Honeymoon Travel Guide

You could not have planned the trip better. It was fantastic! Our safari driver from Rangers was great - again could not of been better. He pushed every day for us to see everything possible. Hes fun and incredibly knowledgeable and has a great command of the English language.You were right to schedule one day in Nairobi - so glad we did not change it to two days. We saw the last of the Big 5 - the black rhino in Kenya. We loved all of our accommodations and the people are so friendly, polite and helpful.We saw the Great Migration in Tanzania. We would not of changed one thing. People from other tour agencies were dissapointed that when they arrived in Kenya when we did as all of the Wildebeest had already migrated to Tanzania.What you scheduled for us was perfect. I do think that Tanzania is not well known but Kenya is to the average American like us. If it wasn't for you we would of never known about Tanzania. Tanzania has it all - except the black rhino at the Govenor's Camp- no need to even go to Kenya but I did want to go the the Elephant and Giraffe orphanages. We loved Capetown, the shark cage trip and the tour operator was wonderful. The 1/2 day Capetown trip was great. We went on the historic Capetown walking tour at 11:00 after we checked out. We added the Olduvai museum at the crater to our trip.  We had a wonderful time and saw so much in 17 days including traveling from the East Coast;  Arusha, Tarangire National park,  Ngorongoro crater, Central Serengeti - Turner Springs, Norther Serengeti - Kokatonde, Masai - Mara, Nairobi, Victoria Falls and Capetown. A trip of a lifetime.

Absolutely awesome experience – better than we imagined! We spent time in Victoria Falls, Chobe National Park, the Okavango Delta and Cape Town. The service, guides, lodgings and experiences we had in each location were exceptional. This safari travel company and our travel planner made everything easy – we were greeted each step of the way, enabling us to enjoy our African adventure without the normal stress of traveling in another country. In Zimbabwe, we experienced majestic Victoria Falls both from the air and a guided tour through the park. We enjoyed a sunset dinner cruise on the Zambezi River. Our room at the Ilala Lodge was picture perfect and comfortable, plus we could see the mist rising from the falls. In Chobe National Park, we went on numerous game drives and boat tour with a dedicated guide. The Ngoma Safari Lodge was the most visually extravagant place we ever stayed.  The view walking into the lodge literally takes your breath away as you look down at the Chobe River with herds of zebras, giraffes and antelopes moving between a small watering hole close to Ngoma Lodge and the river. Combine that with great location to Chobe National Park, exceptional guides, thoughtful and well-trained staff, delicious dinners and wonderful rooms with incredible views and you have the perfect safari location. In the Okavango Delta we saw so much wildlife (inlcuding a numerous lions and African Wild dogs and their pups) and were again blessed with wonderful guides, great staff, and lovely rooms in an amazing location at Sable Alley in the Khwai Reserve. Cape Town gave us an opportunity to relax at the boutique hotel and enjoy winery tours and a peninsula tour, as well as amazing restaurants.

Originally, I tried to work out an itinerary myself using online review and travel books, but became concerned about arranging transportation and guides. Then I contacted several different travel agencies. This travel planner quickly responded. She made everything easy for us. She worked with us on locations, desired experiences, dates and cost. We really wanted to see Botswana’s Chobe National Park and the Okavango Delta. Two other companies were trying to steer us away those areas due to cost and availability, but our travel planner was able to make it happen for us. She took care of absolutely everything from lodging, car and in-Africa air travel, tours, guides, and even restaurant reservations for us in Cape Town. Amazing personalized service.

This company makes you feel very pampered and special. Our travel planner made time to meet us in Victoria Falls (her home base). In honor of our 30th wedding anniversary, the travel company surprised us with a complimentary dinner and bottle of wine at our Victoria Falls hotel, which had one of the best restaurants in Victoria Falls.

