Safari Reviews & Testimonials

Decided to go on my first safari holiday this year and as Discover Africa was highly rated I used them and boy they were BRILLIANT! Based in Cape Town, my advisor was the EXCELLENT Vihann.

My first contact was a video call with him and he was very competent, knowledgeable and helpful. I told Vihann the sort of holiday I wanted and lo and behold within a couple of days I had received and EXCELLENT QUOTATION.

It was for a 10-day holiday including a 4-day safari at the excellent Kambaku River Sands in Timbavati in greater Kruger followed by 4 days on Cape Town touring the beautiful Western Cape privately chauffeured in my own luxury car. Vihann’s service throughout was excellent including providing me with all the information I needed step by step in organised/chronological order and replying to my ‘many’ enquiries within a day or so.

If you want an excellent Travel Agent/Tour Operator in Africa THE GO TO PLACE IS DISCOVER AFRICA.

Though seasoned travelers, our safari was a trip that my husband and I had been dreaming of for years. Not wanting to go with a preplanned itinerary or with a tour group, we decided to do a private, custom tour and sought a safari tour company that could take our ideas and help us refine them into the perfect trip for us without being put into the cookie-cutter mold that many safari companies offer even on their custom trips. After talking with several tour operators, we came upon Susan Swanepoel at Discover Africa. What a find!

She listened and patiently helped us put together the perfect itinerary for us. She answered our numerous questions, responded quickly despite the time difference, and gave honest feedback on ideas and camps without trying to push her own company’s agenda. After booking, and all during the trip, she was there. The same was true of every single person we interacted with from Discover Africa – if they were picking us up from the airport, they were there waiting. When we mentioned we’d like to eat where the locals do in Arusha on our one-day layover before heading to the bush, our local contact set it up and ate lunch with us. When we messaged Susan with a small change we’d like to make halfway during the trip, she made it happen.

The private guides she helped us arrange at every camp were tremendous. Every aspect of the trip was seamless. Being used to having to manage our own flight transfers, getting through immigration on our own, solving any issues that might arise ourselves etc. what a pleasant surprise to have someone with us every step of the way without being on an organized tour. Susan checked in with us almost daily to make sure everything was going as we expected. I would highly recommend Discover Africa, and Susan in particular, to anyone looking to ‘do their own thing’ on safari – fantastic tour operator!

BEST TRIP BY FAR! My wife and I visited South Africa this September, and Discover Africa proposed a tailored itinerary for us after carefully understanding what we’re looking for and our budget and were extremely helpful and accommodating to changes during the planning. Everything was well communicated and transparent, as they provide a detailed itinerary with pictures of every proposed lodge and an extensive list of what is offered in each place, which adds to the excitement and build up for the holiday 🙂 Unfortunately, we had a major delay in our first flight from Malta and ended up missing our connecting flight to Johannesburg, and this is where the dedication and professionalism of Discover Africa (our contact person was Adelle Bell, who literally saved our holiday!), as they quickly reacted and amended the itinerary of our first day to ensure we still make it and not disrupt the original plan, even on a Sunday!

Then, once we got there, we were AMAZED by how everything even much better than we were expecting! We stayed at Jock Safari Lodge in Southern Kruger and at Kambaku River Lodge in Timbavati. Both lodges are extremely luxurious and exclusive, and the game drives (we had 8 in total) were all equally exciting and eventful! The rangers and trackers at both lodges were really good and managed to give us some of the most spectacular sightings, including a leopard eating its prey up on a tree, a pack of wild dogs hunting, and a pride of young lions, just to mention a few! We were also super lucky to see a group of around 30 elephants crossing right in front of us from our terrace at Jock, and also a hippo eating right outside our room at Kambaku! On our final day we did the Panoramic Route and stayed at Oliver’s in White River. It’s clear to me that all of Discover Africa’s partners (lodges, drivers etc) are carefully selected to provide the best service possible, and they did.

