssey in fall 2015 to plan a safari vacation with my family (including kids aged 10 and 13) in summer 2016. I had some ideas about what we wanted to do/see, but I was a bit overwhelmed by the options, especially the travel arrangements within Southern Africa. Darren took my ideas and came up with a few different itineraries, and we chose to go with a self-guided trip to Greater Kruger, Victoria Falls, and Chobe. The lodges and activities he booked us in to were all first rate, and given our advance planning, we were able to get flights between South Africa/Zambia/Botswana that minimized travel time. Darren also arranged for travel assistance at the Zimbabwe border crossings to ensure that everything went smoothly. The entire trip, including 3 different lodges, numerous travel transfers, many new friends, and countless amazing wildlife sightings, went off without a hitch, thanks to Darren’s expertise and planning.
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Email Julie and Madison | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Cape Town, Kruger, Victoria Falls,…Above and beyond what we had hoped for
Traveling of any sort - but especially international travel - comes with its own headaches. In my experience, it's simply an unavoidable part of the whole package. Traveling with Compass Odyssey, however, defied that assumption from day one.
I was extremely impressed with my first contact with Darren and Kate about possibly setting in motion a trip to South Africa for my 24 year old daughter and I. The emails were answered promptly, professionally, and always with the kindest banter. We quickly hammered out the details, and once tickets, lodging, and regional flights were booked by Compass Odyssey, Darren helped us find and book our international flights.
Just as he patiently expressed over and over again, prior to our setting foot into South Africa, Compass Odyssey had every little detail worked out, and there was absolutely no reason to stress about our upcoming trip. The pre-trip information packets we received wholly covered every aspect of our trip, and I swear I read all the information 3 or 4 times, yet a few issues - visas, money exchange, tipping, cell phone - kept me up at night. Within the first hour of arriving in Cape Town, with Darren’s guidance, and helping hand, I knew my only job was to turn everything over to him, relax and enjoy!
From our early conversations, it was obvious that Darren loves what he does, and does it extremely well. Coming into this trip, my daughter and I were especially interested in the history of South Africa, especially as it pertains to Apartheid. We are walking away from this trip with a massive amount of knowledge that is grounded in the impact the nation's history still has on the country today. Darren knows South Africa so well that he is able to offer his guests the full range of experiences - from the best lookout points along the coast to learning the local lingo, from history lessons over shared meals to surprise tickets to see "The Painted Rocks at Revolver Creek" at the Fugard Theatre. Darren not only understands the complexities of Cape Town and South Africa at large, but he also understands his travelers and is quick to regularly offer multiple options to make their trip even more enjoyable and educational.
While in Kruger, Compass Odyssey booked us with Senalala Luxury Camp, a wonderful extension of the personal care we received from Darren while in Cape Town. The adrenalin filled drives, the bush walk, the meals shared around one table with guests from all over the world, combined with the lazy afternoons watching animals visit the watering hole…perfection.
The final leg of our trip was Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Victoria Falls. Darren once again lined up the perfect local guide for us, Mortimer. We were able to tour the Falls on both sides, attend the Boma Feast, take a beautiful sunset cruise down the Zambezi River, and learned an immense amount about the natural history as well as the local history from our guide. He was knowledgeable, helpful, and kind, and allowed us the free time to explore the area as we wished.
We are exceptionally grateful for the attention to detail that Darren and Kate put into their work. It truly shows, and it made our trip one beyond our wildest dreams.
DE
Email Zhizhou Fang | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Great customer service
We've planned a 3 week holiday in South Africa. Usually we do all the vacation planning completely by ourselves, but this time we've asked Darren to provide an offer for our 1st week, which we wanted to go on safari. In the beginning we were sceptical about the benefits of asking a tour operator, but from the first day of establishing contact, Compass Odyssey has turned out to be a great choice. Darren was very proactive in planning the safari, paying close attention to all of our specific needs and designing the itinerary, accommodations, tickets, cars etc. according to our requirements about what to see, what kind of accommodations we would like to stay, answering our many question promptly, even tried to help to plan a birthday surprise for my girlfriend during the safari. He contacted local pharmacies and phone shops in order to provide us information how to get SIM cards, what to do in case of malaria etc.
In conclusion, we can recommend Compass Odyssey unconditionally.
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Email Carol C | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Our Safari Experience was All We Hoped for and More
Working with Darren and Kate, the operators of Compass Odyssey was a joy. They were quick to respond to any questions we had regarding our trip and were able to put together an outstanding itinerary, which made for a most memorable trip. I was impressed with the detailed itinerary of our days in Africa sent to us, which was followed by an easy to follow abridged itinerary as our departure date drew near.
