Niarra Travel Reviews 

Rebecca organized our trip to South Africa and was nothing short of exceptional! My husband and I had the very best honeymoon, thanks to her planning. All lodging and activities couldn't have been better. The highlight of our trip was the exceptional private tour of Cape Peninsula, the Winelands, and Table Mountain that she organized. Rebecca was extremely responsive throughout the planning process, and the team was accessible throughout our stay for any questions. All was well-coordinated, very enjoyable and ran smoothly. We cannot thank Rebecca and her team enough, and recommend them to anyone considering a trip!

From our first phone call with Rebecca, we knew we wanted to work with her. She is so well traveled, knowledgeable and was super open to learning more about who my husband and I were so that she could help plan the honeymoon of our dreams for us (South Africa and Zambia)! Her willingness to hop on a call at the drop of a hat and to chat through details was customer service at its finest. In the beginning stages of our phone calls, we weren’t 100% positive on where we wanted our destination to be especially with covid restrictions changing daily however, Rebecca worked hand and hand with us to show us a few different locations and itineraries to help us make our final decision.

We just returned from our trip this week and we can easily say that this truly the best trip ever. We didn’t have to think about one detail on the trip… when we got off the plane someone was right there holding a sign for us. Every transfer was seamless. Rebecca and Annie even helped arrange the doctor to come to our lodge to perform the PCR test we needed to return to the states for us. That was a huge help and alleviated a ton of stress for us trying to figure it out at the airport alone. In addition to their great attention to details, the accommodations and excursions they booked for us were incredible. All of the lodging welcomed us like family and Rebecca had left us notes and surprises along the way which was so sweet and a special touch. We had shared that we wanted to be immersed in the local communities and Rebecca 1000% delivered on that. We did a cooking class in Cape Town in a locals house and had first visited the market to see which ingredients we would need to buy for the dishes! How cool!? We also visited two local schools, theater class and a local farm. We had one small hiccup with a hotel along the way and both Rebecca and Annie bent over backwards to fix the issue for us in no time (it wasn’t their fault at all!). Other than that, everything went so, so smoothly!! We truly appreciated all of their help while we were on the road to make sure everything was perfect for us. We cannot wait for our next big trip and go have Rebecca help us again!

Fabulous pre-trip support and organization by Emily Hunter. Emily was able to design a well-paced and highly tailored experience for me from some minimal information - finding some of the more obscure locations to stay and co-ordinating flights and transfers was so easy. In-country support was excellent and responsive and made a solo woman traveller feel safe and supported.

Excellent support both before and during our trip.

My family of four (2 adult children) just returned from a vacation of a lifetime to South Africa and Zimbabwe, and enthusiastically recommend Niarra Travel to anyone who is considering travel to these countries. Our trip included both urban (Cape Town) and safari experiences (Ngala, Matetsi). Everything from transfers to hotels to restaurants and activity recommendations to safari lodges were exceptional! Emily planned out everything beyond any of our expectations, and even handled a last-minute flight change swiftly and with ease. We are so grateful for her expertise in travel planning! What we didn’t expect was how much we’d be affected by the lovely people of South Africa and Zimbabwe, their deep commitment to creating a meaningful experience for travelers, and how incredibly important travel is to conservation. There really are no adequate words to describe our experience; we will be talking about this for years to come!

Recently used Niarra to plan an anniversary trip of a lifetime to South Africa. They worked closely with us to understand our likes and wants, and tailored the trip to fit us. The selection of properties we stayed in, the transfers, restaurants, and private tours they organized were all excellent. As this was our anniversary they even added a couple special surprises that made the trip extra special for us. We were looking for a very special trip to celebrate the occasion, and Niarra delivered. All of the details were very well coordinated and thought out, so we only had to worry about enjoying ourselves and left the details to them. Highly recommend, and we will be looking at using Niarra for any future trips that we plan to take.

Where to start in our praise of Niarra Travel? Should we begin with their dedication to conservation and sustainability efforts? Or their ability to create the most unique moments, culminating in the trip of a lifetime? Or perhaps we should start with their personal touch, all the way down to personally looking after our cats while we were away.

My husband and I knew that we wanted to plan a safari for our honeymoon, and it was important for us to work with a tour company that could both guide us and allow us to engage in the planning process ourselves. Having spent a fair amount of time in sub-Saharan Africa for work, I was chock full of ideas but knew that we needed an experienced team to advise and refine our vision.

We did our research and found that of the tour companies we were considering, Niarra Travel most clearly and proactively explained their dedication to environmental conservation – a cause close to our heart. From the first moment we spoke to Rebecca, we knew we were in good hands. She was knowledgeable, enthusiastic, and engaged in our lengthy brainstorming sessions. Rebecca and the entire Niarra team have extensive on-the-ground experience, which makes all the difference.

Our final itinerary (Jao and Selinda Camps in Botswana for safari, and then Sussurro Lodge and Benguerra Island andBeyond Lodge in Mozambique) was set and we were eagerly anticipating the honeymoon, but several weeks before our departure date, one of our cats got severely ill. It initially looked as though we would have to postpone or cancel our long-planned trip.

