Reviews

To begin, I usually orchestrate my own trips, but was a bit unsure about how to plan gorilla trekking in Africa. I was planning two years out, and some travel companies refused to work with me so far in advance. Timbuktu's concept was alluring, and they were happy to walk me through the process. When I priced out doing the trip without Timbuktu, their cost came under what I would pay doing everything myself. Joanna was my travel consultant, and she was a dream to work with. She answered all my questions and replied quickly to all emails. Always amazingly professional and with me every step of the way. Well, Covid hit, and now the trip had many more hoops to jump through. And then one of the volcanoes in Volcanoes National Park erupted a month before our departure. And Rwanda went on partial lockdown. Amazingly, everything went smoothly. Everything. We began at the Giraffe Manor, safaried at Masai Mara, and gorilla and Golden Monkey trekked in Rwanda. We had multiple flights and transfers, had to be Covid tested four times during our two weeks of travel, and all of this happened with expert coordination. We had great service from all the drivers, guides, hotels, safari camp, lodges and restaurants. Wonderful food, friendly people, and our experiences were above and beyond expectations. I would recommend Timbuktu to anyone traveling to Africa. Thank you, Timbuktu.

This was our second trip with Timbuktu and we came back with very high expectations after our first experience! Once again, everything was handled expertly from the smallest details to the most critical ones. Katie Fahrland was especially great (again) throughout planning our trip and her responsiveness to our questions/requests was exceptional.

We loved how easy the website was and being able to hand-pick every aspect about our trip to fit our budget and time table. Our personal trip advisor, Katie Fahrland, was the best at helping us get the most time on safari and not caught up in traveling too far. She responded quickly to my questions and called when we needed further discussion.

Katie arranged an excellent safari/beach tour of Tanzania for us. Probably my highest praise is that everything was exactly how she said it would be - no surprises, no unexpected disappointments, no logistical snafus. From the driver (Samuel, excellent) to the lodges to the in-country flights and ground transport, everything was exactly as promised and happened when and how it was supposed to. We have already recommended Katie to friends who are considering a safari once Covid has subsided a bit more. And we would definitely use her again.

Went to South Luangwa in Zambia for 4 nights. Tessa organized my whole itinerary up to the smallest details. Not only I strongly recommend Timbuktu but also planning to organize more itineraries this year with them.

Katie did an amazing job of planning my trip, communication effectively, answering all of my many questions, and being flexible with all of my change of plans!

As an independent traveller I am always a bit scared when I have to rely on other people organising a trip for me, because I always fear they will not understand my needs and just sell me a pre-existing trip, not different from other thousands trips. With Timbuktu I was sure this was not going to happen, as I felt in really good hands since the beginning. The first time I spoke with our travel assistant, Catherine, she spent almost one hour on the phone with us just listening carefully to our dreamy idea of a perfect honeymoon. And after that, she never stopped answering any kind of question and listening to our suggestions and needs. She really understood what kind of trip we wanted and she managed to create an itinerary that seems just perfect! I really feel she cares about our honeymoon as it was her own and I was impressed by her efficiency, expertise, sensitivity and spirit of service. Apart from the incredible people working here, the whole system works really good. The website is full of useful information on countries, facilities and accommodations and the booking process easy and fast. After having booked my honeymoon with them I can assess that the service is just incredible, done by people who are really in love with their job that make you feel special and not just a customer among many. I would book again with Timbuktu without any doubt.

It was our first time in Africa, and we booked most of our honeymoon trip with Timbuktu (exceptions being one lodge + one hotel I booked with credit card points). I highly recommend booking with Timbuktu or even just reaching out for information. Jonty, who helped us was fast to respond, and the vendors he booked were timely and professional. I initially tried to DIY booking our whole 2 week trip and found it hard to communicate with lodges directly and book our own transportation. When I reached out to Jonty, he was able get everything sorted out right away and clearly communicated pricing and directions. He was also able to set up a tour for us while we were already on our trip because we decided last minute we wanted to tour the city. Lastly, I love that their website is so easy to navigate, and they lay out your itinerary in a way that's easy to refer back to.

They were awesome - super responsive, knowledgeable and detail oriented :-)

Jonty was awesome, he made what I thought would be a hard and drawn out process, quick and easy. We are so excited to take our Bucket List trip to South Africa. If you are looking for a stress free travel experience, this is it!