December 2007
I would like to thank you for organizing such a great safari. It was a memorable experience for us all and something I am sure we would like to do again at some stage!
 
The helicopter ride and Livingstone Island lunch got things off to a good start and Chobe, particularly on the river, was very good.
 
Mapula was rather special (possibly helped by having the place to ourselves) – the attitude & friendliness of all the staff and service were exceptional. It was always going to be a difficult act to follow and although Makgadikgadi was basically fine, Reiner’s attitude is, in our opinion, likely to be detrimental to future business - I have made more comments to Melissa.
 
When we arrived at Jo’burg, it was a lovely surprise to meet you & discover that Emile was, in fact, your husband. The Safari Club is certainly very welcoming – a peaceful haven so close to the airport. When you arrive at the end of a long journey, you’re not always in the best frame of mind to appreciate your surroundings – however we all immediately relaxed into the Safari Club helped in no small measure by the ambience of your comfortable bar!
 
Best wishes to you both
Kind regard
Peter Burnet

December 2007
Wonderful memories are what we have of our dream trip to South Africa thanks to Island Safari.com
 
The levels of service throughout our initial enquiry through to our return recieved from Louise and the team
was to a very high standard.  All our queries were dealt with as they were rasied and no question was
to big or small to be left unanswered.  The paperwork was fautlless and the organisation and advice
was 100%.  I must admit that the thought of booking such a big trip on-line was a bit scary but
that was soon overcome.
 
Louise was wonderful throughout organising our internal transfers despite the first airline
going into recievership followed by Nationwide Arilines been grounded the day we left the UK
she always said no worries I am dealing with everything, we arrived in J'Borg to find Pamela waiting for us
and she organised the revised flights with SAA and we went on our way.  We then has all internal
car transfers which were well organised and carried out by smart, clean drivers in comfort vehicles and
the knoweledge of these people was a lesson which we loved taking part in.
 
All transfers were on time and well organised
 
Honeyguide Mantobeni - our arrival on camp was wonderful whilst been driven to the main area by Ennis we
were greeted by 3 elephants and then at camp we had a welcoming committee  of the Camp Manager (James)
the Ranger (Richard) the Tracker (Ennis) and the Chef (Nicholos) we knew we were going to have a great time.
 
Our time at Honeyguide was fantastic - the accomodation was clean, comfortable and very natural, the food and wines
were wonderful.  Nicholos the chef and his staff produced meals to the highest standards and put 4 and 5 Star UK Hotels
in the shade.  His passion, care and love was evident.  All the staff share the same love of looking after the guests.
 
Ennis and Richard make the Game Drives interesting and informative, the passion in which they
want to share the love they have of the area and animals is unmeasurable, they made the drives different
and the sunsets and drinks at sunset were good fun.  The Elephants, Giraffes, Zebras, Rhinos, Hippos and Crocs
and Wild Dogs plus much more made the sightings.
 
A welcome back from the drive each time by James was a lovely touch.
 
Evenings looking at the stars before relaxing in a comfy bed made our stay here wonderful.
 
Elephants Plains - a totally different experience to Honeyguide. 
 
The accomodation was truly exceptional and the detail and care taken to create this lodge was evident.
It has spectacular views and wonderful facilites.
 
After Honeyguide  to us  Elphants Plains seemed a bit commercial.
 
We were well looked after but it lacked that personal touch, the meals were well prepared
and well presented but lacked the love of Nicholos.
 
The guides and trackers were very informative and the drives were again very informatives and the
sightings were outstanding - Lions, Lepords, Elephants and all the big 5 were seen on the drives.
The drives were a bit repative in the routes but enjoyable by the sightings.
 
Our time at Elephants Plains was a dream but spoilt a little by the commercial feel
and the charges for Water seemed a little unfair. 
 
But overall it was a wonderful trip - well organised by Island Safari.com and Louise and
already we are thinking of another trip so we will be back in touch
 
Meanwhile - Merry Christmas to you all and a Wonderful New Year.
 
Kind Regards
Anne-Marie & Andy Cable

December 2007
Dear Michelle thank you everything worked out really well and I had a very
good time.  jack and Eve who ran Oddballs were wonderful people and ideal for
their chosen lifestyle.  I had my own guide who was excellent an the meals
were first class.  As far as the transport arrangements were concerned
there were no hitches and all went vey smoothly. the flights to and from
Oddballs were delightful and the scenery everywhere just great.  Next time
if there is one I shall go when there is more water just for a change but
I wouldnt say that would be the best for everyone with camping out on
little islands  probably because there will be less time to oneself for
relaxing and reading.  All in all it was excellent  and I want to thank
you for the care and professionalism my trip was handled with.  Just one
small note for your advice notes there is no swimming at oddballs so you
do not have to advise people to bring costmes and whether it is ever
allowed when the water rises I doubt because of crocs etc; there is no
pool at Oddballs. 
A fantastic holiday thank you once again
David Featherston

December 2007
I dealt with Elize Cavill-Taylor for all of my booking issues and she was absolutely fantastic!  Very quick to help all the time.  Everything was very well organised which I very much appreciated.
Our stay at Xakanaxa was fantastic too – all of the staff were really lovely and the service/food/accommodation was excellent.  They should all be commended!  I’ll be sure to pass on to my friends what a great time I had so hopefully they will use your services and that same camp also.
 
Kind Regards
Sandy Welsh

December 2007
The service we got from Louise was just great. The suggestions were good and even after there was a minor irritation re the EURO exchange rates this issue was solved professionally.
 
Transfers and everything were good.We had hoped to see more of the scenic route but the plane was late.So,no way to do something without being in the dark – literally.
 
Simbambili is a good and relaxing place to be.Animal viewing was incredible.may be we´ve been lucky ( everybody receives what he deserves ) but there was almost no day without the big five.Plenty of leopards,lions,…The service staff,however,was a bit unexperienced and not the level I would have expected in this league management wants to play.However,we raised the point with our guides who fully agreed and I left it in writing on departure.There is no sense to complain afterwards at the wrong place if there is a chance to do it immediately.Don´t take me wrong : the people were friendly.They simply didn´t know what a good service is and what they have to do.This finally comes down to the local management which has to perform.However,the group controller was there the last days and he knows about it.The guides were great.Without Andrew ( the ranger ,he unfortunately for Simbambili left shortly after we left ) and Mamps ( Mampinpan ), the guide, this stay wouldn´t have half as enjoyable as it was.Really great.
 
The next time Africa is on our radar screen we will certainly get back to Island Safari for organisation.You arranged for us Botswana and Mocambique 2 years ago which was as good as this one.So,there is no need to change.
 
Kind regards
Gondo Gutknecht

December 2007
I would just like to say how smoothly it all went. Especially with the short time frame I left to get everything arranged your support was great.
 
Mandy was just so pleasant & helpful at all times. Also the speed with which she managed all my queries and arrangements was fantastic.
 
I do not have a bad word or even any constructive feedback to offer as my experience of your service, in particular Mandy, was wonderful. I will certainly recommend you to anyone who is wanting to travel to Africa.
 
Thank you very much.
Amanda Jackson

December 2007
We had excellent service from Carien - particularly when we thought we might have to change our honeymoon itinerary. It was always very prompt (whichi makes a huge difference when you are dedicating time to sorting things out in 1 go) and very friendly and helpful.
 
Transfers organised by island safari were fine
our transfer we organised up to pemba lost 1 of our bags which was annoying.
Vamizi island was fantastic - we loved it. While it is very very luxourious in many ways it is also quite basic and at first the long walk in the dark back to our villa was daunting. But the next day we just loved the privacy and remoteness of it all and had a wonderful time
 
Thanks
Sara Krikorian

December 2007
We had the MOST FABULOUS TIME!! Everything went so smoothly, and I can't tell you how wonderful the whole thing was. We will be back many times to Botswana I suspect. Tongabezi was beautiful, and the Zambezi river amazing, we went swimming in it, at the edge of the falls!

Selinda camp was absolutely sensational, and I am afraid I may have fallen in love with the people there. I was truly sad to go, and will definitely be going back.

Dom got the shock of his life, and I suspect was a little bit nervous at the start, but he just keeps saying it was the best holiday ever.

Thankyou so much Patricia, everything was so beautifully organised and went so smoothly all we had to do was turn up, you arranged everything perfectly.
We had the experience of a lifetime.

Warm regards,
Brenna Grant

December 2007
As a repeat customer at Island-Safari (2006, 2007 to Mauritius), we are fully satisfied with your travel arrangements. They work without any hinch whatsoever and all parties concerned are friendly and service minded.
 
As for Dinarobin Hotel, the embarrasing fact is that we have stayed there some five, six times by now. Before that we stayed at other Beachcomber hotels and can now boast 11 visits to the island!
 
Chances are you will hear from us again next year.
 
Beast seasonal greetings from Sweden. 
Vivi Munthe

December 2007
The service you received from Island-Safari.com staff during the booking process and during your tour:
Service provided by Louise was first class. Extremely efficient, appropriate to our needs, helpful, friendly and timely.
The transfers you had:
All transfers on time and without problems
Your stay at Anderley Guesthouse:
Guesthouse was spotless, comfortable and with excellent facilities. The hosts Wendy and Michael could not have been more helpful and were very charming warm people. A delight
The location did mean that a taxi was required on all journeys out (not a problem-observation)
Your stay at Airport Grand Hotel:
Hotel was good. Staff friendly. Excellent breakfast.
Had to wait almost an hour for a room service meal which was not that good in the end but the dining room buffet meal was very good.
However, disappointed on our return home to find a charge on our visa bill which we did not run up. Have emailed hotel for an explanation but no reply received 
Your stay at Portswood Hotel:
Perfect
Your stay at Flamingo Bay Water Lodge:
Perfect. (Would have liked to have seen more Mozambican influences in the lodge)
Igor Miguta

December 2007
we are very much satisfied about the services from Island Safari and take pleasure in recommending  your
company to friends and relatives Transfer has been well arranged and we really enjoyed our stay at Ilala Lodge.
 
Kind regards
Irmgard Ronge

December 2007
Yes, we enjoyed our stay at Pestana Bazaruto Lodge in Mozambique very much and all the booking and also fast replying to our e-mails went super. Just like Swiss precision.

We already told our traval agent here that they should contact you in case they need anything in RSA and Mozambique since you seem to be the expert there.

Pestana Bazaruto Lodge was AMAZING!!! Louis the manager is doing such a good job with his whole staff. Our south african friend will go for sure again and we 2 swiss hope to go back one day again too. Service, food, hospitality, Cleanness etc. everything was PERFECT: 10 out of 10 points.

All right these are my comments to your questions.
Thanks again and best regards
Susan Bosshard

December 2007
Just a note to thank you so much for the wonderful trip you and Di planned together.  It all went off so well, starting with our meeting as planned at OR Tambo airport.  The places selected were great, and all the prognostications by the prophets of doom, turned into damp squibs!  Rain at night, or light showers during our siesta time, not unpleasantly hot, not even humid and not a mosquito to be seen.  The Moremi and Xanaka camps were especially welcoming after the greater number of visitors at Chobe and Zambezi Sun.  I was amazed to see that the reeds and bulrushes not too far from the lodges had been burnt and were still smouldering after being struck by lightning which we had seen from Chobe, and Mark at Xanaka explained how everyone helped out when fire threatened anyone.  We really enjoyed the walking and stalking we were able to do on Palm Island and another whose name I can't remember.
 
I wish you well over the Christmas season, and who knows, I may get to the Delta yet again
Regards Gwen Williams.

December 2007
We had a wonderful vacation in southern Africa.

Following some Feedback:

We were very pleased with your work and the itinerary.
All the transfers were excellent and on time. Good job!!

Xugana and Mapula were great. The guides were nice and competent We had a good time. Small groups and a lot of animals'

Chobe Game Lodge is more than a hotel. The game drives were ok, but after the two camps out in the bush, it was like a little chock.
But overall its was the money worth.

Thank you and your colleges for the professional work you have done.
Next time we will book again.

Grüße aus Deutschland
Jutta + Martin Fuchs

December 2007
Overall we had a really super time on our tour!

Mandy was extremly friendly and helpful during the booking process. All the Island-safari staff were very professional, friendly and knowlegdeable!

Everything and all the transfers worked like clockwork: no delays, no negative incidents

Mapula lodge was really super! Loved the place, the food, the staff and just the whole delta experience.

Thornthree was very nice as well although we noticed that the new management was still very busy getting everything sorted out.

We already have and will recommend Island-Safari in future to our friends!

Take care
Kim Lishke

December 2007
The service from Island Safari .com staff was excellent during the booking process. When the confirmation emails kept going to my junk email box, you phoned several times until things were sorted out and I corrected the error on my system! You were patient, courteous and most helpful!
 
The transfers in Victoria Falls – both ways – were punctual and welcoming. It all went very smoothly.
 
Bob & I were delighted with the Victoria Falls Hotel. We enjoyed it’s “old world” colonial ambience that brought memories of the two years that we had lived in Singapore in the 1960’s.
 
The only glitch that we experienced was that the Hotel would not debit our local tours (booked at the Hotel tour desk) to our Hotel account despite the fact that we had emailed the Hotel from Australia in advance to clarify this. However, we did just have sufficient US dollars and RAND with us to pay direct.
 
Thank you for all you did to make this such a memorable trip!
Kind regards
Wendy & Bob Skitch
 

December 2007
We enjoyed our trip to Zambia and Botswana, organised by Island-Safari, very much!
 
The service received from your staff during the booking process was excellent. I would particularly like to thank Michelle for all her help, efficiency and patience. Service from your staff/agents during the tour was also excellent. We were always met as expected, the staff were always friendly, courteous and helpful and due to them the transfers all went very smoothly. For our first visit to Africa we were bowled over by the level of service we have received.
 
I would happily recommend the Zambezi Sun to anybody, the rooms are perhaps not as luxurious as they are advertised to be but I don't have any complaints. The location right next to the Victoria Falls is superb. Seeing Zebras in the gardens on our first afternoon just blew us away!  Again, the staff there were brilliant and always very helpful and courteous.
 
What can I say about Chobe? We loved it! The location was fantastic. The staff and guides were fantastic. The wildlife was fantastic (OK we are first timers to this). The lodge is not exactly five star but then we weren't paying for that. Great value for money! It was a bit disappointing to see that the swimming pool was still out of action but really we probably were too busy otherwise to have used it. If we'd been there more than three days we might have missed it though. However I'm sure the refurbishments at the lodge will make it a much better place to stay and if we ever visit Chobe again we'll certainly consider going back to the lodge.
 
Once again, Thanks to all involved for a great holiday. I'll be sure to use Island Safari again when we return to Africa.
 
Best Regards
 
Peter Jackson.

December 2007
Booking through Island-Safari was a smooth and hassle free process as it should always be.Upon arrival to Maun transfers to Oddballs were quite efficient. Everyone - airport personnel, Oddballs' managers and the pilot himself! – seemed to have all information regarding our arrival and their clocks were in perfect synchrony so that we didn't have to care about anything but ourselves.

We couldn't be more delighted with our stay at Oddballs. Everything - accommodation, food and work - was beyond our expectations. Wait a minute! Did I just mention that dirty word? Well our daily "work" began one hour before dawn and consisted of an early morning and an afternoon game walk across into Moremi Reserve followed by lavish banquets and a few hours of naps... Our guides, K.G., M.D. and their trainees were most friendly and helpful. Their patience was limitless. Even when we couldn't see those seven giraffes strolling across the plain or that elephant behind a tree just in front of us…

Jack and Eve, Oddballs' managers, promoted a welcoming atmosphere and provided a warm and friendly service. They have a hands-on approach and are very affable and easy-going so that after three days we felt like at home. We just imagine the enormous amount of organization it takes to run a camp like that in the middle of the Okavango Delta.
Thanks everyone!
Paulo (On behalf of Elias, Tavinha, Carla, João, Joana and Carla Gomes)

November 2007
The service you received from Island-Safari.com staff during the booking process and during your tour.  Excellent
The transfers you had.   the same
Your stay at Wolwedans Dunes Camp    Wonderful accommodation, very nice camp.  Beautiful scenery.  One of the best.
Your Skeleton Coast Safari   Completely different.  No luxury, but not to be missed for anything.  Probably the best thing of all.
Your stay at Onguma Plains Camp    Not good.  Fake marrocan.  Evening meals tried to be too grand.  Afternoon game run is a separate charge.  Had to negotiate because we did not get to go out on arrival.  Manager out of his depth.
Your stay at Desert Rhino Camp   Excellent.  True african camp.
Your stay at Khwai River Lodge   Very good.  Game runs average.  Orient Express a touch too luxurious.
Your stay at Chiefs Camp    Excellent.  Best game runs.
Your stay at Selinda Camp   Excellent.   Constance and Humphrey best management by far.
Your stay at Chobe Chilwero Lodge    For american tourists visiting Africa.

Thanks again for everything.
All the best   
Peter Seilern

November 2007
I can sum up our total experience by saying absolutely 'first class'. >From the initial contact with Elize Cavill Taylor who patiently built our program, the 'meet and greet' representives, the hotels, the lodges, guides, flights and transfers - all were just perfect. The accomodation and the hosts at Ntwala were great and the accomodation in Mapula, although more 'rustic' had its own charm. Our guide in Mapula was Dix who was extremely good. Unfortunately, our fishing experience was disappointing in that our guide in Ntwala seemed to have limited knowledge of the methods to be used i.e. Fly, spinner, ledger etc. and the fishing equipment in Mapula was virtually non-existant.
 
Our hotel experience was very good and the service we received everywhere was absolutely spot-on.
 
Our sincere thanks to Island Safari and Elize in particular for creating an excellent tour for us. We shall not hesitate to recommend you.
 
Regards
Keith Ivens

November 2007
I can confirm you that we were very satisfied about the service, transfers and our stay in Selinda camp.
 
We enjoyed our short holiday.. and we are looking forward to do again next year!!
 
Regards,
Claudio Tessera 

November 2007
T H A N K S!

Everything has been perfect, all accomodations absolutely cool and matching our expectations (or even more!)

If i have to say a level of satisfaction, up to me is HIGH under all point of view.

Just one thing that i can suggest (for your organization: try always to find a GPS coordinates of an accomodation if this is without a phisical address, this can help if someone like us travel with a GPS).

All has been really fine.

Please thanks so much also Louise!

I will for sure suggest your support to anyone who will decide to travel South Africa.

Thanks again.
Alessandro Foà

November 2007
It seems already a long time ago, we were in Africa. But we had a very good holiday.
 
There were no problems. The hospitality was OK.
 
Your airport service was correct. The Metcourt was a surpise on arrival form Europe. There was only one non-smoking room available, but we got an offer to use the Presidential Suite. Four rooms! Same price! Great!
 
The Waterfront Village Apartment was your very best choice.
 
