20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Perfect first safari experience!
We first spoke with Tiago from Spirit of Kenya back in 2019 when we originally booked our trip to Kenya, for July 2020. With everything that then unfolded with the Covid-19 pandemic, we were forced to reschedule our planned trip to 2021, and subsequently to 2022. Tiago was nothing but incredibly helpful, absolutely nothing was too much hassle and he was always so quick to respond to queries. He explained everything perfectly, and made us feel at ease ahead of traveling. We had always dreamed of staying at Giraffe Manor, and despite the hotel being fully booked on our desired date, Tiago continued to follow up with the hotel for any cancellations and we were able to secure a room for our trip! The safari experience was incredible, from the moment we landed in Kenya we were looked after by Spirit of Kenya staff members, who ensured seamless transfers to and from airports. Our guide while in the Maasai Mara was called Joseph, who was also excellent! He was really knowledgable and ensured our needs were catered for at all times. We stayed at the Neptune Mara Rianta camp, and we cannot recommend the staff / accommodation and food highly enough! Now we're home, and can reflect on the trip of a lifetime, we can say wholeheartedly that we would definitely use Spirit of Kenya to book any future trips!
IT
20-35 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Best safari drive of my life
I have been to drives many other times, but this time was just perfect. The tour operator offers affordable but still very well organized safaris. I went to the Masai Mara, and thanks to our amazing guide Yasin we had just the most stunning experience. We saw all the big cats, even the most shy ones and the whole experience was great, as Yasin was also able to adjust the schedule according to our necessities. I will definitely go again and recommend this tour operator.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Great day out
A fantastic day out. Our driver/guide Wiggie (who drove us from Sandton to Pilanesburg) was really friendly, informative and prompt. Our guide in the park, Desmond was knowledgeable, friendly and very funny.
Would 100% recommend this experience to anyone looking for an amazing safari experience.
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Professional, honest, generous team….dreams come true
This is not a short review but please bear with me…..
I first got in touch with Compass Odyssey after reading a number of reviews way back in 2019. Their bio was encouraging given that Darren and Kate are both Australian expats with travel, tourism and nature based backgrounds. My background is travel and tourism and Australian so I knew what i was looking for in an agent to handle our booking (namely good knowledge, great level of service and efficiency). What I discovered very quickly was I had found exactly the people upon whom I could trust.
Initially the plan was to visited South Africa in March 2020 …… and we all know what happened that year!
Granted I had some ideas of what we wanted to do for our trip but Darren spent time (over email) getting an even deeper understanding of our style of travel (independent), standard and type of accommodation we preferred and how we saw the trip unfolding all of which was evident when Darren presented the initial itinerary to me. Not much changed from then in terms of itinerary structure which looked like:
3 nights Cape Town, self drive along the Garden Route to the Eastern Cape and the Drakensburg Mountains to Hoedspruit for 2 weeks (approx 3500 kilometres), 3 nights our at a private game reserve in Greater Kruger, flights to and from Victoria Falls (2 nights) and 3 nights back in Johannesburg ….just a little over 4 weeks.
Things were ticking along nicely and the nasty little bug called COVID-19 struck, Australia closed its international borders on the day we were due to depart! This is when Darren and Kate really earned their stripes with us. Our travel insurance was problematic, we still wanted to go to South Africa and we’d paid in full. What to do? Darren and Kate negotiated with the various accommodation properties whom agreed to hold our monies until late 2021. Excellent! But our borders remained closed and more negotiating saw monies being held until the end of 2022.
Our borders opened at the end of 2021, I changed our dates to Aug/Sep departure, Darren weaved his magic with the operators and we have just completed an amazing 4 weeks in South Africa. Granted a few places had closed their doors due to the pandemic but Darren was able to find same for same in most cases so there was some out of pocket but it could have been a whole lot worse.
Compass’ communication is professional, timely, courteous and efficient. No question is too small or silly and in fact is encouraged throughout the process.
Compass’ product knowledge is excellent.
Compass’ customer service is outstanding ….nothing I’ve not experienced in many, many years.
Compass’ final documentation to you is unbelievable….everything you need to know before you go.
Compass Odyssey are not about churning the customers through but rather befriending them and really getting to know and understand expectations with genuine care and understanding.
Whilst in Sth Af Darren communicated with us a few times to see how things were going, making sure the accommodation properties were expecting us. Again I’ve never experienced this level of service.
