The Absolute Safari

Customer Reviews

• A

  Alice

  · April 15th, 2025
  Amazing experience, ticketed all our boxes- Amazing itinerary, smooth ride thanks to Mo and Jo, we were all well looked after and definitely well fed!
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  Absolute Africa commented on this review

  Thanks so much for your comments Alice! Best wishes for you future travels :)
  Trip date: January 2025
• E

  Emily

  · December 17th, 2024
  AN INCREDIBLE EXPERIENCE!! I had the best time on my 54 day safari with absolute. Travelling overland allowed us to see spectacular scenery every day, and I can’t believe how many unforgettable experiences we had in this amount of time. A few highlights were ; swimming with dolphins in Zanzibar, Lake Malawi’s village tour, rhino trekking, all the game drives ; especially Etosha, Chobe and South Luangwa (night drive), boating through the okovango delta, and climbing sand dunes in Namibia! Bear in mind these are just highlights, and we did much more! I met some lovely people on the tour, who made the experience what it was, and who I now count as good friends. Our tour guide was also fantastic - being kind, organised and detail oriented (which was massively appreciated), as well and knowledgeable about each place we went. Our guide and absolute also dealt very well with two siblings, who were swiftly removed from the tour due to verbal abuse, racist & homophobic comments. This shows that absolute do really enforce a zero tolerance policy for any of these forms of mistreatment. Rest assured that those siblings were an anomaly though, and everyone else on the tour got on which made two months of living, cooking and cleaning together enjoyable. I would highly recommend this tour, and I guarantee you will leave having met amazing people, and having seen the most fab places.
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  Absolute Africa commented on this review

  Thank you for taking the time to leave your review, Emily, and we are glad to hear you enjoyed your tour with us so much! Happy future travels :)
  Trip date: October 2024
• 

  Philip

  · December 17th, 2024
  If you’re thinking about an overland trip in Africa, I wholeheartedly recommend Absolute Africa. My girlfriend and I wouldn’t usually join a tour when travelling and we were a little nervous about it, but we needn’t have been; it was an amazing experience. Of the companies I researched, I liked Absolute because it’s the most flexible (there are lots of routes, and you only pay for the excursions you want). Booking was really smooth, and they give you lots of info to help you prepare for the trip (thanks Sophie!). On the tour itself, the guides and drivers have been fantastic. Big shout outs to Joseph, David, Marvin, Joe, Hesron and Emias. The buses are really nice, with more legroom than I was expecting! Yes there are some long, bumpy drives but honestly it’s quite fun. And all the campsites were great—almost all have had a bar and most have even had swimming pools! To be honest, the only negative I experienced was two of our fellow passengers, who have left negative reviews below. Their comments are completely unfounded from what I experienced. In fact, they were abusive to other tour members—including a 75 year old woman—as well as to our guides. They also said some pretty shocking things about the locals which I won’t share here. They were given a warning, and then almost immediately became abusive again. I personally see it as a huge positive that Absolute intervened and removed them from the trip and that behaviour like that isn’t tolerated. After being told they were being removed they trashed the bus, cut the wires to our fridge and charging point, and smashed a window. It tells you everything you need to know about them. Anyway, to finish on something more positive, some of the highlights for me were the game drives in the Serengeti, South Luangwa, Chobe and Etosha parks; Lake Kariba houseboat; village tour on Lake Malawi; the Okavango Delta; Spitzkoppe; and Sossusvlei.
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  Absolute Africa commented on this review

  We are happy to read that you had such a good time on your overland tour, Philip, and we will certainly pass on your thanks to all of your crew members too. Thank you for leaving your comments and if you fancy exploring any more of Africa in the future,... Show more
  
  Trip date: December 2024
• HM

  Hannah

  · December 13th, 2024
  This tour was just AMAZING! The 77 day tour had countless unreal moments within it, making so many special memories. Going in September, we caught the end of the migration in Kenya and as we travelled south through Africa, it started to become the rainy season which involved some great thunderstorms but only an actual rainy day once or twice. Life on the truck involved long drives, great views out of the windows and new locations to explore as well as daily tasks and pitching tents. I would highly recommend so many of the optional activities, here are a few top choices - Chobe national park morning drive, cultural experiences (especially Ugandan village), devils pool and rafting at Vic falls, night game drives (South Luangwa and Etosha), village tours, exploring Etosha national park in a small jeep rather than the big yellow truck, Motopos full day tour, swimming with dolphins in Zanzibar and of course the gorillas! Our tour guides and drivers were really great and always helpful and each tour guide on our game drives were extremely informative. The only disappointment from this tour was our full day drive through the Serengeti as it felt more of a drive from A to B than trying to find wildlife. This tour is a fantastic way to see so many amazing places in Africa and tick off bucket list moments!
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  Trip date: September 2024
• PD