Thanks for your correct services and I hope to book next year again.
Kind regards,
Gepko de Heer

November 2007
the service given by Mandy was great and everything worked out well. I appreciated her quick replays and answers to my questions and suggestions for the different camps. Great!
The transfers were good and on time.
D Oreale Grande Hotel: very good (service, beds and the breakfast)
Deception Valley Lodge: great, beautiful lodge, the people who run the lodge Andrew and his wife are very nice. Andrew was a very good amd symp. person. The safaris were also very good and interesting (Andrew knows a lot and likes to share his knowledge). We want to go there back in an other saison. Good food. Special semi-desert environment and still a lot of animal. San expericience.
Little Kwara Camp: also very good, the guides are very good, the lodge is beautiful and the easy way of staying there is perfect. Food also very good. A minus point was: we choose this camp for seeing cheetah  (which we did) and for the water experience - mokoro. It was not possible to do a mokoro trip, the guide said because we only stayed there for 2 days, but an other group that arrived later than we did the trip before they went on the 4x4 safari. It looked like the guides (ie our guide) want to go on searching the cheetahs, lions and wild dogs and are not so interested in the mokoro and boot trips.
Chief's Camp: lodge: very very beautiful (but not a real safari sphere). Food and wine: also very very good. Chief's Island/Mombo reserve: the best place I think to see wild life and the variation in landscape is magnificent. First 2 trips: guide Paul: very very good. But he left because he had a job for a month for a mobile safari. The new guide was very nice, but - that is our opinion, not so well know with the reserve and was also not so good. But we enjoyed our stay very much because it is a great place for safari.. A little minus point is: at this camp are a lot of people for who this is their first safari trip, and some are not that much interested.
Stanley's Safari lodge: also good, a very nice place after a safari.
Was an almost perfect trip!

with regards
Loes Biitjes

November 2007
What an amazing trip we had to Africa – one exciting experience after another!  The service Cara gave us was excellent start to finish.  The transfers were well executed.  The Metcourt Laurel staff were courteous and efficient, and the rooms were very nice.  The laundry service was extremely good.  They resurrected a pair of shoes that were beyond awful and didn’t charge me.  The Zambezi Waterfront Lodge – not good.  Poor staff attitude (except the young man in the computer area who was very helpful).  The rooms were more than tired and I would not recommend booking clients with this establishment until extensive renovations and customer service training is completed.  The Garden Lodge – good food, gracious hosts, lovely location, nice pool, etc.  The Mapula Lodge was delightful in every way – wish the pool were larger though.  The food was very good, the activities were well executed and interesting.  Thoroughly enjoyable. 
Thank you for making our trip so memorable.  Please say hello to Cara for me.     
Wendy Harrington    
 

November 2007
We had the best holiday ever !!  We just loved Botswana and the lovely people that we met. Everything went like clockwork.. the arrangements were faultless.  Thank you so very very much for the careful planning and dedicated staff that we met everywhere, especially everyone at Desert and Delta
 
We didn't want to come home and will almost certainly go back.
Di Lawler

November 2007
After our trip to Botswana with you we went to see friends in South Africa and returned yesterday.

We were very satisfied with the arrangements you made for us. Mandy's communications with us prior to booking were very efficient. The air  travel arrangements worked very well. Mapula Lodge was just a delight  - a warm welcome was awaiting us, the food was very good, the guides  were experts, arrangements were adapted to our needs. The lodge itself is charming - our room had a view overlooking the lagoon.
Top marks to you all round!
Alan Cope

November 2007
We loved everything about our trip.  We had such a good experience in 2003 in  East Africa, we actually prepared ourselves for a letdown.  How could anything match our first trip?  Well, I'm delighted to say we were wrong.  This trip was even better! 
 
Mandy was most helpful in arranging our trip.  She went out of her way to juggle schedules to accommodate our requests. 
 
We were amazed to make all our connections and transfers so smoothly.  All the personnel were most courteous and helpful.
 
The accommodations at all the camps, hotels and lodges were well above our expectations.  The guides were excellent.  If I had to pick a favorite among the camps, it would be Xakanaxa.
 
Many thanks to all.  We are already dreaming about our next trip to Africa.
Joanne Bice 

November 2007
From the very beginning Carien advised me of camps to go to, costs etc and her service was really excellent.  She was very patient with me and all my questions and she found accommodation and flight times that suited us perfectly.
 
Our flights with Air Botswana and Delta air for all on time and the Delta air flight was certainly an experience.  The pilots are a lot of fun too.
 
Our stay at Pom Pom camp could not have been more perfect.  Nigel and Stephanie were great hosts and all the staff there were amazing.  The food was really exceptional and I would recommend Pom Pom camp to anyone looking for somewhere peaceful, with a variety of activities, excellent food and service etc. 
 
Overall, our 5 days in Botswana could not have been more perfect, so thank you very much.
 
Regards.
Melissa Stearns

November 2007
We had a fantastic trip with Island Safari and were very impressed with the standard of service from the original booking through to the entire trip.
All of the transfers were on time, courteous and efficient.
The staff at Oddballs were exemplary.  On reflection, the time we had at Oddballs was probably our most enjoyable of our two week break.  It was a fantastic place to stay. The Staff were very knowledgeable and friendly and the experience was unforgettable.
Lastly, the standards at Chobe Safari Lodge were quite high.  The only small concern I would have is that the pool area at the Chobe Safari Lodge was under refurbishment and we had to swim at another hotel.  I feel we should have been made aware of this prior to the booking.
 
Beside that though, we were very happy with our holiday and feel we got excellent value for money and would happily recommend Island Safari to friends and family.
 
Regards,
David & Lisa Hurley

November 2007
Overall the trip was absolutely fantastic. We had a wonderful time.

The service you received from Island-Safari.com staff during the booking process and during your tour.
The service that we had from Mandy was exceptional. She was always very prompt in answering any queries that I had and provided first rate information.
The transfers you had.
The transfers were all excellent....very prompt and courteous. They made the travel during the trip seamless and without much effort at all. The flights were all on time and very efficient.
Your stay at Victoria Falls Hotel
Our stay at the Victoria Falls was wonderful, although we came to expect the daily blackouts at various times. Dinner in the Livingston room was a highlight as was seeing the mist rising off the falls from our bedroom window. The walk to the falls was easier than I had expected.
Your stay at Muchenje Safari Lodge
Muchenje was a great start to the trip. The room was nice and the service was quite good. Our guide was good but not great. Being in the National Park limited us to staying on the main roads which was frustrating a bit at times, but our sightings were good. The all day safari at Muchenje was an excellent experience, the boat trip and lunch on the water was one of the best experiences of the trip.
Your stay at Selinda Camp
Selinda was our favorite camp. The rooms were wonderful and the service was fantastic. The food was very good and the service during the meals was great. Humphrey and Constance, who are normally the managers of the walking camps were managing the lodge and they were wonderful. It was a very relaxed and informal mood and yet the service was personal and pleasing. Within minutes of check in you were being addressed by name. We followed the mammouth hippo prints from our tent to the main lodge area one morning. Our guide at Selinda was great.
Your stay at Little Kwara Camp
Little Kwara was also fantastic. We had a family of monkeys keeping us company during our afternoons at our room. They sat in the tree about 10 feet from us observing us read as we observed them jumping around. One night we were serenaded by the local male lion looking for his running mate. The lack of ceiling fans was an issue as grabbing an afternoon nap was a near impossibility given the heat. We were told that they are installing them soon though, so that would help. Our guide at Little Kwara as well as the tracker were very good. Extremely educational and informative during our drives. We also had a nice evening cruise here and enjoyed a wonderful sunset. The little luxuries that were found at Selinda were put into the game drives at the Kwando camp, which is not to say that they lacked in luxury as the meals here were likely the best we had during the trip.

All in all a truly magnificent trip. We would return to all of the camps again, although being in private concessions is really the only way to truly experience the thrill of the game drives as you have the luxury of following the animals where they decide to go and you can be out later in the evening.

Thank you to Island-Safari for all of the assistance and we hope that Mandy is still there so that we can benefit from her advice when we return in a few years.

Best regards,
Peter Tobin

 

November 2007
We were totally satisfied with your service and with all the arrangements concerning our trip to Botswana:
Alison provided us with the necessary information, and made the bookings as we requested, via email in a very friendly and courteous manner. Payment was easy to make from the UK.
Air Botswana was faultless, with good check ins at both ends, efficient cabin staff and the flights were on time. It was gratifying to see a virtually full aircraft in each direction. We coincidentally had the same pilot, Duncan, for all 3 Cessna transfers, which were on time and professionally handled.
Both Savute and Xugana Lodges were great, especially the size of the room at Savute, overlooking the waterhole. The staff were friendly and efficient, and the food was really good at all times: a well prepared variety of healthy meals. Without exception, all the staff - managers, waiters, guides and cleaners - performed their tasks in an exemplary manner. Although we missed seeing leopard and buffalo, we were delighted at seeing 20 mammal and 100 bird species, mainly thanks to the expert guides we had.
(Please note that the reason we chose your company was that I had been to Botswana on educationals with Sanctuary Lodges and Wilderness Safaris when I was a travel consultant in London, and wanted my wife to enjoy something of what I had experienced then, but without paying top-luxury rates. Although the trip was still comparatively expensive, we were certainly satisfied that we had value for our money.)
Yours sincerely
Gareth Zimmerman

November 2007
We were very pleased with the help that Alison gave us in bringing together a three-lodge vacation. Delta Air was always on time to fly us to the airstrips. The camps that we stayed at all had their unique character so each stay was different.

We will highly recommend Island-Safari.

Thank You and best regards,
Ray Kiveris

November 2007
We had a fantastic holiday. Island Safari offered a superb service once again - we are repeat customers. Cara was very responsive in coming up with suggestions and changing dates to suit our needs. The booking was smooth and Island Safari acted promptly to change our pick up details at Nairobi International when we phoned prior to departing from London to advise that our flight had been cancelled and gave new flight details.
 
The transfers at all times were smooth. The drivers were waiting for us and were friendly.
 
Governors was great. The game viewing was excellent and the staff were the friendliest that we have encountered. The accommodation, food , bar etc were all good.
 
Tortilis Camp was lovely and the views from the bar / restaurant were great. Game viewing was good although not as prolific as the Masai Mara. The bush breakfast and walk to Sundowner Hill all added to the experience. The service at the camp was very good.
 
House of Waine was a lovely peaceful hotel with good service. The rooms were very spacious.
 
We are looking to going on another safari in 2009, when we will be coming back to Island Safari again.
 
Regards
Nicola and Steve London

November 2007
We are back in New York City with our pictures and our jet lag.

I just wanted you to know how much we enjoyed the trip and how much we are indebted to you for making all the arrangements that insured it's success. Everything we hoped for turned out as we wished and even the weather cooperated. Only the second half of the boat trip to Moremi encountered a rain and wind storm which was uncomfortable but that was a small inconvenience in the total picture. The guides were fantastic!!

To top it all off, we all got along well with each other.

Thanks again.
Jack Hirsch

November 2007
Please allow me to express my pleasure in dealing with Island-Safari.com for my recent Africa trip.  Coming from the US, I was slightly skeptical about booking with a company overseas and with whom I'd never had a phone conversation.  But after reading the online feedback and already having great communication with Mandy over email, I was sold.  Mandy put together a great package for me - all while being pleasant about my frequent changes and budget concerns, and enthusiastic about helping me.  She was also readily available when I was in Zimbabwe having difficulty getting US dollars.  Overall, she was wonderful to deal with and she was really on top of it with the communication, which was reassuring for me.

The Metcourt Laurel in Johannesburg was a great inclusive hotel, very clean, friendly and I loved my spacious room with the huge door!  It felt very luxurious after staying at the Hilton Nairobi for a few days. Being in a compound with plenty of restaurants, a casino, a spa and things to do was especially good for me as a single traveler in a city considered not particularly safe. The spa in one of the other hotels in the compound was just lovely!  Very accommodating, luxurious and relaxing.

The Macatoo Camp in Botswana was definitely the highlight of my entire Africa trip!  I can't say enough about my experience there. This camp was worth every penny I spent on it and it spoiled me for all the other places I stayed. The guides were fun and personable, the staff was impeccable, the chef made the most delicious meals I had during my entire trip, the pace of the camp was relaxing yet exhilarating and fun, and the location was absolutely unbeatable! Not once did our small group see another vehicle or person while on horseback safari. It was truly magical!

The Elephant Valley Lodge itself was a nice little oasis in the bush with very open and inviting common areas. Unfortunately it felt impersonal to me after the Macatoo Camp's family style feel - but maybe that's because I was traveling alone too.  The staff also seemed a bit bored and lazy, aside from our safari guide, Zambo. The food was fairly tasteless and not to my particular liking, as I am a bit health-conscious. On the bright side, the boat safari was fantastic and we had a nice, small group to see tons of animals - and even a dead elephant being eaten by lions!

The Kingdom Hotel was a nice, large complex close to many things in town and a short walk to the Falls was great!  Again the staff seemed a bit bored and slow, even though there were plenty of them. But my room was very nice with a patio right on the waterway, the valet was helpful, the grounds and pool were lovely and I felt safe walking to the Falls alone with the hotel security guard by my side. The food was nothing to brag about and most restaurants were out of many menu items - unfortunately I think this is a problem in Zimbabwe in general and a government issue.

Overall, I was and am very pleased with Island-Safari and I would definitely use them again for a return trip to Africa or anywhere else they service!  Thank you!!

Liz Higgins
South Lake Tahoe, California

November 2007
All transfers went smoothly.  The staffs at both hotels and lodges were uniformly friendly and efficient.  In summary the entire group had a delightful experience (certainly exceeding my expectations) in no small part due to your careful planning and attention to detail.  On behalf of the whole group you have our heartfelt thanks.
Thank you also for your gift of coasters.
 
Some highlights:
 
1          Three family groups began the trip as strangers and ended as friends.
2          We saw two cheetah, thee leopards and, on our walking safari, a pride of lions.  In each case hey were active, so we obtained excellent action photos.  We also saw two lions feasting on a Wildebeest.
3          The changing landscape at each lodge was truly extraordinary and made for quite a different experience versus our trip to the Serengeti twenty years ago.
4          The weather was excellent; the only rain we experienced was on the transfer from Xugana to Moremi.  That was a cold trip and we are thankful that we did not experience other days of rain as it would have adversely altered our experience.
5          While all accommodations were quite good, the Cape Grace was in another category!
 
A few specific comments:
 
Muchenje -   While the other lodges were professionally managed by Dessert and Delta, the location has an individual owner.  The employees were excellent but
                   Management turnover (five in three years) shows.  The current folks were on site for six weeks and were brusque.  They had some odd policies (ie we don’t wash socks and underwear); professed not to know that Del was not a  meat eater (no fish on offer); and were impolite to their staff (cutting them off in mid-sentence).
 
The location is superb, away from the Kasane lodges.  Our guide was terrific and the rooms and food were more than acceptable.  Please note that it is one hour, not ten minutes, from the Kasane airport.
 
There were water availability problems at both Xugana and Moremi.  Otherwise all went well.
 
My fellow travelers may wish to add their impressions to this note.
 
Warmest regards,
Bob Viarengo

November 2007
The service you received from Island-Safari.com staff during the booking process and during your tour.
This was top notch, especially when the tour had to rescheduled on very short notice due to the Air France strike.
Patricia went  beyond the call of duty on this one, in my mind.
The transfers you had.
The logistics were impeccable.
Your stay at Marben Manor Guesthouse
Very good. The kids loved the setting.
Your stay at Makgadikgadi Camp
3 stars. The stay was a bit curtailed due to a late arrival.
Would recommend stays of 3 days at least in order to get a better appreciation of the area
Excellent place to discover the pans. Very good service.
Reiner needs getting used to. A bit gruff but definitely committed to what he is doing.
Your stay at Mapula Lodge
4 and half stars. In my mind, sets the benchmark for a bush safari lodge.
Very well organised. Knowledgeable people. Excellent accommodations.
Superior quality of service.
Your stay at Chobe Safari Lodge
2 and half stars. Too big and too busy. Game drives traffic in park is akin to rush hour in a big city.
When 15 trucks full to the gills with people converge on the the same spot to see 3 lions, somethings is wrong.
The private river excursions were much better but the weather did not co-operate: grey and rainy and cold.
A definite downer after Mapula.
Your stay at Zambezi Sun Resort Hotel
3 stars. A short stay to decompress from  the hectic week. The road trip to Livingstone was fun.
The Falls are worth the sight.
The hotel is very good but "overdone" (bordering on kitsch). Also big and busy.

Overall, a marvelous was had by all. Lots of memories and pictures to take home.

additional input from my wife:

Why 4 and a half star for mapula says 5 stars, at chobe safari the dancers were better than in Zambezi Sun Hotel, so Chobe is better, not for the rooms but for the dinner under tent near by the river and the little boat.

Only one thing missing in this safari, our children did not meet african kids.  It would have been great for me  to visit a school, but not time enough, we have to come back.
Marc Dufresne

November 2007
Firstly allow me to congratulate you on putting together an exceptional trip which not only
was professionally organised and planned, all the connections and transfers were spot
on time and most delightful individuals who shared not only their time, but went out of their
way to accommodate our requests.

We were fortunate to have Shackleton's to ourselves and they certainly looked after us
very well. The lodge is very comfrotable, clean and rustic in the true African tradition. The
staff were excellent and the fishing guide Remi a most delightful man who knew what he
was about. The Zambian people have a most pleasing disposition to life despite the
difficult circumstances they find themselves in. You were always met with a polite greeting
and a broad smile, nothing appeared too much for them. The food was superb and they
were flexible with meal times and fitted into our fishing schedule which was great.

This would make a good family destination if fishing and birds are your thing, just up
our street. Its a liitle off the beaten track 140 km west of Livingstone which could be a
concern for some.

All our transfers after Shackleton's were by Wild Horizons, who were on hand with the ferry
when we arrived at the CHAOS which is Kazangula border post. Fortunately the guides helped
us through customs and into Botswana without much delay and Elephant valley were there
to meet us on the other side.

Elephant Valley is special with its layout and location of the waterhole. We did not sleep for
three nights with all the noise created by the elephant at the water hole from 9pm to 4am at
which point the whooping hyenas would take over for another hour or so. I have been to numerous
game destinations that promise amazing game viewing from the deck......This was the only one
that far exceeded my best expectations from this point of view. There is however a catch....Once
the rains start the Elephant depart for distant horizons. The last night here not one elephant was
seen becuase of the good rains that had fallen. We saw herd upon herd leaving on the last day.

The accommodation is good for tented camps, well serviced and clean, but management is lacking
in attention to detail and the place needs the owners touch if you know what I mean. numerous staff
were always on hand doing nothing....To quote a few there were no salt and pepper cellars on the tables,
instead a saucer held these condiments, The salad bowl would be empty on the buffet table and would
only be replenished after asking them to do so. The attention to this type of detail is seriously lacking
for a place that sleeps 40 people and the quantity of food made available for this number was limited
and in my opinion under catered. To crown it all they ran out of ice on two of the 4 days and on the last
evening they ran out of white wine...Which about summed it up. The owners need to visit more often!!!!

From a game perspective one is isolated and have to spend two hours per day getting to Chobe on
the game viewing vehicles. Its a tuff call for the older people and not the most comfortable. We did
enjoy our stay here including the noctural disturbances, good management could make this a really
special place. Zambo our guide was most knowlegable and a great guy, but he too could see the cracks
were widening.

We were met by Aleck form Sekoma at the Botswana border post and a pleasant 40min boat ride up the Kasai
channel to Sekoma Island via the Namibian side of the border and back into Zambia. I do not know how this works,
but thats Africa I guess. Sekoma Island is small intimate and all to ourselves as well....This is one place I will go back
to for sure. The tented rooms are on the small side (double bed was a factor we requested) and the staff were
superb. Brett and Roxanne who run it were very knowledgable and qualified guides who went out of their way
all the time. We were allowed "free range" and fished well beyond the hours indicated and had a fantastic stay.

Caught a lot of fish and that was the cherry on the top. The Mambova rapids were awsome to row down fishing as
we went. Crocs, hippos and numerous birds kept us so occupied that time is always in short supply and the days
were not long enough nor would they ever be in a place like this.

Wild Horizons met us at Mambova village one hour early but were happy to wait while we completed our tour of
the village. It was with much sadness that we observed the poverty and desperate circumstances these happy
people have to endure, yet they have a wonderful disposition to life as hard as it is. Charles and Collins escourted
us through to Vic falls and shared many insights into the Zambian culture and their economy. Two very delightful
people who once again raised the profile of the Zambian people in our eyes.

Thorntree with all the hype was a little disappointing. The rooms are fine, spacious and well appointed, but the rest
is "run down and unkempt" in a nutshell. The place has great potential but needs some work to put it back where
it should be. The food was mediocre and I would be hard pressed to recommmend it.

The Elephant Back safari was great and Natalie was offered a fulltime post after the enthusiastic manner in which
she participated in all the activities and could not get enough of the 3 month old baby who would not leave her alone
either.