The trip was memorable, so well planned and executed….they even timed a nice luxury 2 day break in the middle of what was a very busy trip….so well timed and appreciated.
Even though the pandemic delayed our trip for 2.5 years the end result was so well worth the wait and I’m so grateful to Darren and Kate for everything they did to ensure that this was possible.
You can’t go wrong in using Compass Odyssey as your African travel agent and yes I have already recommended them to friends and will use them again should we venture to back Africa (there’s so much more to explore!)
5*+++
20-35 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
He was all i expected. So amazing, informed and linguistic
Its avery good and reliable company that i would use now and again.
So time keeping when it comes to serving tourists.
What you pay for is what you get and sometimes even more.
The three times i have travelled with Great Lions safari have been memorable and iam hoping to work with them more!.
SG
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Adventure of a lifetime
Lots of wildlife. Gorgeous setting. High tourism and resort presence diminish bush vibe. Focused on mammals and birding. Lameck is the best safari guide.
Highly recommend Migration Venture Africa.
CH
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Horrible experience
We are of the opinion that we have been scammed by this company. We paid them but they never showed up to get us at the hotel. They said they will reimburse us but at the time of writing this review we still got no money back. I have all the proofs from the airlines companies and hotel where we were supposed to stay, that the bookings were never made. We advise against booking with Capture Tanzania. You can contact me for proofs.
ES
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Fantastic experience
Experience with them has been fantastic! In 4 days of Safari we have seen many animals (including the Big five) and we have enjoyed a lot. Great food from Salim's hand. The rest in the tents is great, they provide you with everything you need (a warm jacket, a pillow and a good mat). I would hire the Safari with them again without hesitation, they are very attentive and care about doing their job well. Thank you!!!
US
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Fantastic custom 5-day/4-night Maasai Mara safari with Mike
I contacted Tazama Africa Holidays to see if they could do a custom 5 day, 4 night Maasai Mara safari for me, my brother, his wife and their two adult children - a total of five of us. I inquired about a custom safari as I wanted to combine Maasai Mara with the Serengeti and Ngorongoro in Tanzania. And while there are companies that include both Kenya and Tanzania, they seemed to include other parks. I wanted to focus on those three areas and doing a custom safari and piecing the two countries together allowed me to do just that by crossing from Maasai Mara into Tanzania at Isebania.
The communication with Antony was outstanding. He was very responsive and said he could arrange for our guide to drop us off at the border at Isebania. He gave excellent instructions for payment via wire transfer. He even upgraded our vehicle to a high-end land cruiser with roll-up windows for a more open viewing experience. Antony booked our accommodations at Mara Simba Lodge, which was very nice. The accommodations, food and staff at Mara Simba Lodge were excellent.
As good and seamless as my interaction with Antony was, it was our tour guide, Mike, who made our Maasai Mara experience truly memorable. It rained quite a bit on our first afternoon game drive, but Mike got us back to the lodge without any trouble. With over 16 years' experience in leading safaris, Mike knows the Mara like the back of his hand. He has even lead BBC film crews when they have come to the Mara to film documentaries. We saw so many animals with Mike: lions and their cubs, several cheetahs, leopards, elephants, giraffes, wildebeest, etc. Mike was constantly on his radio communicating with other guides and scanning the horizon for wildlife. With an uncanny ability of anticipating where an animal was headed, Mike would maneuver the vehicle to get us into the best spots for photographing the wildlife, all while being respectful of the other drivers and the natural habitat. Somehow, and I'm not sure how, he spotted a lioness in a tree just before it attacked a wildebeest. Mike also took time to answer all of our questions regarding animal behavior and Kenyan culture in general. He even explained the tribal culture in Kenya. We felt lucky to have had Mike as our guide. He was truly a joy to be around. By the end of the safari, he felt like our friend.
Because we had several days in the Mara, we were able to explore it in-depth without feeling rushed. We even did a full day in the Mara Triangle, a personal highlight for me. We started our game drives early around 6:30AM, for the best light, and usually ended around 5 or 6 PM.
I highly recommend Tazama Africa Holidays. You will not regret booking your safari with Antony and Tazama Africa Holidays.
CH
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Aron and the team was very passionate to provide me the best experience!
It was the best tour I have participated along my travels. The guides wanted to make sure I have the best experience, helped by easy communication, flexibility about activities and punctuality.
In case Aron you see it, thanks a lot for the experience!