Robert Mark Safaris Reviews 

26
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TrustScore 4.5 out of 5

4.7

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Rated 5 out of 5 stars

This was my first safari and it was GREAT and will want to go to another! Made possible by Robert Mark Safaris. Started first with all the detailed coordination and planning and follow up... See more

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Planning our Africa safari, we worked with Rob and were impressed by his attention to details, patience, transparency, and thoughtfulness. It was clear that Rob cared about us and about our need... See more

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

From start to finish our experience with Natalie at Robert Mark Safaris was excellent. While I appreciate we didn’t make it easy for her to find us the perfect safari holiday spanning 3countries in No... See more

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

We were very happy with the whole trip. The lodgings, food and game views were top notched and Robert Marks delivered what he promised. What impressed us most is that we booked this trip in 2019 fo... See more

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4.7

Excellent

TrustScore 4.5 out of 5

26 reviews

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4.7

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Rated 5 out of 5 stars

My First African Safari

This was my first safari and it was GREAT and will want to go to another! Made possible by Robert Mark Safaris.

Started first with all the detailed coordination and planning and follow up with me with one of their trusted assocatiates, Robert Dent. Everything went very smoothly - local flights, transfers and pick-ups. And for a trip to Africa, this is not a trivial matter. And all went well without any mishaps. Recommendations on accommodations and what I wanted to see on wildlife were excellent.

This has been a very memorable safari trip for me and made possible by Robert Mark Safaris. Will definitely be going on a future one and will contact them.

Thank Rob



27 October 2024
Unprompted review
Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Impressive

Planning our Africa safari, we worked with Rob and were impressed by his attention to details, patience, transparency, and thoughtfulness.

It was clear that Rob cared about us and about our needs. He was eager to tailor the trip to our wishes. He also provided a very detailed plan and was transparent about its pros and cons.

We haven’t taken the trip eventually due to personal reasons, but we will be excited to work with him next time we plan a safari in Africa.

3 June 2024
Unprompted review
Rated 5 out of 5 stars

An Unforgettable, Flawlessly Executed South African Adventure with Robert Mark Safaris!

Top reasons why we are a super promoter.

Personalisation. The dedication towards personalised planning was evident from our very first interaction. Robert invested time in understanding our preferences, travel style, and desires. Subsequently, he crafted a bespoke itinerary that not only captivated our interests but also introduced us to hidden gems across the region.

Super choice of accommodations. Our accommodations were nothing short of spectacular, each lodging providing a unique experience yet consistently maintaining a high standard of comfort and luxury.

Eye for detail. Robert ensured the smallest details were looked into. For example: ensuring the right room types and locations for my family of 4, right activities given our family profile, detailed itinerary suggestions on the road trip to maximise unique stops/ restaurants along the way etc. We were able to follow 90%+ of the suggestions/ optional activities and loved them.

The App. Complementing our physical journey was the brilliantly devised concierge app, a virtual companion that ensured all pertinent information was readily available at our fingertips. From travel guides and booking details to safety protocols, the app was an indispensable tool that greatly enhanced our travel experience.

Proactive support during trip. The true testament to Robert Mark Safaris’ exemplary service came to light when we were met with an unexpected storm at the start of the journey. A severity 9 storm that caused serious flooding in parts of the western cape - some of which we had plans to visit. This necessitated a reroute of our road trip. Rob’s proactive assistance was paramount, helping us navigate through the situation with ease and ensuring our safety and enjoyment were uncompromised.

Infinite stars and heartfelt gratitude to Robert Mark Safaris for an adventure that will be cherished and recounted for years to come.

23 September 2023
Unprompted review
Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Adventurous and Wonderful Safari

We were very happy with the whole trip. The lodgings, food and game views were top notched and Robert Marks delivered what he promised.

What impressed us most is that we booked this trip in 2019 for our holiday in July 2020 but due to COVID, our holiday kept postponing. During the 4-year period (our trip finally took place on 12 July 2023), Robert was so approachable and were always ready to answer our queries and helped resolved any issues that came along the way. We are impressed by Robert's professionalism and have already recommended Robert Marks to many of our friends who already expressed interest in joining their tour. We hope to go to Botswana with Robert Marks in the near future. Hope to speak to Robert soon.

12 July 2023
Unprompted review
Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Best organised holiday in memory

We normally organise all our holidays directly, but for a special trip with our three young kids to Kenya, we chose Robert Mark Safaris. Not only did they not disappoint, but they curated a genuinely seamless experience to match the incredible locations (Amboseli and Masai Mara). Every detail was covered by RMS including for our kids, who just loved it. Would highly recommend Robert Mark Safaris!

