Johannesburg, Botswana & Zambia
We booked a 12 day safari trip to Botswana and Zambia through Africasafari.com for 3 of us (wife and teenage daughter) for our recent annual December vacation. The whole process was efficient and Giada who was handling our case was most helpful and efficient. She understood our requirements quickly and was able to put together a proposed itineary very fast. After a few reiterations, we finally agreed on a plan and the cost. Cost was reasonable and I think, better than the rates from other companies for comparable itineries. To be frank we were initially quite apprehensive as we have not dealt with Africasafari.com before and just got their name from a random google search. And we had to pay for the entire cost about a month and half before our trip. Since this is our third safari trip (we had done Kenya & Tanzania previously), we were not too particular about what to expect and were happy to go with the flow.
Our first stop was Livingstone where we put up for 3 nights in Chuma House 2 at the Sussi & Chuma lodge. To cut a long story short, we had a wonderful stay in S&C as the lodge was spacious and very comfortable. Above all these, the staff were just extraordinary. We had our own driver, bulter (Rodger), chef and house keeper assigned to us throughout our stay. Rodger was heaven sent as he is always on hand to take care of our needs. The food was healthy and tasty. Second stop was Chobe lodge and the last stop in our safari was Stanley's Camp. All the 3 lodges were part of the Santuary group. Standards were consistently high. Service was always excellent and the food was good. All 3 lodges have their unique appeal and my family and I had a very relaxed vacation. December being an off peak season for game viewing and our lodges were relatively quiet. Which suits us fine as we are not overly enthusiatic about spending hours looking for games. Just relax in the quiet wilderness, doing nothing with nice cold beer or a glass of wine in hand! All the arrangements were per agreed, including meet & greet, internal logistics, perfectly timed and on schedules. Overall the experience exceeded our expectations.
We had the final 2 nights in Johannesburg before our flight back to Asia. In Johannesburg, we stayed at the Saxon Resort & Spa, which is a really luxurious and intimate boutique hotel in a very up market residential district of the city. The food in the hotel was excellent. We stayed inside the hotel throughout our 2 days in Johannesburg, enjoying the quiet surroundings, the luxurious spa and healthy eating.
Special thanks to our agent/representative, Giada for putting the vacation together for us. Every aspect of the trip went according to plan without a hitch. All the best!