Uganda in November

Going to south and central Africa was a bucket list item for me and booking a big and expensive trip always feels a bit risky and you hope you have made the right choice.

Booking with Discover Africa was fantastic from beginning to end! Our trip coordinator, Susan Veldman, was very responsive whenever we had questions or concerns and she checked in with us throughout the trip to make sure things were going smoothly. I especially appreciated the video call with her prior to leaving.

It was really great to be able to ask any remaining questions and she provided us with all the information we would need once we were there. The whole trip was seamless, from our transfers to the flights to the camps.

I was particularly impressed with Desert and Delta Safaris, the company who ran the camps in Botswana. The accommodations, food and staff were incredible! I would highly recommend booking with Discover Africa and I would book with them again if I decided to return.

Very professional in the approach of customer’s needs. Intelligent in the approach and in the design of our safari in Botswana taking into account some of the constraints that we had. We were extremely happy with all the camps that were recommended to us. Thumbs up!

I was recommended Discover Africa by a friend who raved about them for their African Safari adventure and they didn’t disappoint. From the start the communication was timely, despite the time zone difference, and the advice was thorough and precise. It seemed to me that our agent, Susan, was always available no matter what time I was communicating with her. More than that she regularly checked in with me during our trip to make sure all was going well and checked us in for all our internal flights ahead of time.

The first thing Susan did was to find out what we wanted from our trip and then used that to tailor an itinary that met all our desires. Susan’s intimate knowledge of tourism in Africa had us booked into game reserves and guides in South Africa and Kenya which had all the big 5 on display plus more. The accommodation and tour guides she organised were fantastic.

Thanks to Susan we have had an African adventure taking in Karongwe and Masai Mara game reserves, Victoria Falls and the beautiful city of Cape Town which has provided photos, videos and memories we will cherish for the rest of our lives.

The service we recieved from Discover Africa was exceptional and went beyond our expectations. I couldn’t recommend them more highly.

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.

Susan and the team from Discover Africa you have excelled yourself through the initial contact to the very end of our journey. We were dazzled with the views of Cape Town. Victoria Falls and of course the game parks. The animals did not disappoint the spectacular service of all the staff will be etched in our memories forever.

The animals were the stars of the show but I have to mention the service,food and accomodation was out of this world. I took this tour with my 23 year old son and i was so impressed with all that this beautiful country had to offer. Susan, from the Wales family you are one amazing lady. Thank you again. To see our trip visit on instagram Saxons_odyssey

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.