Born Free Safaris & Tours Avis 

Alana and her team arranged an awesome safari for us after carefully listening to our ideas and making thoughtful suggestions. So wonderful to have all the details taken care of! Loved our camps, guides, drives, all the experiences. Moreover, Born Free's assistance was invaluable when we had to deal with canceled flights at the beginning of our tour.

Born Free set up an amazing, flawless trip to South Africa and Zambia last August and September. We traveled with my sister and her husband. It was their first trip to Africa and they were blown away! Each safari camp was unique and special. The staff, accommodations, food and game drives at each made our trip so special.
We have traveled with Born Free several times and have referred Born Free to anyone planning a trip to Africa. Thanks to the staff at Born Free for creating lifetime memories!

Born Free is an absolutely fabulous travel company that we began using in 2019!  It may not be as well-known as some companies, but you certainly get much better pricing from Born Free!  They provide high-end services, yet are also able to curate trips for the more budget-minded.  Tell them your needs and desires and you can be sure they will accommodate you.  Everyone there is enormously talented at providing the most wonderful vacations based on your wants. They are reliable, honest and hardworking.  THE BEST OF THE BEST!

I told Born Free Safaris what time of year I was able to travel to Africa and they gave me recommendations of what areas in Africa would be good for game viewing.
They were excellent in helping us plan where to go and which camps to use.

The Born Free Team did an amazing job planning our three week Africa Safari in June 2025! Prior to departure we had zero questions because their attention to detail covered everything we needed to know. From arriving in South Africa, traveling to Zambia and Zimbabwe to a breathtaking helicopter ride over Victory Falls to the Bush Camps in South Luangwa National Park to our final resort in Lower Zambezi National Park everything went off without a hitch! Our guides at the Bush Camps led us to all of the animals you hope to see in the bush! The staff was so gracious; always smiling feeding us delicious cuisine and making sure we had just what we needed. Sign me up for a Bush Camp over a Hilton any day! I can’t thank Born Free enough for helping make my first Africa adventure the best ever!

Born Free has planned and executed more than 6 safaris for me, my family and friends. Not to mention countless other trips through referrals. They are knowledgeable, responsive and have deep relationships and contacts throughout Africa, making sure each trip happens without complication. Every trip has been planned perfectly, the camp recommendations never disappoint, and each experience has been wonderful. We wouldn't think of booking with another operator!

I have used this travel agency for several trips, and each experience has exceeded my expectations. If you are looking for a trip that is planned so thoughtfully and flawlessly that your travel dreams truly become a reality, I cannot recommend Alana and her team highly enough.

My travels to Africa have been extraordinary. I have shared my expectations with Alana—sometimes very specific ones—and she and her staff have consistently listened, understood exactly what I was looking for, and delivered.

On my most recent trip to Africa, I traveled solo to trek into the mountains to see the gorillas. It was an incredible experience and one I will never forget. Traveling alone could have felt intimidating, but every detail had been so carefully arranged that I felt comfortable, confident, and well cared for throughout the journey.

The guides were exceptional—knowledgeable, professional, and genuinely wonderful people. The hotels, safari lodges, and resorts were beautiful and carefully chosen, and the entire itinerary flowed seamlessly from one experience to the next. I never felt as though I was simply being placed on a standard tour. The trip felt personal and designed around the way I wanted to experience Africa.

What sets Alana apart is that she doesn't simply book a vacation. She listens to what you hope to experience and then works to make it happen. When you are investing in a significant journey, particularly somewhere as extraordinary as Africa, that level of planning and personal attention makes all the difference.

I have trusted Alana and her staff with several of my travels, and I would do so again without hesitation. They have helped turn some of my travel dreams into memories I will treasure for the rest of my life. I highly recommend them.

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!

We just returned from our 10 day safari to Tanzania. While we travel a lot, this is one part of the world we have never visited. We originally looked online and found that there were literally hundreds of companies advertising safaris. We looked a long time and thanks to the referral of someone who had worked with Born Free Safaris before, we chose Born Free. It was a key and extremely positive decision. There is so much to see and do, that an essential component of planning a safari is deciding where to go and when to go. Thanks to Alana and entire team at Born Free Safaris who had decades of experience, we put together a great itinerary. The help didn't end with the signing the contract, as Tina and Justin (the local team in Tanzania) continued to prep the perfect agenda for us. They answered all of our questions in a timely manner and with great detail and advice. The final travel booklet and backpack we received became our bible and lifeline. The trip itself was FANTASTIC. We stayed at 5 separate camps, each a little different, we saw all of the "big five" animals and a lot more, we had gourmet level food and service, and overall, were treated extremely well. Our guide (perhaps the key) had over 30 years experience and could be one of the best in the area. As one example of the "extra care" Born Free Safaris provided, unfortunately Ethiopian Airlines lost our bags on the way to Africa in Ethiopia. Somehow, Justin and the local team in Tanzania tracked our bags, worked with the airlines and actually had our bags specially flown in to Tarangerie Park so that we wouldn't miss any time of our trip. This was above an beyond! All of the camps they suggested, the hot air balloon company they suggested, were all top notch and seemed much better than any others we saw on our trip. I could go on and on, but I would highly recommend them if you are thinking of going on an African Safari. I know if we go back and if any of our friends ask, we will definitely recommend they work with Born Free Safaris.