Ethel Scully
Trip Review: The trip was exceptional in every regard. We expected the experiences and sights to be wonderful, but they exceeded expectations. Supporting these experiences were the highest quality accommodations, food, service and personnel. Every encounter with support personnel was welcoming and positive. Additionally, the complex logistical transfers were flawless. Every member of our family of four was thrilled! Thank you!
Most Memorable Moment: So many! Elephant right by my bedside munching grass. Watching 14 lions eat an elephant. Being awakened at 4:00 am by fighting hippos. Seeing more than a thousand elephants playing in and crossing the river in Chobe National Park. Being charged by a hippo. Hyenas checking out the safari vehicle. An elephant checking out the safari vehicle. Having a picnic amongst the herd of desert adapted elephants in the dry river bed. Contemplating the red dunes of the Namib. Contemplating the dunes tumbling into the Atlantic Ocean. Oryx on the dunes. A mama leopard and her cub. So many mamas and babies! Sunsets!
Advice For Future Clients: Leave your known world behind 😉
Kevin Paul Knott
Trip Review: The itinerary and recommendations provided by Susan and her AP colleagues were spot-on. This journey was the best of our 40+ years together and we loved the people and cultures, animals, the beautiful countryside and even the thrill of the flights on the in-country aircraft. We would do it over again and highly recommend African Portfolio as our planning and implementation partners.
Most Memorable Moment: Too many to describe, but the lioness hunt at the Crater was one of the singular experiences we always talk about.
Advice For Future Clients: Work with African Portfolio!
Megan Hurt
Trip Review: 1000% the best trip ever. All travel pick ups were on time and very friendly (even the ones at 2 am). The lodging was equivalent to living like a King. All interactions we had were helpful and extremely welcoming! You all knocked it out of the park! Thank you for giving us such a wonderful experience and most importantly giving us memories to last a lifetime.
Most Memorable Moment: The sunrises and sunsets, the calm and stillness. The reality that this is what life is, once you take the human nonsense out of it.
Advice For Future Clients: Absolutely go, be open for change and you will be rewarded 10 fold.
James Gray
Trip Review: Amazing sightings of all animals. Very organized, only 2 glitches. Camps were great and staff was wonderful.
Most Memorable Moment: Too many to list. Closeness to animals.
Advice For Future Clients: Listen to what they tell you for packing.
Jeffrey Schneider
Trip Review: It's hard to imagine how our experience could have been any better. The lodges, service, food and especially the game viewing were superb!
Most Memorable Moment: At Leopard Hills, seeing a female leopard in a tree with an impala she had carried up in the night (we saw her the afternoon before feeding on the impala at the base of the tree). In the morning she was resting on a branch on the opposite side of the tree from her prey, then did a classic "cat stretch" extending her front paws and raising her back end to stretch her back legs, then climbed over to stand over and feed on the impala, and finally dragging it back out of the tree onto the ground. I got amazing photos of all of the above.
Advice For Future Clients: Pack more tee shirts than advised.
Darlene Page
Trip Review: We’ve been on Safari three different times, and this last trip was the very best. We went to a new lodge and had an amazing experience with fantastic accommodations and animals and a wonderful guide who helped manage the property with his wife.
Most Memorable Moment: We saw a baby elephant that was only two days old, and two groups of lions that were calling each other because one of the groups was trying to come into the territory of the other. It was two young lions and two old lions. We thought there was going to be a big fight.
Advice For Future Clients: The advice I give everyone is to discuss their trip with Victoria at African Portfolio. They will have the time of their life.
Tim & Kathy Knierim
Trip Review: Amazing experience! Exceeded our expectations.
Most Memorable Moment: OMG, there were so many! Seeing the Big Five on our very first safari drive was an unexpected treat. Seeing so many of the animals adopt protective attitudes toward the young was touching. The youngsters were often beyond cute-wild dogs pups yapping and playing, baby monkeys and baboons clinging to their mothers as they navigated the ground and treetops. Trumpeting elephants!
Advice For Future Clients: Don't think twice-just do it!
A. H.
Trip Review: Amazing! The experiences themselves were magical -- but what made the whole trip so fabulous was that Victoria had taken care of every detail of a logistically heavy trip so that we had no worries and could just enjoy every experience fully. I really wanted to make sure we were in places that had been vetted -- safe, comfortable, experienced guides (knowledgeable and safety), etc. I had many "wants" on my list. I shared them all with Victoria on our first call and she hit it out of the ballpark! She listened to what I wanted from this experience -- asked questions, made recommendations, then came up with the perfect itinerary right at the budget I had given her.
Most Memorable Moment: Honestly -- everything. Each experience was new to us -- and magical. The sunrise/sunset in the Okavango Delta may be the most beautiful thing one can experience.
Advice For Future Clients: Be prepared to be awed! There is so much to experience! One thinks of seeing the animals when they plan their trip but there is so much else! Most especially was meeting locals and hearing their stories about their villages. There is so much natural beauty to experience as well. Practically my advice would be layers layers layers and take advantage of the laundry service so that you pack lightly!
Maureen Hirthler
Trip Review: This Safari was about as perfect can be in this world of ours. From the minute we landed we were taken care of by the Saruni staff. We never felt uncertain or unsafe. We saw every possible animal, including the leopard. But we enjoyed much more learning about the land and animals from our guides.
Most Memorable Moment: Up in the hot air, balloon, we were flying over a swampy area. It was very serene to a large hippopotamus burst out of the reeds and started to lumber away. It completely took me by surprise.
Advice For Future Clients: Marvel
Geoffrey Gladstein
Trip Review: I would say we would consider this itinerary just perfect. I wouldn’t change a thing.
Most Memorable Moment: A little scared time with elephants warning us away and being in a Mokoro, not too far from a bunch of hippos. Seeing the wild dogs go out in the evening and make a kill was quite memorable.
Advice For Future Clients: GO
Allen Troy
Trip Review: We stayed at Elewana lodges where the rooms were spacious, staff and service were excellent. The food and presentation was very good the guides were very knowledgeable and accommodating.
Most Memorable Moment: Seeing the migration.
Advice For Future Clients: It’s not a relaxing vacation.
Nicole Spaulding
Trip Review: The trip of a lifetime! Every detail was taken care of. African Portfolio's knowledge of the area(s) was incredible.
Most Memorable Moment: Seeing the animals up close, especially watching the lions eat a buffalo. Every single game drive was amazing, it never got old (and we did a total of 8!).
Advice For Future Clients: GO!
Lisa Herz
Trip Review: It was a truly wonderful trip and the planning by Victoria was seamless! We had an incredible time.
Most Memorable Moment: The first pride of lions coming toward us at Savute.
Advice For Future Clients: Use African Portfolio to plan your trip!
Aneesha Raghunathan
Most Memorable Moment: Stargazing at the lodge and seeing all the big 5 multiple times! Seeing a baby leopard in a tree trying to catch a squirrel at golden hour.
Advice For Future Clients: Definitely try a few different lodges, was nice to have a mix of a family owned one vs the more corporate owned one.