Testimonials

From: LISA MOBBS, SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA
Date:October, 2013

Hi Dipesh,

China trip was amazing. Harbin ice festival was enormous - we saw the snow sculptures, winter swimming etc and thought that was everything, didnt realise that there was also the ice festival itself. This was mostly world monuments constructed of ice, all with crazy slides to go down after you have climbed them, a giant ice thermometre to show the temperature (-30 degrees) but also stage shows, nationalist, propogandish dance spectacles on a really large scale. There was a lot of Russian culture on show as its close to Russia, Mongolia and North Korea. Fascinating for us westerners.  Cold was manageable with the right gear. Skiiing at Yabuli was also really interesting, we had the mountains to ourselves as the other guests just sent their kids out to learn skiing and stayed in the lodge themselves.  We loved this trip and would recommend it for those interested in novel experiences and a bit of an adventure rather than those seeking a reliable standard ski holiday. All arrangements went very smoothly.

 

 

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From: Geoffrey Handley, Sydney Australia.
Date:23 Dec 2013 – 04 Jan 2014

Hi Dipesh,

We are home from a great vacation.  Everything went well thanks to you, Nishit at Anenture Afrique in Arusha and Grace at Go Island in Zanzibar.  Our guide in Tz, Ezekiel, was excellent, he put himself out to get us to the ballon ride early in the morning and drove carefully throughout.  Khamis in Zanzibar was very good too. 

Thank you and your group for your planning.Lorelle and Kim appreciated the paintings.Have a Happy New Year.

Geoffrey Handley, Sydney Australia.

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From: Kalpesh Amin
Date:12/11/13

Thank you very much for all the assistance provided,including last minute rescheduling. I believe the Borges party had an incredible experience. Your professionism and expertise will definitely direct more of my colleagues from the US to your organization to provide them a truly great African experience. Asante sana.

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From: Pam & Fred Mooney Sydney, Australia
Date:30 September, 2013

Our African Safari Destinations ‘Adventure’ was everything we had hoped for and more.  

It was wonderful to see the animals roaming free in their natural habitat and the whole experience was enhanced by the quality lodges, excellent guides and superb service we received from the moment we made the initial booking with African Safari Destinations to the end of the trip-including a most enjoyable stopover in Dubai.

Pam & Fred Mooney Sydney, Australia

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From: Andrey Mochinin
Date:Wednesday, 18 September 2013 9:49 AM

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From: Fiona Powell, Sydney Australia
Date:15th August 2013

The trip was amazing and loved it. Our guide Simon was great and we always felt very safe with him. The only place we went that I was slightly disappointed with was Lake Nakuru, as they were not many flamingos because of how the water is all flooding / rising. 
 
Thanks for all your help to organise.  

Fiona 

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From: Chirag Vasa
Date: 2/09/13 11:18 PM

Hi Dipesh and Henry:

It was excellent feeling to have African safari. It gives nourishment of soul and enrichment of mind. We really enjoyed a lot. I am thankful to your planning and overall managing my safari package.

I really appreciate your help and efforts to make my safari one of the best vacation I ever had. I will not hesitate to recommend others.

Thank You. Keep in touch. Chirag

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From: Avalani, Bharat
Date:Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Dear Dipesh & Saima,

 

Just reached Kuala Lumpur & this a quick note to say a HUGE thank you for giving us the time of our lives. This was one of our best hols ever and everything worked out fine.

True test of good business is repeat & referrals. This was my second trip with you & hope many  more. As to referrals Nita has already  done 2 trips with you & she is happy .. I have mentioned you to many of my friends.

Animal sighting exceeded all our expectations.. saw prides of Lions at all the parks.. cheetahs.. leopards..

Kooshal my son knows the animals quite well now.. can distinguish a Cheetah & Leopard and different kinds of entelopes.

Titus was truly wonderful & God sent !! Warm heart and soft nature. He did his utmost to make every moment matter. God bless him .

In terms of feedback. Ashnil Samburu location was outstanding.. but service was very poor.. in spite of having a child we were given the very last room in the lodge.. long walk.. the nights we were around.. they did not have yoghurt, spinach & cucumber !!! They really need to brush up.. it's a shame because they have an outstanding location !! Many guests were seen complaining about something or the other.

