Cape Grace, A Fairmont Managed Hotel

Matthys van Aswegen of Discover Africa went above and beyond to plan a two week trip for myself and my family (6 travelers) through multiple African countries that was unforgettable!

There were many moving parts to our schedule, but every step was thoroughly planned out so there was no stress – first class service all around! We were provided tickets and vouchers beforehand, Matthys thoroughly walked us through the activities and schedule, and was very receptive to all of our feedback and requests.

The clear standout of our entire trip was our stay at Simbambili with our incredible guide and tracker, Doctor and Service. They are worth a request! Obviously a ton of work went into the planning up front, but Matthys was also very helpful and responsive to our last minute add-ons while we were in Africa. He was easy to contact and got back to all members of our party immediately.

We would use Discover Africa for our next African adventure in a heartbeat, and we recommend their services to you!

We had a great trip in Namibia. In 11 days we did a roundtrip, which was organised through online meetings. Every thing went on as agreed on and ver smoothly. We had a very good guide/driver, who explained us a lot about the country, politics, history and most importantly about the scenery we were enjoying as well as the wildlife we were seeing. The lodges we stayed in were very comfortable, the food was excellent. The trip itself was run by Namibia tours and Safari.

Our safari trip to South Africa was nothing short of spectacular and I would like to thank Chrizaan for putting together a wonderful itinerary for us. Our first contact with Discover Africa was with a consultant who was amazing and very personable. Our planning was over a year out and, unfortunately, she moved on but I appreciated Alice Lombard (Head of Sales and Operations) stepping in and referring us to Chrizaan. I couldn’t have asked for a better consultant.

Because of our location the time discrepancy made communication a bit challenging, but through emails, WhatsApp and Zoom calls the interactions with Chrizaan were all timely and efficient (1/2 hr blocks of time were set aside on Chrizaan’s schedule where one could book Zoom chats). I liked the web design they use to view options for personalized itineraries – descriptions on potential lodges, information on daily activities etc.

Our trip included a 4 day visit to Cape Town before our safari and Chrizaan arranged all the necessary flights, transfers and tours associated and everything went smoothly. Little things like sending us an email with our flight reservation so we could check in 24 hrs before our flight were much appreciated. If we had questions during our trip she was always available. We thought that this safari was going to be a once in a lifetime trip but our experience made us feel like it’s something we would love to do again and I wouldn’t hesitate to use Chrizaan and Discover Africa once again.

We just returned from our first African trip and had an absolutely amazing and memory making trip. We are usually self planners for our vacations but with essentially no knowledge I attempted to do research on Africa and felt overwhelmed. As suggested from different sites I did contact several companies and ultimately chose Discover Africa and was certainly glad we did.

We worked with Susan and after a lengthy phone conversation and some e-mail follow ups she put our itinerary together. Revisions were not an issue for her and Susan provided some great knowledge when it came to deciding our ultimate plans. In hindsight, I never would have been able to co-ordinate all the different aspects of accommodations, air and ground transfers, and paperwork the way she did. The availability of using the TravelKey App was great.

Our 15 day safari far exceeded our hopes. Each camp/lodge had their own unique qualities and all the guides and staff overflowed with knowledge and kindness. As I told Susan, when the experienced guide gets his camera out because the siting was rare or exceptional you know you have had a WOW moment.

Susan was great about keeping tabs on us and assuring all was going smoothly. She even contacted the lodge to assist in getting my husband some food items more to his liking. Our trip itinerary consisted of:
2N-Xugana Island Lodge- Okavango Delta
2N-Camp Xakanaxa- Moremi Game Reserve
4N- Camelthorn Lodge- East Hwanga National Park
2N Insika Lodge- Victoria Falls
4N Sable Camp- MalaMala Game Reserve

We have been blessed with many wonderful travels prior to this trip but it’s fair to say we will go back and explore more of what Africa has to offer and Discover Africa, and Susan will take the lead!

Discover Africa planned a fabulous trip for us! The travel planner came up with an itinerary that included everything we wanted; the trip was extremely well organized; the accommodations were lovely; and the activities were fun and interesting. We especially loved the Queen Victoria Hotel in Cape Town near the V&A waterfront and Beck’s Lodge in South Africa. The management at Beck’s was so friendly and helpful, our safari guide and tracker were extremely knowledgeable and personable, and the chefs were outstanding. I highly recommend Discover Africa!

We just completed our second African safari planned by Megan Warrington, this one to Botswana, and we couldn’t have been more pleased with our trip! Megan did a fantastic job of starting us out in the Kalahari (Tau Pan Camp) which was unique in its landscape and some of the animals that you see, including the Oryx. You don’t see as many animals as in other locations, which would be expected in the desert, but the experience was wonderful and we are glad we started there.

Our next stop was in the Okavango Delta (Splash Camp) which exceeded our lofty expectations. Before we made it to our camp from the landing strip we saw a leopard and hundreds of various animals including giraffes, zebras, elephants, etc. While in the delta we saw another leopard, a large pride of lions that were resting in trees, which is very unusual, hundreds (estimated at 600) buffalo and we actually experienced a lion hunt where a group of four siblings successfully secured a young buffalo. Our last stop was on the Kwando River (Lagoon Camp) and this was actually the jewel of the trip. There weren’t as many prey animals as in the delta, but predators were abundant and the hippos were unbelievable. We saw 3 leopards, two young brothers together and another very shy female, many lions from a couple of prides included several mature males, 2 cheetahs (brothers that travelled and hunted together), and a small pack of African Wild Dogs including 4 adults and 6 puppies.

Our guides and trackers were exceptional at all locations, but Mr. T stood out at Kwando’s Lagoon camp. All of our stays were at Kwando camps and I will write them a separate review, but they were fantastic! Back to Megan, we thought that the lengths of stays and the order of our stays was perfect and very well planned. She is so easy to work with and truly tries to meet your personal goals and experiences for the trip. We thought this may be our last trip to Africa, but we are now fully onboard to come back, likely in a few years with our grown children. There is no question that we will revisit Botswana, we can’t say enough about the people, the landscape and the wildlife, they are all lovely.