50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Head and shoulders above the competition
We have just returned from a wonderful family safari holiday that Rose and her company organised for us to Mauritius, Tswalu and Nottens in Sabi Sands, South Africa. It was quite a complicated itinerary but every bit of it worked like clockwork. With a lot of research and some experience of safaris we had both a clear idea of some of the things we wanted and a good idea of what would constitute value for money. We had an ample budget but wanted a lot for that money. We made initial calls to five safari operators including Rose. The first one was a well known safari company which we had used before but the person we spoke to gave us a quote which was approximately 10k over the top, partly because of the ridiculous logistics - he was certainly enthusiastic about Africa but just a real novice at putting together a trip in a sensible way eg at least two redundant internal flights - multiply that by four people and it's throwing away a couple of thousand. Plus we had to point out to him the basic stuff like "aren't they doing a stay 4 nights and get free flights offer". The second one we talked to was a real expert on one region (and I have used their website a lot for research) but more enthusiastic about the region than listening to what we wanted (but well done to them on their transparent pricing policy). The third one was just a waste of time - peeling back their non-transparent pricing made it clear that they were in fact advertising a safari which they couldn't deliver at the price - a really tacky approach. The fourth one was a good company but although clearly expert in the regions their itinerary came across as indulging their fantasy trip rather than listening to what we wanted eg it may be possible to fly across Mozambique by light aircraft hops to avoid a Joburg transfer but why on earth would a family want to do that especially when it costs multi-thousands of pounds and takes 12 hours?
Which brings us to Rose. These are the reasons Rose was just so far above the others:
1) Rose is a real expert - she knows her stuff on safaris, locations, destinations etc
2) Rose is what a really good travel agent of any type should be ie she listens to you, talks to you, chats about what you want and what you like and what you are hoping for and then uses her knowledge to suggest things that are useful or appropriate or interesting. Maybe you won't take up her suggestions but you will feel they were useful suggestions or ideas for you to think about or give you a better benchmark.
3) Rose is sensible and organises your safari in a way which makes logistical sense eg canny use of internal flights so you don't spend your time and money taking 5 flights when you could have done it in 2 ( OK, I know this doesn't sound so difficult but you really should have seen what our first well-known safari operator suggested!)
4) Rose isn't afraid to persist with a suggestion if she really thinks you will like it and will come up with good ideas to show you how it can be possible in your budget. Nottens in the Sabi Sands was Rose's suggestion and she showed us how our plans and budget could accommodate it - that turned out to be one of the highlights of the holiday and a real improvement on the plan we first put to her, although I had researched our first plan so carefully.
5) Rose's pricing is transparent - you know what the prices are and you can readily see if you are getting a good deal (and yes, from our experience you are - The Luxury Safari Company was the only operator we spoke to who demonstrably was giving us a better deal than we could have organised ourselves).
6)Rose doesn't stop thinking about you when you have paid for the holiday eg sent us information about South Africa's new potential requirements for birth certificates for under 18s to make sure we weren't caught out by a sudden change of policy.
Thank you, Rose and we will be in touch again!
CH
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
A perfect, fabulous once in a lifetime experience
The safari was absolutely awesome, Rochelle from Kruger Park Tours did an awesome job and has organised the whole trip to our FULL satisfaction. She answered all questions in a timely manner and organised everything just as we wanted it.
And we were not disappointed at all!
Organisation - excellent
Wildlife - excellent
Food - excellent
Accommodation - excellent
Bush Vibe, Guides and Staff - outstanding.
We enjoyed our stay so much. We had no idea which camp operator to choose, Kruger Park Tours booked us for Tydon Safari Camp. It is a familiy owned business, for people by people. Thanks to its location, you will/can enjoy both, the Kruger Park itself and the Sabi Sands Reserve - wildlife spotting was awesome and so was the rest! About Tydon Safari camp: it is not toursim mass processing, the guides take their time to explain everything, food is superb - local food - which you don't find in a restaurant. Beds in the tents as well as the tents were VERY clean and comfortable. The evenings and also day toures were full of fun and giggles - we could not ask for more.
Thanks so much Rochelle and Tydon Safaris for this awesome Safari, memories for a lifetime!
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Powerful Experience
The trip was very good. We had a safe and very pleasent drive. We were lucky and could see a lot of animals in the park. The housting was ok and our guide Patrick was wonderful! I did a tour to Masai Mara and Lake Nakuru and I was very happy to see both places.
Many thanks for this great experience.
NZ
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Saw a huge number of various wildlife in three days.
Everything went very smoothly, from the pick up to the drop off. Had a fantastic time with a great guide. Thanks Bush Troop for an excellent and exciting trip.
