Gorilla Trekking Safaris Travel Agents & Reviews

Long ago my husband and I decided to put Africa on our bucket list, but we kept hesitating due to the high cost and long trip. Then 2020 happened. We decided it was now or never so we went to work. I did some research and selected a few Africa specialists and finally settled on Kirsty and her travel company. I liked her right away and she not only knew her stuff (everyone knew their stuff), but she also listened to what we wanted. I liked the fact that she was South African but lived in Canada so it was easier to communicate with her.I booked the trip almost a year in advance and there were several worries along the way. I wasn't sure if we would be able to go given the state of Covid, the state of the world and numerous other obstacles. I felt like a nuisance always sending Kirsty emails asking her this or that, but she always replied to me patiently. She was there for us every step of the way. We didn't have a single issue that she couldn't handle.

This was a trip of a lifetime! We highly recommend this travel agency. We wanted to work with a travel company to plan our adventure - not just take one off the shelf. Dan listened to what we wanted and provided great suggestions that helped us craft our unique trip. His passion for Africa was apparent from our first conversation and talking with him always made us more excited to go. This was our first trip to Africa so we had a lot of questions and Dan helped patiently answer every one.The trip went smoothly, everything was organized by our travel company very well. The flow of our trip was great. All of the food at the camps was delicious! We are vegetarian and had no issue with the quality or quantity of food! 

We started planning our African safari in July 2019 with stops in Johannesburg, Victoria Fall, Safari's in Botswana and 4 days at the end on Cape Town. After working with 2 companies referred by Zicasso, we decided to move forward with this travel agency. Sara and the travel team were fantastic to work with. After finalizing customized itinerary for our "July 2020" safari, we had to regroup due to Covid and travel concerns. Sara worked with us to postpone the trip to July 2022 and made sure that all of our deposits were protected. We regrouped in September 2021 and worked with Sara to fine tune the itinerary and travel dates. Throughout the planning, Sara and her staff were always available to answer our questions and make pivot with us as needed. When an internal airline went bankrupt, Sara was on top of it and made sure that alternative flights were arranged. When we needed to change our original hotel in Cape Town due to renovations, Sara got us rooms at another hotel (which was amazing). A week before our scheduled departure, Sara discovered that the jeep safari would not be available at one of the lodges due to high waters in the Okavango Delta. In 24-hours, she worked with us to rearrange our schedule to add an alternate lodge on the Botetit River where jeep safari's were available. The 3 lodges were fantastic and our guides were amazing. Our tours in South Africa were first class with great guides. We would definitely recommend that you use Sara and our travel company if you are planning a trip to Africa.  

Overall a wonderful trip and great arrangements. We had a few confusions between the provided itinerary and what was communicated to the local group but we were able to work that out on the ground. Company was very responsive in setting up arrangements. I was disappointed with one of the lodgings they had arranged and will provide that feedback to them directly.

If you are considering an outfitter to plan a trip to Africa, I cannot express strongly enough how much you should consider this travel agency!  I just returned from a 2-week “trip of a lifetime” safari that was originally scheduled to start one-week before the global lockdown.  My travel planner had created the most incredible trip to Tanzania to see the Serengeti and then to Rwanda to see the mountain gorillas. I was not sure how they would be able to handle the lock-down given the unknowns of travel for an unknown period of time.  The long-term nature of this travel company's relationships with their vendors coupled with the professionalism and integrity of their company resulted in the trip being rescheduled (a few times) without really any increase in costs and at the same exceptional accommodations and itinerary. The camps I stayed at were exquisite (5 star) and gave me such a personal feel of different ways to experience the Serengeti.  The personal guides in both Tanzania and Rwanda were beyond my expectations in their knowledge, passion, and dedication to supporting an exceptional client experience. Additionally, this travel company demonstrated at every step of the trip their personal commitment to ensure I felt safe and secure (given Covid concerns/requirements and unfamiliarity with the countries), and supported 24/7 with every question, no matter how small or large.   I hope to return to Africa again… and I would ONLY use this travel company.  Please consider them… and just give them a call.  From the very first contact, I knew this was the company with whom I wanted to build my trip of a lifetime adventure.  

Fantastic trip and the holiday of a lifetime. Every connection worked and we were provided with everything we could have wished for to a very high standard.

The trip was absolutely wonderful.  Thanks to our travel planner and guide, we were able to fit so much adventure into 12 days.  Communication was always prompt and our planner quickly answered all of our questions leading up to and during the trip.  The transfer from our Kenya guide to our Uganda guide was seamless. We realized an issue with logistics on the last few days a few days into our flight and our planner helped us solve it quickly. The only thing I would suggest they do differently:  Our communication leading up to the Uganda portion of the trip was with the operations manager.  We didn't meet our guide (or know that it wasn't the operations manager) until the morning we left for Kibale.  It would have been nice to have some communication with our guide beforehand, as there were a couple things on the itinerary (prepared by the manger) that our guide seemed not to know anything about (namely a game drive in Queen Elizabeth park).