From the moment we were met by Darren at the airport on arrival, until we left Africa thirteen days later, out trip went smoothly. The lodgings for the safaris were more than adequate, and we were impressed with both the facilities and the excellent staff. Our safari guides were exceptional, and we were able to see wide life that took our breaths away.
I have already passed on to my friends, who have expressed a desire to visit Africa, Compass Odyssey's name. If I were to book another trip to this wonderful continent, I would choose Compass Odyssey again!
Amazing trip to Southern Africa
Wonderful trip tailored by Darren. I started planning late and Darren was available to answer questions and met my budget for the trip. I am delighted I was able to see everything, including he big 5, on my wish list. We started in Cape Town, then Chobe, Vic Falls, and lastly Kruger. Couldn't have planned it better.
ES
Email Joaquín Ruiz | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Maximum attention to our wishes and full cooperation and professionalism.
All previous information was clear and useful. The preparation by Kate and Darren that everything would go as planned, was maximal. Our expectations were surpassed by the magnificent trip prepared by Compass Odyssey. Thanks a million for Kate and Darren.
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Email Philip and Delia | 65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
Awesome,Wonderful,Unforgettable Place
My husband and I have travelled to many corners of the world including Europe,the Meditteranean,Southeast Asia,Carribean,Canada and of course the different states of USA which we've been living in the past more than 40 years,but recently our first travel to South Africa is considered awesome,wonderful and unforgettable.Cape Town offers a unique beauty of landscapes and beautiful mountains,wine country has breathtaking views in the hillside and well kept vineyards.Trip to Cape Point is a delight offering a breathtaking view of the seaside landscapes.Mandela's place of prison in Robben Island regards the place historical for it represents the hardships and struggles of citizens who is against the government and strives to achieve equality of treatments to their people. Penguin Island is truly a lovely place to see.The Safari trip to Klaserie Nature Reserve where various kinds of wild animals live is a wonderful experience for us because we love,love,love animals and see their habitats.
Johannesburg with the full bloomed jacaranda flowers is stunning.The apertheid museum sums up the history and struggles of equality of people living in the country.We have gone to Soweto to witness ourselves the kind of living in the neighborhood.Sidetrip to Pretoria is enriching.Seeing the modern buildings of Union Square is exhilarating.Our thanks to you all, for letting us see your beautiful country and hope that our friends and relatives will also come and visit you in the near future.It is a definite place for us to see again.
Our special thanks to these exceptional people we met:
1)Darren Humphrys-extremely efficient in organizing trips,highly recommended to tourists.
2)Keith Sinclair-our tour guide to Cape Town is outstanding.
3)The Senalala extraordinary staff namely:James,Corlia,HJ,Darryn,Lisa and all of their staff are all superb and wonderful people who we highly recommend to tourists.
4)Rutland House B&B -Delia Ferguson good host.
5)Peter Mashaba-nice and trustworthy guy who picked us up in the airport
6)Les Masaka-admirable,impressive tour guide we highly recommend to tourists.
See you all again,
Philip and Delia Pajela
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Email Ed B | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Absolute Organized and Dependable Safari Tour Company
We are sexagenarians and 2 married couples from New York City that traveled to South Africa and thanks to Darren Humphrys, the owner of Compass Odyssey, who made all the arrangements of our 10-day safari tour. His arrangements were so well organized that no time was wasted for us in totally enjoying this vacation trip. His network of service providers from intercity air and ground transportation to and from the airport, B&Bs we stayed in, the luxury safari camp @ the Klaserie Private Nature Reserve, tour guides in Capetown and Joburg and the tours within the cities were all friendly, knowledgeable, courteous, prompt and professional that really made our totally interesting and enjoyable, so much so that we decided to return to South Africa or its neighboring countries in the future and see the other places and adventures that we were not able to experience during this trip. And without a shadow of the doubt, we will ask Darren to assist and organize that trip again! I unequivocally and highly recommend Compass Odyssey to arrange your trip to South Africa.
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Email Scott | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Couldn't have been any better
Compass Odyssey run by Darren and Kate did an absolutely superb job planning my wife and I the perfect honeymoon. For over 10 months we worked together to come up with the the best itinerary to fit our time frame and budget. They were attentive, trustworthy, knowledgeable and took care of us like know one else would have been able to. There wasn't a single hiccup for the entire two week trip. This included a stay in Cape Town, three internal flights, two different safari camps over five nights, three nights in Victoria Falls and a drive to Botswana. Each place we stayed knew Darren and Kate had booked us there and told us how lucky we were to have them looking after us. They all knew we were on our honeymoon as well which was a nice touch. There were so many moving parts to figure out but Darren and Kate planned it out and executed it flawlessly. I would 100% recommend them to anyone looking to have the trip of a lifetime in Africa.