Travelled: April 2022
Destination: South Africa
Itinerary: 4 nights/5 days privately guided safari with specialist guide Alan McSmith staying at Africa on Foot, Klaserie Game Reserve, Greater Kruger National Park, South Africa. 

Tara, Thank you so much for organising our truly magical privately guided safari with specialist guide Alan McSmith at Africa on Foot, Klaserie Game Reserve.

Africa On Foot describes itself as a ‘rustic lodge’, but it has everything you need for a comfortable stay. The chalets are well maintained and kept very clean. The large bed was very comfortable with lovely linen. Our chalet had an en-suite toilet and outside shower which was exactly what we needed.

Mealtime were always full of stories being shared by guides and the other guests in camp. The quality of the food was excellent and varied, and dietary requirements were met to accommodate the fact that I am gluten intolerant. The guides and staff from the lodge were friendly and professional.
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Having booked the privately guided safari with Alan McSmith our daily safaris were separate from the other guests which meant we were treated to walks and drives with him and Conrad, a local tracker from the lodge multiple times a day. Such a wonderful experience! We thoroughly recommend Alan. He has an amazing depth of knowledge, empathy and understanding of the whole ecosystem of the African bush. His enthusiasm is unbounded and contagious. He was so sensitive to the needs and feelings of the animals we encountered. We saw twenty-two different mammal species and numerous bird species - lionesses with cubs and lots of close-up elephant interactions, where they chose to come to us. when we were stopped in the game vehicle with the engine turned off all of this within the space of just 5 days was incredible.

We hope to have another adventure on safari with Alan McSmith very soon! You listened to our requests and matched us with this perfect itinerary which has left us with lifelong memories. Thank you. 

Travelled: March 2022
Destination: South Africa
Itinerary: 1 night Kruger Shalati, The Train on the Bridge, Kruger National Park (Business trip extension)

Thanks for all your help. It was a very special trip with lots of great game sightings in just 24hours. 
I expect to have many more business meetings in the area so we'll need more accommodation in the future. 

Travelled: December 2019
Destination: Botswana
Itinerary: Self Drive – 16 nights combination of camping and accommodation - 1 night Kwa Nokeng (Martins Drift Border), 2 nights’ Deception Pan Campsite (Central Kalahari), 3 nights’ Oddballs’ Camp (Okavango Delta), 1 night Maun Rest Camp Campsite (Maun), 2 nights Khwai Public Campsite (Khwai) , 1 night Savuti Public Campsite (Savuti) , 1 night Linyanti Public Campsite (Linyanti), 2 nights Chobe Safari Lodge (Kasane, Chobe Riverfront), 2 nights’ Planet Baobab Campsite (Makgadikgadi), 1 night Baobab Bushveld Retreat (Groblersbrug)

Hi Tara
 
Thank you again for your wishes :).
 
Our trip to Botswana was a trip of a lifetime. You provided an excellent service - answered us promptly and with a lot of care, patience and personality (!). The trip was very tailored to what we cared about - a mixture of camping and lodges and we felt as though we were in safe hands!
 
The recommendations on lodges were great and we absolutely loved Oddballs and flying there by a Delta Air. Such a cool, quirky place but with excellent food and lovely staff. Not to mention the FANTASTIC view of the river and non stop animal viewing. Also helps that this was the site of a very special moment for us, our engagement - nevertheless a lovely place. 
 
Tara is brilliant and we are very glad we chose Eight Points as a travel agent. I’ve since recommended her and the service (as well as Oddballs) to a number of other prospective visitors as I really do feel like the service was outstanding.
 
...finally a thank you for the champagne at Oddballs - very sweet and the photo is us drinking it while watching the sunset!!! :)
 
All the best and thank you again.
 
Tanvi and Jack

Travelled: December 2019 – January 2020
Destination: South Africa
Itinerary: 11 nights Ocean View House, Camps Bay, Cape Town (Visiting Cape Town for the England v Proteas Cricket Test) and 3 nights’ Bateleur Safari Camp (Greater Kruger National Park)

Hi Tara
 
Ocean View House
Excellent location, 15 min walk by the sea to bars and restaurants
Great views of the mountain and sea from our room
Very helpful and friendly staff, owners came out at breakfast to chat to all guests
Peaceful gardens, well looked after and shade there if required
Room was very clean and well laid out
Excellent breakfast with all choices available
Only advice I would give is that the honesty bar is in the wrong place, situated in breakfast area which felt odd if we wanted to have a drink
However, all in all an excellent place and wouldn’t hesitate to use again
 
Bateleur Safari Camp
A truly, truly wonderful experience and difficult to put into words when telling friends, absolutely perfect in every aspect from the meet and greet at start to the goodbye at end – could forget about the outside world
Setting was really special, right in the middle of the bush and got the real feeling of being close to nature with all the sounds of animals/birds
Animals wondering through camp and elephants seen feeding from our room
Tented room was also excellent, clean, great layout and outside shower a great experience !
Very friendly staff and superb food
Even though we had seen animals in SA before we hadn’t seen the leopard so made our day – great game viewing and saw Big 5 in 2 days
Tracker and guide were friendly and their knowledge about all nature was second to none.
The bush walking which at first was a bit daunting but was excellent, walking in the bush was surreal
Even the rain/thunderstorms which hammered down for hours and created the river to fill up was an experience
In summary – PERFECT and want to go back again soon!

