Unfiltered Botswana

Discover Africa Safaris were great to deal with. Cayleigh put together an excellent itinerary which included Victoria Falls, Chobe National Park, the Okavango Delta and Maun. It included everything we requested, with excellent accommodation, transfers and safaris. Everything went smoothly. We had a wonderful time and saw amazing sights and heaps of wildlife. Communication was excellent throughout with both Cayleigh and Megan. Would definitely use them again if we are ever travelling in the area.

We booked a safari through Discover Africa for Botswana and Zambia and it was fantastic! Chrizaan was super helpful and accommodating, especially when we had to change our dates of travel slightly. She worked with the lodges to accommodate us and found a solution. She booked us in terrific tented safari lodges in Botswana with the nicest staff and very comfortable, modern accommodations. We were so fortunate to see the “Big 5” and even cheetahs with our trusted guides and we also encountered very beautiful birdlife. We found the price of the trip to be reasonable and the food and lodgings were all very good.

It was a wonderful trip that we’ll remember forever and we highly recommend Discover Africa for booking your trips!!

I had received a glowing recommendation for Discover Africa from a member of my synagogue who has done multiple safaris with them. So when it came time to select a safari vendor for a once-in-a-lifetime wildlife safari for my daughter and I, I reached out to them. I’d done some research ahead of time and so knew that we were interested in Botswana, specifically the Okavango Delta. My contact/resource at Discover Africa was Susan Veldman and she was great.

She listened to what I told her in terms of what we were looking for and crafted a proposal that met our needs in terms of schedule, length, etc. Initially she had us ending our trip at Victoria Falls (my impression is most multiple-stop safaris in the region start or end there), but when I told her our focus was really on wildlife, she came up with an amended itinerary that subtracted Victoria Falls and added Chobe National Park. In short, she listened and responded to our input. We did 8 nights/9 days. We flew into Johannesburg, South Africa, from NYC via London. Those flights we booked on our own, but everything else and all the other flights (Johannesburg to Botswana, 3 bush flights to our lodges/accommodations, then back to Johannesburg from Kasane) were taken care of by Susan.

Plus we had dietary requirements (I’m a vegetarian and my daughter is allergic to dairy) that Susan communicated to the 3 lodges we stayed at and they came through with flying colors. I haven’t eaten so well in quite a while! We spent 3 nights at Kadizora Lodge (in the Delta), 3 nights at Saguni Lodge (eastern edge of the Delta, near Khwai and the Moremi Game Reserve) and two nights further east, at Elephant Valley Lodge outside of Kasane and adjacent to Chobe National Park.

Each lodge and experience was a little different, and we loved all three. Kadizora was the smallest of the three, and the most isolated — there weren’t many other lodges nearby and so we did not see a lot of other vehicles on our drives. The terrain in the area was flooded delta and savannah-style plain for the most part, with good/long visibility. Saguni was a little larger and close to the village of Khwai; the terrain in the area was more scrub trees, as well as savannah, so visibility was often more circumscribed. The wildlife in both areas of the Delta was similar, and both of the Okavango lodges were near water (Saguni especially).

At both the Okavango lodges we supplemented our drives with water-borne excursions, including two mokoro (traditional dug-out canoes, propelled by guides with long poles — think of Venice and gondolas) rides which were fantastic. We loved our guides at all three lodges, but bonded especially with Action at Suguni — he was very knowledgeable and a real gem. Elephant Valley Lodge was the largest of the three we stayed at; it is near Kasane, a significant town near the borders of Zambia, Zimbabwe and Namibia. Paved roads, shopping centers, more people. And Chobe National Park was by far the most crowded of the three areas we drove in. And in the national park, as opposed to the Delta, guides were not permitted to take their vehicles off-road in search of game. More than compensating for this, though, was the sheer volume and density of wildlife in Chobe NP. It was amazing.

In short, Discover Africa delivered a perfect wildlife safari for my daughter and I which met all our (very high) expectations. We couldn’t have been happier, and Susan was always available for questions, both before and during the trip. We were in good hands throughout!

Each of the locations chosen by our Consultant Susan, exceeded our expectations. The lodges we stayed, were very respectful of the environment and supportive of the local communities.

At Saguni lodge the staff were awesome, specially our guide, Jinks, his knowledge really helped us appreciate all the things we experienced during our safari.

Tour highlights Botswana and victoria falls very well organized, good lodges and flight connections. Wonderful staff everywhere taking care of all our needs and giving us all best of nature. The very best value/quality. We will surely book other destinations.

We had an incredible safari that started perfectly at our take off airport and continued seamlessly until we arrived back home. We were taken care of by very wonderful and knowledgeable guides and the staff at the lodges were very nice. We ate great food. The safaris were excellent and each camp had a different focus that we enjoyed.

We went to Victoria Falls Safari Club, Chobe Game Lodge, Camp Xakanaxa, Camp Okavango, and Camp Leroo La Tau. We saw and learned about many animals, birds, and vegetation. We loved the variety and if I could change one thing it would be to stay longer at the camps. We have never done a safari before and Megan let us know how everything would work and that let us relax and enjoy Africa. We can not wait to return.

We also went to Cape Town and went on four activities. We enjoyed exploring the Wine Country, learning about Cape Town, and exploring the surrounding area and seeing penguins. We had a very personable and knowledgeable tour guide who made the tours fun. We also went cage diving with sharks and that was beyond belief. Megan listened to what we wanted to do and put together the trip of a lifetime. And, of course, I want to do it again.