The African Safari trip was originally what I wanted for our honeymoon, but since we had a destination wedding in Hawaii, Darren thought a Safari would be too ambitious of a trip to also plan at the same time, and he was absolutely 100% correct! So he made me wait a good 10 years before we finally got to go for our 10th wedding anniversary! 🙂 It was definitely worth the wait. Although it was a very fulfilling trip, it was also very exhausting from all the airplane rides between San Francisco and East Africa. We love using our miles for travels, needless to say, we each redeemed 80,000 roundtrip miles with United Airlines and its Star Alliance partner, Ethiopian Airlines for this trip. It was great!
The Safari trip was nothing like any of the past trips that we had planned. It took me over a year to plan everything from start to finish, definitely the longest time I have spent on planning any trips. First of all, we have to decide what we want to see at the Safari, that will dictate the season and time of the year to go, as well as the region of where we should concentrate on. I have seen The Great Migration on the National Geographic channel and thought that would be the most amazing phenomenon to witness in person. And since that happens all year round within Kenya and Tanzania, we then look at our schedule and calendar to see when we have availability.
Just to choose a Safari Outfitter already took me a few months as there is quite a bit of option out there, and I had to select one that best fit our needs. After looking at so many websites, checking with friends and families who have been on Safaris and even talking to some of these outfitters over the phone, we finally decided to go with &Beyond.
&Beyond has been on my “radar” for a few years when I first started thinking about an African Safari and also a trip to India and South America, which are still on our bucket list! There are so many reasons why we went with them:
- They offer personalized luxury Safari Tours in Kenya and Tanzania (and 10 other African countries) where we wanted to see the Great Migration. Unlike a lot of the other outfitters or tour companies with set itineraries and set number of guests, ours was completely customized for just the 2 of us from the dates of when we want to go, to the destinations to the camps/lodges of where we want to stay.
- We love the fact that not only are they Safari Outfitters which provide knowledgeable guides for the Safari itself, they also own and operate their own camps and lodges.
- Their entire staff from their travel planner that I first worked with planning the entire trip from the U.S., to the person who picked us up at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi, to the drivers/guides/staff at the camps and lodges all have over 10+ years of hospitality experience.
- They are very professional and take great pride in what they do. All the staff members that we have talked to have worked with the company for over 12 to 13 years!
- Their attention to detail is out of this world! Even Darren who has worked in the hotel and hospitality industry for many years was blown away by their service. They really took care of us from the second we landed in Kenya to when we got back to the Nairobi airport 3 weeks later for our journey home!
- The Safari guides are very experienced and knowledgeable. They know the terrain very well and also where to spot the animals.
- We love that conservation and community projects are a huge part of their company values.
We will definitely choose &Beyond again for some of these other trips. If you have any questions, please comment below!
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