Trophy motors transfers – both drivers very friendly, helpful and chatty. Transfers on time so worked well
 
In terms of your service, it was excellent and would not hesitate to use you again and recommend you to other people
I gave you what I wanted to do / Stay and you went away and gave me some great picks/ideas using your experience of SA
Very friendly manner throughout
ALL done in a timely manner as well and never had to chase you up, always on hand for questions
 
All the best
Howard/ Sue

Travelled: September 2019
Destination: South Africa
Itinerary: 3 nights Finchley Guest House (Camps Bay, Cape Town) and 3 nights’ Bateleur Safari Camp (Greater Kruger National Park)

Hi Tara
Had such an amazing holiday. Thank you so much for helping us with everything. I could live in Cape town as I fell in love with the place and even though I was secretly dreading safari with all the bugs I could have happily stayed there longer. The people were so friendly, and we saw so many animals - so exceeded all my expectations
Kelly x

Travelled: September 2019
Destination: Botswana
Itinerary: 3 nights’ at Deception Valley Lodge (Central Kalahari) – Self Drive.

Hello Tara,
We have just come back from a very long road trip in Southern Africa and wanted to say thank you for helping us stay at the Deception Valley Lodge. The place is of an astonishing beauty but, more than that, we found the staff was simply outstanding.
If you can, please convey this note to the Lodge, underlying the super performance of Kitsontle Saqago (aka "Knowledge"). We bought and read the book he contributed to, titled "Men with tales" and found the stories told by the Okavango delta guides truly compelling.
Thank you again, Marco & Marzia

Travelled: July 2019
Destination: Botswana
Itinerary: 2 nights’ Old Bridge Backpackers (Maun), 6 nights’ Oddballs’ Camp Camping Trail (Okavango Delta)

Dear Tara
 
Home since yesterday, I’d like to thank you for your professional, warm-hearted and tailor made planning of our journey. You really understood what we were longing for - everything you proposed was so well adapted to our dreams and needs. Starting from the Old Bridge, where we got the two best huts and I saw for the first time in my life wild animals, such as hippos, crocodiles, fish eagles and cattle sharing the same water hole. Odd Balls with 4 nights „out in the bush“ was the perfect choice for us - after this experience, I couldn’t ever go back to a safari in a motor vehicle. I felt so much more in harmony with nature and the animals when walking and being in this bush camp. Yes, we still had a lot of luxury out there of course, and the many planes over our heads at certain hours disturbed the illusion of really being out in the wild a little… I know that we used a plane as well, we are contradictory, as my friend Nkalimeng from Lesotho said. But there were also the quiet times, the sunsets, the elephants visiting the camp during the night, the milky way so clear up there in the sky… the very last day when our guide Molaodi fullfilled the boys dream and tracked down a lioness for us, having her meal in the bush 10 meters away from us and telling us with her roars not to come any closer. And the beautiful smile and joy in the face of Molaodi, happier than ever during these days because he was able to fullfill the dream of these two 7 and 11 year old boys.
 
I have another „adopted“ family with two boys, unfortunately they live in Spain, thus it would be the flights in addition to the safari to pay… but if ever I decide once to take them to a safari in Botswana, this time it would be easy to choose the company, of course it would be yours :-)
 
thanks again and kind regards,
 
Margrit

Travelled: July 2019
Destination: Namibia
Itinerary: 10 nights’ Self Drive through Namibia visiting Swakopmund, Sossusvlei and Etosha

Hi Tara,

We have made it back home, gutted to be home though to be honest!

We just wanted to say the most enormous thank you ever! We had such an amazing and special trip, thanks to your incredible organising.

Everywhere we went and stayed was so different which we absolutely loved, it was like going on many different holidays. All the food was delicious and the staff were lovely. Every bed was super comfy too! And some of the views were stunning! Great choices of places to stay by you, so thank you.

Tiffany who met us at the Europe’s when we arrived was amazing too. So helpful! All of the information and maps etc that we were given were so comprehensive and well organised we knew exactly where to go and when, so a massive thank you! We felt both you and her were there to help if we needed it too.

Lastly, we can’t thank you enough for organising all of the special things and well wishes for our anniversary at the different places we stayed, it was such a surprise, it really made everything so special so thank you! The singing at Etosha Safari Camp was particularly memorable!

We absolutely loved Namibia and we will be back for sure! There are so many places still to go!

When we have had a chance to look through the photos we will send you some and we will get a trip advisor review done too.

Thank you so much again, you are a star!

Jess and Ross