African Budget Safaris Explained: Reviews & All
Who is African Budget Safaris? Or should that be - what are African Budget Safaris? That depends. Are you wondering who African Budget Safaris is? Or are you looking for African Budget Safari Tours?
Either way, the answer lies here, in this post covering all things African Budget Safaris related. Find out everything from what African Budget Safaris reviews say to where our affordable African safaris travel to, right here.
African Budget Safaris - reviews & everything you need to know
- Who is African Budget Safaris?
- African Budget Safaris Reviews & Tripadvisor
- How African Budget Safaris Works
- What are African Budget Safaris & Overland Tours?
- Private Tours & Tailor-made African Budget Safaris
- More about African Budget Safaris
- African Budget Safaris Memberships & Credentials
- African Budget Safaris Prices & Promises
- The African Budget Safaris Travel Blog
- Where else you'll find African Budget Safaris Online
1. Who is African Budget Safaris?
SATSA logo African Budget Safaris is an independent online travel agency founded by avid surfer and travel professional (Terry Murphy) back in 2006. The company started out as a tiny side business (of the spare-room venture variety) in Cape Town, South Africa.
The idea behind the business is to make it easy for people worldwide to book high-quality, yet affordable African Safaris to incredible destinations across southern and East Africa. In Terry's words:
"Our vision was to open up Africa for budget-conscious travellers making it possible for those on a budget to enjoy the same wildlife experience as those paying for luxury safaris."
In the early days, African Budget Safaris was one of the few travel companies online and one of very few offering authentic African travel experiences. We were the first company to offer online budget travel in Africa.
With his passion for sharing Africa with regular travellers from across the planet, Terry set to work finding a hot-shot web designer. That's when serious cyclist, Luke Hardiman came on board and built the African Budget Safaris website. By 2009 African Budget Safaris became a registered SATSA member and the team started getting part-time help to keep up with tour sales and web copy. Since then the customer service team has expanded to about ten travel consultants cherry-picked from the African travel industry. Plus, a few other team members who handle accounts, marketing, web development, and all the rest.
Private African safari tours
Today ABS (that's short for African Budget Safaris) is one of the few online safari platforms to offer one-on-one customer support to clients while they choose, plan and book their African safaris online. In other words - the experienced people in our team make sure you end up on the best safari for your needs and budget. You won't get served a generic tour selected by a robot and left stranded with your questions. If things unexpectedly come up or go wrong then our travel consultants are right there to help clients, every step of the way.
African Budget Safaris is currently the only budget safari agency that specializes in tailor-made safaris and private tours in Africa. This means that you can arrange a private safari on a budget with the help of our agents, creating an itinerary that is customized to your needs and preferences.
Find out a bit more about Terry and the rest of the team of travel experts at African Budget Safaris.
2. African Budget Safaris Reviews & Tripadvisor
Where can you find reviews of African Budget Safaris?
Our customers post their reviews on an independent review platform called Trustpilot. You can see our African Budget Safaris Reviews on Trustpilot.
We've been collecting client reviews via Trustpilot since November 2017. To date, we have more than 530 customer reviews. Most (95%) rated us as excellent.
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We care about what we do and it shows in our reviews
Feedback from our customers is essential to African Budget Safaris. It guides us and lets us know where we are excelling and where we can improve. It also helps others to see what kind of business we are and the level of service we deliver. So, we are very pleased with our Excellent rating (4.9 out of 5 stars)!
Savuti lions
We can't add reviews to Trustpilot or edit them. The review process on Trustpilot ensures that everything stays 100% above board. Once a review is posted we try our best to respond to each one and take the feedback to heart.
Find out more about Trustpilot and its new transparency feature.
African Budget Safaris Tripadvisor Reviews - where are they?
If you've been looking for African Budget Safaris' reviews on Tripadvisor you'll have noticed we're not there. So, you're probably wondering why African Budget Safaris is not featured on Tripadvisor.
