"Top 5 service"

Very well organized trip with great advice and perfect planification although COVID-19 forced so many reschedules

"Liesl and African Safari Consultants overcame all obstacles to make a memorable trip happen!"

Way back in mid-2019, we decided to take an african safari. I contacted a couple of travel agencies, but quickly selected African Safari Consultants because of the prompt response and clear communications. Liesl worked to understand our general budget and our objectives, which weren’t particularly specific, and then suggested options for us to consider, as well as gently guiding some of our choices. Together, we developed a trip in April 2020 for my wife and I and another couple that we felt was ideal.
Then COVID-19 hit and one month before we were to depart, we had to reschedule our trip. Liesl fully understood and was on top of it! We briefly considered postponement until Fall of 2020, but decided to reschedule to April of 2021. Liesl handled all of the rescheduling and carrying over of deposits and payments.
By October 2020, it was apparent that the COVID situation was not improving and we decided to be proactive and look at alternatives. Liesl was right with us and agreed we were being prudent. She examined availability at the lodges we were booked into and came back with a suggested itinerary, that in all honesty, we liked better than our original itinerary!
As our departure date approached, we were nervous about the COVID situation and said as much to Liesl. She understood and did her best to provide objective advice regarding the situation in the countries we were to visit. In our itinerary, we would land in South Africa, travel to Zimbabwe, Botswana, back to South Africa, and then return to the USA. We were EXTREMELY concerned about the COVID testing requirements and the logistics of getting the correct tests within the required timeframes. Liesl was on top of it!! She made reservations for tests; told us where we had to go and when; in the bush set up for a nurse to come to our camp by helicopter to administer the test; and, when we were in transit to have someone meet us upon arrival to take us to get our test done. Of course, we had to pay for the testing, but that’s the way of the world today. We couldn’t have made these arrangements ourselves and would have had to abandon the trip if not for the planning done by Liesl and the team at African Safari Consultants.
Happily, after all of the rescheduling and multiple COVID tests throughout, the trip was fantastic! At Sable Alley and Lion Sands Tinga, the bush delivered awesome wildlife experiences. The flip side of the pandemic is that there were virtually no tourists at Victoria Falls or Cape Town. That was great for us, but we were cognizant that it was at the expense of the local economies dependent upon tourism that have been devastated by the pandemic.
In summary, the real test of a service company is how they respond in the face of adversity. Up front, Liesl did a great job of helping us develop our itinerary. The pandemic was unexpected and a true challenge. In the end, we lost some money in the South African Airlines bankruptcy, and some lodge costs increased as we progressed from 2019 to 2021 pricing, but the team at African Safari Consultants worked with the lodges, airlines, and tour and transit companies to maintain the balances of funds we had paid and to reschedule our itineraries, twice(!), while keeping it as seamless as possible for us and respecting our concerns about safety. They stepped up and figured out how to arrange the logistics of COVID testing to allow us to move between multiple countries without extending our itineraries – something no one expected to be required when we initially planned our trip!
I absolutely recommend African Safari Consultants to anyone considering a trip to Africa and I would use them again in a heartbeat!

"Amazing experience with Ilze!"

My husband and I were searching for an unforgettable experience for our 20th anniversary. We contacted ASC and was put in touch with Ilze. She was so easy to communicate via email with. We gave her our ideas, and being this was our very first trip to Africa, she didn’t hesitate to give us amazing options. Ilze organized everything. It was a relief to get there and know everything was arranged. Ilze has a wonderful reputation at the Lodges we stayed in and with the drivers that transported us. We were in the best hands! Our lodge accommodations were clearly the best choices in the area and offered exactly what we had hoped for and exceeded our expectations!
We will be in touch again soon to plan another trip so we can explore more of Africa. Thank you Ilze and ASC!

"BUCKET LIST TRIP TO AFRICA"

My husband and I decided last minute to go on a much needed holiday and decided to explore Africa. I went online and looked at a number of companies specializing in Africa. Daisy's name came up several times and i contacted her and I am so happy that i did. She organized an amazing trip for us from start to finish and took into account all our needs and wants. She even went beyond the call of duty and helped me navigate the Ethiopian airlines website which I found hard to do. We spoke after hours and nothing was too much. Thank you to Daisy and ASC for organizing our bucket list trip!!

"Daisy and ASC are the absolute best!"

