50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Outstanding travel agent - Excellent service
I cannot say enough good things about Diane Du Plessis and Discover Africa Safaris. Diane worked with us to design the perfect safari vacation, that included stops in Cape Town, Victoria Falls, Africa Bush Camps - Somalisa Camp in Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe and Mala Mala private reserve in Sabi Sands, South Africa. While we had done some research, we were learning as we went along. Diane provided us with excellent information and choices. Her choices for the safari camps/lodging were key - Somlalisa Camp was a private concession and Mala Mala was private land. This made all the difference as we were not competing with a ton of vehicles since access was restricted. This made the game drives and sightings incredibly intimate - and you get very close to the animals! You can also drive off-road, since it is private or leased land. I don't think I truly appreciated this distinction until we were there experiencing it and being told about how many vehicles descend on sightings in the public areas of the national parks.
Diane was always patient with us and incredibly responsive to our emails with questions and changes. She listened and responded to us. Every aspect of our trip was taken care of, we didn't have a care to worry about, from airport transfers, to flights, to excursions. And, every aspect of the logistics went seamlessly. Her lodging recommendations were perfect, each location got better and better. We culminated our trip at Mala Mala, which was truly stunning from the lodging to the safari game drives.
Diane - thank you so much! You made it seem so easy, but we know you had to do a lot of work behind the scenes. This trip was a perfect ten - wish we could say 12 - because of Diane at Discover Africa. I highly recommend using Diane if you are planning a safari in Africa. She will not disappoint!! If and when we go back, we will be using Diane!
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Great and confident provision of service throughout with excellent on-the-ground knowledge.
From the word go - Jungleroam was on the ball with communication, proactive and reassuring with adequate provision of information when required. On the ground, they were knowledgable, reliable and well organised. Our guide Richard was just fantastic - his manner, knowledge, spotting ability and likability with both the tour participants and other guides in the reserve was outstanding. He was like a real life Macgyver with excellent driving skills and rescued several other vehicles during our game drives. Discount for child was provided, lodging excellent and food was of great quality. I must say our whole group was so friendly and inclusive as well, which added to the whole experience. Great memories for a lifetime, all thanks to Jungleroam Safaris.
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
First class safari experience from beginning to end
Two friends and I have just returned from an incredible 3 day/2 night trip to the Masai Mara National Park with Balu Travel. Morris was our point of contact and his organisation and communication were first class. He was happy to answer our many questions re: recent rainfall, lodges, timings and payment. He created the perfect itinerary for the time we had available and we will never forget our amazing experience.
Wilson was the best driver/ guide we could have wished for. Having grown up in the Maasai Mara he had incredible knowledge of all the animals, birds, plants and local culture and was full of interesting facts. When we went out on game drives, he was very focused all the time on searching for wildlife, to make sure we saw as much as possible. He gave us plenty of time to take pictures and simply soak up the sights and sounds around us.
Wilson was a careful and skilful driver, navigating some quite challenging terrain, and we felt very safe at all times. (If you have the option to upgrade to a jeep, would highly recommend doing this as feel it made a big difference to comfort and there's a lot of driving.) He seemed to know everyone, every road and every path, which was a big advantage throughout. On the way back there was an accident and long delays on the rift valley road and he used his local knowledge to take us on a diversion, making sure we weren't late for our flight (much appreciated).
On top of all that Wilson was a great travelling companion - friendly, calm, courteous, thoughtful and patient.
We did a lot of research for our trip and Balu was the best value by far, for comparable tours. I would highly recommend Balu Travel, and Wilson, to anyone wanting the best Masai Mara experience.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
An excellent and well-rounded schedule, tailored to our tastes! Great communication!
Our group had a fabulous time during our 4 days in Zimbabwe - all thanks to Brian and his team that planned an excellent itinerary catered to our tastes. We would highly recommend the Victoria Falls tour and helicopter ride, and the day trip to Botswana to visit Chobe National Park. The Boma Dinner was also a highlight! Brian was with us each step of the way - taking us to and from each activity - and even allowing us to make some unscheduled stops to pick up various souvenirs and toiletries. The hotel he booked for us was beautiful and had such interesting history - incredible value for the money we were paying - and the guides Brian works with are incredibly knowledgeable. It is clear that Brian puts a ton of work into selecting the best itinerary and guides for each individual group.
I can't say enough about how prompt and clear his communication was through the booking process and during our stay, as well. He was incredibly attentive and we will certainly be working with him again when we return to Zimbabwe one day!
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
I give all the credit to Edward for our experience.