In short, we were listed on Tripadvisor for about five years (from December 2012 until November 2017). Then, in late 2017 Tripadvisor began operating as an online travel agent themselves. When they started selling tour packages the company updated its policies and removed travel agents. Thus is the nature of business in the fast-evolving digital realm. And so all agents, including African Budget Safaris, were excluded from Tripadvisor.
It ain't all bad. We did have a terrific run on Tripadvisor for many years. And we are very proud of the five consecutive Certificates of Excellence we received from them.
We earned a Certificate of Excellence every year that we were listed - 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017!
ABS team by African Budget Safaris
Note: we luckily saved a ton of our African Budget Safaris Tripadvisor reviews which you can now view on our website. The reviews are a bit dated but they are the actual reviews that were posted by customers on Tripadvisor.
3. How African Budget Safaris works
African Budget Safaris (ABS) has an established network of tour companies that we work with, in southern and East Africa. This network of safari companies has been built up carefully over the many years that Terry and co. have been travelling and working in the African travel industry. Starting with the handful of companies that Terry knew well and trusted, he's continued to personally curate the collection of African safaris featured by African Budget Safaris. His years of experience working in the travel industry as a guide and travel consultant enabled Terry to pick the best budget tour companies in the business as partners.
Overland camping tours
Our longstanding relationships with reputable tour companies enable ABS to negotiate prices that are near unbeatable. Thus, our buying power enables us to pass excellent safari prices and travel deals on to our clients without charging them extra. The tour companies that we partner with, pay us a commission so travellers don't spend a penny more when booking with ABS.
When people visit our website and send an inquiry to one of our team members, based in South Africa, pick up the email and respond as promptly as possible. From then on in the consultant takes care of the client's needs and answers their questions, getting input from the rest of the team if and when necessary. Once you've chosen your African safari your dedicated consultant sends you all of the trip details - a detailed itinerary and useful travel information. Payments are processed online via a secure payment gateway and your travel voucher is sent to you via email. Then it's time to start packing and planning for your ultimate safari, with the help of your consultant!
4. What are African Budget Safaris & Overland Tours?
African Budget Safaris are simply affordable African Safaris. They have a lot in common with other types of safaris except that they are less expensive than most safaris. You might be skeptically asking doesn't that mean that African Budget Safaris are dodgy?
No, it doesn't. Past clients have actually said that the 'budget' in African Budget Safaris is misleading because their safari experience was so excellent. By budget, we mean affordable. It does not imply a sub-standard safari or poor service.
The overland tours and safaris that we offer are not luxury safaris at cheap prices. They are good quality African safaris with fewer frills and less fancy accommodation. That said some of our budget-friendly safaris are very comfortable indeed and do offer a bit of extra style and luxury.
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Happiness Real Life Travel
But, mostly, our African budget safaris and overland tours stay at simple and clean camps and lodges that provide friendly service (no private butlers and swish boutiques). The beauty is that our safaris visit the same spectacular wildlife destinations and game parks as luxury safaris costing a lot more.
Our Africa overland tours and safaris travel through the same stunning landscapes and take you to the same natural wonders - at a fraction of the price. It's just not about the thread count of the cotton sheets. That would be missing the point anyway. Travelling in Africa is all about the wild experiences out in the bush, on the open roads and meeting the local people.
Game drive Makgadikgadi
Luckily, you can enjoy genuine wilderness experiences on a budget. Especially with so many magical camps and lodges being remote and unforgettable without being expensive and pretentious. The more affordable Africa overland tours and budget safaris are still safe. The cheapest trips travel in large groups by overland truck and stay at basic accommodation, but safety is never compromised. The cheapest way to go (to Africa) is on a no-frills camping safari or overland camping tour.
African Budget Safaris Review from Trustpilot
Our selection of African budget Ssafaris and overland tours has grown gradually over the years and now includes almost 600 budget safaris, day trips, and overland tours.
Find out more about Overland Africa Travel & Tours.