With heavy hearts we explained the situation to Rebecca and she came back to us with the most generous proposition: that she would personally watch our cats and administer medicine to the sick one so that we could go on the honeymoon. We could not believe it – and still can’t. Rebecca watched over our cats with patient and loving attention while we were away and we will never be able to fully express our gratitude to her!

Our trip was phenomenal from beginning to end. Not only were all the logistical details (flight transfers, travel Covid tests for each new country entry, dietary preferences at each accommodation, etc) seamlessly taken care of, but Niarra also added in some touching surprises, including personal, handwritten welcome notes at each new destination.

We were utterly spoiled with natural beauty, adventure, absolutely delicious food, kindness and hospitality, and Niarra’s subtle but guiding hand along the way. We learned so much about the animals, environment, and sustainability efforts in both Botswana and Mozambique, and made many special memories that we will treasure for life.

Thank you Niarra Travel: architect of adventure, facilitator of fun, sharer of knowledge, and provider of peace of mind. We cannot wait to start planning our next trip(s) with you!

My husband and I worked with Rebecca at Niarra to book our honeymoon to South Africa and couldn’t have asked for a better experience. I would highly recommend Rebecca and the Niarra team and will definitely be using them to travel in the future.

Booking Experience:
Initially, we reached out to 2 travel agencies. Rebecca, with Niarra, responded promptly to my website inquiry and scheduled a call to learn more about what we wanted from our honeymoon. She asked questions ranging from activities we enjoyed, to food preferences, to desired hotel types and locations, and then created a trip that encompassed it all! We only had 2 weeks and wanted to hit the notable spots in South Africa and end on a beach. She worked with us to create an itinerary (Cape Town, the winelands, safari, and Benguerra Island in Mozambique), listened to our feedback, and offered suggestions to make it just-right. For example, we wanted to upgrade a few hotels after seeing the final cost and Rebecca offered which she thought we’d appreciate the most and would give us the biggest bang-for-our-buck. Additionally, she booked all domestic air travel and private airport transfers (in very nice Mercedes sedans), and arranged for COVID testing per local regulations. Our experience with the other travel agency was more “boiler-plate” – offering a budget, moderate, and luxury accommodation option however not at all incorporating my husband’s and my personal preferences. The effort and time Rebecca put in to making sure our trip was everything we wanted made the decision to go with Niarra simple.

Honeymoon Experience:
Every hotel, tour, and restaurant Rebecca suggested were perfect. Hotels were notified in advance that we were celebrating our honeymoon (and left notes or gifts which made us feel special), of dietary restrictions, and all applicable travel arrangements. Further, all the hotels were beautiful, and the staff went above and beyond to make sure we were taken care of and comfortable. The tours we took were engaging and the tour guides (all local) were extremely knowledgeable. And the food was absolutely divine – especially in Cape Town! Rebecca, who is located in London, created a WhatsApp chat with another Niarra employee, Annie who was on the ground in Cape Town, in case we needed anything along the way. They were both available 24/7 for any questions that came up. The only issue we encountered during our 2 weeks trip was a cancelled domestic flight, however one couldn’t even call this an issue since Rebecca and the Niarra team intervened and rebooked us on a new flight before we even knew the original flight was cancelled.

Lodging:
- Cape Cadogan in Cape Town
- Babylonstoren in Franschhoek (The Winelands)
- andBeyond Ngala Safari Lodge in Kruger (Safari)
- andBeyond Benguerra Island in Mozambique

11/10 trip! Thanks again to Rebecca and the Niarra team!

From the moment we arrived in Kenya to the moment we left my wife and I enjoyed every moment of our stay. Niarra Travel had done their homework and selected three very different Saruni locations which exceeded our expectations. The travel between the sites was stress free and the staff at each location were super friendly and made sure that this was the trip of a lifetime.

Niarra helped curate an amazing experience for us in Rwanda. From the accommodations to the local guides and everything in between, it was all so well thought out and coordinated. They were also very patient and responsive to our endless stream of questions during the planning phase of the trip, which was particularly helpful during these tricky times for travel with rules constantly in flux.
Highly recommend, and we look forward to working with them for future trips.

My wife and I decided to book with Niarra for our honeymoon to Kenya. We could not have been more pleased with our decision! Niarra was very attentive to the types of things we wanted to see and happily revised our itinerary based upon our feedback. We were so impressed by how organized and easy the entire process was! There were so many special details throughout the trip that made it memorable. Very responsive throughout the entire process. Exceeded our expectations - we cannot say enough good things! We definitely plan to use Niarra again in the future.

Our family has been looking to do an international trip and was struggling to find a tour company we felt was attentive, engaging, and helpful in answering all of our questions. Within ten minutes of submitting a request for more information through Niarra's website, they called and were excited to help us plan our perfect trip. Emily has been extremely helpful in guiding us through the current COVID restrictions and producing a travel package that our entire family is excited about. We can't wait to go to Africa in a couple of months!

Wow, wow and wow!!! Thank you Niarra Travel for a remarkable and memorable trip from start to end. We trusted in your expertise and you came through with flying colors. Byron and Emily truly understand how Tom and I like to travel, and it showed in every resort, meal and safari adventure, in addition to handling a flight cancellation with ease.

Your vision of sustainable travel is an added bonus, we believe in this 100%.

I would not hesitate to introduce your travel company to friends and family (which I've already done), and look forward to working with you for many more adventures.