30 December 2022
Unprompted review
Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Unforgettable honeymoon safari!

Rob Dent with Robert Mark Safaris helped my wife and I plan an amazing honeymoon. It was a seamless experience. We told Rob what we wanted out of our trip and he helped curate the perfect itinerary by providing a number of options at different locations and service levels that worked within our budget. The result was an eight day safari at three different locations. Witnessing endless wildlife with top notch service and the experience of watching The Great Migration across the Mara River!

27 August 2022
Unprompted review
Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Family Safari

We had a wonderful time on a two family trip organized by Natalie at Robert Mark Safaris. We went with our kids ages 9 and 11 and everything went very smoothly. Natalie was also able to help via WhatsApp during the trip, easily reachable. It was a trip of a lifetime! We highly recommend it!

20 November 2022
Unprompted review
Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Out of this World!

Out of this World!
Robert Mark Safaris promised us a once-in-a-lifetime bush experience at Singita Boulders and Singita Lebombo and that's exactly what they delivered. Natalie guided us through the minutiae of our itinerary, taking into account our mature age and sometimes difficult personal requirements. From the outset, Natalie's expertise and passion for her work ignited our own desire to share in the splendour of Singita's luxury accommodation and to embark on a personalised, eight-day safari. Singita's unparalleled hospitality and attention to detail ensured that our every need was met without exception. Natalie's recommendation that we visit two of Singita's lodges was excellent advice as the lodges, game viewing, bird life and landscapes were vastly different. In both instances, our respective personal guide and tracker ensured that we missed nothing and remained comfortable by providing us with all our needs including a personal pair of binoculars. Their expertise was astounding as they showed us beautiful dragonflies skimming the waterways and pointed out innumerable species of birdlife that we would otherwise have missed. Motionless crocodiles sunned themselves on riverbanks while hippos splashed and yawned in deeper waters. We marvelled at the giant paws of a black-maned lion, sleepy lionesses and playful cubs. We witnessed a spectacular leopard outwitting some opportunistic hyaena by dragging its kill further and further up a tree. We bore witness to newly born elephants and a plenitude of baby impala: a baby giraffe still bearing its umbilical cord, standing fearlessly alongside its towering mother, and a steadfast female rhino thwarting attempts at mating by an eager, huge-horned male. As she grunted and stamped her feet, her several offspring stood behind her crying like babies. On another occasion, we were surrounded by a large herd of buffalo making its way to the river. Pristine antelope such as nyala, waterbuck, bushbuck, impala, steenbok and majestic kudu were abundant and during our daily sundowner drives we saw: bushbaby, scrub hare, African wildcat, civet, small spotted genet and a lone porcupine scurrying into the bush with quills rattling: spotted hyaena, black-backed jackal with pups, side-striped jackal, Cape spotted eagle owl, square-tailed nightjar and a pack of wild dogs with their pups playing happily in roadside mud puddles. Indeed, the list goes on and on, but it's really the feeling that emanates from being in the bush that remains; it's the sights, smells and sounds that fill your senses and restore your soul; it's the starry skies, the sunrises and sunsets; the surprise of it all and the learning of its secrets. It is said that if you only visit two continents in your lifetime, go to Africa twice... Africa is truly 'Out of this World'. Thank you Robert Mark Safaris and the incredible Singita family for giving us a glimpse of paradise. Don and Jacqui

26 November 2021
Unprompted review
Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Fantastic safari from start to finish…

From start to finish our experience with Natalie at Robert Mark Safaris was excellent. While I appreciate we didn’t make it easy for her to find us the perfect safari holiday spanning 3countries in Nov 2019 (SA / Zambia / Botswana) she made it all work and without a hitch. It was a perfect trip and every detail was planned excellently. I would highly recommend and when we are able to fly / travel and the safari itch needs scratching I’ll be straight on the phone with Natalie to book!

4 March 2021
Unprompted review
Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Robert Mark Safaris is a company that genuinely cares

We were so impressed by the level of personal service we received when we were booking our safari and now we are unfortunately not able to go to Botswana because of the lockdown. Natalie has been brilliant! She contacted us to talk us through our options and we've now rescheduled our trip for next year so we have something to look forward to when everything is normal again. Robert Mark Safaris is a company that genuinely cares about its clients, which makes a massive difference in a crisis! Thanks so much for all your help, we can't wait to travel again and are very glad we booked with you! :)

27 April 2020
Unprompted review
Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Fantastic company to plan a trip with!