Recently Added Budget African Safari Destinations
In East Africa, our most recently added budget safari destinations are Ethiopia, southern Tanzania, and Rwanda. Ethiopia is the most culturally focussed travel destination we visit. Most of our Budget Ethiopia Tours are focused on historical, religious and cultural highlights, with a few exceptions. Until recently, few budget safaris in Tanzania visited the Southern Safari Circuit. So we were excited to discover new budget Tanzania safaris to southern Tanzania's top parks - Ruaha, Selous and more. The last of our newer East African budget safari destinations, Rwanda is an alternative to gorilla trekking in Uganda which we have featured for many years. Previously, Rwanda was out of reach to budget travellers, primarily because of the more expensive gorilla trekking permits. Luckily, a few years ago more affordable gorilla trekking Rwanda Tours became available as tourism expanded there.
Private Namibia tours
In South Africa, our newest budget safari destinations are the private game reserves of the Eastern Cape in South Africa and Big Five Cape Town Safaris in the Western Cape. We also recently added a host of budget-friendly private tours to our Budget Namibia Safaris. In terms of the Eastern Cape and Cape Town, there are very few budget safari options and we've been very pleased to find a few relatively affordable safaris recently. Our Eastern Cape Safaris combines one of two private game reserves with Addo National Park, which gives visitors the best of both.
Lodge safaris riverside chalet
5. Private Tours & Tailor-made African Budget Safaris
A lot of people think that private tours and tailored safaris are only for upmarket travellers on ultra-luxury safaris. But, that's not true.
These days even budget-conscious travellers can enjoy private safari tours. Customized African safaris can be surprisingly affordable, especially if you are travelling in a larger group. The more travellers in your group the cheaper it is per person with private safaris.
Exclusive overland safaris
When it comes to private group tours we can tailor-make your itinerary to include the destinations you would like to visit most and skip out places you're not interested in. Our knowledgeable consultants can also tailor private safaris to focus on particular interests, such as birding, photography, culture, walking and so on. We can also customize the kind of accommodation used on private safaris to suit your preferences.
One of the major advantages of a private safari is the added privacy and flexibility on the road. You'll also get to stay at more intimate accommodation if that appeals, have wildlife sightings more to yourself and get more one-on-one time with your guide. Sounds good? Chat to one of our friendly safari experts to find out more about tailor-making an African safari for you.
6. More about African Budget Safaris
African Budget Safaris has a modest office in Hout Bay (Cape Town) where some of our team is based. The team works remotely most of the time, gathering at the office on Thursdays for a catchup and updates. We're a slightly maverick, independent bunch of African travel enthusiasts. The team has had diverse travel and work experience across Africa, ranging from guiding overland trips to game ranging and consulting for well-known safari companies.
Cape Town Tourism member
The consultants and staff members at African Budget Safaris regularly head out on 'work' safaris. We call them 'educationals'. Not only do we love to experience the African safaris that our partners run, but it's also essential for maintaining our excellent standards of curatorship. In between our educational adventures, we all explore locally (in South Africa) and travel all over Africa, and beyond.
Rwanda gorilla trekking tours by Joachim Huber
Our team includes one honorary local (originally hailing from the UK), and the rest of us are all from southern Africa. Terry's wife joined the team a few years back and Luke's mom also helps out part-time, so ABS has grown into a real family business. Several of the team members have been around for many years (close to ten) which makes them like family by now, too.
Just about every year Terry heads out to Africa’s Travel Indaba held in Durban, South Africa. The Indaba is a great place to touch base with the safari companies that we already work with and meet new potential partners.
To see who is on the team visit the About Us page.
7. African Budget Safaris Memberships & Credentials
SATSA Bonded Member
Most importantly, African Budget Safaris is a member of the Southern Africa Tourism Services Association (SATSA). Established in 1969, SATSA is a non-profit organization for private-sector tourism. The aim of SATSA is to endorse quality tourism companies and protect consumers. SATSA operates a protective bonding scheme that guarantees consumers against deposits made to SATSA members.
