Best Africa Big Five Safaris for 2026/2027

We had a fabulous experience from start to finish working with Bianca and Discover Africa. Bianca is an excellent travel planner and quickly and efficiently assisted us whenever we needed her help. This was the first private tour my husband went on, and Bianca was incredibly helpful in shaping our itinerary to be exactly what we wanted. We had no problems throughout our entire safari, and we always felt completely safe. We did a gorilla, chimpanzee, and monkey trekking in Rwanda and we highly recommend using Bianca to make this a trip of a lifetime. Bianca’s professionalism, expertise, people skills, and personality make her an agent anyone would want to work with for a special vacation! We will definitely use her services again when we travel another time.

I booked a safari with Discover Africa. Adelle did a great job of finding me lodges that suited my budget, also within driving distance to the River Mara, so I was lucky enough to see a migration river crossing. The trip went so smoothly from the moment I landed in Nairobi a driver was waiting for me. I was dropped off at my hotel in Nairobi, I was picked up the following morning and taken to Wilson Airport and checked-in ready for my flight to the game reserve and exactly the same thing on the return journey. Everything was taken care of. The lodges were perfect and the safari was amazing. I would highly recommend Discover Africa.

First safari for us – 3 days in Arusha, 2 Tarangire, 2 Ngorongo, 4 Serengeti and 6 in Zanzibar.

We found the choice of potential locations, accommodation, routes etc almost bewildering at first. Matthys at DA carefully sought to understand we were looking for and came up (after a couple of face to face discussions and several emails) with a suitable schedule

Pre and mid trip communication was excellent. The DA portal is very detailed and comprehensive and the app was very useful on a day to day basis once we arrived in Tanzania.

The recommended accommodation and transport was mostly superb, only issue was transferring from Kogatendi to Zanzibar where a supposed direct flight was in fact 2 flights with a 2 hour delay on the second, meaning we arrived in Zanzibar around 4 hours later than planned. We understand this happens quite regularly in the bush so not a big deal.

My wife was unfortunately taken ill during the trip (not attaching any blame to any lodge or hotel, these things can happen any time). An initial doctor visit was very well handled by our first guide (en route from Tarangire to Ngongoro), and after a slight recovery she again went downhill when we in the Serengeti. Between Matthys from DA and our driver in Zanzibar a hospital visit was pre-arranged when we arrived and the recommended hospital was excellent. The camps in Ngongoro, Serengeti and the hotel in Zanzibar really couldn’t have done any more to make sure she was as comfortable as possible.

The accommodation was fabulous in all locations and the two guides/drivers absolutely exceptional. All arrangements went as planned and everyone we encountered were so friendly and helpful. Despite the illness disruption we saw many amazing things, too many to list here,

Would very happily recommend DA and use them again.

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.

We had an amazing time at our safari place(Kapama Karula) organized by Susan from Discover Africa!
She is very professional and gave us unforgettable time in South Africa!
I highly recommend Susan and discover Africa!

This was my 6th trip to South Africa and Botswana and, as always, Matthys van Aswegen made it a happy, safe, and exciting experience! My roommate, Glenna, and I thoroughly enjoyed the trip to South Africa’s Boulders Beach to visit the African Penguin Reserve and all the beautiful scenery in that area. Another Discover Africa staff member, Kayla Robson, joined Glenna and me for dinner one evening and it was such a delight getting acquainted with another Discover Africa person whose talents enrich the travel experience.

When we arrived in Botswana we were so pleased to have the two guides I have always requested and, even though I’ve been at Camps Moremi and Savute before, they provided us with safaris that added to my previous experiences, learning new things about animal behavior and, the bonus, twice seeing a cheetah – a cat I hadn’t yet seen in Botswana!

And I’m already planning my next trip to these two fabulous countries!