We traveled to Tanzania to hike Kilimanjaro with the amazing mountain guide Edward Safari, who provided my girlfriend and I with excellent assistance during the six-day ascent via the Machame route. We chose the six-day journey over the standard five-day one in order to have an extra day to acclimate. This decision paid off handsomely, as we both made it to the summit despite the challenging alpine weather and several episodes of altitude sickness. The final close meeting at the peak made the difficult trek up the mountain worthwhile. Edward and his team of porters and cook took great care of us. I give all the credit to Edward for our experience.
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great experience
Just got back from a 4-day safari. Great experience! Bryson was our guide, Salim was our cook, and Daniel met us at the hotel. The food on the safari was outstanding, actually the best we got during our three weeks in Tanzania! My friend can’t eat gluten and Salim made sure she had her own gluten-free pizza and pancakes. Bryson was an easy-going, positive, cheerful, funny guide. Daniel kindly upgraded us to a nicer hotel room in Arusha for our last night because we had to leave early the next morning for our flights.
The camping is in pretty basic tents, but they supply clean air mattresses and sleeping bags. You can bring your own if you’d like a better night’s sleep. I’m honestly not sure how a tall person can sleep in those tents. If you’re tall, maybe ask if they can give you your own so you can sleep diagonally.
The first night of camping we had hot showers, electrical outlets to charge phones, and a swimming pool, which definitely recommend using! The camp at Serengeti is much more basic, just solar panels so nowhere to charge and we didn’t have hot water, but honestly it didn’t bother me a bit because the camp is in the Serengeti. It’s worth sacrificing some comforts for the sunrise alone. Camping at the ridge the last night is gorgeous, but cold. Pack some warm clothes. The jeep had electric outlets to charge phones or cameras. There was also plenty of bottled water in the jeep. Our jeep actually broke down (the axel broke after we helped another jeep out of the mud), but Bryson quickly arranged for another jeep to pick us up and to my surprise they had actually managed to fix the axel by morning and we could leave on time. I was really impressed.
Criticisms: One tent was a little stinky one night, and hot water is not always available (probably because campers don’t realize the water is from tanks and limited). One morning we had to wait a couple hours for another couple to arrive from Arusha to join our tour, so we left at 9:45 instead of 7:00 like planned. But all in all these issues were minor and the safari was fabulous.
I was on a budget and debated if I should do it, but I’m glad I did. It was a once in a lifetime experience and well managed by Suricata Safaris.
65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
Discover Africa delivered to us the Adventure of a Lifetime - an absolutely amazing trip!
Our Safari was for 15 days and included trips to four different camps in South Africa and Botswana with a side trip to Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe. Our first stay was four nights at Sabi Sands Bush Lodge in South Africa followed by three night stays at each of the three Sanctuary Retreat camps in Botswana - Chobe Chilwero, Stanley's and Chief's. The game drives at each camp were absolutely amazing and very exciting, and we saw an incredible amount of wildlife in the bush (saw the "Big Five" by day 2) and on the river at Chobe, more than we ever imagined. The guides and trackers were experts in finding the wildlife and very informative in all aspects of animals, plants and birds. They were also very fun to be with. The staff at all the camps were very friendly and helpful and made sure we were safe and comfortable. The accommodations were impeccable and gorgeous and the food was very varied and delicious.
Our travel planner, Susan Veldman, was fabulous from the start with the planning of our Safari to keeping in touch with us daily during the whole trip. All transfers and connections to the different camps were seamless. We would HIGHLY recommend Susan and Discover Africa to anyone planning a Safari. Thank you, thank you for this most amazing trip ever!!!
65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
Outstanding! Top notch guides, luxurious accommodations, and unforgettable wildlife encounters.
Our safari trip was truly exceptional thanks to the careful planning of Jessica Mathews, of Dancing Zebra. After inquiring with several of the larger more well known safari companies we choose Dancing Zebra. Our entire trip was private for just the three of us and the cost was significantly less then the competition. Thanks to the amazing guides and staff at our luxurious accommodations, we were treated like royalty while experiencing unforgettable wildlife sightings at every turn. My friends who have been on safari remarked that my photos were incredible and they had not seen half the animals on their safari's that we encountered. We were lucky enough to witness a mass migration of thousands of zebra and wilderbeest crossing the dirt road while crossing the serengeti. I highly recommend Dancing Zebra wen you are ready to plan your perfect safari!
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Detail service
Marcus is very wonderful, concerning details and very acknowledge guide. Five of us love him and he is very responsible and on schedule for everything.
Marcus is highly recommend as your tour guide in Namibia!
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Professional and friendly
We raccomended this tour operator because they are very professional. They reply fast all questions if you have before the trip and also during the travel. They organize for us our Airport trasfert and we have a top of the guide for safari.
Very good experience.
Thanks a lot John.