Serengeti Wilderness Camp

This was our first experience using an online booking agent and it was outstanding. Justin went through our requirements even though we were pretty sure we knew what we wanted (we really didn’t!) and came up with a plan that met our needs, including coordination with our existing travel plans. I can’t say enough good things about Justin and the folks at Discover Africa Safaris.

We booked our safari trip through Justin van Wyk from Discover Africa, and we couldn’t be happier with the experience.

He organized and booked everything from A to Z, so we didn’t have to worry about anything at all. Throughout the entire trip, we stayed in close contact, and he regularly checked in to make sure everything was going well.

We are extremely satisfied with his work and truly appreciated his professionalism and attention to detail.

We would highly recommend both him and the agency anytime!

I have been more than impressed with this entire experience every time. I will continue to use them year after year.

We had a very well-organised itinerary by Chrizaan that suited our needs.

It was a truly memorable holiday. Highly recommended.

Cayleigh responded almost immediately to every question or concern that I had and resolved the issue quickly.

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.