  Phil

  · November 15th, 2024
  You’ll see some reviews below from Beth and Luke, I’ll explain at the end why you should ignore those comments. But first, if you’re thinking about an overland trip in Africa, I wholeheartedly recommend Absolute Africa. I wouldn’t usually join a tour when travelling and I was a little nervous about it, but I needn’t have been; it’s been an amazing experience. Of the companies I researched, I chose Absolute because it’s more flexible (there are lots of routes, and you only pay for the excursions you want). Booking was really smooth, and they give you lots of info to help you prepare for the trip (thanks Sophie!). On the tour itself, the guides and drivers have been fantastic. Big shout outs to Joseph, David, Marvin, Joe and Hesron. The buses are really nice, with more legroom than I was expecting! Yes there are some long drives but honestly it’s been quite fun. And all the campsites have been great – almost all have had a bar and most have had swimming pools! In fact the only negative I experienced was two of our fellow passengers, which brings me to Luke and Beth. I won’t go into detail, but their comments are completely unfounded from what I’ve experienced. They were abusive to other tour members, as well as to the guides. At least half of the group complained directly to Absolute Africa about them. They were given a warning, and then almost immediately became abusive again. I’m personally very grateful that Absolute intervened and removed them from the trip and that behaviour like theirs isn’t tolerated. The trip has felt so much better since they left. After being told they were being removed they trashed the bus, smashed a window and cut the wires to our fridge and charging point. It tells you everything you need to know about them. And now they’re posting lies on platforms like these, and trying to damage the reputation of the company. Calling them childish would be an insult to children.
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  Trip date: November 2024
• J

  Jacob

  · November 15th, 2024
  Ignore Beth and Luke's reviews. The only homophobia I encountered came straight from these two siblings. They were a black cloud for the few weeks they were with us. They trashed the bus and cut power cables to the fridge on their way out. They took their ozempic and then made fun of children begging for food. I have worked customer service for years and these two are among some of the worst I've ever met. The trip has been wonderful now that they are gone. Joe the tour guide is insightful and organized. Hezron the driver is a boss. This trip can't be beat for the price, and I hope you have a great crew without the fun-sucks. My only criticism is that some of the tours like the turtle sanctuary seem exploiting of animals, but these are offered through 3rd parties and very common throughout East and South africa.
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  Absolute Africa commented on this review

  Thank you for leaving a review, Jacob. We will pass on your comments to Joe and Hezron and hope you have happy travels ahead!
  Trip date: November 2024
• 

  Luke

  · November 11th, 2024
  AVOID THIS TOUR HOMOPHOBIC ENABLERS I reported homophobia to my tour guide who laughed and didn’t take it seriously so I kept quiet and isolated myself during the trip. Only for other passengers to ask me to apologise to the homophobe on the tour to keep the peace and not allow it to be awkward. I did noT apologise which led to tension throughout the trip and some arguments! Absolute Africa did nothing about this and instead gave a false warning for behaviour for things we did not do and eventually kicked us off the tour with 25 minutes to pack our belongings and be escorted off the premises of the hotel! VILE If you want an enjoyable experience do not go with Absolute Africa!!!! I could write a huge review of the things that were extremely unacceptable but after already privately speaking to Sophie about the issues, it’s clear that this company will never take responsibility for how terrible the tour is. I am actually convinced that not one single person from this company (that’s based in London) has EVER stepped foot in Africa. One of the huge issues was in Mwanza, Tanzania. We arrived at our “camp site” which was actually a car park of a huge night club, we had to pitch our tents in car parking spaces between the locals cars wherever there was space (there was a huge event on here this night so it was really busy). After being promised the music will end at 1am, it was still extremely loud at 5am and then after this locals were physically fighting in the car park around our tents, if this didn’t already wake you up then the police sirens definitely would have. At around 2am with 0 sleep, me and my sister had absolutely no choice but to move into the conference room (that we were forced to pay for) locals had access to this conference room all night and were walking in/out, it was really unsafe and scary. This car park did not have any security measures in place, my sister was actually approached by a local man at night while going to the toilet, which made her feel unsafe. Me and my sister then witnessed him crawling around our tent with his torch on looking for her, luckily he seen I was there and ran off, as you can imagine this was so scary for my sister and who knows what would have happened if I was a single traveller? We told the tour guide this in the morning and like most reactions, he found it amusing and it didn’t come as a shock to him at all. Another terrible day that went so wrong was the drive from Lake Malawi to Zambia, we had to be on the truck to set off at 4:30am, we then travelled this whole day and reached our camp site just before midnight, with NO FOOD or stop to even purchase food as we “had to get to the boarder before it closed”. At this time of night we still had to pitch up our tents, eat food and have a shower/ sort our stuff for the following day as we were expected to be up for 5am latest to go on the game drive. Unfortunately a few of us had no option but to miss out on this included activity because we were extremely sleep deprived and run down. We asked our guide if it was possible to change the park fees to the night optional drive and then pay the rest that’s needed. Again, we got a reply that was extremely rude and aggressive and the answer was strictly a no, you go on the morning one or nothing! The Serengeti “safari” if that’s what you can call it was soooo disappointing, we were all so excited for this but doing it on the huge packed truck was a complete waste of time, we hardly seen any wildlife and it was extremely rushed, very disheartening especially seeing other tours on 4x4 trucks getting close to the wildlife. Because of the ongoing issues that have happened, me and my sister and a couple of other people have decided to completely leave the tour early and solo travel for the rest of it. This obviously comes with a huge extra cost for us and the decision was not taken lightly, our mental health was more important. After voicing all of these concerns directly to Sophie privately, she first of all shared all of our concerns with our tour guide Joe, who vocalised this on the bus with 21 other travellers present, clearly to intimidate us by saying that “if we complain again, we will be removed off the tour”. After receiving this threat and the accusation that Sophie has received emails from other travellers complaining about me and my sister, we have requested this correspondence multiple times for the question to be ignored completely. Which is suspicious to us as none of the other travellers have working sim cards or significant WiFi and this problem was only a reply from our original email of complaints. Tour guides sleeping with the travellers on the truck, days with no real food other than crisps and chocolate, no first aid kit whatsoever on the truck, truck roof falling down (screws were constantly falling out onto people) and when it rained the roof completely leaked leaving all chairs and belongings wet. This tour was hell on earth. I cannot put into words how bad it was. Unfortunately, a lot of the group members had the same feelings but luckily they only stayed for 3/4 weeks. We had 2 different guides Wycliffe and Joe, I would not recommend either tour guides, for completely different reasons, one doesn’t care at all he does it because “his wife likes his full wallet” and Joe who has anger issues and no ability to communicate to customers or receive criticism 😊
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  Absolute Africa commented on this review

