African Budget Safaris Reviews 

We booked our Safari with the help of Claire at African Budget Safaris and we couldn't be happier; we had a fantastic time. The Umkumbe Lodge experience was outstanding! Great facilities, great food, and great people, both the staff and the other guests. The wildlife viewing was unbelievable. We went on several games drives and saw elephants, rhinos, giraffe, zebras, warthogs, wildebeast, lions, impalas and more. One day I was sitting on the deck and a large group of elephants of all sizes (including a baby!) wandered by! There is not a thing I would change about any of it it. Thank you so much for your help in the planning. Everything went smoothly and we hope to get back to explore more of South Africa someday. Thanks for making this trip everything we wanted and more.

Cynthia

Claire is the best!! Great communication and she was always so kind, helpful and patient! She made it so easy to book everything I wanted, on the budget I wanted (6 days Kruger + the 1ste night in Johannesburg transfers included) My experience with Viva Safaris was also amazing! Tremisana camp was very nice and the facilities and accommodations were great. I also loved my experience at Marc's camp! I stayed in a tent for 4 nights. This camp is more basic and adventurous but I liked that. The people were al very kind and I will definitely go back!

I was already in South Africa when I booked my trip to Kruger through African Budget Safaris and was able to meet Claire Monson, my tour consultant, in person. We talked about 2 or 3 tours and found her very knowledgeable and enthusiastic and was always quick to respond if there were any queries and helpful with her answers.
The tour itself ran like clockwork from airport transfers and pick-ups to the safari itself. We were well looked after and entertained by Viva Safaris at Tremesana Game Lodge and Marc's Treehouse Lodge. and our guides and rangers were equally entertaining but professional albeit one or two very fast and bumpy rides to arrive at animal sightings in time.
I would surely use Claire at ABS and Viva Safaris again and am already making plans for another visit in December.
Try them.
Martin

I absolutely recommend African Budget Safaris. I booked last-minute, 1 week before departure, a trip to Zanzibar. Claire was very swift in organizing this trip and accommodating even my requests for some additional activities. Overall everything went quick and smoothly. The trip itself was amazing with very personalized tours instead of the typical touristic ones. Including a pickup from the airport, a city tour in Stonetown, the turtoises in Prison Island, visiting a private Spice farm and cooking at a local family.

African Budget Safaris did an excellent job in organizing my Northern Kenya tour with Gametrackers. I dealt with Claire who made everything simple for me! Her continuous and straightforward communication was integral in ensuring everyone knew what was happening. I really appreciated her personable approach!

I enjoyed the tour with Gametrackers! Seeing and interacting with the tribes (especially the Turkana and El Molo tribes) was especially interesting and rewarding! I loved it!

I felt safe and comfortable traveling on this tour during the pandemic. We only had 4 travelers, who were all vaccinated, on this tour, and we had plenty of space to spread out. Our guide also took our temperature and asked how we felt every night. It was re-assuring.

Thanks again African Budget Safaris for setting this tour up!!

I had an epic trip to South Africa! My friend who travelled to Africa before recommended African Budget Safaris to me and I had a great experience booking my trip through them. Claire Monson made it very easy to narrow down the options, which are many and made useful recommendations. She was very responsive, enthusiastic and helpful. I got lots of information in advance. My trip turned out to be amazing and totally exceeded my expectations. We had a fantastic international group of fellow travellers and really great guides from Nomad tour company. Loved South Africa, their landscapes, very friendly people, beautiful animals, food, culture. Highly recommend!

We had a great family experience entrusting African budget safari to organize our Christmas holidays safari during the still challenging on going pandemic. We had to reshuffle our plans at the last minutes from Namibia to Kenya due to Omnicron travel ban but Claire Monsoon from African budget safari did a great job for us with their partners to reschedule a perfectly well timed program.
Camps were great, the guide Simon exceptionally knowledgeable about wildlife and Kenya game parks were really as expected. I will strongly recommend African Budget safari which can adjust its offering to the most demanding customer.

