Best of South Africa and Botswana

This is the second safari holiday we have used Dev to organise. We had the privilege of visiting three beautiful lodges on this trip, Devs recommendations in three different locations, Sabi Sands, Timbavati, and Makalali, which entailed a lot of organising with pick up and drop by road, each of which was flawless almost to the minute.

First stop was Sabi Sands where we saw the big five within 30 minutes, Unbelievable!

Next stop was Timbavati known for the possibility of seeing the rare white lion, second day out we saw the white lion cub (one of three in the world so we were told ) a gorgeous dirty little white cub with the pride, once again magic. Next stop was Makalali, Dev had mentioned the possibility of seeing cheetahs, after a lot experienced tracking and off road driving we came across two magnificent males basking in the sun, unbelievable.

On our last day when due to leave, a Saturday, my wife fell ill and could not travel, one phone call to Dev, he had transfers rearranged, flights cancelled and rebooked, which took all the stress out of a stressful situation.

I cannot speak highly enough of Dev and Discover Africa.

Megan Warrington was amazing to work with. She was very informative and kept us up to date on everything. I found out that I would need to have surgery a few days after returning from the trip and asked Megan if she would be able to arrange for a wheelchair to be at the airports and activities we had planned. She got everything scheduled and sent me confirmations within a short period of time…That is what you call service!!!!!

We were looking for a safari tour for our honeymoon and it has been an extremely wonderful experience with Discover Africa Safaris and it has been a pleasure working with Susan Veldman who was very well organised in putting together a customised Safari itinerary for us. She was very prompt and helpful in answering our queries that we have with our flights and making special arrangements to make our stay at every safari lodge very romantic.

Very knowledgeable and thoughtful in communicating with us on the different accommodation to provide us a restful experience for our honeymoon. The Safari experience though pricey was worth it if you are looking for going to the Safari for the first time. We were very thankful for how the safari lodges that make every effort to give us as many exposure to a wide range of activities. Thank you once again to Discover Africa Safaris and we are excited to be able to join again!

Our Safari was for 15 days and included trips to four different camps in South Africa and Botswana with a side trip to Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe. Our first stay was four nights at Sabi Sands Bush Lodge in South Africa followed by three night stays at each of the three Sanctuary Retreat camps in Botswana – Chobe Chilwero, Stanley’s and Chief’s. The game drives at each camp were absolutely amazing and very exciting, and we saw an incredible amount of wildlife in the bush (saw the “Big Five” by day 2) and on the river at Chobe, more than we ever imagined.

The guides and trackers were experts in finding the wildlife and very informative in all aspects of animals, plants and birds. They were also very fun to be with. The staff at all the camps were very friendly and helpful and made sure we were safe and comfortable. The accommodations were impeccable and gorgeous, and the food was very varied and delicious.

Our travel planner, Susan Veldman, was fabulous from the start with the planning of our Safari to keeping in touch with us daily during the whole trip. All transfers and connections to the different camps were seamless. We would HIGHLY recommend Susan and Discover Africa to anyone planning a Safari. Thank you, thank you for this most amazing trip ever!!!

Karen & Bill's Safari Experience

My wife and I wanted to visit South Africa and knew it had plenty of different hot spots to visit, however, we weren’t sure what locations to choose or what hotel accommodations to stay at. After reaching out to Diane at Safari Bookings, she set up a phone call with us and asked us everything we’d like to do while in the country. A few days later, she had set up the perfect itinerary for what we were looking for.

It included everything from in-country flights to hotel reservations, as well as scheduled transportation.

We just returned from our trip and we couldn’t have been happier with how everything went. Everything that Diane set up for us was spot on for what we were looking at. Could not recommend enough!

We found Safari Bookings online and chose Discover Africa after reading the excellent reviews.

Megan contacted us by email the next day and we began the process of picking out a trip with her help. We decided on a stay split between Arathusa Lodge in the Sabi Sands reserve and Jock Safari Lodge in Kreuger. Megan arranged all transfers, bookings, internal flights, etc. from Johannesburg airport and back to the airport after our vacation.

There were absolutely no issues with her arrangements. She kept us up to date with emails and totally fulfilled all of her promises to us. I told her this would be a trip of a lifetime for us, but now that we are home we are starting to plan another trip back to Africa and we will use Megan to make our arrangements again.

The lodges she chose were perfect for us. We flew in to the Arathusa private airstrip and were taken to the lodge. That afternoon we went on our first of four game drives from Arathusa. We saw rhino, giraffe, leopards, hyenas, lions, elephants, and so forth. Our ranger and spotter were very knowledgeable about the animals and explained their habits.

Jock Lodge in Krueger has a history going back to the beginnings of the establishment of the park. The game drives there also amazing. If anything, we saw more big cats and elephants than in the Sabi-Sands area. On our last game drive we saw four female lions surround a small herd of buffalo and attack successfully.

If you have ever wanted to see the African plain and its animals get in touch with Megan at Discover Africa.