Zambia Big Five Safari Review

Megan was great at putting together trip options when we were first starting out search. I loved how she laid out the options and worked with us based on our priorities (game drives!).

The links that she sent us were pretty good at laying out the properties and such, but the itinerary (down to the nitty gritty) was a little confusing. We weren’t entirely sure how many activities we’d have each day at each location. We were a little surprised that the days leading up to the event we didn’t hear from anyone from the lodge group or from Discover Africa – everything worked out great, but we were a little nervous as we’d never been to Africa and weren’t quite sure what to expect.

The other point of confusion was that our trip was always quoted to us in USD and we were told that if we booked by a certain date we’d be guaranteed that rate, however when we were actually charged on our credit card it was charged in ZAR so through the exchange rate it came out higher than what we had been quoted in USD. I understand why this needed to happen, but I think it should have been clear that the quote was actually in ZAR and that the exchange rate would obviously fluctuate.

The trip itself through Sanctuary Retreats was phenomenal! They really took care of us starting from when we stepped out of the airport in Zambia. I love how each of their properties had different activity options so you could do more than just game drives (even though those were the show-stoppers) – but I really enjoyed the mix of water/boating activities as well.

We saw all of the Big 5 on our trip and loved how we had the same guide for the duration at each camp. Also be prepared that you will be VERY well fed!