The Southern Safari

Customer Reviews

• QY

  Qin

  · November 25th, 2018
  I did the 52 day Southern Safari trip with Absolute Africa traveling from Nairobi to Cape Town. Highlights include rafting along the Zambezi river, Spitzkoppe and of course all the amazing animals we saw on safari (Serengeti, endangered rhinos at Matopos, Etosha). Some driving days were long (we covered a lot of countries in 52 days), tent equipment was good quality and food was usually plentiful (unless people in your group want to eat breakfast before breakfast time and they don't save you enough food). For the first 10 days our tour leader Kip/Edmund was great, he had a positive attitude and he was really patient. Then we joined another group and had Martin as our tour leader. Whilst Martin was really informative in the beginning about the daily itinerary, with time i felt he became less informative. It was also clear to some people that Martin favoured certain individuals in the group. I understand that there will be people (even tour leaders) that get on with certain people more than others but as a professional i expected him to treat the group as a whole and listen to us as a whole, taking control of the group during more difficult situations when needed. There were certain situations where Martin acted quite childishly to certain members of the group, a few times he did not respect people's confidentiality by talking to certain members of the group about other people. One particular incident he publicly ridiculed someone in front of the whole group during dinner for not helping cook dinner one night because she was tired. You wouldn't expect this from someone who's been a tour leader for 20 years. Some of the optional activities i did i felt like it wasn't worth the money, for example we spent 3 days in the Okavango Delta and one day had 9 hours of free time where we had to stay in the bush camp or swim in a pond. Our tour leader didn't tell us this so some people didn't bring things like books etc. Absolute claim that they send you the most updated information (itinerary and optional activities list) however they included activities that haven't been running for years or they don't even run. We went to Antelope Park, Zimbabwe a private reserve home to a lion conservation programme with the aim of breeding lion cubs from captured lions in order to release them into the wild. Since 2005 they haven't released a single lion. I read articles by National Geographic and Africa Geographic that questioned the ethicacy of the programme and there was also speculation about whether the park involved itself in Africa's lion industry (look up Blood Lions for more info). Animal conservation should never involve animal-human interaction or breeding and these do/use to do both these things e.g. cub handling and lion walks. Correspondence with Absolute prior and throughout my trip was thorough and professional. After giving feedback about my experiences there was an obvious lack of accountability and ignorance. Overland tours are a great way of traveling to so many African countries and overall i really enjoyed most of the activities i did and the people i traveled with. However there are quite a few African overland tours and I am unlikely to use them again.
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  Absolute Africa commented on this review

  Thank you for leaving your feedback. We are glad to hear that overall you had an enjoyable tour and got to see all the fantastic wildlife and more that you would hope to see in Africa. At the same time we are disappointed to read your assessment of... Show more
  Trip date: September 2018
• BK

  Byungjoon

  · August 12th, 2017
  My wife and I spent wonderful time with Absolute Africa. All of crew and people were nice and kind. I shared every single moment of this trip on my SNS.
  

  Absolute Africa commented on this review

  Thank you for your review Byungjoon. Its good to hear you both had a great time on the safari with us, and would love to welcome you back again with Absolute Africa should you return to Africa.
  Trip date: June 2017
• C

  Charlotte

  · November 8th, 2016
  This trip was incredible from start to finish. I was worried about travelling alone, however there were plenty of other people on the tour who were all lovely and we became like a family during the tour and I have made life long friends from this. Our tour leader was incredible, very prepared, organised and made the trip unforgettable. Each country had a range of activities from safaris to skydives, and you just want to do it all. The price of the tour itself is very cheap in comparison, the optional extras can add up depending on what you decided to do. I took the opportunity and done pretty much every extra thing possible. Between the activities there were some quite long drive days, with the most beautiful countries to gaze at, and animals you can spot along the way the drive days weren't that bad at all. They go a lot quicker than you think! The meals were great as well as the camping, the best experience I've ever had!
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  Absolute Africa commented on this review

  Thank you for your comments, Charlotte. It's great to hear that you have had such a fab time on your tour and made the most of being in this special continent :)
  Trip date: August 2016
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  Philip

  · February 25th, 2016
  This was the first African trip my wife and I have done, and what an incredible trip it was! The organisation of absolute africa was fantastic and we enjoyed every single day with no booking issues at all. An extremely exciting tour my favorite one of all so far, we got to see new and exciting things EVERY DAY. The tour guide and driver were first class, very helpful and supportive throughout the whole trip, and the whole group became like family by the end of the tour. I urge everyone to try it, is a life changing experience. And compared to the other companies out there that we crossed paths with, I was glad we choose absolute africa. 5 stars. Philip
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  Absolute Africa commented on this review

  Thank you for your comments Philip, its great that you had such an enjoyable trip!
  Trip date: November 2015
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  Gráinne

  · December 22nd, 2015
  What an absolutely amazing trip I had with Absolute Africa! This was without a doubt the trip of a lifetime. Troy, JB and David took amazing care of us. I cannot recommend this company and this tour enough. Will definitely be going back to Africa with Absolute again soon.
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  Absolute Africa commented on this review

  Thank you for your comments Grainne and lovely to hear you had such a fantastic time on your trip.
  Trip date: September 2015
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  Neil

  · May 15th, 2015
  What an incredible trip! Highly recommend the Southern Safari to everyone! Extremely good value for money, and also had amazing drivers and tour leader! Especially JB and Philippa! Both of them were always helpful and positive despite the stress that comes with organising a large group! I can recommed this trip to people of all ages being 17 myself and the oldest on our tour was in their 40's. Everyone got along well and enjoyed themselves! Absolute Africa is a great company!
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  Absolute Africa commented on this review

  Thank you for your kind words, we are so please to hear you enjoyed yourself!
  Trip date: March 2015
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  Esther

  · December 13th, 2014
  Our guide was our mentor and friend and always put us first. She was very approachable and knowledgeable of all the places we stopped at. She made sure we were having the best time possible and helped us whenever we had issues. I value the effort put it by our leader and would highly recommend her.
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  Absolute Africa commented on this review

  It's great to hear such kind words about our tour leader Vialet, we're glad she made your trip special!
  Trip date: November 2011