Southern Africa Testimonials
Shana and Brian – Botswana and Victoria Falls
The trip was great! Thanks so much to helping to find the perfect accommodations for our group of five! Everything about the trip and process of planning was great – the packet of info we got before the trip was detailed. Highlights were all definitely from our time at Nkorho – we saw so much great stuff! I also thought the service from everyone at Thompson’s that we interacted with was good. Everyone at AWR was great- I felt like we didn’t miss a beat with the responses from people on the team and Dan. I can’t recommend Nkorho more highly!
We managed to see all of the big 5 including a ton of leopard sightings. The last night drive we also saw lions (including two males) who had come back over from Kruger. We also tracked a pack of wild dogs are they chased some impala and zebra (but they didn’t get them). The staff, trackers and rangers were great the whole stay.
Calvin L., USA
10-Day Highlights of South Africa and Victoria Falls, April 2019
I’ve been impressed with everything with AWR. Our lodge location, safari tours and timing and the panoramic route sites were all incredible. Dan is amazing, super responsive, and put up with the high maintenance issues of our trip:).
Sarah W., USA
Custom 9-Day Botswana Within Reach, April 2019
The trip was excellent. Emmanuel, our guide, was great – excellent in every possible respect. The camps were wonderful – comfortable, even luxurious, well staffed and served ample (actually too much) very good food. I was very impressed with how they handled their guests, staffed and supplied their camps, treated their workers, as well as their care for the environment and for the economies of the areas in which they operated.
But most important, the game drives were terrific. We saw all the animals that everyone sees, some a little more close up than initially felt comfortable until I realized how well Emmanuel understood their behavior, and essentially all the animals that sometimes are elusive and hard to find. Perhaps the highlight of the sightings was a leopard climbing a tree and eating its prey (a dead impala) up there with a hyena below eating all the scraps as they fell. One of the camps had created a watering hole perhaps 100+ meters away from the tents, which attracted herds of elephants, but then one morning the pack of dogs. One of the dogs had managed to get ahold of a dishtowel and they were having a ball with it. I am now in the process of selecting the best 100 or so photos for an online album of the 1000+ that I took.
Tom W., USA
Custom 9-Day Botswana Within Reach, November 2018
The trip to southern Africa was great. Thank you everyone !!! [Our favorite part of the trip was] the game drives, especially in Sabi Sands.
Bill D., WI, USA
23-Day Custom Best of South Africa, Victoria Falls (Zimbabwe) and Botswana, a Southern Africa Explorer, May 2017
I would definitely recommend you to others so 10 out of 10. Inyati Lodge and the guides and people that worked there were so nice. We had such a great time. We saw all of the big 5 animals as well as many others and our guide, Matt, was able to get so close to the animals.
Kelly A., Victoria, Australia
4-day Kruger/Sabi Sands Safari
December 2016
We loved Botswana, the National Parks, and our Safaris. Camp Linyanti was special because we were the only visitors. So, we had private safari’s for 3 days with Moses. He was a great guide and host. It was a little remote which is why tourists may not go there and it was more rustic (with the shower outside). There were no electric fences, so animals (elephants, hippos, wart hogs, and baboons) roamed our camp at night which was very authentic. The food was very good and the service is fantastic. On the last night, the 5 hosts entertained us with singing and dancing, but we quickly joined in the merriment. We only saw 1 other jeep each day. We saw elephants, hippos, crocodiles, wart hogs, giraffes, kudu, baboons, etc.
Camp Moremi and Camp Xugana were owned by the same company and are run very well. It is a more elegant experience than Camp Linyanti but not necessarily better. Just slicker with nicer accommodations. Again, we only saw one or two of the camp’s jeeps or boats each day. So, there are never crowded situations. Since we went on numerous jeep safaris, it was nice to do the boat and walking safaris at Camp Xugana. They had the best Boma.
In Moremi, we saw lions, wildebeest, and all of the others from camp linyanti. In Xugana, we saw elephants and hippos from the boat which is a better way to see water animals. Also, we tracked and saw wild dogs. We did not see Rhinos or Leopards since they are in dryer areas (maybe Kalahari desert).
The luggage we took was perfect for the small planes. We bought Duffel bags on wheels from LL Bean measuring 22”x12”x12”.
The entire trip was very smooth. The guides, the pilots, the hosts are very pleasant and the service is excellent.
Tony F.
11-day Botswana + Vic Falls
June 2013