Wild horizons were spot on time to take us to the airport and that went without a hitch. Wild Horizons are to be commended
the vehicles were smart, clean and air-conditioned which was more important at that time of the year. Their staff were
well informed and able to answer many of our questions about the country and its people.

Zambia is a destination which is short on exposure and needs to advertise what a magnificent country it really is.

In short, would we use Isalnd Safaris again.....Yes and Michelle in particular. Natalie called our trip "a holiday of a
lifetime" and it sure was. One thing however......I am glad we flew BA and not Nationwide!!!! There were Nationwide
tourists looking for luggage all over Zambia, Botswana and Zimbawe. Apparently this is happening all the time and
there does not appear to be any improvement.

Should you want any specific detail or more info we will gladly oblige

Kindest Regards and many Thanks  
PAUL HANSEN

November 2007
Mandy,
Thanks very much for arranging a fantastic trip!  Linda and I had a wonderful time--it was incredible.  We liked all of the areas you picked, but we liked Little Kwara and the Selinda the best.  Your instructions were very helpful, and the arrangements were superb!  No problem at all.
Everything worked as promised without any glitches whatsoever.   I'd be happy to give you a rousing reccomendation any time!

Thanks!
Mike Ryan

November 2007
Thanks for your email.  The only word I can use to describe the categories below is excellent.
 
Elize, who organised our tour, was superb.  We changed our plans a number of times and throughout she remained patient and understanding.  Her choice of lodges was also excellent – each was different.  However, the one thing that remained constant was the extremely high level of service from all concerned.
 
Please extend our special thanks to Elize.  We had a wonderful holiday.
 
Barbara Screen
 

November 2007
Hi!!
The Manning family are in awe of your organisational abilities!!
We must say thank you so much for all you did. It was brilliant!!
The transfers to, from and between Kafunta Lodge and Island Bush Camp were perfect.
The Lodge and Camp were beyond our expectation. The Camp in particular was much more than we ever dreamt of. That is no way criticises the Lodge - it was just that the Camp and the walks were fantastic!!
Natural Mystic was a bit deserted and actually the 1 night we ended up staying there was probably enough but the sunset cruise and trip to the Falls gave our son a feel for Africa. A long way to go for 1 night but worth it.
Your real triumph was the re-arrangement of the flights in Zambia after their no show on the way to Dar!!! And your original proposal that we should stay at Chaminuka turned out to be perfect. On refelection we were lucky to escape the Holiday Inn!! We did manage a trip into Lusaka for old times sake but next time we'll just stay at Chaminuka!!!
Please will you thank all your team for giving us a really wonderful trip!!
Thanks so much,
Martin, Fenella and Alex Manning

November 2007
What can I say? Michelle was great and very attentive. The transfers were smooth
and Delta Camp was fantastic. Thanks!
Rebecca Plank

November 2007
The service you received from Island-Safari.com staff during the booking process and during your tour.
The service was brilliant. Michelle is a star. Everything was perfect.Not one problem.I will only use Michelle in the future.
 
The transfers you had.
Service was brilliant. No problem.
 
Your stay at Victoria Falls Safari Lodge
Hospitality was brilliant.Why can't we get this service in SA?
 
Regards,
Callie Human

November 2007
Just to let you know that we arrived home safely yesterday evening after an absolutely magnificent time with everything going entirely to plan!
 
Deception Valley and Xakanaxa did not disappoint in any way (return visits often carry an element of risk) and, in fact, the longer stays really shoed them at their best. Flo’ and Bob were so genuinely glad to see us again and made us feel a bit special; we had heard a rumour that they had retired and so we wre especially pleased to enjoy their special welcome. Apparently retirement (to Australia) is in their mind but no firm decisions have been made. They will be a difficult act to follow, although Adrian and Vanda from DVL could be candidates as they are a polished pair of operators!
 
The Marine was very good and the Vineyard was, once again, a super base; for 2008 we are thinking about it although by then I will be Vice-captain of my golf club and that may clip my wings for a while. I’m working on it.
 
Thanks, once again, for all your help “without which none of this would be possible”.
 
With very kind regards
 
Chris”
 
The Metcourt Laurel is ideal for a one night stop-over and did not disappoint.
 
Regards
Chris Bull

November 2007
The service you received from Island-Safari.com staff during thebooking process and during your tour.
Absolutely outstanding!  We change our plans SO MANY TIMES it became a bit of a joke and I felt so bad for Patricia, who continually had to check on new options, pricing, etc.  She never once complained and was absolutely wonderful to work with!  She responded quickly to every inquiry we had and was more than flexible in working with our ever changing needs.  I was very impressed with how gracious she was in assisting us, considering we made so many changes, even last minute.  I can't say enough about how great it was to work with Patricia.  She is amazing!
The transfers you had.
The transfers were great.  The drivers were all very helpful, especially at the border crossings and they were very pleasant and kind.  Wonderful!
Your stay at Victoria Falls Hotel.  Our stay here was wonderful too. The hotel was beautiful and the staff were very kind and wonderful as well.  The only problem (that really has more to do with the stability of Zimbabwe right now, at least I think, than the hotel) was that it was very hard to get cash or small bills, so we ran into problems trying to tip the staff.  They also didn't take credit cards for most activities and such, so that added to the confusion on trying to pay for various things (such as the white water rafting, etc.)
Susan Schmidt                                                                     

November 2007
We were very satisfied with the service from island-safari and the quality of the trip deliivered for an acceptable price.
The e-mail communication with Patricia was efficient and pleasant.
The tranfers werre excellent quality, efficient and on time, both by road and air.
 
Elephant Valley is a very nice lodge with good service, food, activities and a nice waterhole.
Oddballs is OK. Nice people, remote and quiet location with wildlife, food is good. Beginning of November is low water, but there were some canoeing possibilities.
Wildlife in this period is harder to find.
 
So we would recommend your organization to friends and/or use it agian,
 
Thanks regards,
Paul Schaareman, Marisol Quiroga

November 2007
Herewith feedback from the Ballotta group.

Service received from Island-Safari was excellent.
 
Transfers were also extremely good.
 
Our stay at Zambezi Sun Resort was very comfortable but it is obviously a large hotel and the staff is rather busy - we would have preferred a smaller place.
 
Our stay at Elephant Valley Lodge was most enjoyable - the place is beautiful and it has a water hole right in front of it.  Many animals come to drink.  The food was also very good and so were the game drives.
 
We also enjoyed the very friendly atmosphere at Mapula Lodge. The game drives were great as was the trip on a mokoro. The lagoon was full of water lilies, one evening elephant were feeding right under our chalet (which was on stilts). The food could have been a bit better.
 
All in all it was a most enjoyable trip and the people were very friendly.
 
Toni Ballotta

November 2007
We had a wonderful stay in Victoria Falls for 3 days, doing all the things we wanted to do - helicopter flight, elephant safari, river cruise and walk with the lions which was just fantastic.  All the transfers went smoothly and the accommodation at the Victoria Falls Hotel was just lovely, very old world.  Everyone we met was very pleasant and helpful. 
 
Thanks for all your help. 
Lesley Rose

November 2007
returned home safely -had a fabulous holiday
just wanted to thank you for all your help
everything went like clockwork -all down to you
thanks
jon and karen nelson

November 2007
Many thanks clients Ballotta said everything went really well, ran very smoothly and they thoroughly enjoyed their holiday. It was very well organized. I have sent them the email to answer the questions underneath.
 
Many thanks
Helen
Kiambi Safaris

November 2007
We are very pleased to let you know that our holiday was great. Claudia did a great job, her help was accurate and friendly.
As far as "The Banyan Tree", I can reccomend this hotel to everyone.
The transfers were as always, long and tiring. But that is the price you have to pay going to the Seychelles from Belgium.
 
With kind regards,
C.B.J. Martens

November 2007
Yes I am very pleased to give you my (our) feedback about the booked travel with you. As i/we were complete satisfied I also include in this mail my personal travelagency which might come back to you when she has any customer with simular desires of personal travel as we had. As most of the time we had real personal transport ..we really did not envy the other big travelgroups (most French, German and Koreans) going around...
 
the service of Claudia and Co. at your side were absolujt friendly and very helpful ..giving us a real fair price ..always very quick in reply ..honest and reliable..
absolut nothing to claim or could be better....
 
transfvers were always excellent and perfect organized..never any delay
 
the Rainbow hotel had friendly staff except in morning at breakfast..when one came late (after 8 am lot of stuff was not being refilled..at 6.30 am  was service ok)
prices of food and drinks are like everywhere in Victoria Falls lightly overcharged but excused through the very bad economic situation in whole Zimbabwe..
in supermarket there are no shelves anymore....nothing to buy...only tourist shops are full of stuff...
people generally very friendly in Zimbabwe...i have a personal friend living there ..having seen how they have to go shopping in Livingstone or in Kasane asthey have nothing to buy in Victoria Falls
Rainbow hotel else is surely one of best priced hotel in town..only negativ that we got rooms on very different parts of the hotel even we booked together
 
chobe safari lodge is very nice place for relax and for seeing animals and nature..excellent excursions by boats, jeep etc..a lot of choice...food is excellent even the buffet is of high quality..sometimes a bit crowdy when big groups ..else nothing to complain...very beautiful rooms (had luck to get rooms near river over the garden not far from restaurant and not in the area where they had restructions for the second planned restaurant..swimming pool was not seen)
beautiful place with lot of activities...we saw all main park animals except leopard
 
chundukwa river lodge: first was little misunderstanding if we were on eco-budget or "all-in" basis in the place..but quickly was clear that we got the price all in..which was promised to us....a very nice last part of our holidays...very familiar..very relaxing..nice helpful lady showing us around..beautiful special cottages built on tilts..homefood but very good quality..very friendly helpful stuff...nice surroundings....were lukcy to see elefnats herds on both nights coming from water just down our cottages..was thrilling....
 
we were very pleased with whole travel and only recommend you to anyone else
brgsd Hanspeter

November 2007
everything was fine on our trip.
 
-           the service from the booking staff (Mandy) was excellent
-           all transfers have been prompt in time (just the service from Sun Hotels a little bit so so, a bit more information wood be good)
-           Songwe was very good, great hospitality by Dorothy and her team
-           Gardon Lodge – very good, they read our wishes from our eyes! (but there was no mokoro-tour offert)
-           Pom Pom Camp – couldn’t be better – absolut excellent
-           Makgadikgadi – good (we would recommend this only for people, wich are experienced in 4-wheel &/or endurance motorbike driving, there was no pool offert)
 
Over all one of the best trips in our life!
 
Thanks so much!
Petra & Bernd Schneider

November 2007
I write to say that everything was wonderful and I am grateful for having made contact with Island-Safari.  The transfers went well, and the Muchenje lodge was fantastic both in terms of the experience in the wild, and the quality of their hospitality. 
 
Thanks so very much!
Sincerely,
Fr. James E. Byrum

November 2007
Hi Mandy,
I just got back from the trip to African Horseback Safaris camp at Macatoo, and I have to thank you for making such a great trip a reality for me.

The people at camp were great, the food was amazing, and the horses were fantastic.  The only thing I could have done without were the spiders and scorpions, but I survived those too!

Thank you very much for all your help and patience.  I had a really great time.
Tamara Faas

November 2007
Hi Claudia, I am back in Germany and just want to let you know that the trip you organised for me was simply great. Every thing worked out as scheduled and I had never the feeling that something did not worked out as planned. You did a great job, so that I could visit one of the nicest places I have ever been to.
 
Thank you very much for your effort. 
Regards
Gerhard Schoening

November 2007
The service you received from Island-Safari.com staff during the booking process and during your tour. We got very helpful ideas from Cara, she made our tour perfect! She always answered very quickly and completely our questions.
The transfers you had. The transfers were fine.
Your stay at Umlani Bush Camp Our stay there was wonderful, the atmosphere was family-like and very cosy. The staff was pleasant and we were quite lucky with the other guests....... The whole camp and the huts were great. Food was good, so it was a very pleasant experience. A nice thing of the Camp was that everything was inclusive.
Your stay at Kwa Mbili Game Lodge This camp was also nice, we stayed in a tent and we prefered that above the cottages that seemed very average, but less family-like then Umlani. The ranger/owner explained very well about the bush-life..........food was good, staff were nice, a bit strange that you have to pay even for the drinks during the game-drives......but the stay in general was very nice.  
We liked the fact that both Camps were small.
 
Kind Regards,
Willem & Ulrik Houwaart

November 2007
Yes we are very content with the personal services and also with Kapama and Bucklers!!! Nice places, beautifull lodges and good prices. I will advice your company to my friends, much better than the Dutch compagny!!!
Thanks a lot!!
met vriendelijke groet
Astrid Tuin-Bruil

November 2007
The service I received from Island Safari was EXCELLENT!  Michelle (i think it was) was superb and extremely helpful and quick.  Elephant Valley Lodge was wonderful.  I was very impressed and was not dissappointed at all.  I would definately use you again.  Thank you!
Josh Finklea

November 2007
The service you received from Island-Safari.com staff during the booking process and during your tour.
Our booking was all managed by Mandy. She was nothing short of fabulous – we even referred some friends who were travelling on the same trip to Mandy also. It is always a bit ‘risky’ transferring thousands of dollars to a foreign bank account for someone you have never actually spoken with – Mandy made the process simple. Mandy – if you ever come to Australia and need a job then come and see me. Your customer service skills are excellent and many thanks for your help – we had a great time and if it was not for you we would not have been able to get availability at Belle Mare Plage. Thank you.
The transfers you had.
We were met at the airport by a very happy Belle Mare Plage representative. They took all our luggage and we were then escorted to a spotless black X5 BMW where 2 Belle Mare Plage staff took care of our things. As we departed the airport we were provided with refresher towels, a choice of still or sparkling water and we felt very comfortable. Our transfers were much nicer than those of other guests we knew at the hotel who arranged theirs through Concorde. Our staff were more polite, the vehicle was better quality and the timing of our transfers was perfect (not an 8.30am pickup for a 5:50pm flight like one of the other guests were)
The young driver was very polite, quite knowledgeable and very personable. He was the same driver that returned us to the airport on departure. We enjoyed his company.
Your stay at Belle Mare Plage Hotel
Not long enough. Every view is a ‘postcard’, the staff are polite and the facilities excellent. One of the nicest golf courses I have ever played (The Links Course). The half board selection was excellent, good variety and good quality. Beverage (bottled wines) could be expensive but I guess that is a trade off of staying at a nice resort and not a cheap hotel.
 
We did have an issue with ants in our room nearly everyday that was a little annoying albeit minor.
 
I would highly recommend the resort to anyone travelling to Mauritius and photos do not do it any justice.
Brandon Thompson
 

November 2007
Our clients was very satisfied in all ways with their experiences in Botswana, and have told us a lot about how they had fantastic days in the bush, your very professional way of handling the whole organization, the nice stay at Oddballs, and the very experienced guide.
 
African Adventure is very satisfied with the handling of the booking, and the fast replies and efficient communication we have had.
 
We will look very much forward to cooperate with you again, and wish you to give us an indication to which season would be the best for these trips, in order to have the best outcome of the experiences.
 
All the best
 
Trine
 
Många Hälsningar / Best regards
 
Trine Bengtsson
African Adventure AB

November 2007
At one stage I had nearly 4 pages of waffle and then realised that there were so many superlatives about the way you handled our enquiry that I would probably be heading for the divorce courts if my family got hold of it. I have therefor reduced it to the brief summary attached.
If you need any further references from me, please let me know and I will be more than happy to supply them.
Thanks once again for your invaluable help and happy correspondence.
Best wishes
Colin Booker

The Booker / Mountain trip to South Africa & Botswana
19.09.2007 to 10.10.2007.

REFLEXTIONS

       HERMANUS.

On the Cliff Guest House: Well positioned with very good accommodation. The owner / managers Charmaine and Hylton could not have been more helpful.

The Shark Lady. Very efficient and well organised. Unfortunately the weather conditions were not good and most people on the trip were ill, including our two

CAPE TOWN.

Waterfront Village Apartment:  In an excellent position with spacious and very comfortable accommodation. We had a few problems with the cleaning service and the washing machine. The washing machine problem is still on going as we have had not contact from the Manager regarding the damaged clothing

TRANSFERS AND GUIDED TRIPS.

Rob Parkinson and Jack Pretorious were first class. We are particularly indebted to Jack Pretorious for his help sorting our Ann’s dental crisis and our tour of Newlands Rugby Ground

POM POM CAMP.

We enjoyed our stay here; the camp is well sited, comfortable and organised. Staff and guides were good and the food was outstanding. We think that Stephanie, the manager, is responsible for this

KWARA CAMP.

We were lucky to be the only guests in the camp for the first 2 days. Anita and Lloyd, the managers, were very pleasant and ran the camp in a very relaxed manner. We had great fun at this camp; the guides and staff were excellent

TRANSFERS.

ALL our transfers were handled with great efficiency, especially the confusion caused by Nationwide Airlines. Thanks to Rob, Jack and the young lady from your Johannesburg office for smoothing that.

SERVICE.

From our first enquiry, the staff at Island-Safari.com have been fantastic.  I have yet to make contact with anyone as enthusiastic and helpful as Mandy.

Thank you all for making our holiday so stress free and wonderful.

November 2007
Thank you for your solicitation of feedback. I had intended to send it to you anyway, and just had not gotten around to it.
 
First of all, I do not have a single critical thing to say, and can not think of any ways to improve our experience.
 
Mandy from Island Safari.com was great. She listened to want we wanted, gave us a range of options, and helped us to narrow it down based on what we were really looking for. She was always very professional but pleasant to work with. Her replies were always very prompt. She went above and beyond the original plan by actually facilitating lodging and transportation for our overnight in Johannesburg. I was impressed with how thorough and comprehensive the services and arrangements were, right down to the meet and greet services at each airport. You all made traveling to a different continent so easy.
 
The transfers went smooth as clockwork, exactly as Mandy had indicated they would. The woman who met us at Jo-burg airport to transfer us to the Metcourt was great. I was impressed with her thoroughness also. She took the time before we left the airport to point out where the van would drop us the next morning, where to go from there, and what to expect. She even warned us that the boarding is usually not announced, that we should eat a hearty breakfast since we would arrive at our destination after lunch and dinner would be very late.
 
The Metcourt was great. Very clean, comfortable, and convenient. The service was good, and the breakfast was fabulous!
 
Mapula Lodge absolutely perfect for us. With limited time, we were looking for a single place we could go, see and photograph a wide range of animal and bird life, be comfortable, and yet experience Africa. Mandy suggested Mapula Lodge. As looked at the pictures of Mapula and read about it we were a little afraid it would be too luxurious for us, offering more a European experience in Africa. We were also a little concerned it was not in the Moremi since we had read so much about that. But we were impressed that it was the only Lodge/Camp we found that was owned and operated by indigenous Botswana people. But are so glad we stayed at Mapula.
 
It was indeed very comfortable, but done in a way that allowed both the physical and cultural uniqueness of the Delta to shine through. The fact it was outside the Moremi became a plus for us in terms of game tracking and viewing.
 
The staff were wonderful. They were very professional, warm and gracious. The lodge was not full, and we felt like we grew very close to them. Again, we really appreciated the fact that all of the staff were Botswana, and most came from little villages right in the Delta. Dudu does a great job managing the staff and leading the hospitality. It was a joy to see the way she has worked with young women employed as servers and housekeepers, helping them learn skills, attention to detail, and poise in dealing with guests and groups. We were impressed with the attention to detail and all the little things that the staff did to make our stay special, often using plants, flowers, feathers and other natural things to lend beauty or a special touch.
 
Perhaps most appreciated was the warmth and openness of the staff. All of them were willing to share some of their story, their history, their culture, and themselves with us. We had a chance to learn about life growing up in the bush, to sample some of their foods when we asked, and to learn about them. A highlight for us was the last night when their presentation of song overflowed into a wonderful time of dancing and sharing together.
 
