Elevate Destinations

My partner and I had the dream of visiting the African wilderness for many years before we decided to travel to South Africa and Zambia this winter. We are quite adventurous and like to figure out things by ourselves, so we never arrange our trips through travel agents. However, given the complexity of traveling in this part of the world, we were totally in the darkness until I spoke with Dominique.

Dominique is extremely enthusiastic and encouraging. She listened carefully, understood our style and designed the appropriate trip for us. She is extremely knowledgeable about the different cultures in Africa as well as about knowing all the options of where to see the most unspoiled wildlife. Additionally, she was extremely patient and never pushed us in any direction until we found the perfect trip for us.

Our trip exceeded above and beyond our expectations. The lodging and food were exceptional but not over the top. The guides were extremely knowledgeable and eager to share their experience. We saw abundant wildlife and learned a lot about it.

It was a truly life changing experience. I will never make another trip to Africa without talking to Dominique first. Everyone should do the same!

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Thank you Elevate Destinations for the best trip ever! Kenya was as spectacular as you said it would be. A truly magical place. Thank you for all the thoughtful details of our trip.

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12People gave this
a kudu

I had never been to Africa before last summer. My family and I decided to go last minute and enlisted the help of Elevate Destinations. I was nervous about going and worried we would get subpar accommodations due to our late booking. How wrong I was. To put it simply, it was the trip of a lifetime. From landing in Tanzania, traveling through four parks and endless miles of "highway," from flying in a small plane to Zanzibar and back, all the details were taken care of for us. No worries; no stress. Our guide was a delight, and all the food and lodging exceeded our expectations.
We can't wait to go back - and of course, use Elevate Destinations!

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a kudu

I learned about Elevate Destinations while poking around the internet for service trips that would be appropriate for my two children, ages 12 and 8, and myself. I was skeptical about the possibility of finding something that could meet our desires to connect with and volunteer in a community in another part of the world, encounter wildlife, especially threatened species, and do it all while working with our budget. Dominique was immediately enthusiastic and encouraging about our budding dream. She listened carefully to our perimeters, presented several options for consideration and was extremely patient while we made our decision.

The trip Dominique curated for our family went above and beyond my hopes on so many levels-- access to wildlife and culture, meaningful engagement and volunteerism, and educational enrichment delivered with exquisite lodging and food and the smoothest of logistics enabling us to soak up our experience undistracted. She put us in the hands of warm and insightful guides with whom we were able to connect instantly.

It was truly a life changing experience that will nurture each of us for the rest of our lives. What began as what I thought was wishful thinking was delivered thoroughly and respectfully to both our family and the vibrant communities and environments that were opened to us.

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11People gave this
a kudu

My daughter graduated from college this year and I thought we should do something grand before she started her first job and would be limited with her vacation time. I started researching companies that build in volunteer activities into family vacations and found Elevate. Dominique Callimanopulos worked patiently with me as I had a lot of questions and did feel nervous about going on my own, not with a tour group. I am so glad I went this way as we got to do everything we wanted to at the pace we wanted to do it in. Dominique had some great suggestions and together we put together what I think is the perfect trip to Africa (S. Africa, Botswana and Victoria Falls/Zambia side). Every step of the way we were met and I never had to lift my luggage the entire trip - now that's a vacation!
I can't recommend Dominique and Elevate Destinations enough. Her passion and compassion is what stands out the most about her. If you tell her you want to book my exact trip, I promise you a trip of a life time.

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12People gave this
a kudu