Otherwise it was a perfect holiday..

Thank you ever ever so much both & to all the wonderful people at ASD who made our trip worthwhile.

 

With very warm regards, 

Bharat

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From: Surbhi Kalra
Date:Tuesday, 27 November 2012 1:27 PM

Dear Dipesh,

 Hope you are doing great. I booked a safari with you in November (12-16), hope you remember.I am writing to thank you and your entire team, who made this wonderful trip for us. Everything was so well planned and managed. I loved the entire experience of the safari.My rooms, at Masai mara and Lake Nakuru, were great, and the last accommodation at Serena, was terrific!! We got an upgraded tent and it was fabulous.

 We were travelling with Tytus, who was our driver cum guide cum a great companion on the safari. A very special thanks to him for making our trip so special. Tytus, is indeed a very patient, amazingly knowledgeable and an extremely friendly person. We loved travelling with him. My little one made great friends with him, and remembers him a lot. We all did gain a lot of knowledge about animals, all thanks to Tytus. He was the one who managed to show us all the animals we wished to, even the Leopard.

Thanks a million ton. You guys are doing a great job.Keep it up!

I have attached a couple of pics of Tytus, please do share with him. And give our regards to him.

Regards,

Surbhi

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From: Priti
Date:Wednesday, 2 January 2013 9:45 AM

Dear Dipesh,

Happy New Year. Just wanted to say thank you.We had a excellent stay at Mt Kenya as always.

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From: Sathya r
Date:Monday, 7 May 2012 1:32 AM

Dear Mr. Diplesh,

Thanks you very much for wonderful and memorable trip. Guide was very helpful and kind enough to show us all animals and places. Thank you very much.

Sathya

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From: Ajay Makharia
Date:Tuesday, 3 January 2012 7:17 PM

Dear Mr Galani,

Happy New Year to everyone at  African Safari Destinations.We would like to thank you for the excellent arrangements made by you for our trip to Kenya.We would also like to thank Mr Nicholas who drove us around for his excellent driving skills,  safety on the road, and excellent knowledge of all locations and staff at all hotels.

His professional and friendly approach helped make this trip memorable . We will surely recommend  African Safari Destinations to anyone who wishes to travel to Kenya.

Thanks once again and  regards,

  Alka / Prerna / Ajay

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From: Andaro, Mercy
Date:Wednesday, 4 January 2012 2:41 PM

Dear Dipesh,

On behalf of my family and I, I would wish to thank the team of  African Safari Destinations for organizing our holiday in Mombasa. We had a great time and were especially touched by your pro-activity in customer service by providing us with an upgrade to Whitesands. Special thanks to Henry for all his assistance. We will definitely be booking our future holiday through you.Best wishes for a prosperous 2012.

Kindly confirm if you have rates for hotels in Tanzania specifically Arusha, Dar and Zanzibar.

Regards,

Mercy Andaro

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From: Radhi kasuri
Date:27/12/12 7:35 AM

Dear all,

We returned from the Mara yesterday, It was a fruitful and good trip. Our assigned driver guide David Kamau made sure we saw everything, and was ever so patient to stop the car when we needed to take pictures.All of us have come back very happy, and we would in future if we ever go on safari using your company request for Kamau to drive us.

Thank you.

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From: Felicity Gapes
Date:Friday, 13 January 2012 10:37 AM

Hello Dipesh and team,

Despite getting stuck for a couple of hours Patricia had a lovely time in Nakuru and the Mara. She would like to pass on her thanks to David who was excellent and smoothed out any potential problems in the Mara.

Thanks from us both

 Regards

 Felicity Gapes

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From: Niraj Patel
Date:Wednesday, 1 February 2012 4:01 PM

Dipesh,

 Hope you are doing well and happy new year to you. I just wanted to convey that the guests had an excellent time and they will never forget the experience thanks to your team. It has been over a month since they trip and I continue to hear about it from them. Thanks for making this happen.