  Hi Luke, We are sorry to receive your review. As a travel company our commitment to diversity and equal opportunities is fundamental. All our customers, staff and crew matter and we endeavour to act in ways to advocate equality and respect on our... Show more
  Trip date: September 2024
• 

  Bethany

  · November 10th, 2024
  Please do not waste any of your money on this TERRIBLE COMPANY!!!!!
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  Absolute Africa commented on this review

  Hi Beth, We are sorry to receive this review. At the same time we cannot accept our crew being insulted while they are working hard to deliver a tour, nor can we allow rudeness, including offensive language being used, towards other travellers on the... Show more
  Trip date: November 2024
• KC

  Kimberly

  · November 4th, 2024
  The trip from Nairobi to the gorillas is a 5-star trip. Absolutely amazing! I would recommend it to everyone. However, I would not see the Serengeti with Absolute Africa. They simply drive you through the park on the bus. Little jeeps were running all around us, but we had to stay on the main road because of our size. One couple joined for the first time in the Serengeti, but opted for a jeep tour on the same day that we toured in the bus. (This option was not offered to us) They stayed two nights and continued on the bus with us when we left the Serengeti. Their experience in the Serengeti was amazing. The animals they saw and the photos they took were incredible. Just as our trip in the Masai Mara had been when we did our safaris in the jeep instead of the bus. One of the reasons is because the jeep drivers communicate with one another. When an animal is sighted, they let all the other drivers know, and then all of the jeeps flock to that spot. It is so much fun! But in the bus, there was no communication, and we only stayed on the main road. The day was long and boring and we saw very few animals. If I were to do it again, I would arrange with Absolute Africa to spend two nights in the Serengeti and pay extra for a jeep tour. (I didn't know I could do that but the couple that joined us did) Then I would pay for a private transfer to catch us back up to the group. Or I would just end my tour at the Serengeti. Everyone on our bus was so disappointed. I reached out to the admin of Absolute Africa with my concerns. My hope was to have them offer a jeep tour for an extra cost to future travelers so that other travelers do not have to go through what we went through. The lady in the office told me that jeep tours in the Serengeti were too expensive and that the majority of travellers do not want an extra day with a jeep tour. I know that is not true because there was not one person on our bus that was happy with our Serengeti tour. Everyone was very disappointed and a few other people sent emails as well. Another item I feel that is important to point out is the cooking responsibilities. It was advertised that we would assist in the cooking, but that was not true. Our group had to decide what to fix, find all of the items to be purchased in the grocery store, and cook the entire meal. The guide did not help us cook. This is quite different than with other companies such as Entrepid and The Drifters. With these companies the menu is planned and you simply help the cook as needed. Again I want to point out that Nairobi through the gorillas could not have been more perfect and I highly recommend this part of the tour. If you opt to do this part of the tour with another company please verify that their safaris are done in jeeps and not in the bus because it makes a huge difference.
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  Trip date: June 2024
• A