And finally, I am still blown away by all the wildlife we saw. The guide, Dicks, and the tracker, Josiah, were excellent. We felt so fortunate that we had two men who had grown up right there in the Delta going out with us every day. Their knowledge of the area, the ecosystems, and the habits of the wildlife was phenomenal. More than just taking us to where the game was usually found, we spent time tracking, and learning about the unique habits and social structure of the various types of wildlife.
 
We could not have been happier with the service that Island-Safari.com provided and the arrangements they made for us, or with Mapula lodge. We have already been telling our friends how extremely happy we were with both.
 
Thank you so much for helping us with a trip of a life time.
 
David and Barbara Taylor

October 2007
We have just returned from a fabulous adventure/holiday in Africa to celebrate special birthdays and anniversary.
 
We booked our holiday with Elize at Island-safari, (recommended by a friend in the UK who had used your company before)who when I gave my brief to her arranged everything brilliantly.  Nothing was left to chance so our holiday went without a problem.  Thank you Elize.
 
The hotel and lodges, Zambezi Sun, Elephant Valley Lodge and Mapula were fabulous and each were very different.
 
The transfers were excellent, always being met on time with no problems.  The Border crossings went without a "hitch" and we could have been delayed there for many hours, but sailed through.  Our little flights back and forth to Mapula were superbly conducted by Duncan.
 
Elize was brilliant at returning e-mails with enquiries and alleviating worries that we may have had, bearing in mind that we were taking two children aged 14 on this trip.
 
Zambezi Sun - Perfect to start with -  great food and service - decided this was the best side to see Vic Falls.
 
Elephant Valley Lodge - Superb accommodation (tented!) but big comfy beds and facilities en-suite.  Again staff and service good.  Exciting position and very attractive lodge.  Brilliant guide - Zambo.
 
Mapula Lodge - absolute heaven!  Warm, friendly staff, Brilliant Bushman Dix (and Josia) + 4x4 left nothing wanting - Dudu excellent Manager.  This was an exciting exclusive personalized camp in a fabulous position in the middle of the bush with excellent accommodation all with fantastic views and every mod.con. It truly was superb.
 
The lodges coped with my coeliac problem, although they didn't appear to know before I arrived.  This might be helpful for them especially as some of the lodges only receive goods by plane.
 
Please pass on huge thanks to Elize and all who were organised in our trip.
  
It really was holiday of a lifetime.

Kindest regards and grateful thank
Jenny, Michael, Lydia and Hugo Bates.

October 2007
Thank You for the opportunity to give our feedback. Our holiday was just perfect and we enjoyed the whole trip to the fullest extent. Thank you also for the great service from Island-safari.
 
We were assisted by Carien from Your office. She did a great job providing service and always responding promptly to our requests. Also the first response to our query came swiftly, which was one of the reasons for choosing Your service. Mautourco was also very helpful and prompt in their service on Mauritius and we were happy with their service.
We have no complaints as to the transfers to and from the hotel.
The stay at Le Victoria Hotel was also just excellent. The hotel is high-standard and beautiful, with excellent service. The room was just what we had wished for and spacious enough. Le Victoria staff were also most kind and helpful and we really enjoyed our stay.
Choosing a service provider so far away from our home country might not be the first things that pops into your mind when planning a trip, but we have been most positively surprised. I don't think any of our domestic travel agents could have reached Your service level.
 
Thank you for the great job You did!
 
Best regards,
Marjut Lauha

October 2007
I am happy to reply to your request as our satisfaction rating was incredibly high and we will be using your services in  Africa again. In fact I have already recommended you to friends who have no experience of Africa.
Claudia was on the ball and her advice invaluable.
Transfers were good and on time.
All 4 of us agreed that our favourite lodge was Chundukwa even though it is some distance from the falls. We were the only ones there which helped and Charmaine was the perfect hostess.
Chobe  Safari Lodge was the usual unmemorable type but well situated and very good for its activities.
Selinda was special for its luxury and attention to detail whilst not losing the feel of the wild. Ishmael, the manager was great.
Oddballs was more akin to the way we usually travel though our friends had to make some adjustment in their thinking. We had some lovely experiences their as well as a face- to -face early morning encounter with a bull elephant wandering in the camp. I have 2 comments about this camp. Firstly.,it would be best to go there earlier in the year when the water is higher as we were very restricted where we could get to in mokoros. Secondly ,the quality of the managers, Jack and his wife is poor. Maintenance is not properly carried out and the place looks run down even for a camping experience .As an example, on first use of the shower, a floorboard collapsed and I fell through fortunately without injury. I reported this to both Jack and his wife but 2 days later when we left nothing had been done. The hole was still there. There were other incidents of a similar nature.
Planet Baobab was attractive in its way and a lovely experience made especial by the quad biking.
I hope these comments are useful.
Regards( especially to Claudia),
Stan Hill

October 2007
We had a wonderful, wonderful time and all the transfers were waiting, gracious and comfortable!!  Even in the cancellation of flights from Leopard Hills by Federal air, we were accomodated with alternative transportation without a glitch!!
 
As for each property.
 
Leopard Hills is just fabulous. and the game viewing was superb!  guides, all staff and food was wonderful..
and the outside dinner in the boma was great. (I had a massage and that was very good also).
 
Metcourt Hotel... good location, spacious clean room and a good overnight spot with easy shuttle to the airport.
 
Sandibe was also great... the staff was beyond great in service and they all performed a choir with dancing and singing before dinner... lots of fun and great, great entertainment.  I loved the little cabins and outdoor shower, elephants right at your deck.  The game drives were also good, (not quite up to Sabi Sands, but good) and they served a surprise bush lunch that was plus perfect...lots of champagne.. then back to the cabin for some serious snoozing under the fan, before the evening/night drive with sundowners.
 
Impalila Island lodge was also wonderful... and we both kept commenting on the food!! it was like the best we have ever had anywhere!! even surpassing top end cruise ships!. There was lots of great fish caught when we were there (not as many by us as we would have liked)... but we saw some whoppers brought in from other boats and we found the cabins very comfortable.
 
Royal Livingstone has just gorgeous grounds and beautiful rooms and lodge/restaurant, pool, and we loved the Zebras on the lawn at sundowners.  The only disappointment there was the food was not really that good in the evening, but the ambience made up for it..(the brunch was a fabulous layout and hard to beat)... but then we felt we might have been a bit spoiled coming from Impalila where they cooked your dinner fresh and personal each evening and you had a nice quiet intimate meal on the edge of the rolling rapids.
 
So, all in all we were very, very happy about everything.  and are thinking of visiting some of the CC Africa lodges in Tanzania in spring of 2009.  At Sandibe, they very wisely left a beautiful book of all their lodges as a welcome gift....
 
Thanks for all your arrangements and everything was perfect.
 
Claudia Thompson

October 2007
Been meaning to send Mandy an email so perhaps you could pass this on to her.
I'd rate the whole experience 10/10 - Mandy was very helpful, responsive, her recommendations and advice were spot - on, everything worked. Would be hard to beat.. The Macatoo experience was just brilliant. Totally amazing how they achieve a 5 star service in such a remote location. Mandy's assurances regarding the quality of the outfit, horses etc were great and totally accurate.
I'd highly recommend both Island Safaris and African Horesback Safari's.
Sore A*ses but we'll be back!
regards
Kevin Botha

October 2007
THANK YOU lot. We had really one of the best trips in our life. My parents and me enjoyed the 11 days trip in South Africa, Zambia and Botswana from the first until last day very very much.

The service in the booking was perfect. Actually I found your webpage looking for the hotels and requested first the fare for one hotel night. The reponse was quick and the fare was good so I thought why not to ask for the whole trip organisation. and I did not regret this decision. Michelle has doen really great job, the responses were very fast and the guesthouses she recommended us were over all expectations. We were a bit worried while transferring the money from Russia to South Africa without getting any written confirmation with stams and so far (how we used to have it here in Russia, but everything worked out perfectly)

All the transfers were on schedule with comfortable cars and we had very nice guides who explained a lot about the country and people and showed the places we would have never found out ourselves. We made actually a big trip staying first 3 days in Capetown with one day tours to Cape Point and Winelands, then going to Hermanus, from Hermanus to Knysna and from there to Port Elizabeth. from there we flew to Zambia, staying there for 2 nights and doing one day trip to Chobe park and then we flew back to South Africa to stay 2 days in Sun City.

 Abbey Manor Guesthouse in Capetown was a our first place to stay in South Africa, very nice place with very friendly manager and staff. The view ist just spectacular and we enjoyed our 3 nights there. Schulphoek is as well very nice, especially we enjoyed the dinner there with the manager and other quests, was a really one of the nicest evenings. One thing that bothered us a bit - when we arrived we could not book a taxi from there because all the taxis were busy and from the guesthouse its not just a walk to Hermanus, one needs to drive, so we needed to wait for 1.5 hours there but finally the solution was found and we got to see the whales

St James was a miracle place to stay, we had very nice room with actually 2 rooms, so my extrabed was actually extra room. We were a bit tired after 5 hours drive from Hermanus so we decided to have dinner in the hotel itself and we were the only guests in that evening in the restaraunt and were treated as VIP clients was really a pleasure to stay there.

Anchorage in Port Elizabeth was fine, nothing very special but we were spoilt already, we liked very good location close to the waterfront. What was good as well that we could make a coffee there in the room (what as well was in the other questhouses on our way) and as we needed to leave very early  from there we were given some fruits, muffins and yougurt in the evening before so we could have an early breakfast in the room

Zambesi Sun Resort - we liked the location just 10 minutes from Victoria Falls, we lover zebras walking just in front of the windows, it was nice to look at monkeyas as well trying to steel something from the kitchen. The common areas of the hotel are nice but the room itself did not impress us much. Food in the hotel was quite expensive compared to South Africa and did not taste so much as in other places. But again we were spoilt already by the perfect South African couisine and wines.

Cascades in Suncity we really liked, big hotel compared to the questhouses we stayed in the first part of our trip, lot of people but verz nice garden in front and we loved actually our stay in Sun City, it was nice place to relax after so many trips weve done during previous days

So thanks again, we would love to come back to Africa and till then we will look through our 8 GB of pictures and 9 hours of video ;=)

Best Regards from Russia
Levichev Family

October 2007
I'm happy to provide you feedback on our trip to the Seychelles.
 
Claudia provided excellent service during the booking process, and helped streamline the payment process by providing wiring instructions that were user friendly and easy to understand.
 
The transfers worked seamlessly, and were professional.
 
The Banyan Tree was fantasic.  A high level of service with beautiful accomodations.  My wife's suitcase arrived a day late, and the Banyan Tree did all the necessary follow-up and had the suitcase delivered to our villa without us having to do anything.  Top-notch in my opinion.
 
In closing, if we decide to take a trip to South Africa for safari we will certainly use Island Safari as our tour operator, and we won't hesitate recommending Island Safari to friends interested in visiting that part of the world.
 
Regards,
Joe Ciavola

October 2007
We had a good experience with island safari.
Booking and arranging really did go down to the wire, but I had requested a lot of information and it all came through in the nick of time. The Victoria & Alfred was wonderful. My requested bottle of wine was not chilled in the room on arrival, but the staff made up for it with the terrace jacuzzi filled and ready, chilly wine and a bowl of strawberries and cream awaiting when we returned from dinner.
Excellent and friendly service throughout our stay.
Our wine tour win eco-tours sa and Andy Rice was a highlight.
Andy was a true host and a wealth of interesting information on wine and the many changes in South Africa. It was an illuminating experience, culturally and we tasted and bought some execptional wines.
Feel free to quote what you wish on the website...we''ll be back to Cape Town.
Best regards,
Douglas Clapperton
Bangkok, Thailand

October 2007
The service you received from Island-Safari.com staff during the booking process and during your tour.   
Really good and helpful
The transfers you had.
After we found them they were very helpful and informative
Your stay at Zambezi Sun Resort Hotel
Very helpful staff and nice room
Your stay at Elephant Valley Lodge
Very friendly staff, helpful - water could be provided rather than having to buy it.
Your stay at Oddballs Camp
Really lovely, guide was good and staff helpful and friendly....  even the resident elephant was friendly.
Lauren Woolley

October 2007
Everything was perfect. All the people at Shandrani were very service minded, the facilities were well kept and we had a great time.
The transfer was also very good
 
Best regard
Daniel Ahlgren

October 2007
Thanks for your e-mail. We will be delighted to give our feedback which is all extremely positive.
 
The service you received from Island-Safari.com staff during the booking process and during your tour.
    Excellent - Verona our rep was very helpful, friendly and efficient.
 
The transfers you had.
    Cannot fault them. They went beyond their call of duty to ensure that we were everywhere we needed to be in a timely & friendly manner.
 
Your stay at The Kingdom Hotel
    Much better than expected - Very clean, comfortable accommodation and friendly, efficient staff
 
Your stay at Ilala Lodge
    Superb - Will definitely stay there again when we next visit Vic Falls. Room very comfortable, clean, spacious, peaceful private balcony, what more could we ask for. The food was plentiful, varied & tasty which considering the state of Zim at present is great. The staff were fabulous and I am glad to say, all local people. Very friendly, helpful and fun to be with.
 
This was my fourth visit to Vic Falls and the best yet.
 
Thanks & say Hi to Verona for us
Trudie & Richard Bowmann

October 2007
Just thought we would let you know that all the bookings we made through your company were excellent, all the flights (transfers) and all the camps and the lodges were of a very high standard, meals wonderful and the staff. The Safari’s were all excellent as well as were the guides. The only place was the Victoria Falls Hotel and with the problems they are having was not as good as it probably used to be. Still an interesting place to go back to.
 
I would like to say a big thankyou to Patricia who was wonderful to us replied to all my e’mails with questions and things, and certainly made our holiday just amazing and something to remember.
 
Thankyou again
Kay Macdonald

October 2007
I can honestly say that our honeymoon was everything we hoped it would be!
I booked my tickets through Verona in CPT. She was absolutly fantastic and helpful from  the very first time we spoke. She explained all the options to me and kept me updated as to what was happening all the time etc. the hotel was booked, tickets would be delivered

The guide that met us at the airport was very sweet. She showed us where to exchange our money and then took us to our minibus. The driver drove well however there were other passengers in the bus which were smoking, making it rather unpleasent for us.

Our hotel was stunning, and Carina helped us alot to book our tours. The staff at Le Mauricia were wonderful and we were really treated like royalty.

Thank you so much for everything your company provided us with.

Regards
Alexis Callis

October 2007
good to here from you, as I just wanted to give you my feedback.
The service you received from Island-Safari.com staff during the booking process :
Mandy has done perfect job, she understood clearly our expectations, made the right proposition, and quickly answered every time. Everything was handle smoothly from first contact to invoice.
We had a very late flight cancellation and Mandy reacted very fast to handle this problem efficiently.
I would recommend to anybody to organize a tour through island-safari. And I already provided your name around me as a reliable tour operator for South Africa and the region around.
 
Your stay at Somalisa Camp :
Again, Mandy had a brilliant idea to send us in Somalisa. This is a dream place, I can only have good comments on this lodge. Everything was perfect (game drives, location, food, staff...). The camp is very well managed by Terry & Shiona, they made us feel like home in the bush with friends. This was exactly what we were looking for and certainly beyond our expectations. The lodge is hidden in the nature, tents are confortable, furniture has lot of style.
The food is really amazing for a such idle place, excellent. Wine from South Africa as well are very good.
Terry lead us in the bush to see so many animals and made us understand bush's life with many interesting information.
You can send anyone who is looking for safari experience close to the nature with luxury accommodation in the same time.
 
Thank you
Best regards,
Alexandre Millet

October 2007
Well back home in Switzerland again! Everything was perfect, your service was just excellent and everything worked out fine, to our total satisfaction.
If I need any further help I will definitely call you again!
Oddball's was good, maybe the activities could be a little more, the poolers were a bit lazy, but one person in our group did not want to walk too much so perhaps they did not want to stress her, but everybody was so nice and charming and we enjoyed our stay!

Best Regards
Karin Muller

October 2007
I have agreed with Mandy to send her a detailed critique of our wonderful holiday but am happy to forward a cut down version to you now.
1. The service we received from Island-Safari staff has been outstanding. We had a few minor problems whilst on the trip, none of which were the fault of I-S. I-S staff responded immediately and sorted them out for us.
2. Rob Parkinson and Jack Pretorious were first class, looking after our transfers and guided trips in South Africa. Nationwide Airways caused us about a few moments of unease as they struggled to get us from Cape Town to Johannesburg. Jack, Rob and the young lady from your Johannesburg office smoothed that out.
3. On The Cliff Guest House was great fun. Charmaine and Hylton the perfect hosts.
4. Waterfront Village Apartment is in an excellent position. The accommodation spacious and very comfortable. The kitchen appliances and fittings are getting a little tired. We had a problem with the washing machine which resulted in an item of clothing being ruined. The manager was on leave so we left the evidence with Reception staff who promised to give it to her when she returned to duty. I am still waiting for a response from her. The apartment was not very clean when we arrived, especially the floors, after a few calls to Reception, we were able to persuade the cleaning staff to do the job properly.
5. Pom Pom we found to be a very nice, comfortable camp. The food was outstanding,we think the manager Stephanie is responsible for this. Staff and guides were good.
6. Kwara was our favourite camp. We had lots of fun with all the staff. The managers Anita & Lloyd were very efficient and quickly put everyone at ease. Our guides Donald and Alfred were excellent.
I hope this is of value to you and if you ask Mandy nicely, she might give you a copy of the Big Issue when she receives it.
Yours sincerely
On behalf of the Booker Mountain Comfortable Expeditions Club.
Colin Booker