Niraj

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From: Michelle Voo
Date:Monday, 6 February 2012 3:42 AM

Dear Dipesh and Saima,

 Thank you very much for arranging a very pleasant safari experience for us in December. Our guide Francis looked after us very well. Do you happen to have his em-mail address? I would like to send him a note of thanks also.

 Some of my friends here in Singapore are planning a trip to Africa sometime in the future. I will be passing your contact to them, and I trust you will be able to help them with any inquiries or arrangements. I met 2 brothers from India on the Mt Kenya trip who also had their safari itinerary planned by you - good feedback too!

 Thanks again, and perhaps we will make another excursion to East Africa with you soon!

 Best regards,

 Michelle

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From: Daksha hirani
Date:19/02/12 9:08 AM

Thank you for your email. We had a wonderful time at the safari club.Thank you for booking it for us.

 Daksha

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From: Pinal
Date:Thursday, 23 February 2012 12:30 AM

Hi Dipesh,

 Hope you're doing well.  I just wanted to thank you for organising our trip to Nakuru. We really enjoyed ourselves.Special thanks to Sammy, he was great!

Thank you

 Pinal

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From: Anu Sharma
Date:18/04/12 2:38 PM

To Dipesh and The Team Of African Safari Destinations,

 We would like to thank the whole team of  African Safari Destinations for the trip that was organized for us. We had the most fabulous time and left with memories that were promised to us and much more!!!The trip was so well organized that we did not face even a single problem throughout the trip. The bookings were meticulously done and handled so well by our guide John.

 I would like to extend our thanks to John especially as he was so well informed and he gave us minute details of not only the animals but the birds, fauna, eating habits and the list is endless. He is very courteous and a jolly person. We were amazed that he could even spot not only the big animals but something that looked like a branch to us was actually an ostrich which he identified with naked eyes, very far far away.

 He even surprised us by spotting a small turtle in a puddle while driving the jeep.  He even could tell what a cheetah was about to do, as in our case it jumped on top of another jeep which John had mentioned to us a few minutes before. He made all the efforts to make sure we got to see the Big 5, though we missed the Black Rhino, but he tried his best. So our best regards to him for giving the fabulous experience of the safari.It was truly a wonderful experience!!!

 We would also like to thank Dipesh, who also handled all our non stop queries with utter promptness. He and the whole team really put in all their efforts to give us our personalized safari experience. The hotel that was booked for us in Nairobi, The Sankara was just wonderful, a beautiful beginning in Nairobi.

 We came to Kenya with a hope of having a good holiday, but instead we had the most awesome time and left with tons of memories and look forward to coming back again!!!

 Thanking the whole team of  African Safari Destinations!!!

 Best Regards,

Rajdeep & Anupama Sharma

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From: Pinal
Date:Wednesday, 6 June 2012 11:13 AM

Hi Dipesh,

How are you doing?  Hope everything is going well.  I just wanted to thank you for helping my friend sort out their safari.  I came down for a wedding over the weekend and was told that you organised a safari for around 23 people to go to Ashinil Camp in Mara.  They were all looking forward to it. 

I did tell them to ask the lodge to organise a bush dinner and also if they wanted to do a baloon safari to contact you.As always I will be giving your contact to all my friends/family, infact i did it to another friend of mine, Shikha Bhakoo (not sure if she did get in touch) but if she did please help her out. Thanks

Take care

Pinal

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From: Kiran
Date:15/06/12 11:52

Mr Dipesh,

Hope you are doing well.I am back to Nigeria now.I just want to thank you for your cooperation. Honestly is was a very wonderful stay at Masai Mara.My thanks to all your staff also for the gesture.

Thanks again.

Kiran.

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From: http://www.beontheroad.com
Date:MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2012

 

Kenya is a country where it is very difficult to travel on your own. The reasons are many: high cost of accommodation, safety issues, reliability, dependability, accessibility for foreign tourists and more. Thus, most of the tourists to Kenya end up going through a tour operator. Even I had to go through a tour operator as I was unable to do bookings on my own (either accommodation was not available owing to high season even though I reached out to hotels/lodges 4 months before my arrival date or the accommodation was working out to be too expensive).