Fantastic company to plan a trip with! Very helpful, well done!

12 January 2020
Unprompted review
Robert Mark Safaris logo

Reply from Robert Mark Safaris

Thanks for your feedback Theodore and for your detailed feedback of the lodges that you sent us. It sounds like you had lots of special moments! We are very happy to hear that you enjoyed your time with us and we look forward to welcoming you back next time!

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Great Service

Just got back from our Kenya safari and can’t say enough good things about it - Robert Mark Safaris put together the perfect tour for us, with a truly personal level of service we’ve not found with other travel companies despite having been a few times before. Definitely our company of choice for the future!

29 December 2019
Unprompted review
Rated 5 out of 5 stars

The BEST experience - just do it!

We absolutely loved our trip, so much so that I’ve just booked another one for next year (this time to Namibia also with Robert Mark Safaris, we’re so excited!). Everything surpassed our expectations - our camps were just perfect, the weather was fab and we got to see our leopard!

Robert Mark Safaris doesn’t miss a beat! Their staff are amazing (and somehow perpetually available), their app is one of the best we’ve had on a holiday and they even managed to arrange a surprise bush breakfast for our anniversary - all we can say is THANK YOU! We loved every minute and can’t wait to go back!

12 December 2019
Unprompted review
Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Highly Recommended!

I don't normally take time to write reviews, but excellent service from everyone at Robert Mark Safaris on our recent trip to Namibia. Natalie was fantastic to work with from the start until after we got home. Highly recommended.

10 December 2019
Unprompted review
Rated 5 out of 5 stars

We used Robert Marks last month for our…

We used Robert Marks last month for our trip to Botswana and we had a beautiful and amazing time. We traveled from Okavango to the marsh at Linyanti and to the Kalahari and then saw the Meercats at the salt pans and everything was really very much above our expectations, especially with those activities that we did which was very much more variety than expected and very interesting too. The team we worked with were very friendly and the organisation was good, so everything worked well and I think they made a big difference to the success of our trip so thank you really, we look forward to our next visit in another year sometime soon.

6 December 2019
Unprompted review
Rated 2 out of 5 stars

Unresponsive and poor planning.

I rarely post negative reviews, but felt compelled to write this. I believe that everything written is factual or is my own opinion. I am sorry that Robert Mark Safari disagrees with my assessment, but the agent I worked with was definitely not satisfactory. I have edited this review to provide some clarification and hope that RMS will stop trying to have it removed from your site.

We were a party of 3 adults traveling from the USA to Africa in October 2019. Our goal was to see the gorillas in Rwanda, witness the Great Migration in Kenya and Tanzania and visit the Ngorongoro Crater. I chose our accommodations which included Bisate, The Giraffe Manor and the andBeyond Ngorongoro Crater Lodge. The andBeyond property in Kenya was booked so our agent recommended the Cottars, which was wonderful.
I wired funds for a 50% deposit on July 19, 2018 and I had to send two requests before I finally received confirmation from the agent on August 11, 2018 that our funds were received. This deposit was necessary to hold our accommodations, even though the domestic flight schedules were not yet available for booking. I thought this was strange, as the deposit was non-refundable
We heard nothing from the agent and only after inquiring about the kidnapping of an American tourist on a gorilla trek in Uganda did we hear from one of the other agents that the original agent had "moved on" and the she would be handling our booking.
In 3 occasions when we asked questions of the previous agent we were reminded to look at the RMS app for answers. This was inconvenient at times since I travel quite often and access to the internet was often spotty.
Our new agent emphasized that we were only allowed to take soft sided bags with no hard edges (she even sent pictures of sample bags), with maximum weight of 15 kgs. We complied and were surprised to see that Micato Safaris provided rolling duffle bags to their guests which clearly had hard edges around the wheels and weighed more than 15 kgs. Other tourists had Rimowa bags and spinner bags that they were permitted to take on the small planes.
The RMS app also provided a packing list for the gorilla trek which included garden gloves, gators and rain jackets. Bisate provided all of those items for us. This may not sound like a big deal, but when limited to 15 kgs, every piece of clothing counts.
I specifically asked RMS to arrange the best route and flights to maximize our two weeks in Africa. Unfortunately, the itininerary resulted in continued stress as we traveled from one place to the other. We spent an entire day and evening traveling from Rwanda to Nairobi, Kenya and spent 8 hours at the Giraffe Manor--6 in which were sleeping as we arrived at the Manor at 11:00 pm and had to leave at 8:15 am the next day. I specifically requested a 2 night stay, and instead of suggesting we skip the Manor because there was nothing available for 2 nights during our time in Africa, RMS assured me we would have enough time to enjoy the property. Of course one cannot predict flight delays, but we could have taken a morning flight out of Rwanda instead of the 5:30 pm flight that left at 8:30pm. I wrote to RMS to request a refund for our stay at Giraffe Manor but her "management" said that since I reviewed and agreed to the itinerary, no refund was warranted.
We flew on SafariLink from Nairobi, Kenya to Cottar's Safari Camp and according to our itinerary, we were supposed to land at Cottar's airstrip. SafariLink does not fly to the airstrip and landed at another airstrip 2.5 hours away from the lodge. Another day lost.
When we left Tanzania to fly back to Nairobi, our itinerary said we were to fly from Lake Manyara airstrip to Nairobi, via Coastal Aviation. Instead, our flight flew to Arusha. We looked everywhere for our connecting Coastal Aviation flight to Nairobi, but there wasn't one. Fortunately, we were able to pay a porter to find a flight for us (no one spoke much English) and we discovered that we were actually booked on SafariLink. We barely made our flight back to Nairobi, where we spent the evening before departing for our flight back to the U.S.A.
Needless to say, I was so disappointed in RMS and learned never to trust a travel company that does not have a presence in the country in which I am traveling. RMS was recommended by a friend in South Africa and I have several friends in South Africa who said the company is reputable. I will say RMS provided us a driver for the afternoon on our last day in Nairobi and offered a $165 refund out of the $50,000+ spent on our trip for poor service at the Nairobi airport. Hardly satisfying.