We just returned from our 18 days Kenya trip, and what an experience it was! Claire was the person listening all our wishes and providing options, making sure the itinerary was what we really wanted within our budget. She takes her time and answers all the questions which made us very comfortable prior the trip. THANK YOU CLAIRE!!
Kenya, you are beautiful and we hope to see you again! #HAKUNAMATATA

What an excellent experience. When I first approached ABS, I have already received an excellent review on their services from my friend, who travelled to SA in 2018. So, I approached them with very limited knowledge of what to expect, where to go, just knew the month when I want to travel.
I have absolutely not expected the level of fabulous consultancy services, broad variety of trips, immediate response times, huge patience with my everyday ideas. Because of this first contact with this Agency, I have already come to love SA and have already arrived to SA with high expectation for the country, service and people that I am about to meet. And all my dreams were fulfilled. Thank you so much Claire. Your really did make a difference in my travel experience.

Simply Fantastic!
We recently returned from two weeks in Tanzania with visits to four different game reserves. Selous, Mikumi, Ruaha and Udzungwa. We travelled in a group of 14 along with our two excellent guides, Rashidi and Stephen. Claire did a top notch job of planning the entire experience!

I got Claire’s email from friends who travelled with her a few years ago and she came highly recommended. I decided to try myself and see the results. Well from the first email till the last I can’t remember having to wait for an answer. She gave us the best ideas for our trip. This included transfer to Zimbabwe and back to Botswana as this was where our flight was leaving. We spent 6 days in the Okavongo Delta and then an overnight at the Vic Falls in October. I cannot use enough words to say what am outstanding time we had and how all along the way she was there for us. If I ever, and hopefully we will, need organizing a trip in Africa, Claire would be my address. So happy I met her although online and look forward to continued trips. She is simply amazing

got Claire’s email from friends who travelled with her a few years ago and she came highly recommended. I decided to try myself and see the results. Well from the first email till the last I can’t remember having to wait for an answer. She gave us the best ideas for our trip. This included transfer to Zimbabwe and back to Botswana as this was where our flight was leaving. We spent 6 days in the Okavongo Delta and then an overnight at the Vic Falls in October. I cannot use enough words to say what am outstanding time we had and how all along the way she was there for us. If I ever, and hopefully we will, need organizing a trip in Africa, Claire would be my address. So happy I met her although online and look forward to continued trips.

I have recently done a private 9day safari with Asili Adventures, booked though their partners African Budget Safaris with Claire. My safari was on Kenya and Tanzania. I could not recommend more this company. All was excellent and had a great time with both teams. Here a short description of the safari:

- Kenya: here I visited masai Mara, hells gate and the Naivasha lake and Ambuseli. my drives/guide was Jimmy, and trip was on a 4x4. I stayed in middle range lodges. The game drive was excellent: saw a lot of animals, and Jimmy gave me a a lot of explanations about animals, parks, and also about Kenyan culture. As it was my preference my game drive always started very early in the morning (around 6am) and ended on the afternoon, just after the parks close, so I had the time to see a lot of animals (I even saw a leopard, really close). Jimmy patiently drove me as far as he could so I could have an excellent game drive. Food was ok (not very special here but ok). A very nice experience was to have a hot meal in the middle of Masai Mara, just under an Acacia tree. Really made me feel like I’m was in the Out of Africa movie. Lodges were nice and cozy. I really appreciated to stay in Ekonoro lodge. All the covid requirements to enter Tanzania were taken care by my guide and asili office responsible (Monica), and everything was smooth quiet. This is a major point in this covid times.