AR
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Extrordinary
We book our safari with Uzuri Uganda Safaris for 6 days, and was the best experience ever.
Since our first contact with the company, they were really helpful and answer to our questions. We were travelling for our honey moon, and the company adapt the accommodation to our budget.
We spent 6 days with Vincent, our guide that was really nice, we enjoy a lot talk with him, he explain us a lot of things and was really friendly.
We recommend the Uzuri Uganda Safaris .
US
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Incredible experience and I can't wait to return.
We booked our tour through Axis Africa Safaris. The entire process was seamless. I planned this trip for 11 months and Lennox worked with me every step of the way. He mad sure that we had a private tour of the Maasai Mara for 5 days and when the airlines changed our flights and had to cut it to 4 days he made everything work. He made payments easy and everything was better than what I could ever expect. Our accommodations were great. We had a queen size bet in our tent and could hear the baboons at night and while going to leave in the morning we had a family of giraffes walk in front of us. We never went hungry thats for sure. Three meals a day and always plenty to eat.
Our guide Kikitu Douglas picked us up at the airport on time and we spent four fantastic days with him on safari. He made sure we were able to see everything we wanted and worked extremely hard to make sure we saw everything there was to see. Kikitu is the best guide that we have ever had for any travel experience. We travel all over the world and nobody comes close to as hard as he works for his clients. He is friendly and seems to know everyone and is able to put you right in the middle of the action. He was even able to recommend a restaurant in Nairobi on our way back to the airport so we didn't have to be at the airport so long. I can't wait to return because the entire trip was amazing.
Thank you for making this such an amazing trip!
DE
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Review about Namibia by Yvonne Katrin
I lost my heart in Namibia / Africa! There are so many awesome landscapes, pure nature and this great animals!! The people I met were all friendly and I am sure I will spend much more time in Africa in the future.
CA
65+ years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
It was a remarkable trip
It was with some trepidation I booked my 10 day trip with Lifetime Experience Safaris. I found Jesse-Tom responded almost immediately with any concern I had. I was greeted at the airport by my guide and driver Gerald (even though my plane was 6 hours late). Originally I was not going to go to Murchison Falls only do the gorilla trek but was extremely glad I did go. The number of animals in Murchison Falls NP was unbelievable. Then when I did the boat tour on the Victoria Nile the bird watching was superb. Over the course of the tour I found Gerald to be courteous and very knowledgeable. I would have to write a book for all the memorable experiences whether it was rhinoceros visit, the animals in Murchison, the gorilla trek (actual highlight of the trip), the chimpanzee tour, the golden monkey tour, the Bagodi swamp walk, the scenic beauty of the Murchison Falls, the beautiful Rwenzori Mountains or the fabulous meals it was a true Lifetime Experience. I would highly recommend the safari, the tour company and especially (if you're lucky enough) Gerald as your guide.
CH
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Perfect Safari with a perfect and experienced driver!!
I've been on safari with my wife. We've had the bus just for ourselves. Our driver "Musa" was very very nice an he knew EVERYTHING about the animals... even everything about birds an animal-poo ;)
We've seen them all: on our first day a group of about 70!! elephants, wildbeasts, buffalos, cheetahs!!, a leopard walking along the road!!, rhinos, six times lions, even with little cubs, a lot of hippos (mara river lodge), few flamingos (lake nakuru) and of course lots of giraffes and zebras.
We've never been in danger, even as we've been right between the elephants, because our driver's had so much experience, that he knew, how to handle this possibly dangerous situation! I really really can recommend him and the lilac adventures limited!!! Book MUSA, he's the best!!!
Thank you very much for this wonderful, unforgettable experience (this was my first safari and won't be my last for sure!)!!! Sally and Natalie
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Wonderful Botswana / Okavango
A truly wonderful place for wildlife, abundant photo opportunities for elephants, giraffe, hippos, leopards, lions and vast amounts of birds. We travelled from Namibia into Botswana, stayed in Linyanti for three nights then down into the Okavango for another three nights. Magnificent trips on the water via mokoros led us close to hippos, bathing elephants and several types of birds including bee-eaters, storks and kingfishers. Great guides from the camps helped, lovely sundown drives meant we saw bat eared foxes and more leopards.
We did self-drive for two weeks - the roads are a 'challenge' through Chobe and Linyanti, basically deep sand. With hindsight we would've taken some off-road lessons before we went, we had to be rescued once by a passing Botswanan Army truck! If you don't fancy long drives, book with flights betwen camps. The road into Khwai where we stayed was more gravel.
