JP
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Amazing experience. Well fitted to my request
We asked for a tour which is doable in one day. And we had the lunch to see the Kilimanjaro. They arranged everything, car, lunch, guide, water, raincoats. Amazing !
DE
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Perfect Safari Tour
I did the 1-day safari from Diani Beach and the trip to Waisini and had a really good time. I always felt safe during my tours!
Special thanks to my driver Omar for driving so well and spotting my favorite wildlife animals during the safari. I definitely collected lots of memories that were worth the money!
Big thank you Max for the whole (spontaneous) organization and even making it possible to make the trips for a solo traveler ;)
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Absolutely amazing
Timely communication with well made out plans for trips
Got us the best prices…
IT
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
efficient
Very good rangers, lovely lodges, fantastic parks!!! Food in lodges very repetitive, this is the only negative point. All the rest great
65+ years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Southern African Tours made our family trip a huge success
My wife and I had the goal to return to southern Africa ever since we took our elementary children to Zimbabwe in 1989 and 1993. It finally seemed that 2022 would be the year. However, this time our family of four had grown to 11, including our children’s spouses and five grandchildren spread out in both Ohio and Wisconsin. Our age span was from 8 to 70, quite a challenge to coordinate.
After lots of research and interviewing Craig and Bianca on Zoom, we finally made the choice. We weren’t the easiest group to work with considering our varied ages and expectations, but with regular communication we were able to develop a wonderful two-week itinerary for South Africa, Zimbabwe and a day trip to Botswana. We had some definite things that we wanted and they had a wealth of ideas. We also had financial restrictions that they were able to work within.
When we put everything together, it turned out to be our family’s trip-of-a-lifetime. We were able to tour Cape Town and the surrounding area. It was stunning. Then we moved on to Blyde River Canyon and Kruger National Park. We saw many natural wonders that we will remember for years to come. After that, we flew to Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe. It was even more spectacular than we had remembered. If you’re at the Falls, make sure that you don’t miss the opportunity for a day trip to Chobe National Park in Botswana. You enter the park on safari vehicles and come out by boat. It was spectacular being up close to crocs, many hippos sunning themselves and in the water, and this was topped off by watching an elephant family swim across the river.
Southern African Tours worked out everything – the in-Africa flights, ground transportation and excursions. Both Craig and Bianca were the keys to the trip’s success. They were flexible, accommodating and caring as well as a wealth of knowledge. A real bonus is that our family has new friends in South Africa.
We highly recommend Southern African Tours for your future trip’s guide. They’re the best!
NO
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
The tour operator was great. Always available and extremely professional.
I was fortunate enough to have an amazing and experienced guide with the name of Ronald on the trip to Murchison Falls National Park . Ronald made the trip memorable with his knowledge of the different animals and calm and polite manner. All in all great experience.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Very responsive and helpful
The service is great. I thoroughly enjoyed the experience.
AE
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Amazing hospitality and experience
Everything was perfect from the time we were picked up at the airport until the time we were dropped back. The travel, the game drive and the stay- planned perfectly. Our host sammy was knowledgeable and put in a lot of effort to ensure we had the right sightings. Definitely recommend
CA
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Great time spent at Amboseli
My babe and I have just returned from Amboseli after an amazing 3 days with James. It’s a long way from Nairobi and the 3 day tour entails a very early start but we had an incredible safari. We saw close to 100 elephants, often at really close quarters, plus a wide array of other species including hippos, zebra, wildebeest, hyena, kudu, baboons and many different types of birds to name.
I definitely recommend Savannah Woods Safaris for making this booking a success. It was an awesome experience.
James is very knowledgeable and very friendly. He certainly made every effort to make sure we had a great day.
EC
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Great safari...incredible guide...terrible accomodations.
Our family, parents and four children, chose to go with this safari due to their good communication and their package looked very similar to other budget safaris. The agency does a good job communicating and I felt they were very honest about prices and surcharges they would need to pass on to the client (for instance 5% if you use a credit card). They sent us with a great guide, Mike was his name, and the vehicle for travel was ideal as it was a Land Cruiser with even some modern conveniences like USB charging (sorry, no air conditioning). Somethings cannot be helped, but we spent the first half day of our tour in the heat of a gas station trying to fix the land cruiser.
Thankfully the breakdown had not been too far out of Nairobi and we were still able to get parts and still make it to Masai Mara where we arrived at the tent camp greeted by the host in the dark. They apologized for the black out in electricity and said the generator would operate from 7 PM to 5 AM. Again, this is to be expected for Africa. What is not to be expected is that they had no towels for us and no hot water. After a long day sitting at a gas station and eating dust during the travel, you want a shower. Unfortunately on our second day returning the hostess said again they did not have any towels that were dry, however, unbeknownst to her one of the other workers had kept us back some but we didn't receive those until the few of us had already showered and used sheets to dry off with. In general I could never recommend this tent camp. It was run by young people who kept disco music blaring at full volume. When people go on Safari, they want to be in tune with nature and even have some places outside to sit, read, or observe the incredible scenery that can be found only in this unique part of the world. You will not find such peace at camp Miti Mindi.
The redeeming part of this trip was our day of Safari. We were able to observe four of the big five at close range. Our guide was great with the family and children; I certainly wouldn't blame him for the accommodation problems. We saw both a recent lion and leopard kill, as well as lions mating! One thing to be prepared for is that the package says that you can visit in Mosai Village but they charge 10 pounds per person. We opted NOT to do this part of the journey due to this unforeseen extra cost.
So I gave the trip an average rating but our full day safari would have gotten "exceptional." If magical safaris can choose their tent camps better, this budget safari will be exceptional as well.
