Luxury African Safaris & Holidays

Sunset blazes behind the rumbling movement of mighty elephant emerging from the mahogany forest. One by one and in family groups, mothers and babies run and splash the final yards to drink and play delightedly in the cool wide waters of the Zambezi.  A moment in Africa that’s happened every day for ten thousand years. The difference is that this time, you are there, an enthralled spectator in the timeless landscape.

Your luxury african safari with Africa Exclusive will be filled with moments like these.  It will be uniquely created around your interests, desires and the pace you want to travel. You will be met everywhere, expertly guided, and will stay at an amazing combination of safari lodges.  We promise you the holiday of a lifetime.

John Burdett and Warwick Hoffman own Africa Exclusive and have personally arranged safaris for thousands of delighted clients over 20 years. Ross Cambray, Paul Hawley and Laura Burdett also have extensive African experience. We are supported by a highly skilled team whose eye for detail ensures that everything will run like clockwork.

We would be pleased to talk with you to design and organise your own personal African adventure. You might be a couple, still active and now with more freedom to travel. Or planning a romantic adventurous honeymoon safari. Maybe you want to organise a fantastic family safari holiday or stay in a luxury safari lodge followed by a few days relaxing on a beach. Right now you might even have space for a last minute safari in the next week or two.

For safari travel to Africa it’s vital to seek our expert advice.

What makes the perfect luxury safari holiday?

Expert guiding

Your guides will have personality, expert knowledge and the ability to communicate it. They are the key to enjoying your safari in safety. They’ll track down the great herds by open vehicle, take you boating on rivers and deltas and lead fascinating walking safaris through the bush. Our guides understand photography and get you into position for the perfect shot.

Perfect Accommodation

You will stay in remote and scenic settings, close to the wildlife. The camps and lodges are all beautifully designed, intimate and comfortable with delicious food and charming hosts. Usually each lodge or camp takes only ten to sixteen guests. You may find that the other guests who choose to stay at these types of places have a lot in common with you and may strike up some good friendships.  We also know dozens of  exquisite hideaways in the Indian Ocean.

Unique Safaris

We will choose an ideal combination of places for the wildlife, scenery and activities you are seeking for the time of year you want to travel. We work in eleven countries and there are hundreds of camps, lodges and guides.  You may be suffering from information overload. We know which places work well in combination and how long you should stay in each. If you are looking for somewhere special to go for a honeymoon safari, we know just the places to go.

Meticulous organisation

We will take you from place to place quickly and reliably, often using light aircraft so you spend the maximum time enjoying your holiday. Friendly reliable people meet you and take you from one place to the next. We pace your itinerary so you are not rushed around, usually spending three days or longer at each place. We take great care planning the details and safari lodge owners often comment to us that Africa Exclusive guests are the best informed and best prepared of their visitors.

Luxury safari destinations

South Africa

Cape Town, the Winelands, the Garden Route followed by a few days on a luxury safari combines perfectly for a week or two in South Africa. With world class hotels, elegant wine estates influenced by Cape Dutch architecture and  superb luxury safari lodges – often with malaria free reserves, Africa Exclusive can design your dream luxury South Africa holiday. There is also of course KwaZulu Natal which is often overlooked in favour of the Cape, yet has all the ingredients for a complete two week holiday. Whether you want to dip into a two or three day safari with almost guaranteed sightings of Big Five, or a full scale two week game viewing holiday, we will arrange your perfect luxury South Africa holiday.

Botswana safari

Botswana is the ultimate safari combination of big game, stunning scenery, luxury and privacy. This is Africa at its best. In Botswana we use small luxury safari camps on huge private wildlife reserves. So you will not usually see other vehicles when on safari. At most camps you will have a luxury tented room on a big wooden deck with comfortable bed, furniture, en-suite wc/shower and a veranda with views. Most camps in Botswana only have 8 rooms and a pool and the food is marvellous.

Kenya safari

Kenya is a spectacularly beautiful country including the great plains of the Masai Mara with its annual migration, Rift valley lakes full of water birds and semi desert regions such as Samburu and Lake Turkana. A Masai Mara safari is ideal for family safaris and is also a great honeymoon safari destination – a great combination with some relaxation on the beautiful spice island of Zanzibar.

Tanzania safari

If you love Africa you simply have to visit northern Tanzania some time in your life. The endless plains of the Serengeti with its annual wildebeest and zebra migration, the 8,000ft high Ngorongoro Crater and the snow capped Mount Kilimanjaro are the epitome of Africa.  Smaller national parks such as Tarangire, with its baobab trees and sparkling rivers, are also worth visiting. Southern and western Tanzania has some of the most remote and least visited game reserves in Africa yet they are also some of the most beautiful and  exciting. These are all ‘fly-in’ safari lodges where you can enjoy drives by open vehicle, walking, boating and night drives with a spotlight.

Zambia safari

Zambia is now one of the best countries for an active safari which includes walking with an armed guide, canoeing on the Zambezi and day or night game drives by open Land Rover. The guiding is excellent and the wildlife experience is superb. Zambia has a well earned reputation for as one of the best destinations for those in search of authenticity in Africa. The scenery is magnificent, with the huge and fast flowing Zambezi River culminating in the spectacular Victoria Falls.

Namibia safari

Namibia is  one of the world’s most fascinating and beautiful desert regions. A holiday here will take you to the towering apricot coloured sand dunes at Sossusvlei, the unique Etosha saltpan with its abundant wildlife, the mountainous deserts of Damarland with their desert adapted elephant  and rhinoceros, and the hauntingly beautiful Skeleton Coast.

Uganda and Rwanda safari

Uganda is one of the most beautiful countries with a wonderful abundance of wildlife including the amazing lowland gorillas, chimpanzees and plains game of the Queen Elizabeth National Park. Despite this, it is one of the least visited safari countries in Africa. Rwanda is also an ideal gorilla safari destination with 350 mountain gorillas on the forested slopes of Parc National des Volcans.

Zimbabwe safari

Malawi safari

A land of towering mountains which surround one of Africa’s great lakes, this is one of the friendliest countries in Africa. The Nyika Plateau which rises to over 8,000ft can provide breathtaking walking and horseback safaris, while Lake Malawi itself has several high quality beach hotels, some set off little islands, where you can enjoy snorkelling, diving, sailing and waterskiing, providing a pleasant few days break after a safari in Zambia perhaps.  At the southern tip of Lake Malawi are the Liwonde wetlands, in some ways resembling the Okavango Delta and from Mvuu safari Camp you can enjoy boating, walks and game drives by open vehicle, seeing elephant, rhinoceros and antelope, and over 350 species of  beautiful birds.

Egypt

To visit Egypt is to go 4,000 years back in time when an astonishingly advanced civilisation constructed the giant pyramids, temples and immense palaces. The greatest attractions are located either side of the Nile  in Cairo, Aswan and Luxor, and Africa Exclusive will construct the perfect itinerary to suit the pace you want to travel and the amount of  sight seeing you want to include.

Indian Ocean Islands

You may like to link your safari with a few days self indulgent relaxation on some idyllic Indian Ocean island.  Africa Exclusive can arrange for you to stay in five star luxury in a superb Mauritian hotel like The Residence, the Oberoi or the Banyan Tree in the Seychelles.  The spice island of Zanzibar is perfect for honeymoons and some of the world’s best diving can be experienced in the unspoilt oceans of Mozambique. It is vital to obtain expert advice when planning a luxury safari holiday in Africa – give us a call, even if you are in the initial stages of planning your holiday, we would be delighted to talk to you and design your own customised African adventure.