October2007
As promised find hereafter my comments about our unforgettable trip in Botswana.
First of all, a charming lady took us on time in Airport Grand Hotel and stayed with us until the check-in for Maun was OK. I will not comment anymore the long stay in the airport due to the Air Botswana delay. You know everything about that.
Arriving at last at 07:30PM in Maun Airport, we have been surprised to see or guide Daby, waiting, with a big smile, forhaving bee there at noon ! Just started in his 4X4, Daby stopped in town and came back, the same smile, with two enormous hamburgers in case of... Two hours later, at 10:00PM, we arrived in Meno a Kwena.  David Dugmore and his staff  welcome us, suggesting to have dinner. Of course, we appreciated this valuable sense of hospitality but we suggested to discover our tent and to have our first African night full of Zebra voices and a first Lion sound.
The day after, we had our first walking safari with Daby, who knows everything including making fire with two pieces of wood. We saw elephants, koudou and a lot of birds. Afternoon was dedicated to a 4X4 long tour along Boteti river with 2 nature lovers from South Africa. We stopped many times to see steenboks, hippos, zebras and THE Bateleur Eagle. What a day..   The last day in Meno, we quit Daby, David and his lodge (please tell him not to change anything) and we went to the Makgadigadi region with a new guide Max ( his laugh will sound a long time in my memory).
After a quick lunch in a new camp, we started with  Steven (I don't have his name but well his email address) for this  incredible  afternoon and night  in the pans. We will never forget this place in the middle of nowhere, a dried salt lake, no one tree, and...  a table prepared  for dinner,  two tents 100 meter further and  50 meter further again, two normal beds with a small carpet to place our feet. Try to imagine  being  laying in these beds in such a silence and looking at the Milky Way without any other source of light. Fantastic night, a bit cold in early morning but we kept our place. Dinner for 4 persons (Steven, Max, my wife and myself) gave us the opportunity to recreate the world in words. We watched after that the sundown silently around the fire. I am not mastering enough English language to say what I am thinking about, so, tell Steven to continue to run after his imagination to create other events like the one we experienced.
Coming back on earth,  Max brought  us to Maun airport. The flight in light aircraft  helped us, as foreseen, to  have a  magic view on the delta.  We have been lucky because  the pilot  had to land in an other camp so we had two take-off instead of one. We also had to avoid impact with 3 vultures... Bingo. Welcome in Oddballs is a bit surprising. Arriving at the reception/bar, we had to sign first a paper explaining that they are responsible for nothing that could happen to us. but the camp manager (called 101 !!) is so nice that we forgot this paper immediately.
As promised , we met our dedicated guide for the 4 days stay. This young boy, Kagiso,  25 years old and a bit shy in the beginning, rapidly became  close to us. We have been  impressed by his knowledge about  nature , animals  (including very small frogs), trees and plants and of course birds. We discovered that mokoro is not an exotic view for formatted tourist but well the most optimized transportation means to circulated within the delta. We  spent hours with mokoro very closed to the deltalife. Impressive. The two days camping on the banks of the river are also unforgettable (lion roaring included). The negative point (but it will be the only one in the whole stay in Botswana!!) was the too small thickness of the bedroll with result that I could not sleep at all during the first night. We suggested to leave the camp at the end of second day afternoon  and have a more comfortable night in our Oddballs tent. Anyway, during our outside days, we had walking safari, very impressive ( long file of 150 buffalos slowly passing in front of us and a male lion running at 100 meters ahead of us.
Informality in Oddballs is a reality. We even had a not prepared song and dance after lunch by 3 our 4 guides helped by the  staff ladies. Food is excellent in Oddballs.
Then we left with regrets to take "our " private plane to reach Kasane (1 hour and half flight). A guide from Elephant Valley Lodge took us in the Airport. (01:00PM) Here I have to make a break, because the wilderness style we experienced and loved, all of the sudden disappeared and we had the feeling to arrived in a Kruger park hotel. Everything is clean, people in uniform, and furnitures seems to directly escape from British Empire... AND an electric fence protects those chilly customers from these dangerous animals drinking in the waterhole in front of the restaurant.
No critic to be given to the quality of tents, food and service. The afternoon safari starts at 03:00PM. It is a road safari along Chobe river. Return at 6:30PM. The driver/guide makes a stop for each wild animal  encountered  and they are numerous  in Chobe.  Many 4X4 like ours are moving everywhere so, when looking ahead of the car, we know in advance that there is "something important" to see by counting the number of 4X4 stopped in a big circle !!. Morning safari starts at 09:00AM . Same vehicle drive us to the river for a boat safari. Same scenario than the one by car. A lot of  speedboat including ours, running like hell from one bank to the other to be first to see this poor crocodile that knows the music and stays there, open mouth, listening camera noise. Afternoon, same scenario than day before, same itinerary. To summarize, three days in Elephant valley lodge was, for us, too much. The last day we stayed in the lodge to look at animals and birds coming around the electric fence.
A "Wild Horizon" member drove us next morning to Zambeze border, we crossed and entered in Zambia very quickly, then an other person from "Wild Horizon" drove us to Chundukwa. And here... African magic restarted again. This tree lodge offers square tree houses surrounding Zambeze, one wall is replaced by a balcony on the river. But what makes this place unforgettable is the most affable person we met in Africa : the manager ( I hate this word) of the lodge, Charmaine Brogan who realized this small miracle to transform us in two days from guests to (almost) member of  her family.
Of course, the fact that  there were only three guests including us,  helped to create this closeness. The last day, Charmaine drove her small group to the Falls, what a day!, she found a taxi driver authorized to pass the border to Zimbabwe, so we had the chance to see the Falls, from Zimbabwe side and after a picnic on the banks Zambian side, we did the long walk in front of all these falls. I will stop here, the rest was a routine flyback to Europe. Now I have to thanks you for the quality of the lodges you booked for us. It seems that, at 9000KM far from  Belgium, you perceived in details what  we hoped to live  during those days. May be I am a bit rough with Elephant Valley Lodge but I am sure it (unfortunately) corresponds to a demand.
I will certainly recommend your  organization (and yourself..)  to friends of mine  when in search of an African tour. If interested in receiving pictures of animals or birds, I can send you a sampling; (but I am sure you already have plenty of them).        
Thanks again for everything
Raymond Minguet

October 2007
Dear Mandy,
It was nice to have a voice to put to the picture I have of you in my mind. This note is to let you know we are back home in one piece, despite KLM managing to detain us in Johannesburg for 23 hours more than we had anticipated.
On behalf of that part of my family who went on the trip I can only say "THANK YOU" for the outstanding job that you have done for us. We had a wonderful time, all of the things you arranged for us were great, especially the people looking after us, Rob Parkinson and Jack Pretorious really put themselves out for us. We saw just about everything we hoped for and then some. Although the weather was a bit like UK at Hermanus, we still had a good time there. I think that the Staff, guides and management at KWARA made that the most memorable place. We had a lot of fun there and being our last stop made a perfect climax.
We will be sending our individual thanks to all the people we met and I will send a more detailed critique to you when I have recovered from the prospect of England beating South Africa in the final of the World Cup!!!!
My very best wishes and thanks again
Colin Booker

October 2007
Sorry about the delay for my feedback.  Everything was fantastic we had a great time.  The Delta camp was the best though for chilling out, we loved the accommodation there.  The transfers were easy and the flights very cool.  The pilots were great.  The Royal Livingston was just wonderful.
 
Cheers
Pete Bartlett

October 2007
Claudia assisted me in booking and she was very helpful.  I would definitely deal with her
again.   All the connections went smoothly – flying to Maun, being picked up and taken to
Motsentsela and then commencing the safari.
 
I very much like Montsentsela Tree Lodge.  At first, I was wondering if it was a waste of time to
have spent one night there, but I enjoyed the place.  It was my only chance to do a “walking safari.”
 
The CCAfrica Botswana Explorer Safari was good, although if I did it again, I would do a shorter duration
Safari.  After a few days, I tired of staying in a tent.  However, that is only my opinion – I think the other
travelers in my group enjoyed the tent thing – maybe I’m just not good at roughing it (at least not for 9 days). 
 
Our guide was excellent, the food was satisfying, and tents were well-built.  I am very happy with both
Island-Safari and CCAfrica.
 
Thomas Miles

October 2007
The service I received from Island-Safari was very good and helpful. Michelle answered all my questions and inquires. All my transfers went smoothly and the people who met me at all the locations were very friendly. The only delay was the  airline (nationwide) 30 minutes. The Metcourt was very nice, especially the connected courtyard (casino/food) area. Chundukwa was great, Charmaine did a great job. Elephant Valley was amazing with the water hole right in front of my tent. Oddballs was super, especially the overnite camping. Makgadikgadi camp was super also, fantastic people. At all lodges everyone was friendly, helpful and always knew your name. Everywhere was well organized. I think I was lucky to never be crowded with to many other tourists on jeep and walking tours. I saw amazing things. I was thrilled and excited to experience a hippo smashing underneath our mokoro and dumping my driver. The boat stayed upright with me in it and just inches from the hippo. No one was hurt and the hippo left quickly. It happened so fast there was no time to be afraid. All is good that ends well. Thanks to you and everyone at Isaland-safari for a memorable vacation.
Steve DeWitt
 

October 2007
We had a great trip - especially enjoyed the small, more intimate and friendly atmosphere at Kwa Mbili Game Lodge.  I have no complaints with how the booking process went or any of the accommodations, transfers, etc. 
I had never booked a trip such as this online, and was a bit anxious once I had wired my money to get the confirmations.  But everything came through and I especially appreciated the itinerary that was sent with information on what we should bring and what weather we should expect.
 
Lorrie and Walt Smith

October 2007
save and healthy (as far as before the trip) we are back home, returned from a GREAT trip - as predicted by you!

Service
With care and assistance by Mandy during planing and preparation for our tour we had been completely satisfied, as 2005 already. Her service was very well-informed, creative, listening attentively to our wishes and persistent and patient in adjusting wishes and possibilities - and immediately reacting. During our tour Mandy could be got on the line when it had been useful.

Transfers
Each transfer had been done at the right time and as expected.
There had been only one problem (which couldn´t been foreseen even by us), due to the spine complaints of my wife Bärbel: At the last, far-distance transfers on not so good roads with normal motor cars - instead with minibus as at any other time. Please read in the attachment.

D´Oreale Grande Hotel
To come to know the D´Oreale Grande Hotel really had been an experience. Apparently they try to emulate Las Vegas; the huge casino integrated contributes to this impression. Impressive and supplementary to the extremely plentiful breakfast buffet the nice, large park. - But for a mere overnight stay we would prefer the Intercontinental Airport Sun in future, which is located directly at the airport (no shuttle necessary) and known by us from 2005.

The Victoria Falls were worth visiting from the Zambian side as well. Our gift for the mahout Shepherd in The Elephant Camp was transferred to Zimbabwe from our driver from Wild Horizons Transfer Company and we would think that Shepherd had got it personally. 

At  Muchenje Safari Lodge we enjoyed some interesting walking safaris, besides trips into Chobe National Park, and above all as climax the game boating on the Chobe, when we saw in the river and at its sides herds of elephants, buffaloes and hippos and many other animals and birds in full action.

In respectively near Stanley´s Camp meeting and contact with the three elephants of Doug Groves were the peak without doubt. The very good meals were remarkable. - Game walks were not possible (no guide available) in spite of announcement in web and in your itinerary. 

Highlight of our journey has been the Abu Camp, especially by elephant back safaris through the floated Okavango Delta, a mocoro cruise through canals full of flowers and birds and by the personal care of the highly motivated guide Custard, being attached to us. Location of the "tent" at the lagoon and experience of the nocturnal sound background being connected with that and the final dinner in the bush surely were fantastic. - However handling of the elephants by the mahouts looked to us less professional as at The Elephant Camp two years ago (too much beating).

Iketla Lodge was exceptional for us due to the possibility to have unguided walks through the bush; the stone-and-thatch houses have got a special charm. - But in our opinion builders have made a serious mistake by painting all wooden parts of the traditionally built timbering with "Carbolineum" or a comparable tarry product and by that there is permanently an intensive odour of tar in and around the houses. In Germany it is forbidden to use this kind of timber preservation in accommodation because it causes cancer. (Even in the new KMIA-building the similar timbering has not been preserved this way.)

Dear Mandy we thank you very much again for this wonderful journey!

Best regards

Bärbel and WolfhartDittrich

October 2007
sorry fort he late answer, but we did not want to miss the opportunity to thank you for the organisation of our vacation (great), the transfers (perfect) and our stay in the Royal Livingstone (fantastic)!
For sure, we will recommend you to anybody intending to make a trip to the southern hemisphere!
 
Hope to be able to use your services again.
Thank you.
Charlotte, Georges and Tim Van Puyenbroeck

October 2007
We had fantastic time in Africa.

The service from Island-Safari staff was terrific.
The transfers were punctual and comfortable.
Motswari was delightful. Very caring and knowledgable staff, beautiful food.
Kwa Mbili was OK but not exciting.
The game viewing was good in both lodges.

Thanks for the reminder to check the expiry date in the pasport. My was
overdue and I manadged to renew it.
Regards
Luba Totoeva .

October 2007
It was great. All was organised very well.
Fantastic, what can I say more.
 
Keep up the good work .
 
Tijl Simons

October 2007
Booking process was great.  Most importantly, I did not have to wait very long to receive return correspondence.  I had spoken to a couple other companies but island-safari won my business due to the prompt responses I received and also the competitive price.
 
Transfers were good. 
 
Dinarobin was a fantastic hotel and we would recommend it to anyone.
Jonathan Grahmann

October 2007
Hello. It was excellent across the board. Gomo Gomo is perfectly situated on the river --- we even saw elephants trumpet by in the water, as we watched from the breakfast deck --- and the guides worked overtime to make sure that we saw as much game as possible. (I saw each of the "Big 5" at least twice, and lions, elephants, and buffalo in particular multiple times.) Thank you so much.
Eric Behrens

October 2007
I was extremely impressed with the personal service I received from Island-Safari, in particular Louise.  She was excellent, and recommended Elephant Plains which turned out to be a fantastic lodge and exceeded our expectations.
 
Thanks again and I look forward to booking another safari with you in the future.

Regards - Karen Fergusson

October 2007
Just really a quick note to thank you for helping us put together such a great honeymoon. We had an amazing time and nothing disappointed.
 
I've responded below on your points, and we're happy to provide further feedback / details if needed.
 
Many thanks
Will Devenney
The service you received from Island-Safari.com staff during the booking process and during you had: Mandy was particularly helpful throughout, booking exactly what we wanted and fitting the flights around that, and at every lodge we felt we had the best room in the place which was perfect - many thanks Mandy.
The transfers you had. All transfers were fine and the trip was remarkably smooth, especially given the distances travelled
Your stay at Kapani Lodge Great time, lagoon suite was lovely, service was great.  Safari experience not as good as at the bushcamps, but a great introduction.
Your stay at Luwi Lodge This was our favourite camp - perfect setting, great atmosphere, fantastic walking, Warren the camp manager was very friendly and accomodating and helped make it a great, fun experience.
Your stay at Kakuli Lodge Great game viewing and location, although there was a strange undercurrent here. We felt Laura, the camp manager, was always very defensive and felt something bad had just happened which she was continually trying to cover up.....we didn't quite understand!  Camp management here should be distinguished from the guiding - Aubray was exceptional, the best guide we had on the whole trip.
Your stay at Tongabezi Lodge Great - accomodation was first class in the tree house. Food great, activities great - especially the livingstone island trip and swimming at the top of the falls.
Your stay at D'Oreale Grande Hotel Fine, was just a brief stay as a transfer hotel and was ideal for this.
Your stay at Quilalea Island Resort Perfect! Villa 9 was without doubt the best villa with private beach etc! - worth noting for future reference that guests on the sunrise side, particularly villa's 3 and 4 were very unhappy about the noise from the generator / water purification plant, and I don't believe there is anything that could be done. This didn't effect us tho! Food, atmosphere, activities here were really awesome and lodge management very friendly and helpful.

October 2007
The service you received from Island-Safari.com staff during the booking process and during your tour.  - very good, from start to finish. Patricia was well organised, gave me good suggestions on how long to stay at places, what to take, what was needed etc.  Itineray was accurate and very informative.  Everything went as according to the itinerary, nothing missed.
The transfers you had. - these all went very well, everyone was on time, very friendly and helpful.  Because of this we didnt need to worry about whether we would miss connections or not know what to do next.
Your stay at Pom Pom Camp - this camp was great.  It was probably the most 'casual' which was fantastic.  The management and all staff were very friendly and helpful. Food was great and lots of it.  The safaris (activities) were very good as were the guides.  The accommodation was excellent, fit in well with the surroundings and very natural for the settings (apart from it being 5 star). The location was fantastic.  We enjoyed every minute here.  Good to have 3 days.
Your stay at Camp Moremi - This camp was also fantastic, from food to accommodation, to guides to management.  More organisation as far as, on returns from each safari, we were met by management with cold towels to wipe our faces, this was a nice greeting and fit well with this camp.
Your stay at Muchenje Safari Lodge - We loved this camp also.  Only had two days and if it had of been at the start of the trip, 3 days would have been better.  They did different things to the other camps, like full day safaris, boat time to watch the sunset and elephants swimming etc. Food was good, (not as adventurous as the other camps but still fantastic).  All the staff were great and the management were very good.  This lodge had an amazing view over a very large area of savanna (is that the word?).  Fantastic from the balcony of our cabin also.
Your stay at Victoria Falls Safari Lodge - this was great also.  I can see why people would spend a week here, just to relax around the hotel.  The view of the waterhole was great, with buffalo and elephant and hyena coming down to drink.  The lodge itself was very nice, the restaurants especially the Boma amazing.  Nothing like that in Australia.
One of the main things that made this trip very pleasant was that everything was perfectly organised, from flying in to Botswana, to pickups, to charter flight, accom, food, activities, transfers, it all went very smoothly which took all of the hassle out of moving around so much.
 
We had a great time and Island-Safari made that happen.

Regards
Natalie Johnston

September 2007
My apologies for being so later in contacting you after we came back from our wonderful trip but I have been very busy working in Indonesia.
 
We were impressed with everything thing that we saw and the way we were treated in all places. All the transfers were in place and on time (oops, on arrival in Jo'burg I started being concerned, I must say. But I do understand what happened and it all forgotten 10 minutes after) and we only met wonderful people, being them managers, guides, drivers or pilots.
 
Victoria Falls is a magic place and Chobe, Delta and Kalahari are simply wonderful. It was one of our best holidays ever and we are seriously thinking to do the other two parts of my original idea. Do you remember I wanted to go to Namibia and to Cape Town? So, now I am thing to do it by road from Windhoek to Cape Town along the Atlantic Coast. When you have time, is not urgent at all but please do not forget, can you tell me if there is any coach tour for that itinerary, say in September or October 2008? For the moment this is just an idea but I would like to keep it alive.
  
Best regards,
Antonio Ribeiro

September 2007
We have just arrived home after our wonderful holiday and I just wanted to send a note thanking you for sorting out everything for us, it was all absolutely fantastic.
 
We will definitely be coming back to Africa at some point and we will definitely come back to you to sort things out for us.
 
Please can you also pass on our heartfelt thanks to the team, and particularly Peter (sp?) who were also marvellous when our passports dropped out of Ian's pockets (glad it wasn't from mine!) last night and were thankfully found in the car, otherwise we would still be in Johannesburg. Even though it was her weekend off and she had virtually got back to Pretoria she immediately turned around and came back to the Airport - we can't thank her enough.
 
We had a wonderful time - thank you very very much. I have, and will continue, to recommend you to anyone who asks me who to contact to arrange a holiday in Africa.
 
Many thanks and 'til the next time.
 
Kind Regards
Sue Mackenzie
 

September 2007
Mapula lodge was the best by far. A proper safari we went off-road all the time and travelled great distances
From the lodge. The food was good in all lodges. Great job by island safari.
Tristan David
 

September 2007
Service from Island Safari was excellent.  Very capable, helpful, and efficient.  Exceeded expectations.
 
Stay at Planet Baobab also excellent.  Staff very friendly and helpful. Facilities beautiful, comfortable.  Food also very good.
 
Overall – very good experience – will definitely use Island Safari in future, and would recommend to friends.
Helen.Karrandjas

September 2007
Hi,
in the text below you find my feedback.
Overall. Fantastic trip and superb organisation !!!!
Thanks a lot
Stefanie Tomedi

The service you received from Island-Safari.com staff during the booking process and during your tour. very well understanding what we looked for and excellent support !

The transfers you had. perfect ! especially the complicate transfer from Zambia to Pom Pom. We had to change 4 times the tranport vehicle (small bus, boat, jeep, airplane) and every time the stand beside to support us until the next took us over.

Your stay at Stanley Safari Lodge wow - we got the honeymoon house which was unforgettable and the staff was wonderfull and helpfull. Very quite location what we appreciated a lot at the beginning of our tour

Your stay at Pom Pom Camp it was the truth to say "real bush experiance". It really was. In the night elephant was eating around our tent while most of the times the Hippos crossed just beside the tent. The Rangers are very well trained and frinedly and could tell us really a lot about natures fauna and flora. As we know that a leopard seems to be around the camp but could not find him the first 3 drives in the last the Ranger picked especially us both and finally we found him !!!!!

Your stay at Vondelhof Guesthouse nice and for an overnight stay recommendable. Just around the corner of the B&B is a perfect nice restaurant to start into Namibias world: NICE - absolut great and was a recommendation of the Vondelhof Manager

Your stay at Desert Homestead extremly relaxed atmosphere - the staff is not as sensitive as in the other camps but this gives us a positive feeling to be concentrated on our own and enjoying the wideness of this area.

Your stay at Beach Lodge Honestly speeking at Sunday´s Swakopmund may not be the perfect stop as the town is really closed. Also Walvis Bay was complete closed at this day. But of course the necessary things like supermarket were available. The location was very nice and we could enjoy the Atlantic Ocean just in front. Service was good and helpful as the Serviceguys washed the cars over night !!

Your stay at Olive Grove Guesthouse Wonderful place to stay and maybe we would have had preferred to stay one more night to use all the facilities they offer in the Spa. We enjoyed the dinner there which was really good as well !