Just WOW! We are so grateful to have found African Safari Consultants and Daisy. We started working with Daisy in 2019 to plan our first safari to East Africa. She was spectacular from the very beginning and spent so much time to understand what we wanted for our trip. She then customized the most wonderful itinerary to Kenya and Tanzania. When Covid arrived, we knew we would not be able to go in July 2020 as planned. Daisy rescheduled our same itinerary for July 2021 at the same agreed price, no problems and no worries. This month, we finally went on our journey of a lifetime and it was absolutely beyond our dreams! Daisy planned four tented luxury camp / lodge experiences that were all fabulous and enabled us to see so much wildlife, including every animal and more we could have imagined (lion, leopard, cheetah, cape buffalo, elephant, rhino (black and white!), giraffe, impala, ostrich, wildebeest, zebra, and on an on!), a 30 minute completely out of this world wildebeest river crossing, the gorgeous Lewa Wildlife Conservancy and Olare Conservancy, the northern Serengeti, and the Ngorongoro Crater! Daisy even arranged all of the required Covid tests, and one of the tests actually came to us (with breakfast!) on a game drive! Everything was smooth as silk. Daisy handled it all and we felt so cared for during the entire trip. Thank you, ASC and Daisy for everything! We will be back soon!

"Perfect Trip"

We used African Safari Consultants to book a four camp Kenyan safari and gorilla trekking in Uganda.
Everything about the experience was fantastic. More than the extreme customer service--friendly staffs, knowledgeable guides, attention to every detail, fantastic food-- we experienced at the camps, the organization of the trip by African Safari Consultants was flawless and made for a trip free of any logistic hassles. Cannot recommend them any higher.

"East Africa"

We booked a trip through African Safari Consultants to Rwanda and Tanzania. We started planning this trip with Daisy in August 2019, booked travel for June 2020 which was subsequently cancelled due to the pandemic, and rescheduled for June 2021. We did 2 nights at the Kigali Serena (mandatory 24 hour quarantine was required on arrival), 3 nights at Singita Kwitonda, 4 nights at AndBeyond Serengeti Under Canvas, and 2 nights at AndBeyond Ngorongoro Crater Lodge. Daisy did an impeccable job making this trip happen, during a time of uncertainty, and we were able to travel to both countries without a hitch. She was always responsive by e-mail (70+ e-mail exchanges over this time!) and managed itinerary changes, bookings with two companies (Singita and AndBeyond), Covid tests (6 total during this trip), and transfers. The highlights were gorilla trekking at Volcanoes National Park, being right in the middle of the Great Migration on our Serengeti safari, and enjoying the expansive views of the Ngorongoro Crater. The trip was one off the bucket list, and I would highly recommend Daisy to plan any African vacation you can dream up.

"Honeymooners in Kruger"

After deciding we wanted to include a Safari as part of our honeymoon, my wife and I set out googling how to make that happen, completely ignorant of what kind of experiences were offered, different price points, etc. Thank GOD we found Daisy from African Safari Consultants. We first spoke with Daisy in March of 2020, hopeful that this thing the world was going through would be over soon. Obviously, we were very wrong, and over the next year-plus, Daisy was always only a quick email away to answer every conceivable question during an unprecedented time.

Daisy guided us towards what she thought would be the best fit for what we were looking for, which ended up being 5 nights at &Beyond’s Ngala Safari Lodge in South Africa. Our experience there left us amazed at how seamless &Beyond made delivering the experience of a 5 star resort in the middle of the bush. Everyone at Ngala, from the ranger and tracker on our game drives every morning and evening, to the culinary staff, to housekeeping, was exceptional at their job.

My wife and I are eternally grateful for Daisy and African Safari Consultants’ help in making the trip of a lifetime a reality and would very strongly recommend them to anyone considering an African safari.

"This is the second time we've used…"

This is the second time we've used Liesl Matthews with African Safari Consultants (the first was for planning our honeymoon!). She's amazing at what she does. She digs deep to understand what's important to you in an African vacation, makes excellent recommendations and secures the best accommodations and tours. And as importantly, she's readily available if something comes up during your trip. We recently traveled during the global pandemic. Liesl went out of her way to schedule five COVID-19 tests for us throughout Rwanda, Tanzania and Kenya. And when we had concerns about one of the tests, she jumped in and proactively ensured we were taken care of. Service is top notch. Highly recommend. And we are already starting to think about our next African adventure and we will most definitely use Liesl again.

"Most reliable and quick to respond"

Most reliable and quick to respond. Thank you so much African SafarisLLC