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Reviews

Find out why our guests love us so much

4.9/5

Based on 865 reviews

Feefo
Travel and Leaisure Worlds Best Awards for number 1 tour operator in the world 2024 and number 2 tour operator in the world 2025
We're one of the World's Best Tour Operators!
Voted No.1 in 2024 and No.2 in 2025 by Travel+Leisure
At Timbuktu our mission is to delight our guests every step of the way, from planning to traveling. We're really proud to share all of our guests' feedback.
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Highly Recommend!

Highly Recommend!

May 2022

10 nights in Tanzania

This was our third trip to Africa, and our standards have crept up with each. I'm glad to have found Catherine to organize this last one. My biggest goal was to find someone who "got" what we were looking for. She did just that and created an amazing custom itinerary for us. The lodges she selected were superb and had the kind of vibe and experience we were after. The execution of the trip went flawlessly (ok, there were some minor hitches, but they weren't due to any fault of Timbuktu, but to the vagaries of international travel with lots of moving parts). Throughout the process, Catherine has been super attentive and responsive. She has years of experience and a great team behind her. I would use Timbuktu again in a heartbeat.
Perfect African Safari Travel Company

Perfect African Safari Travel Company

May 2022

Kenya Safari

I cannot recommend Timbuktu enough! Jenna was an amazing help planning my Kenyan safari. I’m a big traveler and planner, so I thought I had done my research and knew exactly where I wanted to go and stay. Jenna had some suggestions and opinions that she shared that I was so grateful for, and that resulted in changing all of my lodging, and one of my locations. The lodging she suggested was actually nicer than I thought I could afford! She was so quick in responding to me with any questions I had, and seemed just as excited about my trip as I am! The website itself is so easy to use, and provides the perfect amount of detail on each location and hotel option. I’m so glad I used Timbuktu, and will definitely use them again on my next trip to a location they offer.
Highly recommend Timbuktu! It made the booking experience 1000% easier.

Highly recommend Timbuktu! It made the booking experience 1000% easier.

May 2022

16 nights in Zimbabwe, South Africa and Mozambique

To be honest, I’ve never booked a trip through a company before. I always try to just put together my itinerary based off of research. Meagan Yash made me realize… why the heck haven’t I been using you guys for every trip! Meagan listed to our wants and crafted the perfect experience. Her local expertise was instrumental in planning. It allowed me to make sure we weren’t missing out on something that aligns with our interests. Highly recommend.
April 2022

14 nights in Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya

They responded quickly to my inquiry and worked hard to come up with a great itinerary.
Our Dream Kenyan Safari [Honeymoon]! Thanks Catherine!

Our Dream Kenyan Safari [Honeymoon]! Thanks Catherine!

April 2022

10 nights in Kenya

My experience with Catherine has been fabulous. It took some back and forth, but she was super accommodating after I explained that I like to see multiple lodging options per destination. I love how she incorporated all of my asks, was super friendly, provided prompt responses [even when a reply might take a lil longer than expected], stayed within our budget, and built the custom itinerary in real-time via a user-friendly website. This isn't feedback for Catherine, but when I went to the site and wanted to build a custom trip the form wasn't submitting for me [desktop and mobile]. I actually didn't know who to get in touch with based on the website alone. I finally reached out to my friend, and she provided me Catherine's direct email address. I think the form is fixed now, but I found it difficult to get in contact with someone just by the website info alone. We haven't gone on the trip yet, but this part so far has been really nice. Timbuktu and Catherine lifted a huge weight off my shoulders! We're global nomads, and I'm constantly researching and planning all our trips. This would've been near impossible while also planning our 7-day wedding in Mykonos. We're super stoked for our African Safari adventure. We're both first timers! I highly recommend using Timbuktu Travel to build your own trip or plan a custom one like us. I foresee us using them for South Africa and Bhutan in the future!
Trip to South Africa

Trip to South Africa

April 2022

15 nights in South Africa

i would both recommend them and use them again, catherine was great especially when we wanted to tweak the end of the trip
April 2022

9 nights in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Botswana

i've completed this review several times - so will be brief. Our travel agent / consultant, Kristin, was very knowledgeable and always responsive. Her backup, Joanna, did a good job when Kristin was traveling.
Excellent Experience!

Excellent Experience!

April 2022

16 nights in South Africa

Jenna was amazing in helping us to plan our Africa adventure. She was willing to help with all my changes and needs. I would highly recommend Timbuktu and we will be using them again in the future.
April 2022

11 nights in Egypt

Both the planning/booking process & our trip itself were fabulous. Completely faultless & even better than we expected. We have just booked another trip with Timbuktu.
Do NOT go anywhere else!

Do NOT go anywhere else!

April 2022

13 nights in Sri Lanka and Maldives

I can't even begin to describe how much we love Timbuktu and our travel agent especially. My wife found this place after a lot of research into a South Africa trip and Joanna was able to take our concept, come up with a few different ideas, and then carefully work with us to tailor the trip to our exact needs. The best part was our agent had already done a trip to South Africa so her first hand experience was incredible! Six months after we return we've booked another trip to Sri Lanka. We're excited to book it so far out so it can be affordable to us and Joanna led the way this time as we had no idea what we had in store. Again, perfectly tailored! I can't wait to come back here!
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As Seen in

11 Condé Nast Traveler Top Travel Specialists 2025

Condé Nast Traveler

No. 1 & No. 2 Tour Operator in Travel + Leisure's Best Awards 2024 & 2025

Travel + Leisure

Best Booking Platform in Women's Health Travel Awards 2025

Women's Health

Travel Specialist voted as Latin America A-List Travel Advisor 2025

Latin America A-List Travel Advisor

"Timbuktu can take relatively complex and slightly amorphous travel plans and transform them into a well-organized, perfectly tailored trip."

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