From the first conversation with our trip designer to the moment we got in the taxi leaving lodge in Zanzibar heading for the airport, the entire experience was seamless and far exceeded our expectations.  We truly didn't know what to expect with this trip.  We knew we'd see myriad animals while on safari.  We knew we'd be awestruck with the expansive vistas.  We didn't know what to expect with the food, transfers at airports, lodging accommodations, friendliness (or lack thereof) of our hosts, ability to communicate with locals, our general safety, etc.  Africa turned out to be a huge surprise and I'm sure we owe a great deal of gratitude to our trip designer and the entire company's team.  When we got off the plane in Arusha (Kilimanjaro International Airport), we were greeted by a smiling representative accompanied by our guide.  Our representative was a ray of sunshine.  What I initially thought was just a gregarious host who was well trained to make tourists feel comfortable turned out to be what we experienced with every Tanzanian we met.  You couldn't pass a native Tanzanian without getting an ear to ear smile and a hearty "Jambo!"  Sometimes you'd get a "Jambo, jambo!"  The camps we stayed at were all amazing.  Some were better appointed than others (Swala and Serengeti Pioneer Camps in particular) but even the lesser-appointed camps offered amazing settings in the wilds of Africa...star-gazing was amazing!  The food was consistently very good.  We spent our first night at Onsea House on the outskirts of Arusha.

Onsea House was a beautiful, boutique hotel nestled in the hillsides outside Arusha.  The grounds were beautiful;  well-defined paths were guarded by thick tropical plants and flowers were in full bloom.  As the sun went down, I could hear dogs barking, cows mooing and an relentless rooster that announced his presence throughout the night.  The food at Onsea was an unexpected treat.  My wife and I immediately made friends with the couple in the room next to ours and we shared dinner with them.    We set out the next morning for Tarangire.  Our tour guide met us early in the morning and we started our safari.  We couldn't have asked for a better tour guide;  we really felt like we made a life-long friend in him.  He was genuine, gregarious and extremely knowledgeable in all things Africa.  We spent the next 10 days with him.  We visited Tarangire, the Ngorongoro Crater, the Ndutu region and the Serengeti.  It's hard to say which we enjoyed the most.  Taragnire was a haven for elephants.  The Ngorongoro Crater would have been beautiful even if it didn't host a self-contained ecosystem.  Ngorongoro was the only place we saw rhinos.  The Ndutu region was unique in that we felt free to explore nooks and crannies in search of lions feasting on a freshly killed zebra or cape buffalo.  And the Serengeti was majestic and expansive.  Being awakened to two competing lions roaring in the middle of the night to assert their dominance was something I'll never forget.  We spent the last 4 days at a spa on the northeastern shore of Zanzibar.  What an amazing place to get your zen on!  I'm an early riser.  I had an opportunity on multiple mornings to watch as the local fisherman paddled their outriggers past our thatched lodge on the beach.  Dozens of boats would pass by as the men sang songs in Swahili with one fisherman singing the lead while the others sang responses in unison...priceless.

This Africa safari travel company arranged the trip of a lifetime! We visited South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, and Kenya, staying at top drawer accomodations, flying from place to place, meeting wonderful hosts, and, most importantly, seeing the scenery and all the wild animals we had hoped for!

Our agent arranged all the lodging and connections, and made sure that someone met us at each transfer point, which was most reassuring for us. She picked excellent facilities and was very adaptable, as, for instance, when we asked to change dates, or when one of the flights we were to take was de-scheduled after out plans had been made.

Our odyssey began in Cape Town at a marvellous hotel on the Albert and Victoria wharf, from which we visited Table Mountain one day and the Cape of Good Hope the next, followed by a day visiting the shops and the Aquarium in the Wharf Area.  We then flew to Sable Alley Camp in the Okavango region, a wonderful base for game drives. After three nights there we flew to Ilala Lodge, from which we walked to Victoria Falls, an awe-inspiring wonder of the world. Next a flight and road transfer to the Serengeti Sopa Lodge, a first class hotel that was our base for three days of game drives in the Serengeti, each more amazing than the last. Our last excellent game drives were from the Ngorongoro Sopa Lodge when we explored the Crater. Finally we spent the Night at an excellent Arusha lodge to be near the airport for our flight to Nairobi and then on back to the USA.

Our guides on the game drives were friendly, professional, and extremely knowledgeable about the wildlife we encountered; we were especially gratified to learn that they were both also very well versed in birds. We identified almost 40 beasts and over 100 birds!

We'd like to add that when we signed up for the tour, we thought that it might be a bit pricey. By the end, however, we wondered how this company could provide such an experience for the price!