Tanzania: in Tanzania I visited Manyara national park, sarangeti and Ngorongoro crater. My driver/guide was Silva and my chef was Emanuel. Those guys were simply the best and deserve everything in the world. I stayed in tents in public campings. The food was amazing! Had hot meals from breakfast to dinner, and always very tasty and a lot of food! Emanuel is an excellent chef, and I could notice that all the food was made with extremely care! If you guys decide to go with Asili, ask Emanuel as a chef. My guide, Silva, was also extremely careful. He met me at Kenya/Tanzania border and helped me going through it, with all the papers and requirements. He also Made the best so I could have a good game drive: I saw a lot of animals in Tanzania, even the climbing tree lions. A lot of Lions, wildbeasts, chitas, Cubs, zebras, all kind of antelopes….. on the last day I stayed that I really wanted to see the Rhino 🦏 (the only of the big five that I was not able to see so far), and Silva made all the efforts to find one for me - and he found three of them - and we were the last car to leave the crater. Silva also gave me a lot of information about the animals and the places I was visiting during my trip! Both Emanuel and Silva, were permanently concerned with my well being: giving me fresh water all time, giving me some snacks and tea… On my last day, they took me to Arusha airport as planned, and waited for my check in to open and helped me with that. They only left after I went thought security gate, and has a solo female travel it was really appreciated! My only less positive point to say about the safari, is that in Tanzania I only had cold water for shower. But I was already aware of that, so that was not really a problem for me (it is how public campings are!). My tent was big and comfortable, and it was quite an experience to be camping in the middle of hienas and buffalos!

On resume: if you want to do a safari, don’t hesitate and go with a African Budget safaris! Super posh service and extremely care with their tourists!

Claire is incapable of not responding immediately and with enthusiasm. We have done two very long and complicated safaris with her and she is attentive to every detail. Several times I have asked for several enhancements and she has delivered a few incredibly memorable excursions, including a formal picnic along a remote Tanzanian river and a couple of nights all by ourselves at a distant watering hole.

Ask her about extras and go for it!

I cannot recommend her highly enough.

Tanzania Safari
We recently completed a safari trip to 4 national parks in Tanzania. It was a large group and was all arranged by African Budget Safaris. From the moment we were met at the airport, we knew we were in good hands and enjoyed our experience so much. All of the safari camps had excellent accommodations, excellent food, and very friendly staff. We felt so looked after the entire time. We also experienced unbelievable game drives that exceeded our expectations. Thank you, Claire and African Budget Safaris for all you did to make our trip so memorable!

If you want to plan an amazing trip to Africa, then African Budget Safaris is your best friend! They will look after everything in a very professional and friendly manner. We travelled with a large group and Claire was amazing! The planning and attention to details was excellent.

White glove treatment and experience. Had the pleasure of working with Claire who guided me, was available for a phone call on a short notice and advised me on everything I could possibly think off. Overall the company connected me with true professionals that made the trip epic.

We just returned from an amazing vacation in Namibia, Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe and South Africa. Claire from African Budget Safaris helped us plan this incredible itinerary. At first I was concerned that I would not be able to visit all the places I wanted due to time constraints and budget, but I was wrong. As soon as I started communicating with Claire I told her exactly what I wanted and my price range and she found the perfect tours for us. She also arranged transportation in various places. Everything ran like clockwork...all on time and efficient. I don’t think I could’ve found these perfect tours without Claire’s assistance. Thank you to African Budget Safaris and to Claire for making our vacation amazing and unforgettable!!!

I wanted to organize a walking trip at very short notice in Namibia and the team has been incredibly responsive and designed for me and my friend an individualized trip that was exactly what we wanted. Great work and special thanks to Claire!

After two years of push back due to Covid we were finally able to go on our African trip this September and it was fabulous! A heartfelt thank you to Claire for all of her hard work and adjustments over the past two years. Our guide Jimmy in Kenya was amazing giving us a great experience, and our guide Denis in Uganda was so helpful and kind. Every place we stayed at, and location we went to was so enjoyable and the staff was so endearing. We highly recommend African Budget Safaris and hope to come back to Africa again someday soon!