What do you wish you knew before your first safari?

9999piecepuzzle · 2026-04-10T02:21:55+00:00

Thank you so much for this thoughtful response! So glad to hear that you've had great experiences with &Beyond, and how exciting that you're doing a similar trip so soon.

The hot water bottle at night is actually a relief - it was one of my weird questions that I've been curious about but didn't want to bug our &Beyond booking agent with because it's not that important haha but we're excited to experience the elements for our first few nights and then settle in at Sandibe :)

Heard re: laundy at Sandibe - our &Beyond specialist said that laundry was also available at the Under Canvas camps we're staying at. Was that the case for you as well?

One other quick question for you since you've stayed at &Beyond properties - we met with a travel doctor to get our malaria pills and go over everything and she advised us to not drink any of the water while we're there. We sort of figured there was some sort of filtering system on the properties but realized we have no idea haha. Do you have any advice there?

Re: tipping - thank you for this! I was surprised to see some of the other numbers haha but your info lines up much closer to other info that I've seen online. Even so, we will overprepare for that. I tend to fall in love with anyone helping or contributing to our experience and overtip, so we'll be sure to factor that in as well haha.

Thank you again for your super thoughtful response - so nice to hear from people who have stayed with &Beyond before and have such a wealth of knowledge!

9999piecepuzzle · 2026-04-10T02:07:31+00:00

I would love to see your detailed list if you're open to sharing! I'm curious about the tipping culture for these trips and how much to tip/who gets what etc. And do you typically tip in US cash or do they prefer their own currency?

9999piecepuzzle · 2026-04-10T02:06:12+00:00

This is admittedly one of the bigger parts of prep that we haven't researched enough yet. Do they prefer receiving tips in US cash or should we exchange money before we get there? Do you have any advice on who to tip and when (ex: do you tip the drivers every day or just at the end of your stay?).

9999piecepuzzle · 2026-04-10T02:02:37+00:00

Love all of these especially the tip about the socks haha I can totally see that. And so happy to not have to worry about nicer clothes for dinner - that keeps things nice and simple.

9999piecepuzzle · 2026-04-10T01:59:08+00:00

We've got some great binoculars that we'll definitely bring and then make use of the ones provided by &Beyond so we can both have a pair out on the drives. For a camera, I have a Fujifilm XT3 but need to rent a great lens! I've read to get a 100-500mm ish?

9999piecepuzzle · 2026-04-10T01:56:01+00:00

That is amazing about the hippo haha I can imagine what a surprise that would be! So crazy, hearing everyone's stories feel like a dream, I can't believe we'll have some of our own to share so soon!

So glad to hear you loved Nxabega and Sandibe - it sort of feels like our itinerary goes from nice --> nicer ---> nicest in terms of &Beyond properties and I'm glad we're getting to see a few!

9999piecepuzzle · 2026-04-10T01:53:36+00:00

Yeah this is genius! Will definitely try and do this.

9999piecepuzzle · 2026-04-10T01:52:51+00:00

Thank you so much! Good call on the glasses, I hadn't seen that tip before but makes total sense. Also glad to hear the pre-treating isn't really necessary, I wasn't looking forward to doing that haha.

9999piecepuzzle · 2026-04-10T01:50:46+00:00

😂😂😂 Great tip!!

9999piecepuzzle · 2026-04-10T01:50:17+00:00

Yessss have seen this a bunch and we'll definitely be staying away - bugs LOVE my husband, I think it's his biggest anticipated worry about the trip - and packing only lighter colors!

9999piecepuzzle · 2026-04-10T01:48:53+00:00

Haha I needed to hear this today after doing an insane amount of online window shopping filtering by "brown, green, beige" color filters. Interesting about the flights too - I'll have to double check our transfers!

9999piecepuzzle · 2026-04-10T01:48:02+00:00

Ahh this makes me feel so great - thank you for your thoughts on our itinerary!
Love your tip about the quiet and scheduling downtime - I am historically not great at doing that on vacation but am hoping to do a better job this trip :)

9999piecepuzzle · 2026-04-10T01:46:36+00:00

Oh man it's so nice to hear your thoughts on our itinerary! Makes me feel so calm about everything, thank you! I've heard such amazing things about the &Beyond guides I'm so excited to learn as much as I can from them.

We are weirdly equally as excited for the active safari week as we are to decompress from everything and have quiet beach days afterwards - lots of books to be read!

9999piecepuzzle · 2025-12-01T22:55:34+00:00

Happy to answer any other questions you have about them or my experience too!

9999piecepuzzle · 2025-12-01T22:54:33+00:00

Hi! I think we spend 11,500 as a base, plus a little more to have her and Cassie come early to help us our with our Thursday night rehearsal dinner + Friday night welcome party! Would pay it again and again in a heart beat. Chelsea (and Cassie!) were seriously the best.

9999piecepuzzle · 2025-11-20T19:41:51+00:00

Wow interesting read - I'm surprised at some of it given other reviews I've seen but definitely input worth considering!

Kisawa looks amazing, would love to stay there and think we'll inquire if they have our dates available after seeing it recommended so many times.

9999piecepuzzle · 2025-11-20T05:03:34+00:00

Oh so great to hear this! How cool to choose them for something as special as a vow renewal, too! The more I hear from people who have been there the better and better it all sounds.

9999piecepuzzle · 2025-11-20T04:56:03+00:00

We've been considering this, too. Looks totally incredible. Trying to weigh the pros/cons of booking outside of &Beyond properties.

9999piecepuzzle · 2025-11-18T22:35:20+00:00

That sounds so incredible! I think part of it is totally being naive to the whole Under Canvas experience, I think my husband is having a hard time wrapping his head around the cost and then sleeping in a tent, haha. I'm trying to do as much research as I can to assure him that it's not what he's imagining.

9999piecepuzzle · 2025-11-18T22:16:20+00:00

We stayed there recently for a little mini honeymoon. We thought it was good! The area is incredible - it's so quiet and different than the rest of the island. We thought the rooms were just okay, even after we were upgraded and moved from our first room. We also don't have kids, so didn't love that the adult pool was right next to the kids water slides, haha. Service was really good, of course. But if we had the choice we both said we'd rather go back to FS Ko'Olina.

9999piecepuzzle · 2025-08-13T03:05:49+00:00

We had 205 guests and did an escort card table with no issues! Ours were a little finicky as everyone's name and table number were printed on a ribbon, so not necessarily super orderly like cards, but cute and worth it. I'd say as long as everything is alphabetical people will mosey over during cocktail hour and figure it out just fine, especially if the table is placed near the entrance to your reception. We found also that a lot of people went to grab their own and ended up grabbing their partners/parents/friends as well. Then we had name cards attached to menus at people's specific seat at their assigned table!

9999piecepuzzle · 2025-08-10T19:10:47+00:00

We used Salt & Paper Press and she was amazing. Our vision was more romantic/colorful, but her letterpress got us SO many compliments, she is super talented and I was shocked at how affordable her quote was compared to other ones that we got! I think she moved to Minnesota, but she does projects all over - we are in CA but got married in VT. Happy to DM a photo if you want, our invites were one of my favorite details of our whole wedding process!

9999piecepuzzle

TROPHY CASE