September 2007
Island-Safari service:
Michelle could not have been more helpful and friendly
Payments were acknowledged promptly.
Paperwork very good.
We were very satisfied
 
Transfers to and from Maun:
Delta staff helpful and friendly.
One problem. Plane taking us back to Maun was too late for comfort. Our flight to Jo'burg was at 3:00pm.
Delta plane only arrived at Pom Pom at 2:10pm. Thus there was a big rush at Maun for us to check in. It was stressful.
 
Pom Pom Camp:
Everything absolutely excellent
Camp well organised and very comfortable.
Guides outstanding.
We would highly recommend it.
 
Regards
Julian Wise

September 2007
Hello,
Thanks very much Ali for orgainsing a superb trip which went amazingly smoothly.
Not only were all the options you chose excellent, but there were no hitches at all.
Thanks again, and I hope to use your services again one day,
John Elliott

September 2007
Hi Alison,
Just a note to say  thank you for your help in booking the Botswana leg of our holiday.  We had a ball!  Thoroughly enjoyed every minute of the trip.  I guess the highlights were seeing three separate Leopards in a single drive at Moremi and a lion kill at Chobe.  We came across a pride of lions coming out of the bush onto the river flats and then sat and watched for almost two hours as they cut a buffalo calf out of a herd of about 30 buffalo.  Three times they circled the herd and brought the calf down and three times the buffalo rallied and drove them off, but in the end the calf was so weak from its injuries that it could not keep up with the herd and they abandoned it to its fate.  Not pleasant to watch but thoroughly enthralling.
 
Thanks once again, here are a couple of photos from our week in Botswana.
Tony & Deborah Booth

September 2007
We have just come back from our holiday and on behalf of all the group I would like to thank you for putting together such a fantastic and memorable trip. Everything went like clockwork and all the accomodation was fantastic. We enjoyed it immensley and were very lucky to see an abundance of wild life and finish off with a very relaxing time in Mozambique.
 
Thanks again
Aine Hughes

September 2007
- Booking service: excellent and responsive.  Notably, I had a fast request turnaround time of less than an hour when I needed to move quickly for booking.  My agent also helped me significantly with logistical planning due to passport/immigration issues.  The only way to improve it is to "sell" the package in a bit more personal style.  I.e., tell your stories of the experience you had.
- Transfers service: impeccable.  Everything was on schedule and I was well taken care of.
- Macatoo camp: amazing.  General staff were very friendly and helpful, and the guides were very knowledgeable and entertaining.

Thanks for an excellent experience overall.

Regards,
Juan Guardado

September 2007
Hi there Michelle
 
I hope that this finds you well.  We are now sadly on route back to the UK, we left Gabarone on Monday morning and are currently stuck in Dubai Airport.  We should hopefully be landing back in the UK lunchtime tomorrow.
 
I just wanted to drop you a quick line to say what a wonderful time we had at Elephant Valley Lodge last week.  It was absolutely beautiful, the most stunning place we have ever visited.  The team down there were fantastic; Oscar and the hospitality team were so friendly and lots of fun and our guide Ren was just fantastic.  It completely exceeded our expectations, it really was amazing. The setting, the food, the people, the whole experience was just something else…  So many, many thanks for all of your help and very useful advice on planning this trip.  We saw all the game we could possibly wish to see so it would appear you were spot on that Chobe was the right place for us.  We are returning to Bots in 2009 and plan to do the Delta next time so I will be in touch for that!
 
Once again Michelle many thanks for all of your help.  Please pass on my positive feedback to the wonderful team at Elephant Valley and please feel free to pass on my recommendation to potential clients.
 
Look forward to dealing with you again soon. 
Best
Rachel Hardy

September 2007
Sorry for taking some time to write this up. Here is my feedback,
We had a great trip to southern Africa. Since I could not find a good agent in Bangkok where I live, I rather tried some agents picked-up through Google. At first I communicated with some agents simultaneously, but it did not take much time to choose Island Safari.
Carien was my consultant and her response was great especially in terms of timeliness and detailed care.
I asked Island Safari  to arrange two accommodations in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe and Chobe national park in Botswana, land transfer among the airport and these two accommodations, and one-day tour from Cape town to Cape point in South Africa.

When we arrived at the airport in Victoria Falls, we found that the transfer service was dully arranged. The drivers were professional… not only being punctual and a safe driver, but also helpful especially when we cross borders.
Ilala Lodge, our accommodation in Victoria Falls did not seem to be a most “luxurious” one there, but was really relaxing. Ilala was recommended in some guidebooks, and we found the lodge deserves it. The staffs were all  nice, and in particular, the in-house travel agent was helpful.  The garden was fabulous and we enjoyed beautiful sunrise through it. The restaurant of the lodge served nice meal, but you’d better make a reservation, if you want to be served at the table with white cloth. As far as you are guests, you can eat somewhere in the corner of the dining room, though. Dining out for dinner was not necessarily a practical choice given the town has few restaurants and, more importantly, just few taxis; then choosing a hotel with a good restaurant is very important.

Elephant Valley Lodge in Chobe was surprising. We booked it upon recommendation from Island Safari, but did not find any information in guidebooks we checked. It took only 15-20 minutes drive from the Zimbabwe border, and we did not expect too much… we just expected a good relaxing base for the Safari. When we had a welcome drink at the lounge, hoever, we saw elephants bathing in the pound just 30 meters away from the lounge. It was nothing but exciting. The accommodation was a nicely furnished tent. It was somewhat wild and fun. Though not air-conditioned, a fan and heating blankets were equipped and we found them useful. It was so hot in daytime but got chilly, or rather cold after sunset. In addition, there was no problem for getting hot water. Again, we did not dine out. Meals were all inclusive and there was no other choice around the isolated lodge. They serve meals basically by buffet, but sometimes, maybe because having fewer guests, ala carte was available. Beef, a traditional exported stuff from Botswana, is recommendable. The game safari service was inclusive in the accommodation. We enjoyed two driving safari in the afternoon and one boat tour along the Chobe. It was amazing the river-side area was such full of various animals.

Finally, we had a tour to the famous Cape point. Jack, the certified guide picked us up at the hotel and drove southbound. We found he was very professional and very fun guide to travel with.
Arranging everything beforehand made our travel very easy. E-mailed vouchers worked everywhere without any confusion. I would confess that I first hesitated a little to make all the payment before the trip, eventually changed my mind because E-mail communication with Carien was convincing enough. Her advice about miscellaneous stuff like climate, currency and tipping were helpful.  We are satisfied with Island Safari’s arrangements and that they have good counterparts in each site.
 
Feel free to quote my feedback, if necessary.
Best,
Yosuke Matsuda

September 2007
Firstly, this trip would be the best holidays that we have spent in last 5 years.
Thanks for your support and advices (hotels, areas, program, transfers,...)

I am going to answer over your issues, mostly great and a few grey comments

*The service you received from Island-Safari.com staff during the booking process and during your tour.
Good, but quite late to receive trip documentation

*The transfers you had.
Good, explanation right, solve problems and safe our scare to unknown

*Your stay at Cape Cadogan Hotel
Fantastic, warm care, beatiful place, perfect views and location

*Your stay at Victoria Falls Hotel
Nice building with great history, wonderful landscape, but poor service form hotel team. Bad restaurant for a 5 star hotel

*Your stay at Muchenje Safari Lodge
Incredible. Fantastic views. The best service from owner and team. Perfect games with a lot of animals to see, and great guide. A few right and love explanation about vegetables, animals, trees, weather. To repeat several times

*Your stay at Pom Pom Camp
Quite good place, but poor service, montsly from guides. Not to much animals to see, and not enthusiastich explanation

*Your stay at Metcourt Laurel Hotel
Good place to be one night to transfer other plan trip

*Your stay at Shandrani Hotel
Very good in all issues. Perhaps a little expensive off package things in relation other places in Mauritius.
Only, it was a pity that it has closed areas for work to improvement. One restaurant was closed ...

And, in the future trips to southafrice we will use your services, and we are going to advice our friends your company !!!!

Regards
Oscar Garcia

September 2007
The service you received from Island-Safari.com staff during the booking process and during your tour. Appreciated the promptness and efficiency of Island Safari (Claudia) in making everything happen.
The transfers you had. The transfers all worked very well, all meetings and connections worked perfectly.
Your stay at Planet Baobab Planet B staff were really great, however, as a general comment, we think that PB is not ideally suited to international tourists. The vehicles used, the distances to get to the Pans and again the nature of that trip was horendous. I restate though, that the staff and guide did their jobs pretty well. The place was comfortable, were lead to believe laundry was include and it wasnt. Cost 40 p.
Your stay at Pom Pom Camp Highly recommended, right from the arrival, very professional. The management was involved and forthcoming, the staff and guides great and the camp brilliant. the dining arrangements and food was also tremendous.
Your stay at Metcourt Laurel Hotel Excellent hotel, brilliant breakfast and the shuttle service good.
Brian Scantlebury

September 2007
Thank you so much for your proffesional way of organising our Okavango - Oddballs experience!
 
Everything was organised and we could therefore relax and enjoy the beautifull scenery and special place that cannot be described in words, that is the Delta.
 
A special thanks to Mandy , you were a great help!
 
I had the opportunity to do this 6day trip with your company 12 years ago, and this time around it was just as good, hopefully I won't take 12 years till the next one;-)
 
Greetings,
Aelene Rummel

September 2007
We had a fantastic holiday thank you and it was great to visit Botswana again.
 
We were very pleased with the service provided by Island and would like to thank Elize for sorting it all out so efficiently, even when we changed our minds about a couple of things.
 
Most of the arrangements went smoothly, particularly the Delta flights and the liaison between them and the camps' management.  We could relax while everyone else sorted out what time we'd be collected, dropped off, etc.
 
We only had a couple of difficulties - the first was with our out-going transfer at Jo'burg.  The connection was always going to be tight but our slightly late incoming flight and the baggage handlers taking an hour to off-load the luggage made it touch and go.  However, Natasha did a great job in persuading Air Botswana to let us on to the flight, so all was well in the end.  In hindsight, the 15:00 flight to Gaborone might have been a better option than the 13:00.
 
The only other thing which didn't quite fit our schedule was the transfer from Chobe to Vic Falls.   This was scheduled for around 8 in the morning, which would have meant us missing the morning Game Drive and arriving at Vic Falls too early.  However, the lady at Chobe (we forget her name) somehow managed to re-arrange it late the previous evening.  However, it still didn't quite go according to plan as, once we were over the border at Kazangula, we had to wait on the bus for other transferees, most of which seemed to have come from Chobe Game Lodge.  We then had to take some of them to Livingstone airport, all of which resulted in us arriving late at the Royal Livingstone Hotel and missing our pick up for the helicopter flight (although we managed to reschedule this).  It might have been better if Wild Horizons could have brought everyone from Chobe on one bus, then split them into two to go to the airport and hotels respectively.
 
Our favourite camp was Xakanaxa.  We've been there before (many years ago) and found it very friendly and relaxed.  The hosts and the guides were very pleasant and competent.  The apportionment of time to game drives and relaxing at the camp was just right.  We were also pleasantly surprised to find that all drinks were free - we had expected to have to pay for imported drinks.  The area around Xakanaxa is varied, so there is a great density and variety of game close to the camp.  We would definitely go back to this camp.
 
We found Shindi a bit more formal and perhaps enjoyed it a bit less than Xakanaxa.  Also the bush is less varied and the drives have to be longer to see the same amount of game as at the previous camp.  Some of the afternoon/evening drives were up to four hours long, returning in the dark, and we found this a bit tiring.  However, Shindi, like Xakanaxa, had a very high standard of accommodation and food.
 
Chobe Game Lodge is a fantastic place, and the staff were unfailingly polite and helpful.  We found it completely different to the Okavango camps, being more touristy and somehow less 'adventurous', for instance with game drives that only stick to the tracks rather than heading off into the bush.  However, we enjoyed it tremendously and had a very relaxing time there.  Again, the food and accommodation were superb.
 
Of all the places we stayed, the Royal Livingstone Hotel was the one which perhaps didn't meet expectations.  Again, the place and the staff were brilliant, but there were quite a few 'niggles' (locked minibar, slow service, no milk in the room for tea, that sort of thing) which wouldn't probably occur in an average hotel, never mind a 5 star one.  But it was a great experience to stay in such a luxurious place.
 
Overall though, we had a fantastic time and the holiday turned out just as we wanted.  The kids loved it and stayed interested to the end, despite the amount of travelling and all the early mornings.  We'd love to go again when we can afford it and, if we do, we'd be quite happy to arrange it through Island, as we found your company straight to deal with and extremely helpful and accommodating.
 
Thank you
Richard & Elaine Annable

September 2007
We had a fantastic holiday.

All of the hotels,/ Lodges, were excellent, and the service was first rate.


Thank you so much,for all the time and effort, that must have gone into our holiday

regards.
The Clayton family.

September 2007
All in all island safari provided a very positive experience. The airport transfers were excellent and the drivers friendly and helpful.
I'm very satisfied with the service you provided and the information given to us prior to our trip.
Thanking you
Joan Scott

September 2007
It will be a pleasure to give a feedback regarding your organisation of my vacation. Please find below my comments:

The service you received from Island-Safari.com staff during the booking process and during your tour. Excellent. Everybody was very kind and expert. A special thank you to Allison. She is really the best!

The transfers you had. All transfers were excellent and on time. Drivers very kind and supplying very useful info.
 

Your stay at D'Oreale Grande Hotel: Ideal for transfers: comfortable and not boring!

Your stay at Mapula Lodge: Great experience from all perspective: proper mix of comfort and wildness. Everybody friendly. Driver and tracker really super.
 

Your stay at Thornybush Main Lodge: Luxurious and super confortable. They try to satisfy all your wishes.
 
 
In general my wife and I are are very happy of all services we received and we feel we have been lucky finding you on Internet.
Internet is a very poweful tool but you never really know with whom you may end up. With Island Safari we know that we have experienced unbeatable services, professionality, kindness and excellent advice.
 
Thanks again.
I already started spreading the voice about you guys.
Marco Pierucci
 

September 2007
Hello sweet Mandy, how are you? First of all me and Agustin would like to thank you sooooo much for the BEST honeymoon of the world, you have so kindly organized for us. Every single detail was perfectly set up, we could not believe having such a perfect trip!!!! Thank you, thank you and thank you again
 
We have our best friends getting married in October, and we told them about you to organize their honeymoon...
Could you please make a proposition?
 
Thank you very much in advance!!!
All the best, 
Audrey Elkoubi

September 2007
Thanks for the note. We had excellent service from Patricia, who was very helpful indeed during the booking process. We had no occasion to make use of her services during our stay.

The transfers proceeded without hitch and our stay at Oddballs, both the camp and in the bush, was utterly memorable. The hosts, Eve and Jack, couldn't have been friendlier or our guide, Thaba, more knowledgeable, companionable and resourceful. All in all, this was a superb holiday. It didn't matter that we didn't get close ups of the "Big 5". Just being able to experience the bush with such immediacy (and with very little to rely on but the guide's savvy and experience) made this visit richer than any other I have made to Southern African game parks in the past -- this outing was much more fulfilling and informative.

We certainly want to look into similar outings in the future. I hear very good things about some of the parks in Zambia.

Good wishes,
Peter and Hilde Colenbrander

September 2007
Our level of satisfaction with Island-Safari could not be higher.
Booking services and contact with anyone during the trip was beyond reproach.
The transfers worked smoothly and there was always someone to meet us and cope with us, to show us the way and to guide us.
Stay at Mondior Concorde Hotel was fine – felt that the desk staff were average, but thanks to Natasha , any queries were overcome.
Letaka Safaris cannot be spoken highly enough of.  Outstanding attention, planning, care, courtesy and continuous information from our guide Scott Montgomery.  In our opinion, he outshone any other tour leaders that we came across or have heard of.  He was magnificent, as were the three off-siders who looked after us.
We cannot recommend more highly, the Letaka Safari and the crew we had.
Zambesi Sun Resort was a pleasant change!  Service good, rooms, meals and surroundings all excellent. 
We are greatful to all who were part of the planning of our trip – many thanks.
Sincerely,
Susan Young

August 2007

The service you received from Island-Safari.com staff during the booking process and during your tour. The service was superb. I have only good words for Mandy, who has handled our trip in the most efficient way possible. Even when we had to delay our flight for two days later she did her best for changing accommodation for the previous days and was absolutely supportive. I will recommend anyone I Know who wants to travel through the area to do it through Island Safari, especially through her.

The transfers you had. The transfers were perfectly organised and everything went easy

Your stay at Kulala Desert Lodge. We loved the place and the GM Jonathan was most helpful.

Your stay at Rostock Ritz This place has fantastic views and in general is ok but is not arranged as tastely as the other places we have been to-

Your stay at Grootberg Lodge . Grootberg is certainly among our favourites; absolutely kind and helpful people. Great food, great landscape, great place in general. We loved Dominique the GM and his wife, as well as the whole of the staff. 

Your stay at Okahirongo Purros Elephant Lodge. We are sure this place is called to be one of the hot spots of Namibia´s North. Peter, Lucia, Rochella and all the staff working there do receive ypu to feel at home and get the most of the place, which is superbly decorated and pays attention to details such us wake up call including hot chocolate or coffe in your room befor heading for breakfasts, and a fire in the bathroom for evening dressing up. The surroundings are so beautiful and the animals so wild (though few, but they expect to have more progressively) that you don´t want to live there

Your stay at Dora Nawas. This place is fine, well decorated and works very well, they are very kind and nice, but lacks the personality of other places.  

Your stay at Eagle Tented Camp. Same as above, though we enjoyed our first night at a tent.

Your stay at Onguma Plains Camp. This place has got a superb setting, good food and is very tastefully decorated. The local staff are also very nice and sweet. However, we did not find the GM very friendly. My husband was very ill at night and in the morning when I went for breakfast I told him, and he said “Oh dear!”, and left. He did not offer any help, even for the first aid kid, or showed any sort of interest. He had a lot of fever and quivers and shakes, but we had our own medicines so indeed we did not need anything, because those are common symptoms for him when he is ill and we were not worried about malaria. But that piece of information he didn´t have, so in our opinion he should at least have checked that everything was OK and offer help and medicines, which he chose not to do. His attitude was most unfriendly and I will certainly never go back there or recommend it unless I know this man is no longer there. After all the nice and helpful people that we had met on the way, because when driving through the North of Namibia it is common to get stacked, to have flat tyres once and again, etc,. and all the lodges provide all sort of support on these things, itineraries, personal needs, and so on, we where quite shocked at this man´s uneasy manners. Apparently he was only worried on us leaving the room at ten according to the lodge´s timetable. We wanted to rest until 12 lunch time and then live for Rundu, but he insisted that it would take us many hours to get there and we should leave no later than 10:00 not to be driving at night. So what happened was that we arrived to Rundu at 14:00, as the road was tarred and the best one we drove since we arrived into Namibia! His estimation was about the most inexact we have received in the whole trip, so pur feeling was that simply he wanted to get rid of us.

Your stay at Hakusemba River Lodge . This place is really weird. Not really bad, with the beautiful Okavango river, but the chalets lack any sort of taste, especially ours which inner part was almost fully covered in leopard textiles applied to curtains, cushion, bedcover, etc. The food was horrible, but horrible, and the parlour decoration with chairs and tables decorated with fake wedding clothes… The KITSCH concept at its most. I have no words. We had a very good time, though, finding ourselves in such a surrealistic context, and the owner and the staff where very friendly and nice people

Your stay at Namushasha Lodge. This place is OK. The surroundings are very interesting.

