US
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Most amazing tour, so filled with beautiful scenery, superb animals and vast guide knowledge.
Niko and Susan are wonderful people. Every connection was perfectly timed, every detail mastered. Niko and the other guides were extremely knowledgeable and enthusiastic. They answered all 7 million of my questions with great detail and humor. We learned about the people of Kenya and Tanzania as well as the amazing wildlife. I travel throughout the world on educational and photography adventures. This safari was by far my greatest adventure. Does the fact that I took over 10,000 photos tell you the caliber of this trip? I plan on returning to Africa and traveling with Destination Consultants with my university students.
NZ
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Top value for money Safari experience
From the time we were picked up from the plane we were made welcome. The friendly unpretentious staff, home style food, and traditional accommodations all combined to make our Safari experience one we will remember always. Over our 4 days we met some great people from all around the world and were lucky to see all the animals on our "wish list". Well done Viva, we fully recommend you to anyone who asks.
AE
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
The customer service for axis is really good. The guys reply back quite instantly answering all quer
As a tour operator they are nice. However you would need to specify your requirements accordingly for them to arrange the same .
US
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
An Exceptional Experience
Mala Mala was a 5 star experience all around. Game viewing exceeded expectations. We saw the Big 5 in the first day of our four day trip. But each day had its own highlights -- lions stalking, leopards mating, giraffes necking, a leopard munching on an impala snack, elephants drinking at the river, and cheetahs walking along as cool as you please. Admittedly, we were lucky but both rangers talented at finding game and the dry weather which caused the game to hang near the river, helped. At Mala Mala, the guests spend most of day with their assigned ranger. You are with them not only for game drives but also for meals and drinks at the bar beforehand. So you need to get along with these guys to make it an enjoyable experience. However, I saw no one that wasn't enjoying interacting with the rangers, that includes my group who enjoyed hanging with Daniel over the four days. The time and social pressure on the rangers is large, but they all seemed handle it with aplomb. Daniel not only knew where to look, he was very knowledgeable about all the animals we saw (including numerous birds), but was also good at explaining their behavior, or, more to the point, the reason for their behavior. One other ranger-positive remark: the game drives take place very early and late in the day and with the sun low in the sky, back lighting and shadows make for tough photographs. These guys were particularly adept, when possible, at maneuvering the truck around to get a good, close, well lit shot. Now, they can't drive over logs or cross rivers to do this, but if they could achieve a good position, they would. Our rooms were spacious and well cared for. They have complimentary laundry service, a very important feature when you can only carry 20 kilos of luggage for an 11 day trip. The food was tasty and well prepared. Meals were buffets which was helpful in controlling quantities. Final point: work with your travel agent in getting to the camp. Mala Mala has a airstrip 15 minutes from the main lodge. Make sure you can access the camp via this airstrip as opposed to the two hour drive from Nelspruit that we experienced!
IT
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Review about Tarangire National Park by diego
Amazing, we seen a lion's hunting ad a very big lion's family
IT
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Really exciting
One of the most exciting safari that I have done. The scenery is fantastic and the landscapes are gorgeous. We stayed at Serengeti for three night in a new lodge that was very comfortable. During the safari we have been lucky to observe fantastic hunting scenes, and all kind of animals Cheetahs, Lions, Buffalos, Elephants, Leopards and so on.
The Weather has been fantastic, every day sunny, dry and not so hot. One of the best thing of the winter season is the absence of mosquitos.
US
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Review about South Africa by coldfish88
In my limited experience, I find that South Africa has good transportation infrastructure and management to easily get you to the camps, and then has the great facilities in private camps that make it possible to maximize the "bush vibe."
US
Feedback on trip
We are very inexperienced and somewhat timid travellers and were quite nervous about many aspects of visiting Africa. However I was impressed by the detailed information which we received beforehand and any minor concerns we had were addressed by Safarihub staff.
The trip also went flawlessly, much to our relief.
US
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Top notch. JDA curated a unique safari itinerary based on our interests/needs. Highly recommend!
Patrick and Journey Discovering Africa are absolutely phenomenal!!! They plan every aspect of your trip so you can relax and completely enjoy your safari holiday. Patrick planned an 8 day / 7 night safari in Botswana, which included 3 different camps, 3 flights and an overland border crossing. Here's why I loved my experience with JDA:
1) Speedy communication. Patrick emailed and called me within 12 hours of my initial request.
2) Customized trip for your specific needs. The package on safaribookings.com was a suggested itinerary and Patrick explained that my friend and I could modify the route (including the start and end points), camps/lodges, number of nights, etc.
3) Knowledge of safari camps. There's endless info about all the different camps online, and it's pretty overwhelming. However, Patrick asked us about our interests/personalities, travel style, safari expectations, budget, things we wanted to see, etc. Based on that info, he curated a unique trip just for us. All 3 camps were perfect.
4) Handles last minute requests. Patrick must of thought I was crazy when I said our desired dates were less than 2 weeks away. August is peak season in the Okavango, but somehow he found availability at the camps and on the small planes used for transport between camps/lodges. I'm still not sure how he managed it all in 1.5 days. Really impressive!
5) Sit back, relax and enjoy. Once we arrived at the initial meeting point, we were always with a handler (outside of relax time) until the next handler greeted us.
Overall, I'd highly recommend Patrick and JDA. In fact, we're already used them again to coordinate another last minute safari in Etosha to find rhinos. We were fortunate enough to see black and white rhinos and even saw them mating!
US
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Rwanda and DRC in 11 Days
Frank did an amazing job trying to juggle our 5 days in Rwanda with 6 additional days in DRC that we asked him to organize for us. Our itinerary changed at the last minute as two Volcanoes NP mountain gorilla permits came up just before we left home (yay!) and Frank just moved everything around without any issues. He's a great driver and a very knowledgable guide and we loved criss crossing Rwanda with him.
He then connected us with his associate for our DRC - Goma to Bukavu segment and although we had a few issues with unexpected hotel rate increases and the visa process, we managed to do it all. DRC is not for the faint of heart! Finally Frank located and coordinated with D'jambo in Kinshasa to get us to the bonobos and they did a fantastic job as well.
Thanks for the awesome tour Frank and Golden Rwanda! One note - make sure you arrive at the front gate of Akagera NP before 6PM or you'll end up in protracted discussions with NP and lodge personnel before they let you in! :-)
Mahalo Nui Loa Frank - hoping you do make it out here to Hawaii!