Our Best Vacation Ever!

On the 30th of March 2017, my wife and I left the United States on a Bucket List trip to Africa. Our Guide and Guardian Angel of our Dream was Africa Dream Safaris. This proved to be one of the best decisions I have ever made. Throughout our trip, we had occasion to talk with many people on safari and compare what we had vs what they had and by far, ADS is the best.

From the moment we landed in Africa until the moment when we got back on the airplane to leave, everything was first class. The food, the lodging, the people, the handling of every detail, was nothing but the best. Our guide, Emmanuel, well…it was like it was his life’s mission to make this our best vacation ever and he did just that.

All of that said, the real reason we went to Africa was to see animals in their natural environment. This is where the real magic began. We looked at books, watched videos, looked at pictures and talked to others about their trips to Africa and thus, had established some pretty high expectations. I was told by a friend, that nothing would prepare us for what we were about to see. WOW, was she ever right.

I will never forget the look on my wife’s face as we started our approach and decent to land at the Ndutu Airstrip out in the Southern Serengeti. As we came closer to the earth, in the bush and along the runway, we could see the giraffe’s feeding on the trees, the zebras, wildebeest, and a variety of gazelles grazing along the tree line at the edge of the runway. They were all mixed together and they were all roaming FREE to go wherever they wanted. I have never seen my wife so excited and so happy.

Emmanuel, our guide, picked us up and whisked us away to see some of the most beautiful places on the earth. The Great Migration can never really be explained with words or in pictures. You just have to see it. The view that will live in my mind forever is the first time we rolled onto the edge of a great plains and there, before our eyes were animals, of all kinds and standing only a few feet apart, for as far as the eye could see in any direction you looked.

Thousands and thousands of animals; lions under the trees at the edge of the wood line, giraffes feeding on the trees along the edge of the plane, elephants towering over the zebras, wildebeest, and every kind of gazelle you can think of and all mixed together. We just put down our camera and just tried to take it all in. This was truly a work of God.

We saw all of the Big Five and so much more. While I took hundreds and hundreds of pictures, when I go back and look at them now, I realize that they show only a very small piece of the real thing we were viewing. This was our best vacation ever. Thank you ADS for making all of our dreams come true.

Rick and Jan H.
Winter Garden, Florida
Safari Dates: March 31, 2017 to April 8, 2017

  1. It’s amazing isn’t it? We have been twice and eagerly await another trip. Pictures are amazing and help us evoke memories…but nothing can capture the experience of seeing all of the animals up close.

  2. My soon to be husband, on September 30th of this year, would love to be able to save up the money to go on an African sufiri. It is a dream that I hope we can reach! The animals, the people and the environment look so wonderful. Reading your story only makes me want to go so much more. Thank you for sharing your pictures and story!!!