Your stay at Ichingo River Lodge Finally we spent two days at their boat house ICHOBEZI and we really did have a great time. The experience of seeing the animals from a boat that is your house, and spending two nights in different places of the river waking up to see the silhouette of an elephant in the dark, enjoying the peace of the river at sunsent…. Togethet with Okahirongo and Grootberg this was among our bests.  Again, the staff on the boat could not have been more kind ore sweet, especially our guide Harris whom we love for his intelligence, expertise, sense of humour and sweet manners. This is a experience I really recommend-

Your stay at Victoria Falls Hotel superb hotel and setting, a pitty we had no more days to relax in their wonderful garden. A must for anyone visiting Victoria Falls. The helicopter ride was a bit of disappointment though, as I spent only five minutes flying over the Falls and then over the park nearby, which was very dry and lacked interest except for seeing some animals from the air, but that was not our aim.

Your stay at Xakanaxa Camp. We enjoyed a lot here. The place and surroundings are superb, very good food. The manager shares his huge knowledge about animals and the countries with guests, and it is very interesting. The Moremi reservation we found it sparkingly beautiful, but a little overcrowded. Indeed, we expected less people by far, and more animals, a sort of “Eden Garden”. Also at Xakanaka it is not permitted to walk and there are no mokoros, so activities are mainly game drives. We enjoyed them a lot, but it is not a place we would come back for more. 

Your stay at Mapula Lodge. This was our most genuine experience of the Delta. The lodge accommodates very few people, the surroundings are beautiful, peaceful… Animals are really WILD here, not used to people, and with elephants this can be scary but thrilling!- And the food was different from other places, with more local flavour. We had mokoro drives, walking, night drives… Really good indeed, because not being part of a national reserve the cars can drive off road and it makes it more exciting.  And we loved the people here as well. Highly recommendable, though after xakanaka decoration might look too austere at the beginning. But it is genuine.
Carlota García-Abril

August 2007
Dear Mandy

I find it funny that we have never spoken over the phone and yet we have done so much. We were a little nervous arriving in South Africa after hearing a few horror stories of fake tour operators (which I find a funny way to scam people), but everything went off beautifully without a hitch. There was a proper "survey e-mail" sent and I'll fill that out, but I wanted to write this e-mail to you.
 
To sum up our review, the trip was absolutely FANTASTIC! High class all the way. I would like to thank you for putting together and executing a truly Excellent trip.
 
There were a few glitches here and there. I highly highly recommend that you try and have your clients avoid Johannesburg airport at any cost. Melissa's Barbour coat was stolen there as we had lunch waiting for a plane, and our luggage was lost twice by the Johannesburg luggage handlers (not to mention our constant worry that things would be stolen from the bags).  Also, our flight to Cape town didn't exist when we arrived from Botswana, Nationwide airways seems to not have informed anyone of this. I know you were on top of this, and although we never spoke, I got your messages and it was good to know someone was there looking after us.
 
That's all for the bad...now for the Good.
 
Eco-Tours in South Africa: Andy our driver was EXCELLENT, it was exactly what we wanted, absolutely perfect. We didn't stick to the exact 'itinerary' but that was perfect, we really wanted a knowledgeable, flexible person who we could discuss what we wanted to do and execute it.
    As a side note we were a little worried in my be a Group Tour of many people. We were so relieved that it was a personal, individual, guided tour in a nice Land Rover.   The word "tour" in the USA has taken on the meaning of 20 people crowded into a mini-bus while a guide talks over the loudspeaker.... admittedly I may not have read the itinery close enough to realize that wasn't the case.
 
The Royal Livingstone = Perfect, beautiful 5-star service.
Camps in Botswana   = Perfect, we absolutely love the "everything's included feel" (I wish more hotels did that, instead of having to worry that everything you touch might cost you $5 ..e.g. M&M's). The staff were extremely friendly. At Eagle island the staff was top notch in helping Melissa out when she got sick. A silly doctor in New York had prescribed her the generic form of the Lariam anti-malaria pill (despite Melissa telling him not to give her Lariam) and so she had rough day (mostly one afternoon) because of that. The label on bottle was some techincal generic medical sounding name. But the staff helped us out greatly.
 
Love the animals next to your tent feel of it all. It really was beautiful.
The transfers and drivers were all very well organized. Everyone was were they were supposed to be. Although the driver from Royal Livingstone to the Zambezi (spelling) could have used a shower, or maybe 3 showers. It didn't matter though, it all added to "the experience".
 
 
Back to Zambia
I highly, highly recommend the Elephant Back Safari in Zambia, as well as the Helicopter tour, and also a massage at the hotel watching the sunset over the river (+ Elephants)
 
The "sunset cruise" in Zambia was a little overated. There were just too many boats exploiting the same thing, it felt mass produced. 
  
We were overall, EXTREMELY happy and satisfied with the trip. Nothing seemed "half-done" everything met or exceeded our expectations.
 
If you need a reference or "another satisfied customer" to put on a list for future people to call (e.g. Americans worried that they are booking everything online), please feel free to put me on it. I will happily reccommend you to all my friends.
 
Thank you for all your work,
Best Wishes from Two very satisfied customers,
Charles & Melissa Manice

August 2007

We dealt with Mandy for all our booking enquiries, and she was just brilliant.  We changed dates and itineries many times to accomodate various family commitments and she was always available with quick responses, and very good suggestions as to alternatives, and possibilities. She supplied us with an excellent variety of locations to stay in providing us with a tailored experience that covered both location, accommodation, wildlife and tradition.  We were very impressed and grateful for our wonderful itenerary, as we had no previous experience of this type of holiday, and so no initial input at all. There is alot of anticipation in the booking process until you confirm availability and locaqtions etc, and Mandy certainly minimised this with very rapid answers to our queries and made excellent choices in her suggestions.

Following the booking of the holiday the payment procedure went like clockwork, and then Mandy experienced many questions from us over the period before we left, always providing helpful advice and very quick responses.

I think the turnaround of information has been very impressive, and the quality of information supplied, very high.  We could not fault anything in the booking process, and we are very grateful for such a high level of service.

We did not have contact with Island-Safari staff directly during our tour, but interfaced with Wild Horizons for all the transfers.  These personnel were excellent.  They escorted us through airports, both international and provincial, and made sure onward arrangements were in place.  They were always friendly and courtious and very professional.  There were no hiccupps in any of our transfers.

All the trips arranged in Victoria Falls were amazing, and I think also booked through Wild Horizons.  We did a 30 min helicopter trip and a jet boat trip, which were both just amazing, we saw much more wildlife than expected, on each experience and had a fantastic time at Victoria Falls because of it.

The transfers you had.
All transfers worked like clockwork, almost down to the minute. We were met, escorted, and given information and necessary paperwork about everything by very friendly staff.

Our road transfer from Zimbabwe to Botswana was handled very well, with all transport arriving and leaving punctually.  We were escorted through passport control and the ease of transfer across the border was very impressive. All the staff explained every step of the procedure and informed us well about our journey.  Everything went very smoothly, and professionally.  It was all done expertly.

 All the internal transfers with Delta Air were perfectly timed, and we found the pilots were very agreeable. Taking the small flights seemed as easy as calling a taxi.  It was all as punctual and hassle free. Some pilots even catered to ease travel sickness by flying higher to ease the buffetting, and my husband experienced no sickness at all for the very first time, in a small aircraft. We were amazed by the informality and lack of red tape, and all transfers were timed with the minimum of disruption to the holiday.  We left a game drive 10 mins before a small flight and still had time to watch the plane fly in, exactely at the expected time for our journey.

Absolutely no time was wasted at airports, or waiting on transfers.  It was impeccable. Highly recommended for getting between locations. All was very organised, and the staff well informed of the details.

Our boat transfer was fabulous.  The transfer was delayed a couple of hours to accomodate the requirements of other passengers in a family, and even this did not impinge on any activities planned that day.   If that had been the case then they were prepared to make 2 trips each of 1.5 hrs and transfer each party seperately.  

All staff have been more than helpful, extreemly polite, and moved luggage, provided water refreshments, and given us information on where we are travelling and what we could expect to see, both on the journey and when we arrived.

Your stay at The Kingdom Hotel
The hotel accomodation was superb and everything catered for. The location was erxcellent and guides were on hand to escord guests via a short cut route to view the gorge of the falls. This was to avert pressure from any traders along the way disturbing the guests. The guide was patient and very curtious and although we preferred to brave the onslaught of traders on the streets, the avalaialability of the service gave many piece of mind.

The layout of the hotel was lovely and very unusual.  We had a sumptious breakfast each morning, and the staff could not do enough to help, and make our stay the most enjoyable possible.  We ordered lunch from the pool bar, and then decided to take it away with us as our transport had arrived for a trip, so the kitchens packed it in very convenient boxes and were very helpful.

We did not have dinner in the hotel, as there were very few diners and we did not feel we would obtain the best experience of the ambience of the town, so we dined at a local restaurant, Mama Africa, walking distance from the hotel, and this was excellent.

I would certainly return again to the same hotel and would recommend it highly.

Your stay at Muchenje Safari Lodge
The accommodation, facilities and guides at all the lodges was excellent.  We were treated like royalty everywhere.  No one could have wanted for anything. The food was a particularly high standard, and very plentiful.  This lodge tended to serve more of a traditional British menu compared to our other lodges, but all meals were of a very high standard. The couple managing  the lodge were very welcoming , especially on arrival at the start, and on returning after each trip out.  They always enquired about your experiences and made pleasant conversation at meal times and rest periods at the lodge. They introduced us to everyone working at the lodge, and everyone was very warm and welcoming, and especially helpful. The view from this lodge was exceptional over the river valley.

The safaris from this lodge were excellent.  We did a night safari, an all day safari ( which included a boat trip), an early morning walking safari, and a normal 2-3 hour safari.  The all day safari was tiring, but very very worth it, and extreemly enjoyable. This was the only lodge to offer this, and asked our opinion about continuing it. There was an abundance of animals on all trips from this lodge.

The guide was very informative and also took us on an African Village trip.  This included the home of a nearby local villager, and her family, and a visit to the local primary school.  This was especially exciting and we enjoyed talking to the headteacher , and the class of year 12 and their teacher.  This was a great experience and so different to see some actual culture rather than being in an almost isolated tourist bubble.

Your stay at Xakanaxa Camp
No time was lost on activities when transferring between any lodges as it was all done during the rest part of the day, although this meant the journeys in the small planes were bumpy due to the thermals then. The transfers were brillant, organised and timed perfectly, and always escorted to and from everywhere.

The accomodation was outstanding at this lodge and the facilities and staff very good.  We did enjoy our guide, Metsi who always tried to get us in the best position for photos etc, especially when other vehicules were around. He was very obliging, without ever asking.  Guides in all the camps were so informative, and never tired of passing on reams of information about the areas and animals.  They shared experiences of where they live and encounters with wild animals when growing up, and on safaris.

We did have the feeling at this lodge that the management couple, Bob and Flo were not as friendly and were definately more aloof, than those in other lodges we stayed at. 

Bob and Flo did not introduce themselves when we arrived, and we assumed Bob was the manager as he strolled around the tables before dinner, but he never approached us with greetings. Flo did greet me later as she served a drink, but did not introduce herself, so it was all a bit piecemeal. This experience was not bad, but was not in keeping with the very warm welcomes at all the other lodges, without exception.

Before dinner when chatting, several people were isolated from Bob's chat about his future retirement plans, as he had leant so far forward on the settee he had his back to one couple, and ignored them.  In fact 90% of the pre dinner conversation one evening was about his retirement plans, which wasn't really of interest to us, and turned out to be a bit of a monolague.

Again after dinner around the camp fire, all other families retired to bed by 9.15pm and my husband and I stayed another hour chatting by ourselves.  Although Bob and Flo were also chatting together outside on the settees in the veranda of the lodge with a member of staff ( who would be escorting us back to our tent when we retired ) they did not come over to the camp fire and chat with us at all.

Compared to our experiences at Muchenje and at later camps, on reflection this now appears very strange they they did not interact, and quite rude.

 

Your stay at Little Kwara Camp
The boat transfer here was just like going on another tour, and the guide navigated the channels excellently. Again the accomodation and facilities at this camp were excellent, and coud not be faulted.  The management team at this camp was the best of all the lodges.  Whereas in the last two lodges the management couple were white, with black staff, in Little Kwara the mamagement, Kia and BK were black, and Steve and Captain John were excellent guides.  TFor all of them without exception, their manner, friendliness, information, and conversation was the best and everyone gravitated towards them to sit at dinner.  The youngsters especially liked Steve as his personality had them chatting and laughing all the time. He was very charismatic 24/7. All the guides chatted over dinner and after around the campfire, exchanging stories and all laughing and joking. You did not want to go to bed.

The experiences with the animals here were brillant as the camp is open and several times animals had to be shooed away (zebra, hyena) as they strayed in. Visitors (elephant, hippo) could be heard at night, and footprints left overnight highlighted visits by lions.

This was our favourite location in Botswana because of the interaction with the staff at the lodge.  They made it great. The animals were also exceptional.

Of all the lodges I would definately return here as my first preference, because of the personalities of all the people.  This then transferred into the enjoyment of the game drives, and social times.  This camp was great.

Your stay at Deception Valley Lodge
The transfer to this lodge was incredible.  We left from watching lions devouring a buffalo 10 mins before our flight from Little Kwara, the plane landed as we parked up and unloaded our luggage, and 5 mins later were en route for the Kalahari. Just amazing. 

This lodge had the most outstanding food, and served meat such as kudu, ostrich, impala, and beef.  In all the lodges the catering staff were supreeme, but we enjoyed trying these different meats and they were served superbly.  The accomodation was a very high standard, and the management  couple, again very welcoming, friendly and warm. They interacted with the guests alot, at mealtimjes, returning from trips, and later in the evenings around the campfire, and Adrain ( I think) was also a guide. We had a different guide, Dow, and this was the first time we had a white guide, from S. Africa , living in Botswana, but he had also lived in London for 2 years.  It was very wierd chatting about |London to someone explaining animals in the bush in Botswana.  Our 16 year old daughter chatted to him over dinner lots as they could exchange views on bands, and other things in common, but I'm not sure if it deterred from our expectation of a 'Safari' experience.  He was an excellent guide and very knowledgeble, but not a local. I personally felt it was a more unique experience when the guide was more 'local' and not reminding us of home in London, although it did make a common talking point.

This lodge offerred an experience with the 'San' tribe that was just outstanding, and they described and demonstrated their way of life until relatively recently, in their native tongue.  Absolutely fabulous experience, and totally different to safari.  A very good reason to visit this lodge. I'm very pleased it was suggested for our itinerary. We had seen a plentiful supply of animals before arriving at the Kalahari, and as expected the number of sighting was much diminished, but it was a very welcome contrast to the last few days, with the tribe the highlight of the stay here.

Our transfer back to Maun also went very smoothly, and we were very sad to leave Botswana, but we had wonderful experiences to take with us.

We thank you so much for this unforgettable holiday, and have already recommended your company to a few others thinking of this for the future.

Our trip continued in S. Africa, and we stayed in Cape Town in apartments at the V+A Waterfront, booked through Villagre Life.  This location had also been recomnmended by Island-Safari, and we were very impressed with the quality and situation of the accomodation.  So we would also like to thank you for this.

All in all a great experience, and one certainly to be repeated in the future.
Phil James and the James Gang

August 2007
We cannot rate Isand Safari highly enough.  We had more than 5 star service from Patricia in Australia and the team she put together to look after us was fantastic, particularly as we had one member of our party who missed her flight in London and had to be reconnected with us under tricky circumstances.  Mondior Concorde was good as was expected.  Letaka Safaris were way above expectations.  Nothing was too much trouble, our guide, Scott, was passionate, dedicated, and his care for our safety and well being was second to none.  In addition he was great company.  Doctor and his team were terrific also.  I would have no hesitation in recommending Island Safari and Letaka to anyone wanting to do a similar trip.  Patricia was wonderful to deal with, her efficient, friendly service made planning the whole tip a great pleasure.  Don't ever let her leave!!

Kind regards,
Sula Sharland

August 2007
We would lke to thank you for the great organisation and 'quality' of the
services provided for our tour. Everything went very well and smoothly and
we truly enjoyed our stay in Zambia and Botswana. We also passed your
contact details to some people we met during our tour (French, British and
Italian travellers) and we really hope they will contact you in the near
future.
In the meantime we wish you all the best
Kindest regards
Marinella & Giuseppe Pavan

August 2007
Just a quick note to thank you for organising the trip of a life time, we had a ball , loved every minute of it , The Garden Lodge was great, lovely people Sonia & Renie made us feel very welcome like visiting old friends( tears leaving) Elliot loved it there , Highly recommended. Oddballs ,magic , far from the rat race of modern life , gliding through the Delta in a Mokoro to our bush camp never felt more relaxed in my life. Night noises (lion ,hyena etc) a bit scary but exhilirating . Jack & Eve more old friends( mora tears leaving) Loved Planet Baobab and the night on the Pan we will never forget . The first time I have ever seen a Moon set more magic. Victoria Falls was stunning and the Hotel had a real Victorian atmosphere unfortunately we had a problem with $700 US dollers taken from my wallet in the OPEN ( my own fault) safe in my room. Other than that I cannot thank you enough for your help and yes we will return to Botswana, what a great country and beautiful people .
Again Many Thanks
Tom, Mag & Elliot Mulcahy.

August 2007
Virginia and I are back from Safari country with praises for the arrangements, selections and sequence you made for us. We were expected, we were met, we had a wonderful and rich time. The best safari camp experience in Botswana was at Xakanaxa for quality of accommodations and staff.  The herds of animalslions, elephants, hippos, water buffaloes, were dramatically visible at Chobe after the excitement of seeing individual animals and smaller groups of them at the Xakanaxa and Pom Pom.  It was good to end up at Victoria Falls in the hands of Wild Horizons very well organized and responsible outfit with bigger plans coming.

It was a pleasure to work with you beforehand and to be so well taken care of because of the arrangements you made when we got there.

Hugs,
Jean Bolen

August 2007
The service received from Cara was excellent, always helpful and keeping us informed.
 
Te transfers were excellent on time and the drivers very informative. Jacob Mazibuko the driver  from “The Village Cab” in Johannesburg ( he was our airport pickup and drop off driver) enlightened us on so many different issues he made the trip a real pleasure.
 
King’s Camp was the highlight of our tour we were spoilt rotten by the staff “Tops!!!” We were able to see some amazing wildlife.
 
We found the office staff at De Waterkant not very efficient and the villa slightly run down however the cleaning and fresh linen supply very good.
 
The Balaliaka Hotel was excellent the staff and food very helpful we even got an upgrade to a suite which was beautiful.
 
Our only hassle was when we arrived in J’burg we wasted a lot of time trying to get our internal flight tickets from SAA we were constantly shunted from one desk to another basically what they wanted from us was a further payment for the tickets which had already been paid in full, this despite several conversations with Marika who was our contact person for the tickets. Suffice to say that it was agood job that we had several hours in transit or we would not have made it on to our next flight.
 
We had an excellent holiday, did not have enough time to do everything we wanted to do, we will definetely be back to enjoy your hospitality.
 
Cheers
Lydianne and Russell

August 2007
We enjoyed our visit in south africa.
The service we received from Island-Safari was good.
Kapama lodge was super. We have seen all the big 5 (except leopard). The staff was friendly and professional.
Accomodation and meal were perfect.
We'll go back in this Lodge...... for trackig the leopard....
Cybel Lodge is wonderfull place where we relaxed in very good condition.
Accomodation and meal were also perfect.
Best Regards
Bruno Villers.

August 2007
Hi I can only reply in word,
 
EXCELLENT.
 
We had a great time
 
Thanks
Natalie Newman

August 2007
Our overall impression was extremely positive and we appreciated Alie's amazing enthusiasm and help throughout. In response to your specific questions:

The service you received from Island-Safari.com staff during the booking process and during your tour. From the process of forming an itinerary through to finding our lost bag we received amazing attention from Alie. Alie went way beyond her job description I am sure to help us find a lost bag. Alie is the best!!!

The transfers you had. All staff were extremely helpful and very professional

Your stay at Zambezi Sun Resort Hotel. We loved this hotel and it's facility and easy access to the Vic Falls. 

