Mantis Akagera Game Lodge

This was a well organized trip that smoothly transitioned us from one adventure to the next. All our transfers from hotels to airport to safari lodges were professional, courteous, and timely. We loved the places that were recommended and felt the pace of our trip was just right.

Jeanne's Southern Africa Experience

From start to finish, every phase of our trip was seamless. From the man who greeted us at Nairobi airport when we arrived to the woman who assisted us at our departure, we were taken care of perfectly. Our lodges at Saruni Samburu and Saruni Mara were beautiful. The staff was welcoming and we had genuine conversations that gave us an appreciation of their culture. Matthys at Discover Africa listened to our priorities. He communicated well and made our remarkable safari to Kenya a dream come true.

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!

I started planning my Africa safari/vacation about two years ago with the help of Diane, and was transitioned to Chrizaan about halfway through my timeline. There was zero issues with changing my guide, and both ladies were SUPER lovely to work with. I was able to see and do everything I dreamed of between Zimbabwe and South Africa, and wouldn’t have been able to do this without the team at Discover Africa. I even added an extra person a few months after booking, and was able to seamlessly integrate her into my travels.

We were able to see the Big 5, almost all of the Beautiful 5 (except a cheetah), and the Ugly 5! In addition to Victoria Falls, the Zambezi River, Cape Town, Johannesburg, the wine lands of Cape Town, many white rhinos, zebra, monkeys, wild dogs, the list goes ON.

The different lodges were amazing, super well kept, and the staff, guides, and trackers were exceptional. This trip was unlike anything I’ve ever experienced, and having a dedicated guide who understood everything I wanted to do made the whole journey as easy as can be. Chrizaan was so easy to contact and made this truly the trip of a lifetime for me!

A Truly Unforgettable Journey – Thank You, Megan! I wanted to give a special thanks to Megan for planning such a wonderful trip for us. Our adventure began at the breathtaking Victoria Falls and continued to the stunning Chobe Lodge — what an amazing experience! The lodge itself was not only beautiful, but the service and accommodations were absolutely spectacular.

From there, we traveled to the Okavango Delta and Moremi Game Reserve surrounded by nature and unforgettable wildlife encounters. Our journey concluded with four amazing nights in vibrant Cape Town, the perfect ending to a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

We can’t wait to start planning our next visit to Africa — thank you again, Megan, for making this trip truly unforgettable!

Lorena's Southern Africa Safari Experience

We had been thinking about a Southern Africa safari trip for a few years and had some valuable input from Zimbabwean friends who had been on tour many times. So we had a general idea of when and where but needed guidance on the finer details and options, as well as someone to put it all together once we’d agreed on an itinerary (South Africa, Zimbabwe and Botswana). This was possibly going to be our one and only trip of this type so we wanted to get it right!

I saw an ad for a tour similar to what I had in mind so contacted Discover Africa (DA). Devryn was able to clearly outline his preferences that would meet the brief. He suggested the order of travel, how long at each place, what type of accommodation (generally getting better as we progressed), how to get from A to B, etc., via several email conversations.

We had a Zoom meeting with him before finalising the plan, where we were able to ask further questions, which he was able to answer confidently and competently, given he had been to these places himself.

We felt confident enough with his recommendations to lock it in 12 months ahead of the trip.
Naturally, you anticipate some things will go wrong on tour, e.g., a missed connection, a guide not turning up, or accommodation not being as described, and we were mentally prepared for that.

Garry's Safari Experience

However, every connection was made on time and the accommodation exceeded our high expectations!

The Safari experience itself (which Devryn obviously couldn’t guarantee) was superb. The guides from the lodges we used were experienced, informative, respectful of the animals, and considerate of what we had and hadn’t seen previously and so every day (twice a day!) was another trip into the unknown. Everyone hopes to see the Big 5, which we did early on. After that it was a matter of literally sitting back in the jeep and seeing what would turn up. The birdlife was better than I expected (the lilac-breasted roller was a favourite), and seeing small animals like mongooses (4 different species), a chameleon and a steenbok were unexpected highlights.

The food was varied at the various lodges, with usually a buffet of 3 main courses of western-style cuisine (although I ate wildebeest, crocodile, kudu and springbok when it was offered). We finished off with 3 nights in Cape Town to let the Safari experience sink in, which was a very good move.

So in summary, we did some initial research, worked out a plan with Devryn, and he nailed the brief. We’ll never know if it could have been even better, but I seriously doubt it.