Rob’s response is hardly a consolation. We agreed to the itinerary because we relied on their travel specialist. Whilst we understand one cannot anticipate flight delays, there is no excuse for posting the incorrect airport and airline for our transfers to and from Kenya and Tanzania. We count on, and compensate, the travel agent to check that all information on the itinerary is correct and the routes are reasonable. Unfortunately, RMS’s agent did not perform and while she was terminated, we paid the consequences.

20 October 2019
Unprompted review
Robert Mark Safaris logo

Reply from Robert Mark Safaris

Dear Sharon,

Thank you for planning your trip with us and for your feedback and comments, we have carefully taken these on board. As you have expressed we have a very good reputation with our client group, all of whom we welcome to our family of travellers and look after thoroughly so we are saddened to hear that our service did not live up to expectation.

If you do give us another chance one day and travel with us again, we will be sure to add extra luggage fares for you on light aircraft - where they are available - to allow you to carry larger suitcases, as well as add an airside meet-and-assist for you in transiting any airports to assist you with onward connections.

Please do accept our apology for a late email that wasn't received by you when your confirmations should have gone out - as you know, Tanya is no longer with the company.

We have however investigated your claim that we weren't responsive and found that on the contrary we had 44 interactions with you, of which 42 (or 95%) were on time with an average response time of 1 hour and 41 minutes of business time, continuing from when we first communicated with you until after your trip. We know that this is way ahead of what is offered by other travel companies operating in our space. Claims that we mostly directed you to our app are unfortunately untruthful, as an investigation of our correspondence with you shows that all questions were answered by email; records show very thorough, detailed and supportive answers being given to you and also you thanking us for them and for all our hard work. If you feel any other communication was missed, please do let us know when and we will happily investigate that as well or provide you with a copy of the full history / copy of all communication to assist you.

Whilst experiencing all of the highlights that you did around this region makes for a wonderful, varied and adventurous trip for many of our guests, travel between areas can be a little time consuming when visiting remote areas in 3 countries - with limited connections between them - over a 10-day period, as you had requested to do. The itinerary was done in the order it was due to the availability of the properties that you requested, although having any other itinerary order would not have saved you any time. This was all thoroughly discussed with you during the planning phase (before you confirmed your trip) and multiple itinerary options - including some that skipped Giraffe Manor and used other routings - were discussed with you, at which point you wanted to including Giraffe Manor and that you chose your own itinerary out of the various options presented to you. We always assume that your time is very valuable whilst away and all flights used were indeed the shortest scheduled routings connecting the areas that you wished to visit.

