Victoria Falls and Zimbabwe Safari

We travel a lot. I don’t normally write reviews and I typically plan and book everything myself because I am very exacting when it comes to the itinerary, logistics, accommodations, activities, etc. – everything must be perfect. When planning this trip, I vetted and researched at least 10 top-rated companies (including phone interviews) and reviewed a dozen itineraries before beginning to work with Discover Africa and Susan Veldman.

We were a group of 2 couples traveling together on a complex itinerary with high expectations, a restricted amount of time, and a budget range. Susan was patient, professional, friendly, and expertly knowledgeable. She worked with all of our parameters, spent hours on Zoom calls with me, and put together a lifetime experience trip to Tanzania and several other locations that was seamless and exceptional. In addition, Susan checked in with me regularly during our trip to make sure that everything was going well.

We had it all – incredible private guides, perfectly located accommodations, a great combination of luxury and simplicity to meet our desired experience at each location, and enriching experiences.

While on the trip, I was also pleased to hear from independent local operators that Discover Africa is highly regarded in the industry as an ethical company that is one of the best.

Save time and effort – I have done all of the work for you! (lol) – I highly recommend Susan at Discover Africa for your safari dreams!

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!

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.

If you want luxury and comfort. You must work with this tour operator. It can’t be better than this! Amazing experience. Adelle was amazing, we had an easy booking and planning experience.

Right from the first query till the last day of reaching back home, Megan was so responsive which made my decision to opt for discover Africa an excellent choice.

The challenges and positives of each option was clearly outlined at each step which made our decision matrix easier. The lack of water in okovango was disappointing which could have been given as a disclaimer by discover Africa. Maybe it got lost in the chain of communique.

The three days in Oddballs camp and two nights at Kingdom in Victoria Falls were well managed. ODDBALLS is a basic tented camp but they make up for it with the hospitality. It’s not extravagant on food per se, but then the focus is on safari walks so that was fully met by our guides Congo and Alfred.

Our aim was to undertake numerous makoro rides in the reeds but lack of water all over Botswana did not see that happening. That basically reduced our reach into the Chiefs island. The 20 minute flight from Maun to the Camp and 1.5 hour flight from the Camp to Kasane was well managed without any hiccups whereas there were some other passengers who were left frustrated by some tour operators.

Kingdom hotel is a royal place to say but I should say that some of the facilities are worn down and gives a vintage look. The hotel could not accommodate our children in closeby rooms which again in my review gives them a minus. The Falls are just 5 minutes away and the sun downer cruise and Falls walk organized through Wild Horizons by Megan was outstanding.

Overall an excellent five day package well coordinated and orchestrated by Discover Africa with minimum hassles. Thank you

The communications were perfect , the guides in safari lodges are very knowledgeable in wild life and nature, they were incredible. the safari itself was unbelievable, we could see the big five except Rynos, we saw leopards hunting impalas and bringing it up to the tree and feeding their cubs, Lions, elephants girafes, hippos, wild dogs all the wild life in Okavango delta.

The landscape, the colors, the smell… we flew over in a small plane with 6 seats, and during 45 min we didn’t see any population, nothing than nature.

The lodges are very integrated in the nature and the service is very intimistic, everybody seats at one table to have breakfast, lunch and dinner. The only thing to point out is that the lodges should be renovated as they look slightly worned out.