Sabi Sand, Okavango Delta and Central Kalahari Safari

Our entire experience was magnificent. Everything was in place and perfectly reliable. We wanted for nothing and were taken care of every step of the way. To use the word “life changing” seems so cliché, but my husband and I both found the whole trip an amazing experience. From the first day we felt like we were in good hands. Communications from the start of planning to our trip home were clear and precise.

Booking with Justin at Discover Africa, to plan my safari and Victoria Falls adventure turned out to be the best choice I made. Right from the start, Justin was friendly, responsive, and incredibly thorough—he answered all my questions and provided a detailed itinerary with great accommodation and tour options.

The wildlife encounters were amazing, thanks to local guides, and Victoria Falls was spectacular.

I really appreciated how Justin checked in with me throughout the entire trip to make sure everything was perfect and answered any questions.

My experience with Discover Africa was exceptional, and I couldn’t be more grateful. I’d recommend Justin and the Discover Africa agency to anyone without hesitation.

I went on a safari to Sabi Sands this year, and Discover Africa arranged the perfect 5 day stay for me. I was planning on a fairly short notice of 2 months considering Oct is high season in the sands, but Barry Greenshields was able to fetch some great accommodation options for me.

He recommended the Sabi Sabi little Bush Camp and it was absolutely amazing; the wildlife experience, the accommodation, cleanliness of the camp, facilities, the food, guides and the staff was all top notch. Being a photography hobbyist, I had laid out my expectations of getting some great photos of wildlife especially big cats in the safari, and surely enough I managed to have some amazing sightings on Lions and the elusive Leopard.

I had quite a few Leopard sightings, during the day as well as in the night, making for some amazing photos. Other than the big 5, I also got to see some very beautiful birds which are always a great subject for photos along with other prey animals as well.

Being a tour operator, I think the real value the company can offer is i) giving accommodation recommendation based on experience (actual stay experience is up to the accommodation management but the tour operator must know what it is like and whether it would meet the client’s expectation), ii) effective and responsive communication, iii) being transparent with costs and iv) ensuring the booking process is smooth and the client does not experience hiccups on the logistics or payments etc.

I was very happy that Barry was great in all these areas – from the planning process, from recommending the accommodation, accounting for my budget and tending to all my queries. Communication was fast and responsive with all channels available i.e. email, WhatsApp, call etc and I didn’t have to wait long for getting responses despite it being busy season. He was also very transparent with trip costs i.e. the accommodation cost, flight ticket and transfer cost etc so that I would know exactly what I am paying for and make adjustments accordingly to suit my budget.

Sometimes tour operators do not provide cost breakups since the client would then make comparisons, but I believe that if your service is good, you have fair prices and a host of accommodations to choose from then there shouldn’t be anything to hide – the client will recognize value and pay for it accordingly. They had booked air tickets as well to and from Johannesburg and every thing was super smooth throughout the trip – I just had to sit back and enjoy the trip. The payment process was also very easy – i.e. no “5% extra if you pay by credit card”, etc.

If I go to South Africa again, I would definitely book with Discover Africa again.

We had a great experience planning our holiday with Discover Africa, and especially with Diane. She set up an initial Zoom call to help understand our wishes for planning a memorable first time on safari. She was flexible and found ways to adjust the itinerary when I asked about changes (e.g., swapping out a portion of the holiday, adding a private tour, etc.). When we found ourselves ill during the trip, Diane was a lifesaver. We had to change a portion of our itinerary, and she did it all promptly, which was such a relief, allowing us to relax and get better before our safari portion of the trip started. It would have been such a pain if we had to manage ourselves. She even coordinated with the hotel to send a doctor to our room.

On a whole, all the hotel bookings were excellent – great locations, rooms, and breakfast options. Our transfers were always on time and made getting around so convenient. The safari was certainly the highlight, and we couldn’t have asked for a better experience. We saw so many animals on game drives, and even from our room. The staff and service, including the food, was fantastic. I know we’ll want to have another safari experience in the future and will come back to booking with Discover Africa.

There really aren’t enough superlatives to describe this trip. Because we didn’t have a hand in planning it (our friend who invited us to join them did) we were a little nervous about all the opportunities for problems to arise (i.e., in the many transfers and handovers required to move from place to place, company to company, and country to country.)

We needn’t have worried one bit. Every step of the way the transfers were perfect; there was ALWAYS someone at the other end waiting for us. If I had any questions along the way I could just message our rep (Megan- the best!) and she would clarify in a very timely way.

Every place we stayed was great; every adventure perfectly fitted us. I would not change a single thing in our entire three-week adventure. I write a kind of travel blog and have people follow all my trips. Everyone was amazed at the things we did and saw, and many are wanting to follow our path and take this journey themselves.

And I encourage them to work with Discover Africa because everything was perfect. I travel a lot and have known my share of travel issues, but I did not have to do anything on this trip but enjoy it. And we enjoyed it immensely!

Megan arranged a trip that was exactly what we wanted. She kept in touch frequently, got us the best deal and the tour more than exceeded our expectations.