South Africa, Zimbabwe, Botswana Luxury Vacation Review: 16-Night Tour

Review by traveler

Alison P.

10.20.2023

General Info

Traveler Review

Which Country (Countries) did you visit on this trip?

South Africa

Botswana

Zimbabwe

Your overall comments on the trip and the travel company:

This was to be a luxury trip with 5-star facilities. 3 of the 5 hotels/lodges would qualify as 5 stars. 2 might be 4 stars at best. And, on one website, one property in fact is listed as 4 stars. The trip was wonderful because of the animals we saw and the other guests we met, not necessarily because of anything the planner did. I will say the travel arrangements between lodges went seamlessly. Summing up I would not recommend. We plan to now go to Kenya and I would not use the travel company.

What were the most enjoyable or memorable parts of your trip?

Seeing the animals and meeting new friends.

If you could take your trip again, what would you do differently?

Not spend as much time in Cape Town and perhaps go to Kenya. I would eliminate two of the camps and not do the whale watch. I expressed a lack of enthusiasm for going but we went and we have been on much better whale watchers on the East Coast of the US.

Travel Company Comments:

Thank you for your feedback, Alison. We are very happy to hear that you had a wonderful time in Southern Africa and plan to return to Africa to visit Kenya. We take all feedback very seriously and are hugely saddened & disappointed that our services warranted a 3-star review.

Having worked personally with you for 8 months in the planning and designing of your itinerary, I have gone through all our correspondence, and all our communications indicated a positive experience with our services.

Regarding the 5-star ratings of hotels, we understand that guests may have differing expectations, but I want to reassure anyone reading this that the accommodations included in this itinerary are 5-star properties, as described in detail during the planning process, all of which we know and love, have worked with for many years & visit regularly and that we send many clients to, who have been nothing but delighted. Due to our concern from your review, we have been immediately in touch with each of the lodge management teams, all of whom have reconfirmed their 5-star level of luxury. I would be very grateful to find out which of the properties you felt were not worthy of their 5-star rating, and why they did not meet your expectations, so we can address this further with them.

We are very happy to hear that overall you had a wonderful trip, with great wildlife sightings, and that every transfer between destinations went seamlessly. We are of course devastated & rather confused to hear that you felt this was not because of anything we did. Myself and my team worked extremely hard in designing, planning, and arranging every detail of your trip, including all transfers & wildlife experiences, to ensure a seamless & unforgettable experience from start to finish. We were also there immediately to assist with any requirements whilst travelling. For example, when you called on the first day of your trip to let me know you did not like your guide in Cape Town (who was lovely but too softly spoken), we quickly arranged another guide for the rest of your Cape Town touring. When you let me know that your preferred cocktail was not included in the complimentary drinks offered at one of the safari lodges we requested that these drinks be billed to our account and not to you, which was also resolved immediately.

We pride ourselves on our highly personal service and in creating outstanding experiences for each & every client in Africa, as demonstrated by the many other wonderful reviews from our delighted clients above and below, therefore we very much hope to find out what we could have done differently for you to leave more positive feedback on your experience & we wish you all the best for your time in Kenya.