Luxury Africa Safari Review: Botswana, Zambia, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Cape Town, Victoria Falls, Okavango Delta, Wine Country

Nothing but great things to say about our experience with this Africa safari travel planner!! The day after we entered our Zicasso request online, we were contacted by our agent.  We clicked immediately. She got right away what we wanted to achieve during our trip and began helping us to develop a workable plan. If we drove her crazy with all of our revisions, you would never have known it: she was focused, resourceful, and upbeat, offering great advice at critical junctures to come up with a plan that met our needs and maximized both our time and convenience. She went the extra mile to ensure that we had a great trip, checked in frequently to find out how things were going and made great recommendations for restaurants and local attractions. We felt very pampered and we were! The outlines of our final trip included stops in Cape Town; the Blyde River Canyon; Kruger National Park; Victoria Falls; Botswana; and  Johannesburg.

The company made all arrangements for us at two great safari camps: Kings in Kruger, and Shinde in Botswana. Both were excellent – knowledgeable guides; incredible surroundings; generous and welcoming staff.  We lucked out and managed to see the Big Five in just two days!  A highlight of the Botswana safari was spending 45 minutes observing a pride of eight lions congregated about 40 feet away from our open-air jeep. At Kruger, we had a similar up-close and personal viewing experience of two leopards and two white rhinos.

Our travel company also made all arrangements for five internal flights and pick-ups and one wonderfully guided day tour of the Blyde River Canyon: there was never a hitch! We even crossed four borders. The hand-offs were smooth; the transport vehicles clean and comfortable; the drivers safe and enthusiastic. All the practical details were attended to from tasty box lunches to confirmation calls the day before transfers.  

Our travel company also arranged two wonderful tours in Cape Town for us and we were especially privileged to have them led by the Managing Director of the company.  He is a consummate professional and was incredibly knowledgeable and informative about every topic that we discussed. He is also charming and delightful on a personal level and all of these qualities are reflected in the company he manages.  Our two day-tours were to the Cape of Good Hope which included a spectacular gourmet multi-course wine-paired lunch at the Flagship, a restaurant located in the home of the chef and situated near the edge of the sea in Simon’s Town with beautiful views all around. We were joined by a handful of other quests and spent a lovely afternoon in their company sharing a great culinary experience.

The Managing Director also led us on a one day tour that included stops at Hermanus in the Western Cape for whale watching and at two beautiful towns in the wine country – Franschhoek and Stellenbosch. We tasted the extraordinary wines of the Delaire Graff and Tokara estates, both of which had distinctive architecture and art, but the Delaire setting was breathtakingly luxurious.  

All in all, an unforgettable trip thanks to this company!