African budget safaris logo
Basically, SATSA membership serves as quality assurance for clients. It's a mark of integrity and accountability that consumers can trust.
Find out more about SATSA and see our African Budget Safaris SATSA profile.
Cape Town Tourism Member
Tripadvisor Certificate Excellence African Budget Safaris
African Budget Safaris is also a member of Cape Town Tourism, the official tourism body of Cape Town and its surrounds. Even though ABS sells budget safaris across East and southern Africa, we are still a South African company based in Cape Town. Our membership of Cape Town Tourism is another vote of confidence and a stamp of approval from the local tourism officials.
Visit our African Budget Safaris Cape Town travel profile on the tourism website.
8. African Budget Safaris Prices & Promises
Can we back up our claims that we offer the best African budget travel deals and the best value-for-money safaris in Africa?
Yes. We guarantee the best prices on the budget safaris we feature. Because the travel industry is so highly competitive today, we give travellers the best price guarantee. The proof is in the pudding after all.
African Budget Safaris Trustpilot review
We've made it our mission to find the best budget-friendly tours on the market so we're here to live up to our promises. And, the discounted African safaris and travel deals that we offer come straight from our handpicked safari partners. So, we do guarantee the best travel prices on our budget safaris and tours, from Namibia to Tanzania and beyond.
9. The African Budget Safaris Blog / Africa Travel Blog
An important part of our business is helping people to plan their safaris to various destinations in Africa. So, back in 2010, we started our own Budget Safari Blog. ABS aims to provide useful advice for travelling in Africa and practical tips for African safaris. We try to focus on budgeting tips for African safaris and African travel in general, as well as important safety information and game-viewing guides.
East Africa map
If you've been on an African safari booked through African Budget Safaris or travelled Africa on a shoestring - send us your story or photos and we'll share them with our viewers. We now have thousands of people visiting our website and blog so if your tales of Africa or your pics are a good fit for our readers, we'll share them. We're always eager to share awesome wildlife photos and authentic safari experiences, far and wide!
Visit our African Travel Blog and pop us a mail if you would like to be featured.
10. Where else to find African Budget Safaris online
Of course, you can also find African Budget Safaris on Facebook and on Instagram as realafrosafaris, as well as on Twitter and Pinterest.
We also have an African Budget Safaris YouTube channel which we're improving and adding more videos to.
African Budget Safaris also has a profile on Safari Bookings, one of the big safari aggregators. We are listed as African Budget Safaris (South Africa). Not to be confused with African Budget Safaris (Tanzania) which is a tour company started in 2012. We are not affiliated with this East African tour company which simply chose to use a name that's almost a copy of ours.
Comfortable budget lodge
We do however work with several excellent safari companies in Tanzania, Kenya and the rest of East Africa. If you go to our Budget Tanzania Safaris page you'll see our Trustpilot reviews (righthand column) from clients who have gone on budget Tanzania safaris with us, African Budget Safaris. The same goes for other customer reviews specific to safari destinations that we feature tours to. So for African Budget Safaris Kruger reviews check out our Budget Kruger Safaris page, scroll down and check the right-hand side of the page for the Trustpilot widget.
You may also come across a very old Lonely Planet forum post and two similarly outdated Tripadvisor forum threads where people were asking for reviews and assurances from other travellers. Unfortunately, the posts are super old, but in each, there is at least one reply from people who booked with us and recommended using ABS - hooray!
Lastly, we have a profile for African Budget Safaris on Stride - one of the largest tour search and review sites in the world, based in California. One of the great things about Stride is that they pull our reviews through from Trustpilot which helps show people that we can be trusted.
That's the A to Z of African Budget Safaris right there.
If you have any questions, concerns, comments or suggestions please send us a message or add them below.
Landia is a nature and animal lover. This South African woman avoids crowds seeking out quiet places. She has worked in the African safari industry for over 16 years!
