Undiscovered Destinations Traveller Reviews

A tailor made private tour for two. The holiday was in two parts, with the first week spent touring central Mongolia, which was a leisurely paced road trip, with plenty of time for me to indulge in my photography hobby. The driver and guide were both incredibly helpful in ensuring that we could stop in suitable places, return to places in more favourable conditions, and I never felt rushed or pressurised during these stops. In fact, I felt positively encouraged, and was frequently asked "do you want to take photos here?" or "do you want to send your drone now?". The accommodation was mostly in gers (yurts) apart from in Ulaanbaatar, although there were a couple of occasions where we were offered to stay in a chalet or the main building in the resort. As someone with walking difficulties and back problems, I was concerned about the lack of en-suite facilities, something that I brought up with Mark at UD before booking. He discussed this at length with their local partners in Mongolia, and in every accommodation we were supplied with eco-toilets, or housed in gers that already offered these facilities. The guide made sure that we were able to experience as many local customs and foods as possible, including many ad-hoc events not part of the itinerary. She was very laid back, friendly, helpful, and professional at all times; and both she and the driver made us feel like VIPs at all times. The second week was at the eagle festival in the far west of the country, and totally different from the first half. The facilities here were very much more basic, as it was a small temporary camp set up just for the festival. As someone with limited mobility, I am very glad we were provided with a 'portapotty', as the shared toilets were a short trek from the gers, across uneven ground as well as two small streams, and I often saw people waiting in a queue to use them (there were only two toilet tents for 30 gers). Two simple metal framed beds were provided in the ger, and a fire was lit at night. The fire was very effective in heating the small space, in my opinion too much so, as within an hour of being lit, the temperature in the ger rose to 30°C, then dropped during the next few hours. The weather was very changeable in this part of the country, dropping to -2° during the night, and rising to almost 20°C in the day when the sun came out. Layers are a must, and I wish I'd brought my thick padded jacket and waterproof trousers. We encountered sunshine, rain, snow, fog, hail, and strong winds during our stay. The festival itself was an amazing experience. It was small and casual and the participants were incredibly patient when asked to be photographed. Although billed as an 'Eagle Festival' where the nomad hunters display their skills as eagle masters; there was so much more on offer: wrestling (Mongolia's national sport), archery (both on foot and horseback), equine games, and horse races. It was described as a 'Mini Naadam Festival', and in my opinion well worth the simple accommodation and adverse weather. We had a different driver and guide here, and the driver was incredibly caring about my disability, positioning his car so that I could photograph the goings-on through the open window when he was able, or at least being in such a position that I did not have to walk far, and could wait in the car until the events started. A couple of times a chair was procured for me from seemingly nowhere. Again, we felt like VIPs. One of the highlights of the trip was spending time with an eagle master and his family in their ger, learning about their way of life, sharing lunch with them, witnessing a private eagle hunting display, and even being able to handle the eagle ourselves. Such an honour and excitement. All in all it was an incredible trip, and we were treated extremely well, ate a lot of good food, saw and experienced some amazing things, and came away with a lot of fabulous photos. I can wholeheartedly recommend this trip for anyone who is happy to forego some of their usual creature comforts in return for a fantastic adventure. Go now before the country changes and becomes more mainstream.

I cannot recommend Undiscovered Destinations enough. Over the years, we have used over 70 different tour operators for our travel arrangements, and UD are up there amongst the very best in the market. Nothing is ever too much trouble. We only ever take private trips these days, and UD will bend over backwards to work out suitable arrangements to fit in with my requirements and mobility issues. They work with some incredible local teams, who all pass on their excellent customer service and caring attitude. I would also recommend booking your flights through them, as if something goes wrong while you are away, they will sort it for you while you continue to enjoy your trip, as happened to us recently when an airline cancelled one of the flights with no suitable replacement. I think the fact that we have booked numerous trips with them over the last ten years (this was the 13th time we have travelled with them, with another one booked for January and discussions about a trip next summer) speaks for itself.

Many very good game drives with excellent guides who were very experienced so that I saw a lot of wildlife. Also, I had a private guide and driver on the tour who spoke perfect English and was interested to make me understand as much of his culture as possible m

E xcellent

4 sites in Burundi - good mix of nature & culture

Finds out-of-the-way places that other tour operators ignore

We spent almost two and a half weeks in Madagascar, in three different parts: - the captial, Antananarivo, and an eastern rain forest national park at Andisibe village, with excellent IC Tours guide and driver, Ando - the north - beautiful Diego Suarez and the bay there, remote Joffreville and the Amber Mountain National Park and finally Andasibe National Park and the amazing Tsingy rock formations, with Eddi, an excellent guide who shared so much information not only about the envrinment and the wildlife but also the social and political background to Madagascar. - an exciting journey on the RN6 to the Nosy Be island archipelago where we had more of a luxusious beach holiday for the lasr 5 days.

Undiscovered Destinations worked closely with us to find a tour that would give us a really good flavour of this amazing island nation but that would also be suitable for our group. It was good to speak to Mark, who really knew the areas that we would be visiting and had been to almost all of the hotels we used. We liked the local tour operator, IC Tours, that they had appointed to look after us when we were there and the guides and drivers employed locally were fantastic!

A guided tour of Armenia and Georgia based on an itinerary suggested by ourselves.

Efficient, responsive and knowledgeable. The local representatives were exceptionally good. We felt safe in their hands and confident that they were doing everything possible to cater to our interests and give us a good experience.

A journey through the three Caucasus countries of Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Armenia. In certain respects very similar but in others widely different. The ramifications of being at the crossroads of Europe and Asia and thus exposed to and incorporated into many empires are still playing out today. Stunning scenery, friendly people, and history galore.

Everything promised was delivered and worked without issue. Local guides absolutely amazing.

Interesting short break (5 days) to visit one of the least known countries in Europe, including history, culture, a modern city and fine wines!

Very friendly and helpful. Clearly explained the itinerary and always available to help with follow up questions

Small group tour to Sulawesi, starting at Makassar in the the south and ending Manado in the north,

I have travelled with Undiscovered Destinations several times. Their tours are always well planned, with excellent guides and pleasant accommodations, and are good value too.

Intimate exploration of a different culture at first hand.

Undiscovered Destinations. Good itinerary and gave me an additional, free night in a hotel to facilitate the flights.

Excellent itinerary, very knowledgeable guide, professional drivers, good accommodations.

Very professional.