  Anthony

  · November 6th, 2023
  What an absolute adventure 77 days from Kenya to South Africa! Safaris, lakes, lions, beaches, historical sites, village visits, camping, long drives with windows down, gorillas, family style cooking, washing dishes, early mornings, hippos, boat safaris, peeing on the side of the road, cold showers, card games, photos, are some of the words that instantly come to mind from thinking about the last 3 months. Memories for a lifetime. Originally I was booked from just Nairobi to Zanzibar and I’m so glad I ended up extending all the way to South Africa! Our group was on the larger side as it was during the busy season July-Oct and we had about 20-25 people on the bus during the 3 months. The amount of people can vary as there are smaller sections of the absolute overland trips where people will be with you for different legs of the trip. (Ex: some people started and finished Zanzibar or started Vic Falls to Cape town, etc.) The best thing I can write for a review would be a recommendation for those wanting to go on the trip. To have an enjoyable trip is all about having the right expectations & mindset as these overland trips are definitely not for everyone. After the 3 months I believe I met around 40 different people on the safari who had stayed for a section or the whole safari and I could tell that most absolutely loved the overland trip, however, there were a few people that struggled as they did not have the right expectations. As I already mentioned, flexibility is key for this trip. I believe they make this very clear on their website but somehow some people still show up with a very rigid mindset. Some days go as planned, some days go better, and some go worse. But that is all part of the African experience. People on these trips are from all different backgrounds, with different personalities, work ethics, and ways of doing things. Just roll with it and it will be an amazing time. FOOD. Family style & simple. Please be flexible. You must remember that if there is a group of 20-25 everyone has to be catered to for their dietary needs. Most lunches you are on your own. There will be a supermarket stop and you can get as you wish. But for dinner there will be a cooking team for that specific night so depending on the dietary restrictions there might have to be 3 different meals if you have vegetarians, vegans, and meat eaters. So I would definitely recommend being flexible when it comes to preferences. I wouldn’t recommend this trip for strict dietary restrictions (vegetarian ok but vegan, etc. not so much). Remember you are in Africa and there are weeks where the food options and supermarkets are limited. Staff. We had an amazing guide Peter for the 77 days and 1 driver for the first 3/4 of the trip and then last 1/4 a different driver. Our guide and both drivers were from different parts of Africa and all had 15+ years experience doing these tours. They are all very knowledgable & such helpful resources. They all speak multiple languages and handled the borders crossings and logistics very professionally. At times things were a bit up in the air but like I said it is the nature of Africa as things change very frequently. They are the first people you see up in the morning and last people to bed making sure everything is in order. Our guide did a really good job at balancing all the different preferences of food, itinerary, etc. We had some unique characters in our group which made it pretty difficult for him to handle but he did a great job at balancing it for everyone. A great sense of humor, always had a positive outlook, and always enjoyed telling us the history of local areas. Truck. There are several trucks with some being newer and some being older. Our first truck Kifaru was a bit older, could use some cosmetic repair on the interior but worked like a charm. The seats were comfy and there were plenty of outlets to charge electronics. The fridge wasn’t ideal as it was smaller especially after the group food was in put in but did all was needed. Good variety of 8 seats facing backwards with tables & 20 seats facing forwards. Money. This is by far the most budget friendly overland tour I saw when doing research. Plan to spend more than you think though. You can do this trip with just doing the minimums but when everyone is going on an extra safari or an extra activity, you are going to want to do it as well. Easy to say you won’t do something at home but different story when you are there. Maintain a positive attitude & energy. Although you don’t need to be “physically fit” this trip is demanding especially if you are doing the 77 days. There aren’t any necessary physically fit needs, but there are many early wake up calls, tearing down & setting up your tent everyday, and some nights you will be on cooking / cleaning duty, etc. It all adds up and you’re constantly on the move for months. That is all part of the adventure. You are going to meet tons of different people so you can imagine positive attitude is key. Some may look at how busy it is and see it as a negative but you can also see how some of those things also are a highlight of the trip for others. All about the outlook. If you want a vacation to sit and chill on the beach this isn’t the trip for you. If you are ready to have an adventure of a lifetime and one of the most unique experiences traveling on an overland truck through Africa with people from all around the world, you won’t be disappointed. Best advice have a flexible and positive outlook and you will have a great time! So glad I did it! Hindsight I would 100% recommend Absolute Africa especially knowing what I know now. Rushing down to South Africa or rushing the itinerary like some of the other tour companies isn’t something I wanted to do & I am glad I chose AA. Unforgettable memories! Hope that helps!
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  Absolute Africa commented on this review

  Hi Anthony, Thank you for taking the time out to write a review and we are so glad to hear you had an adventure of a lifetime! We have passed on your comments to all your crew. We totally agree with the need for flexibility above all else on any... Show more
  Trip date: July 2023