US
20-35 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Great tour! Very pleased
We booked a 3 day camping safari in Chobe with indigo safaris. The communication leading up to the trip was very good, clear and no questions left unanswered. Very prompt replies and good follow up. Kalahari tours is who actually serviced the trip and the logistics were perfect. I have absolutely no complaints about our tour and would do it again in a heartbeat. Highly recommended.
US
20-35 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Absolutely incredible!
We did a 3 day, 2 night tent camping safari in Chobe Park, Botswana and could not have been happier with the tour. We did not book directly with Kalahari, but wish we would have. In the future we will look for them specifically when looking into Safaris. The logistics were perfectly managed, the itinerary was adhered to, the staff were fantastic and our guide was phenomenal. We know that you cannot control the animals but you can make sure you're out at the best times to view them...our guide made sure of this. We were out at sunrise and sunset every day and as a result saw so many animals. We saw a pride of lions and at least 4 males on the first day, then the next morning more lions, cubs and even a leopard with 2 cubs. They did everything they could to make sure our chances of sightings were the best they could be. Kambo was our guide and he was incredibly knowledgeable and we enjoyed his sense of humor. Cannot say enough good things about this tour, absolutely phenomenal!
US
20-35 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Not what was advertised
We booked a safari to Kreuger Park in South Africa, a 4-day and 3-night stay. Our first night was in Tremisana Lodge, which is a budget lodge. The rooms were nothing fancy but were fine. The food was decent and the staff was helpful. The guides in the reserve were knowledgeable. We spent the next 2 nights at Marc's Treehouse Lodge. The treehouse experience was great, the food again was decent and the staff helpful. I was incredibly disappointed with our booking experience with Swahili Paradise. We were quoted in USD, which makes it easy for us but since the exchange rate changes we were told on arrival that we had to pay 5,000 rand more than we thought we needed to pay. We went back and forth with the woman at reception, she had to call Jimmy and clarify so that we paid what we had been quoted...which we found out was about 3,000 rand above what the price would have been if we had booked directly with Viva Safaris (the operators that actually provide the tour). We were told in our package that we would have 3 meals provided every day...the first day our pickup was at breakfast time so we didn't really expect much of anything for breakfast but we were surprised and quite irritated when we had to buy our lunch. Then on the day we went to Kreuger we again had to buy our lunch. And on the way back to Johannesburg we had to buy lunch a third time. This was simply false advertising. Also, our quote said we would have 2 full days in Kreuger park. Again, not true. We spent 1 day in Kreuger park - and we didn't even get there until after 10am (best animal viewing time is sunrise and sunset so this is TERRIBLE logistical timing). The other day that we thought we would be in Kreuger we spent 5 hours sitting at Tremisana lodge doing nothing, waiting for a short 90 minute game drive before they transferred us to Marc's camp. Incredibly disappointed that I spent >$1500 on this experience and it was not what we were told we were getting. Since then I have tried to contact Jimmy to ask about the above complaints and have received no response. This tells me that once they got our payment our experience means nothing to them. Strongly discourage you from booking with them. Do a self drive in Kreuger or book directly with Viva since they're the ones that actually service the trip. DO NOT waste your money booking with Swahili Paradise for Kreuger park.
US
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
ToKenya.com did a wonderful job making complicated arrangements for an 8-member family trip
The Kenya portion was really wonderfully planned. We visited 5 different parks, staying in very comfortable hotels /lodges with excellent facilities and meals. The wildlife and people were unique and special.
US
Africa with the Family One of the most enjoyable safaris we have taken.
We had a thorough series of communications with Bespoke prior to our trip, enabling us to coordinate our 8 family members itineraries from various parts of the US.
All of our requests were very efficiently handled with great grace and efficiency.
US
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Readily accessible We particularly liked that we could reach out to them at any time and have our q
It was a dream trip. I wouldn’t change anything. The guide, Raymond, was knowledgeable, personable and helpful. ToKenya.com was a great company to work with. I would use them again without question.
US
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Outstanding
Safari Tanzania
Amazing experience. Charles frame Bespoke was great from beginning to end. We had a conference call 2 weeks before travel and everything was just as planned. Leopard tours, guide Josefat was AMAZING!!! Would definitely do this again, and would recommend this company and Leopard tours to all."
US
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
It was an overall great experience with the driving, the conversation, the food, and accommodations
The tour was great and Elemes did a great job finding the animals and getting us close. He was always up for any requests. We got within a few feet of the lions due to his efforts. The food was good and filling. The accommodations were excellent and more than I expected. great room and bed. They sprayed for mosquitoes when we went to dinner and turned the bed down. I think it was the only night while in Tanzania where we did not get bit! We stopped to get some Masai blankets on the way home from a very local shop and paid half of what we would have paid at the regular stops. Our driver Elemes was willing to do whatever we asked and was an excellent driver.
DE
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Very very Nice Tour, I recommend it to everyone who wants to make a Safari with amazing memories!
Eveything was so easy. I din‘t had any expectations except for a random Safari, but it was so much more. Absolutely loved it!
Will do it again very soon :)
US
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
FANTASTIC JOURNEY thanks to Ute Sonnenberg's knowledge, expertise, hard work and time
Highly recommend Royo Ya Chui and Ute Sonnenberg. Ms. Sonnenberg will put together a first class trip within your price range.
We had been working on this trip for over five months and were about to give it up (because we had already communicated with four travel operators who just didn't listen to what we were interested in seeing and doing while in Africa) when Ute was referred to us. We worked with Ute approximately six months putting the trip together, and she read all our emails carefully and listened to all our requests, ideas, and questions. She gave extremely helpful suggestions and recommendations, and delivered far above what our expectations were.
Ute always responded to emails quickly, and even followed us during our trip to make sure everything was alright - we never waited more than fifteen minutes for a response to any text while traveling and using whats app.
Ute introduced us to the Trip Plan app, which we referred to several times during our month in Africa because it had the entire itinerary with all the necessary information, and one doesn’t need internet to use it.
All the accommodations Ute suggested were excellent (Kirkman Kamp, Qorokwe Camp, Pelo Camp, Chobe Game Lodge and Victoria Falls Hotel and the Rovos Train). We did a total of 20 land, water and walking safaris during our trip, which gave great diversity, and the diversity was a great recommendation from Ute. All, but two, of the safaris were fantastic with excellent guides. We were disappointed with the guide at Chobe Game Lodge and Ute immediately texted us and offered to get us a new guide when she found out.
We booked all our flights both international and within Africa, using Ute’s suggestions assisting us with times and airlines, which made it so much easier working with the airlines.
Overall it was an incredible trip, and we felt for an incredible price. We are most grateful to Ute for all of her time, patience, knowledge, suggestions, assistance and expertise with the entire trip. Highly recommend Ute Sonnenberg and her company Roho Ya Chui.