Your stay at Elephant Valley Lodge. This was beyond our expectations. The tents were beautiful (the electric blankets provided a warm welcome each evening), the food delicious and  the game viewing whether by truck or boat unsurpassed. 10 out of 10

Your stay at Oddballs Camp. Personally we didn't enjoy this part of our safari so much. It was far more difficult to see any wildlife, we were frightened by the news that a guide was killed by an elephant in the next camp. However Oddball's camp itself was great. Once again the food was fantastic and Jack & Eve and their staff wonderful.

As I told Alie we met many people during our safari and many of them were travelling on tours prepared by Island Safari : all were very impressed and satisfied with the services provided. We will certainly be recommending your company to other who maybe fortunate enough to travel through Africa.
 
Thanks once again
Sincerely
Jane & Jacko Laycock

August 2007
We had a really great holiday, thanks.
 
Comments:
 
I have nothing but praise for Island-Safari staff.  I always had a prompt courteous response to all my queries.
 
All our transfers worked out well.  The only criticism was that we had to check that they would happen and when, as no one came and told us.  We loved the trips in the light aircraft.  We were lucky, but some people were caught out that the plane to Vilanculos had a 20kg weight limit , including hand luggage.  Pick up at Vilanculos was very late and we had to wait 45 minutes for a pick up, and didn’t know how to contact the hotel.  I phoned them and got their answer machine.
 
Chundukwa Tree Lodge – was great, liked it as it was clean, small and homely.  As it was so small, we got to know the hostess very well and got lots of useful information from her.  Only criticism was that your itinerary said to organise trips out directly with the hostess.  Their own brochure said that a trip to the museum and falls was $109, and we then had to pay our own entrance fees.  It was only  when we settled our bill that we found out that the trip to the falls and also the bush lunch was included in the price.  We would have liked to know that beforehand.  Pleased that Zambian visa fee was not charged.
 
Oddballs camp too was good and the bush camp was great.  Well organised too and they kept us informed of what to do and see.  Two slight criticisms, far too much food supplied for the bush camp, enough for 2 people for 3 weeks not two nights.  We were told we had paid for that, and it was then thrown away, what a waste.  The other criticism was that we didn’t get to meet any local people or see their crafts.
 
Planet Baobab was out of this world.  Disappointed that the “mud hut” was made of concrete.  Trip out to the salt pan was fantastic but VERY cold.  The morning ride back was far too cold, and we would have liked to have been told how cold it was so we could have taken some warmer clothes and gloves.
 
Vilanculos was pretty dead which many places closed.  Casa Rex hotel was very good though and relaxing.  Our room was superb and the views were great.  Bit far out from town though although the Beach Hotel would have been further.  There were no watersports available from the hotel, although your itinerary said they were included.
 
Metcourt Laurel Hotel was OK.  We would have preferred a smaller hotel, but the shuttle worked well.
 
Ticketing – we would have preferred confirmation from yourselves about the ticket for each stage and whether we needed anything or did your voucher suffice.  We had to work that out for ourselves.
 
Overall, a fantastic holiday and we would certainly use Island Safari again and would recommend you to others.
 
Final comment on the tour.  Having looked at where we went on a map, we would have routed it differently.  We could have flown direct to Livingstone from here and started there.  It was a waste of time to fly from Maun to J’burg abd back to Vilanculos and I would have looked at an alternative route.  Going to Jo’burg and back wasted a day.  We went through Jo’burg airport three times, got to know it well, and on the way home our luggage was broken into and some items stolen.  We would prefer to avoid that airport in future.
 
Many thanks
David and Astrid Frankl

August 2007
Everything perfect thanks, clients (Minotti x2) wrote to me to thank for the wonderful trip..........
Mario
Xenia Viaggi, Italy

August 2007
First I want to say that our tour was great. Good organisation, no problem, many souvenirs... Special thanks to you, Mandy, for your patience and your disponibility during the booking process (more than 60 e-mails!). Thanks also to Nico Visser, our guide in Namibia, very kind person.
 
I answer at your questions :
 
- 9/10 for the service during the booking process
- 9/10 for the transfers
- 7/10 for the Vondelhof Guesthouse (our first room was a little bit sad...; a place not to stay, just to pass before other places...)
- 9/10 for the Kulala Lodge (a nice place, good meals, nice room, but excursion on the reserve a little bit expensive)
- 8/10 for Eberwein (only a few hours, very clean)
- 5/10 for The Riley's Hotel (slow service, rooms not nice, meals not very good; another place not to stay...)
- 9/10 for the Mapula Lodge (the more confortable rooms with bathtub and outside shower, real "house", not a camp, so the heat is more acceptable; good meals, pleasant game drives)
- 9/10 for the Xakanaka Lodge (the better service, very good meals, nice tents with fashion; many animals)
- 9/10 for the Kwara Camp (a little bit less confortable, but the best game drives)
- 7/10 for the Chobe Safari Lodge (a place more popular, meals not various, the game drives proposed were near the Chobe River and not really in the Chobe Reserve; after staying in the Delta of Okavango, the game drives were not interesting, but the cruises were a good way to see animals)
Two nights in each lodge was a good idea, three nights is too long (same activities at the same place...)
- 6/10 for the Victoria Falls Hotel (slow service, meals not various, old bathrooms...).
 
Scenic flights at Swakopmund and helicopter at Victoria Falls were have given pleasure to us.
With kind regards.
Thomas Kegyes

August 2007
The service you received from Island-Safari.com staff during the booking process and during your tour. GREAT service
The transfers you had. GREAT - no delay
Your stay at Metcourt Laurel Hotel ACCEPTABLE rooms - GREAT breakfast
Your stay at Zambezi Sun Resort Hotel GREAT position - ACCEPTABLE rooms - POOR level of food
Your stay at Elephant Valley Lodge GREAT position - GOOD tents - POOR level of food
Your stay at Delta Camp GREAT position - GREAT lodges - GREAT food !!
Your stay at Mapula Lodge GREAT position - GREAT lodges - GREAT food !!
Your stay at Makgadikgadi Camp ACCEPTABLE tents - GOOD service - GOOD food
Consuming a small amount of your valuable time could you please provide us with the relevant feedback.
Very nice vacation. Well organized. Well managed.
All our expectations fully met ! THANKS TO EVERYBODY !

August 2007
The Petrucci clients had a great time at DVL. They were very happy with the service and all aspects of their stay.  Thank you very much!
 
Sincere Regards,
Katie
Explore Africa Travel, Colorado, USA

August 2007
* The service that we received from Patricia at Island Safari was fantastic: she was quick in replying, and put together a great package for us, answered all my questions and was a pleasure to work with.
Unfortunately your Cape Town Office were a little slow when we came to payment enquiries.
* The transfers were all smooth, even the crossing to Zambia.
* Oddballs camp was fantastic. The hospitality, food, camping expedition and everything else was just wonderful
* Elephant Valley was equally good. The service there was outstanding and the activities were all we could ask for.
Botswana has for a long time been a trip we wanted to take, and it lived up to all expectations. Many thanks.
Kind regards
Dr Beverly Draper

August 2007
The service you received from Island-Safari.com staff during the booking process and during your tour. All was excellent – no problems! Well done!
The transfers you had. Very well organized – thanks!
Your stay at Holiday Inn Waterfront Hotel Very Good and to be recommended for future use.
Your stay at Le Ballon Rouge Very good – some rooms not so good – ask not to be placed in 4 & 5  - the rest were excellent as well as the service & breakfast.
Your stay at Weskusplek To be recommended for future use – excellent place!!
Your stay at Leisure Bay Luxury Suites To be recommended for future use – excellent place!!
I AM VERY HAPPY WITH THE TREATMENT/SERVICE OF ISLAND-SAFARIS – ESPECIALLY THE ORGANISING OF OUR TRIPS BY MICHELLE! THANKS!
Vanessa Goicolea

August 2007
As I told you in the phone call yesterday we had a wonderful experience and enjoyed our trip very much.

We were very satisfied by the kind of treatment of the company. Michelle, who organized the trip for us tried very hard to fulfill our wishes and we always got very quick answers from her. Only at the end the vouchers came quite late, just one day before our departure, and we always expected that we had booked the houseboat Ngwezi – as advertised in your website – and were informed in the very last minute that we would stay on the Inkwazi.

All transfers worked very well, starting with the organization of the flights by Delta Air, then we were picked up on the airfield in Seronga by a very kind and friendly young man named Silence who brought us in an old 4x4 vehicle to a small boat and then to the houseboat. There we were welcomed by the very friendly and qualified chef and captain named Sam – and the same procedure vice versa when we had to leave. The transfer to the place where we met the polers for the mekoro trips was also well organized and just in time. So, there is really nothing what we can complain about!!

       The stay on the Inkwazi was amazing! The rooms were very clean with beautiful beddings, the meals, which were prepared by
       Sam, assisted by Silence, were outstanding, and the whole atmosphere between the crew – Sam and Silence – and us as guests
       was relaxed and we had a lot of fun!

       All the six of us enjoyed the stay on the Inkwazi, the Mekoro trip and the flight over the Delta very much and we can highly
       recommend the whole trip and organization.
 
       Thank you very much for the Sparkling Wines in our cabins! With kind regards
       Heike + Johann Aits

August 2007
Thanks for your good advises and for this so exciting trip.
We have been very satisfied with all the places you recommended to us and all our transfers went perfectly.
We have been very surprised by the Chundukwa Tree Lodge that is far much better than what can be seen in the web or described in our itinerary and the management team is very accessible and participative.
The other places were as we were expecting with always a very good level of service.
The only place we had the feeling that the service was not so good is the “Mondior Hotel”: We had problem with the very noisy air conditioning in the bathroom (wanted to switch it off), asked twice and they did not send anybody to help us/ when using the business centre and the internet connection, we had to ask 3 times for someone to come and connect, waiting 25 minutes)
 
Thanks to island safari and especially Elize for these wonderful holidays
 
Patricia santoni and Bruno Gerlic

August 2007
I have only positive feedback to report. I dealt with Carien in terms of making my plans, and she was excellent - always very responsive to my questions in a timely fashion. 
 
All the transfers were great as well - no problems at all to report.  I was met at Joburg airport by someone (can't recall her name but she was a "contractor" for that kind of thing) who was also very pleasant and professional. 
 
I found Oddball's fantastic too - a beautiful location, wonderful staff, very good food and very comfortable accommodations. It certainly met all of my expectations. 
 
My only disappointment was that I did not get to see lions, which was an objective of mine, though I had been informed that chances were small.  Apart from that, for which no one can be blamed, I had an absolutely fabulous time on my trip.
 
Thanks so much to everyone at island-safari for their pleasant and professional services.
 
Joanne Klineberg

August 2007
Firstly the service that we received from Island Safari was top rate. We were very happy with the whole process. I have worked in the travel industry and have a degree of knowledge of how tour companies work and would rate yours impeccable, especially Mandy.
 
Elephant Valley was amazing but there was one big downside in our opinion and that was the food. We had no complaints about the preparation but the quality seemed quite poor. I must say but for the breakfast, I probably didn’t really eat too much.
 
Mapula Lodge what can we say but exquisite the food to die for the people wonderful and the dance they put on for us amazing.
 
Gabs hotel nice, but no one there to meet us off the plane; apparently traffic was bad we waited at least 30 – 40 mins. The next morning transfers were also late due to the fact that they could not find the bus keys, even though I had asked if the bus would be on time. For a five star hotel we found the service inefficient.
 
The Marang, again bus a bit late in the morning and took us on a bizarre ride to the airport at quite fast speeds. Otherwise nice stay and pleasant staff.
 
Joberg, hotel excellent, relaxing and efficient.
 
All in all we had a great (no fantastic) holiday and these are some minor observations. I would and have recommended Island Safari and one day hope that we are able to use you again.
 
With Kind Regards
Catherine Williams
 

August 2007
Very happy to give feedback. We had a wonderful family holiday and are very grateful for all your help in arranging things for us.

Claudia helped with the boooking, was very responsive to emailed questions and guided us well in preparing for the trip.  A rep met us at Joburg Airport as planned and guided us around the airport, which was a nice touch.

All the transfers worked well. Everyone was expecting us and were very helpful and friendly. We were particularly impressed with the bus driver who took us from the Zambezi Sun to the Botswana border. My son left his sunglasses on the bus in Zambia. Next day a small parcel arrived at the Chobe safari lodge in Botswana with them safely enclosed!

The Zambezi Sun was very comfortable, good food and a great location for the falls. Staff were very friendly and helpful. The activity centre were very efficient at arranging quad biking and the sunset cruise on the African Princess.

The Chobe Safari Lodge was particualy special, despite the building works. The temporary restuarant was fine and the food excellent. The river safaris were stunning. - the dry season attracting lots of wildlife - the guides were very knowledgeable and friendly.

Oddballs Camp was really welcoming and friendly. The camping in the bush with sounds of lions at night was little worrying, but the guides were great.

Regards
Ian Simpson

August 2007

It will be a pleasure to supply the feedback you request. I would like to begin by saying that everything was about as perfect as could be, so any comments I offer are in no way critisisms, but rather my contribution to your efforts to keep Island Safaris at the top of the list of tour operators.
 
Firstly,  I would like to express my admiration for Mandy who was my contact. Efficiency, professionalism, patience and friendliness are just a few of the qualities she demonstrated while helping to arrange our trip. It is a lucky client who gets Mandy as their contact. I would like to say here that the itinerary she worked out for us was particulaly inspired. From the exciting experience of camping with our guide at Oddballs, and coming back badly in need of a shower, there was a gradual progression through ever more luxurious accomodation to our final few nights at Stanleys Safari Lodge which was practicaly perfect comfort.
 
We were impressed by the smooth efficiency of all the transfers.
 
The Metcourt Laurel was fine, a comfortable bed after a very long trip, a good breakfast and a smooth pick up.
 
Oddballs was wonderful, principally because of its location. As a first experience of Southern Africa, of Botswana and of the Delta I don't think you could ask for more. Again, I think that doing Oddballs first was definitely the right choice. On the scale of natural beauty it was the best we saw, while on the scale of physical comfort it was the most challenging. We were much taken with our guide whose name was Bale. He was so knowledgable and calm, that even though we were surrounded by roaring lions both nights we camped out, somehow I wasn't as terrified as I might have been. Clients might be offered some guide lines with regard to the food (tins etc) that is not used on the camping trip. The guide remarked that it was all paid for by us and that we could do what we liked with it, i.e. give it to him, but that the managers expected it to be returned, so not to say anything to them. A little difficult, as one either felt mean not giving it to him or uncomfortable not saying anything to Eve (the manageress).
 
Mapula Lodge was the next step. One big step up on the comfort scale. We were deeply impressed by the exquisite design, a mixture of cutting edge modern combined with wild Africa, for example the pewter-like baths and basins cradles in native woods, or the Flintstone furniture upholstered in African prints.
Again our guide, whose name was Doctor, was superb. He was infinitely knowledgable as well as charming. We coincided with Tiny Mapula and her Swedish husband and their two children, and got the impression - possibly mistaken - that the business was not going as well as they hoped.  I don't know why because the Lodge is stunning, the food and service unimpeachable and the game viewing among the best we experienced. I would recommend sending everyone there.
 
Savuti Safari Lodge was our next stop. In a different way it was also enchanting. The experience of taking a shower with elephants parading past the glass wall was unforgettable. Even with my desire to give helpful feedback, I cannot think of a single negative comment.
 
Muchenje. Again we were delighted with the design of the Lodge and with the friendly reception we recieved in particular from Vera. We actually were looked after by several guides here, as one went down with a cold, another did the night drives and yet another the Chobe river trip. Vera was very helpful with regard to who to tip and how much.
 
Finally, we arrived at Stanleys Safari Lodge. What can I say? It was perfect. My husband is Spanish and although his English is excellent he was delighted to meet Clara, who seemed to run the lodge, because she is Argentinian and they could converse happily for both of them in their native tongue. Stanleys was undoubtedly the high point as far as luxury and comfort are concerned. What a beautiful, beautiful place!  I woke at about six o'cock on the first morning and from my bed I looked across the bush and saw what looked like a forest fire, all shot through with the first rosy light of dawn. It took a moment before I realised I was looking at the Mosi wa Thunya.
Its hard to find anything remotely critical to say, but perhaps the portions at dinner could be slightly reduced. I heard other diners saying they were sorry they couldn't finish , but it was just too much.
The only hitch to our planned itinerary occurred here. I had booked through Island Safaris an elephant back safari for the first morning after our arrival. I took a print out of the e-mail confirming that the Lodge had made the  reservation, but on arrival they could find no record of the booking. Clara was great and rang around and was able to book us for a safari on the Zimbabwean side for our last morning. This did involve a 5.30 wake up, which made the whole return trip back to Madrid very long indeed. Also, with a flight out of Livingstone at around 11.30 it was cutting it a bit fine. At one stage we were left alone at the Zimbabwean border while we waited for our pick up to get through the border in Zambia, and our Zimbabwean driver went back to check on his vehicle. We didn't mind, but as I say it was a tight schedule with a very narrow margin for slip ups.
 
One other thing: It would be good to recommend that clients bring the necessary cash, dollars or euros or whatever, for tipping, in small notes. I didn't think of it and the bank gave me all 100 dollar bills which were not always easy to change.
 
Well, I hope that some of this may be useful to you and I would like to say a heartfelt thank you for the best holiday we have ever had! Rest assured that I will recommend Island Safaris to anyone going anywhere near Africa. We are already dreaming of our own next trip.
 
Regards
Cathy Westmacott

August 2007
Hi Michelle a quick note to let you know we are all back safely and were very pleased with the Botswana trip !
Everybody enjoyed and we are still collating the thousands of pics....

Hereby our feedback per leg :

1. Nata , good overnight place

2. EV Lodge, excellent , service, rangers,location,staff........ evening dinners were less impressive than lunches , but I guess we were spoiled...
the drives and boat cruises gave us all we wanted and more (lion,swimming elephants,incredible sunsets etc etc...)
& Merc was able to handle the sand road

3. Zambesi Sun , trip was a bit of a hassle Kazungula boarder , carbontax etc ... fortunately VISA waiver was OK, Falls magnificent Zambesi ,hotel great buffet but a bit pricy on the drinks in particular for their wines.... finally decided (after bargaining) to take a helicopter flight- stunning
Recommend if party is by own transport and wants to see falls to consider daytrip eg ex  EV lodge to avoid the boarder hassle/cost

4. Ngepi , really different experience ,  enjoyed the alternative spirit of the camp , we had a nice rest after long drive from falls

5. Delta Camp , fantastic, staff,guides,food,accommodation etc etc , game viewing was less (were spoiled in Chobe) but "Moroko atmosphere" great
recommend (which we did not do....) not to go in big groups for bushwalks(max 4) as you don't get the right interaction with your guide.

6. Lerou Latou , really stunning view , migration path right at your feet.... camp a bit run down and staff not really sharp, game drives and appointments a bit of a hassle. but experience was very different to previous ones and we enjoyed it .
Lodge is not accessible for sedan car ( got stuck with Merc & left it at town chiefs house, was fun experience though)

7. Lentswe , would only consider as stop over , nothing special , run down (bedlinnen was fixed 4 times...) Father arrogant , son a nice chap , game drive into Rhino Sanctuary only to be considered if you really want to see one as it is nothing special .
Recommend as Lentswe is 30kms away from sanctuary to stop there first before going to lodge.

Michelle , I would like to thank you for all your recommendations and help over the last months , I can clearly say that it was worth a while and in particular Chobe has far exceeded our expectations.

I will not hesitate to recommend your services !
Very Best Regards
Patrick Rogiers and the Ville and Barbe Families

For April - July 2007 Client Comments please click HERE

For Jan - March 2007 Client Comments please click HERE

For 2006 Client Comments please click HERE

For 2005 Client Comments please click HERE

For 2004 Client Comments please click HERE

For 2003 Client Comments please click HERE

For 2002 Client Comments please click HERE