After a lot of research, I zeroed in on African Safari Destinations (ASD), a Nairobi based tour operator who organizes tours in Kenya and Tanzania. This is managed and run by Dipesh Galani. I selected them in spite of reading a lot of negative reviews about them on the internet. But, my confidence on them increased when I heard a lot of positive reviews from my friends and from corporates who had availed their services. Thus, I proceeded with them with a mixed set of emotions and with a little bit of risk.

Below is my review of my experience with them. I availed their services for 10 nights and 11 days and I came out at the end of it with a great and happy experience.

1) African Safari Destinations is run by a person of Indian-origin. But, did that give me any confidence? I really don’t know.

2) They allowed me to completely customize the itinerary. I really appreciated this as I did not want to go on a package tour where the itinerary is built by somebody else.

3) Kenya has wide differences in standard of accommodation. Hence, it becomes super important to book in a quality place. African Safari Destinations ensures this by booking only in hotels of good standard. They will refuse to book you in a sub standard accommodation citing bad reviews from their earlier customers. This will take care of your hotel quality, food, safety, et al.

4) The best part about touring with them was my driver and guide Nicholas, who was very knowledgeable about local conditions, had solid understanding of Kenyan Wildlife and birds (which I really appreciated since me and my friend were on a wildlife holiday and not a normal holiday) and the best part is that he cared about the national park rules and the wildlife. The last one is a quality that is very difficult to get given that most tour operators will break all rules just to please their clients and get a good tip in return. But, our guide was completely law-abiding. I really appreciated this quality.

5) The entire 11 days, I toured 1,500 kms and 14 game drives in their 4 wheel drive vehicle and had no problems at all. The vehicle was in good condition and never even once gave any trouble in spite of the horrible state of roads leading to Maasai Mara.

6) During my research with other tour operators, I found the African Safari Destinations to be marginally cheaper than the others.But, were they really cheap. I don’t know. But, I guess given the rush during the high season, they charged reasonably with not hefty margins.

7) I found them to be pretty trustworthy too. While making the bookings, they booked us into superior rooms and tents, but during the actual stay, we were booked into standard rooms (this is what we preferred) and the tour operator refunded us the excess amount.

8) The payment process was pretty straight forward. I had wire transferred 50% of the amount as advance and settled the rest in cash when I landed at Nairobi.

9) One of the comforting things in this engagement was the prompt way in which Dipesh and his entire team responded to my emails and phone calls and was always accommodative in spite of my umpteen requests and changes.

Overall, I had a good experience with them and I found them to be reliable.

http://www.beontheroad.com/2012/09/african-safari-destinations-reliable.html

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From: Eva Mattheeussen
Date:Sunday, 15 July 2012 11:31 PM

Dipesh,

Simon was not available so we had Peter and we were very pleased with him!He has a lot of knowledge and we have unique movies.He is very interactive with his people and very customer oriented.

You are very lucky with your drivers as comments from my friends were also very positive.Thanks once again and I will contact you soon for October safari!

Eva

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From: Van Anraat Ruud
Date:16/07/12 8:16 AM

Dear Dipesh,

Just to let you know everything is very fine with us. We are having an amazing trip here in Kenya so far. Our compliments and appreciation for our driver Francis who is taking care of us very well.Thanks again for all your support and warm greetings from us.

Ruud and family

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From: Divyakumar Shah
Date:Friday, 3 August 2012 8:54 PM

Dear Dipesh,

Please find below comments from the clients. Well done. Thanks to the team.

Hello Divyakumar,

Just wanted to let you know that we returned from our Kenya holiday today. I wanted to thank you for the good time we had on the holiday. Please pass my thanks to Dipesh as I don't have his contact e-mail.

Thank you.

Regards,

Naren.

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From: Sheyana
Date:Monday, 17 December 2012 9:13 AM

Hi dipesh,

thanks for organizing our trip to amboseli.we had a great time.i would highly recommend the serena to everyone because the service there is excellent.

Regards,

sheyana

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From: Eugene Fernandes
Date:Monday, 17 December 2012 4:44 PM

Dear Dipesh,

Just to let you know that we had a wonderful time during our trip to the Mara.Thank you for all the arrangements. It was perfect.

Thanks & Regards,

Eugene Fernandes

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