Lolita & Malcom C. Richmond BC | Tanzania, Botswana, South Africa | May 2018

We’ve just come back from an amazing adventure courtesy of Heritage Safaris. Everything went extremely well. Every time we arrived at any airport, there would be someone standing there with a sign with our group name on it. The accommodations surpassed our expectations, and so did the food. The guides were great too. And we really appreciated that our agent, Thierry, promptly answered our many, many questions. We also appreciate that he was quick to fix anything that went wrong; for example when an airline cancelled a flight, he was on top of it, immediately rebooking us and sending new tickets. He helped even for tickets that we had booked ourselves for our international flights. And he gave us great advice: for our group of seven, I had said that we could share a safari vehicle. Thierry recommended 2 vehicles in Tanzania so that we have room to move around. He was so right! Two vehicles were so much better. In Botswana, the jeeps are open so one vehicle worked well.
Accommodations:
We loved all of them. The only regret was the Tarangire Treetops. While the place was spectacular, it was quite late by the time we got there, and since we were only staying one night and leaving early the next day, we hardly enjoyed the place at all. Next time, I would stay 2 nights or not at all. In the Serengeti, we were pleasantly surprised to stay in Serena lodges in both places. The Ngorogoro Serena had arguably the best food of all the places we stayed, though we had good food everywhere. Both Serenas had evening entertainment which was a nice bonus. And the Kirawira tented camp accommodation was gorgeous. The River View Lodge in Chobe was probably the most modest (the description states “river view” from the bungalows – not true) however it was more than adequate and the staff were very, very nice. Actually the staff were wonderful everywhere we went! We loved the sunset boat excursion – lots of elephants and hippos.The Mokoro canoes were less exciting, not much to see but glad we tried them once.
Our favourite camp was Rradinare in the Okavango Delta. We wished we had one extra night there. The setting, the views, and the service were all amazing.
Our visit to the Masai Village earned mixed reviews: It was very interesting but felt very touristy, and we felt manipulated into buying overpriced trinkets that the locals claimed to have made themselves. Our guides overall were very good but special mention goes to “Moontoosi” nicknamed “Sixteen” at the RradiNare Camp. His English was good, he was lots of fun, and he went out of his way to find animals for us. Also good was “David” from Sunny Safaris in Tanzania. He truly had astonishing eyesight. We appreciated that the guides tried so hard, and were not the least bit in a rush to get back if there was something good to see. All in all, a bucket list trip that we will never forget! Thank you Thierry!