I would definitely recommend Discover Africa, and will surely contact them again for our next trip in Africa 🙂

Perfection does begin to describe how well-planned and executed our trip was. Table Bay Hotel was fantastic. The staff was very accommodating and the breakfast buffet was no exaggeration “the best in Capetown.” Paul was our guide in Capetown and was outstanding.

Victoria Falls River Lodge was the best lodge we ever experienced. The staff outdid themselves and the food was great. “Polite” was our guide for the entire stay and he is the best guide ever.

We are highly experienced travelers and this was our best trip ever. I do not hesitate to recommend Discover Africa.

Our trip was everything and more. Matthys from Discover Africa was very professional and knowledgeable. Easy to make contact with and listened, working with me to put together our trip. Clearly not his first rodeo. The places and safaris we did, were so well organised. Not touristy, home-cooked food, local enthusiastic guides. Incredible experience. Highly recommend Discover Africa!

When preparing the trip, communication was fluent, and answers to questions were always fast. The information provided was fully reliable and accurate. The trip ran without any problem, and when there was a minor incident (a delay in a transfer), the agent was available and supported us in solving it. The rest of the trip was just perfect. Hotels and transfers met our expectations.

From the outset the person who dealt with my booking was just so helpful, I knew what I wanted from my trip but had no idea how to go about it. I gave Diane at Discover Africa an idea of what I was looking for and she absolutely nailed it for me. From the lodges, I stayed to the internal flights and taxi transfers. Well done Diane, well done Discover Africa.

We were debating whether to book via an agent or do it ourselves as we are looking for malaria free safari. Glad we booked with Discover Africa, you cannot beat local knowledge. We were in Cape Town, Johannesburg and Madikwe Hill Game Reserve. They tailor-made our trip including hotels private transfers and flights, and luxuries all the way. Adelle informed the hotels about my leg injury and we were given easily accessible rooms. Thoroughly enjoyed our stay. Highly recommended!

Discover Africa curated a spectacular safari trip for me. It was my very first safari (solo traveller), and I didn’t have many specific suggestions other than wanting a genuine safari experience in Botswana with a focus on animals. I put my trust in the hands of Antoinette, a safari travel experts. She created an amazing itinerary that allowed me to visit three different places in Botswana: Makgadikgadi Pans National Park, Moremi Game Reserve, and Chobe National Park, as well as the famous Victoria Falls on the Zimbabwean side. I also had the opportunity to experience accommodation in both camps and lodges to determine what best suited me.

I love nature and don’t feel comfortable in overcrowded places. The diversity of animals was breathtaking. The accommodation was luxurious while blending nicely into the bush environment. Everything went very smoothly, from my airport pickup to my departure home. The quality of accommodation, food, service, and management—particularly at Leroo La Tau and Camp Moremi—was among the kindest I have ever encountered.

I highly recommend Discover Africa as your tour operator. I will definitely work with them in the future.

Discover Africa organized a perfect tailor-made experience for us. They understood our needs well and were by far the most flexible, the most proactive and the fastest.

The safari was fantastic, and Cape Town was amazing. My only regrets, it was not the best time of the year to go, and they could have warned us better. The flat in Cape Town was noisy as too close to the road.

My wife and I wanted to visit South Africa and knew it had plenty of different hot spots to visit, however, we weren’t sure what locations to choose or what hotel accommodations to stay at. After reaching out to Diane at Safari Bookings, she set up a phone call with us and asked us everything we’d like to do while in the country. A few days later, she had set up the perfect itinerary for what we were looking for.

It included everything from in-country flights to hotel reservations, as well as scheduled transportation.

We just returned from our trip and we couldn’t have been happier with how everything went. Everything that Diane set up for us was spot on for what we were looking at. Could not recommend enough!

Stayed at Kruger Shalati – The Train on the Bridge. Wonderful, unforgettable experience. Excellent communication and organisation from Discover Africa Safaris. Would highly recommend!