Born Free Safaris & Worldwide ToursReviews of safaris2africa.com

THE ENTIRE TEAM, BOTH IN THE US AND IN AFRICA, WAS VERY ATTENTIVE AND RESPONSIVE TO OUR NEEDS. OUR QUESTIONS WERE ALWAYS ANSWERED AND BORN FREE WENT OUT OF THEIR WAY TO HELP, EVEN WHEN GLITCHES DID OCCUR. I RECOMMEND THEM HIGHLY. THEY WORKED VERY HARD TO CREAT OUR DREAM VACATION.

Born Free is my travel go-to. Since 2014, Alana has organized small group or individually guided tours to countries in southern Africa, North Africa, the Middle East, South America, and Antarctica. All the tours were conducted by local agencies in the area. Alana really pays attention to what I want and tries very hard to provide it. She also provides 24/7 support if necessary. My first trip had a four-page, single-spaced list of what I wanted to do and see. She managed all the requests except three. During one trip, the country closed its borders due to a dispute with a neighboring country. A tour group in the dining room where I was eating dinner was told they would be leaving the country the next morning, no room for debate. Alana called me and we discussed the situation. I decided to stay to finish my tour and was able to leave five days later. Alana made all the new travel arrangements. On another tour, my plane was delayed overnight. Alana got a new flight and arranged with the local tour company to meet me at the airport and transport me to the tour venue. During my last tour with Born Free, the country where we were supposed to go erupted into civil unrest. Alana found a similar tour in a neighboring country and we continued our adventure with no lost time and no hassle. I’ll start planning my next trip with Born Free soon. You should consider doing the same.

We live in an age where what is promised too often fails to match what is delivered. We’ve become accustomed to accepting the incomplete and the mediocre because we’ve been conditioned to believe that’s simply how things are. Outstanding customer service, meticulous planning, and genuine attention to detail can seem like relics from another era. Then you discover Born Free Safaris & World Wide Tours. I have travelled with Alana Hayden and her team on two separate occasions, and both experiences exceeded every expectation. In February and March of 2016, six friends and I embarked on a journey through Kenya and South Africa. Our week in the Maasai Mara, staying in a luxury tented camp, remains one of the most magical travel experiences of my life. From there, we spent two weeks exploring South Africa, revisiting many of the places I had first seen more than fifty years earlier as an exchange student during the apartheid era. Our journey took us from the breathtaking Drakensberg Mountains to the warm beaches of KwaZulu-Natal, through the vibrant energy of Cape Town, and finally to Knysna, where I experienced an unforgettable up-close encounter with an orphaned elephant. Along the way we were accompanied by exceptional local guides whose knowledge, warmth, and enthusiasm transformed a great itinerary into an extraordinary experience. One of Alana’s greatest strengths is her ability to refine an itinerary. Travellers, like me, often try to squeeze every possible attraction into every available day, creating schedules that are exhausting rather than enjoyable. Alana understands that memorable travel requires balance. She thoughtfully built periods of relaxation into our itinerary and created opportunities to interact with local people, giving us time not only to see Africa but also to experience it. Looking back, I have an even greater appreciation for the enormous amount of planning and coordination that must have taken place behind the scenes. Everything felt effortless from our perspective, but that seamless experience was the result of careful preparation and exceptional attention to detail. Alana has a remarkable ability to take a collection of half-formed ideas, unrealistic assumptions and wish lists and transform them into a journey that none of us will ever forget. In September 2022, three close friends and I travelled with Born Free once again, this time to Uganda. Our original plans had included Tanzania and Ethiopia, but COVID disrupted those ambitions and forced us to rethink the entire trip. Throughout months of uncertainty, changing regulations, cancellations, and revisions, Alana remained calm, patient, and reassuring. While the circumstances were undoubtedly stressful, she never allowed that stress to become ours. When travel finally became possible, we set off for Uganda and it proved to be another unforgettable adventure. Once again, the local guide made all the difference. Rather than handing us off to different guides in different regions, Alana arranged for us to travel with one outstanding guide throughout our entire stay. Musa’s knowledge of Uganda’s wildlife and national parks consistently put us in the right place at the right time. We enjoyed unforgettable encounters with elephants, leopards, hippos, gorillas, and countless other animals. More importantly, spending two weeks with the same guide allowed a genuine friendship to develop that continues to this day. What sets Alana Hayden and Born Free Safaris apart is not simply their extensive knowledge of Africa, although that alone is impressive. It is their ability to adapt quickly when circumstances change, their network of exceptional local partners, and their commitment to creating journeys that feel deeply personal rather than simply well organized. For me, choosing Born Free Safaris is an easy decision. They understand Africa, they understand travellers, and they know how to bring the two together in a way that creates priceless experiences rather than simply vacations. The next time I travel anywhere in Africa, I won’t have to wonder who will plan the journey. I already know that Alana Hayden and Born Free Safaris will be at the helm, charting another unforgettable adventure.

We have traveled to Africa five times and trusted Born Free Safaris to plan every one of those trips. The attention to detail, the careful planning, and excellent communication gave us great comfort knowing that every single need related to the trip was cared for. Our latest trip in 2025 included 8 members of our family, 2 of whom needed gluten accommodations, and each camp was aware of those needs before we arrived. We have recommended Born Free to others who have also traveled to Africa and raved about Born Free and how organized everything was. They are the absolute best!