Airline delays unfortunately do happen in travel and I trust you understand why we weren’t able to refund your night’s accommodation in Nairobi on your request after your late arrival there, although we do understand that this can be upsetting. We are however happy that you were able to attend the famed breakfast with the giraffes at the Manor; this is the primary activity there that we assured you you would have time to do in the morning. We did also arrange a complimentary vehicle and a guide for you to visit the Giraffe Centre again on your return to Nairobi and offered to cover entry fees for you to the Giraffe Centre and David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust as a gesture of hospitality made at our own expense. We also spent much time on the day trying to arrange that Giraffe Manor accommodate you for that afternoon, but unfortunately they weren’t able to do so.

A change from Cottar's airstrip to Keekorok airstrip is classed as a minor change to your itinerary, which is permitted. All air operators all across the region will often vary these on the day, and even if we had used a different air operator into Cottar's airstrip, they still don't guarantee that they will land there and often land at a more major airstrip nearby, so we in turn can't guarantee exact airstrip use. Most tour operators won't even publish the airstrip name for this exact reason; we however do so that we can make more information available to our guests. With respect to the game drive from Keekorok airstrip to Cottar's, the direct drive transfer time is 45-minutes to 1 hour, as published and confirmed by Cottar's. We have also confirmed with Cottar's that this was done as a game drive in a game drive vehicle on the day. If they extended the drive to take 2 1/2 hours, this is normally done to extend wildlife and scenic viewing time in agreement with you on the day - that being the primary activity on offer in this area and the reason visitors go there, and this is not a 'day lost'.

We have also re-checked your flights from Manyara to Nairobi. Note that the flights used offer the fastest available flight routing between these areas, as per your request, and these were correctly shown in your itinerary as two flights (one from Manyara to Kilimanjaro in Arusha and then a second flight from there to Nairobi) and not as one flight from Lake Manyara to Nairobi as you suggest above. When you leave a remote area of one country to fly to another country, you are required to depart the first country from an international airport and arrive into an international airport in the second country in order to complete immigration and customs formalities for both countries; sadly we can’t fly you from an unmanned airstrip directly into another country. Both sectors are however ticketed together as a single fare from Manyara to Nairobi by Coastal Aviation, but we show it as two separate flights in your itinerary for greater clarity to be sure that you are aware that you will route via Kilimanjaro and not directly from Manyara to Nairobi. We have confirmed that all flights were correctly operated on the day and that your party was boarded on them. All light aircraft flights can be re-routed on the day and are subject time time variations - this is considered very normal in the area, it applies with all air operators in the region and in turn applies to all travel companies arranging travel in the region. Your flight was routed via Arusha, which is Coastal Aviation's hub - they run their operations from there, all of their staff on the ground know exactly where everybody is going and ensure that all connecting passengers board their onward flights, and they do have a waiting lounge.

We value our guest experience and feedback very highly, so thank you again for your feedback and if you would like to discuss it further please do get in touch with Rob directly on rob@robertmarksafaris.com at your leisure and we will be happy to discuss any further concerns.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Excellent experience with Rob Mark Safaris

Rob helped us find a great safari and flights to Kruger S.A to meet all our family exact expectations and budget at 1 weeks notice before the very busy Xmas period. Rob also provided great advice throughout to make sure we were all set for a great holiday. It was so helpful to get local knowledge of South Africa within Hong Kong where we live. I would highly recommend.

2 January 2018
Unprompted review
Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Excellent understanding of luxury

Very professional, knowledgeable and an absolute pleasure to deal with from the word go.
We had a great holiday - had never been to Africa before but was one of our best experiences of all time and definitely recommend RMS to anyone thinking of going. They have a great understanding of what luxury is really all about, how to value your privacy, and how to look after you.

15 December 2017
Unprompted review
Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Had a great holiday the best ever and …

Had a great holiday the best ever and everything really surprised us with the people in the camps being really friendly too and they welcome us a lot. So the choices were good, very good and really exciting destinations. They look after is well and treat us like a family. The Best!

27 September 2017
Unprompted review
Rated 5 out of 5 stars

This is an excellent company I would recommend!

This is an excellent company I would recommend to anyone planning safaris in South Africa combined with a short stay at Cape of good hope, Hermanus, Victoria falls. Rob chooses the best hotels with impeccable service. My family and I were greeted at each airport. On top of that once the deposit to secure your trip is paid, you can start visualizing the wonderful and magical holidays thanks to access to a stress free app which is very detailed! Any question I had before the trip was replied within a day. Excellent service! Thanks for an amazing trip!

2 September 2017
Unprompted review

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