Viva Expeditions Reviews 

Excellent organisation. The itinerary was very accurate. Guides were informative and the tours provided great overviews of places and events. A trip of a lifetime showcasing destinations, culture and people. Would definitely recommend Viva. The Asado Fogon in Buenos Aires and Lima Food tour and cheese bread with Açai were extremely memorable culinary experiences

Great on ground operators...All on time and professional.

Overall, it was a great holiday jam packed with great hosts, sights and experiences.

Argentina Viva we’re outstanding good. I got the itinerary plan from them before departure and felt confident. The WhatsApp was great for them and the hotels and guides were super good
Brazil viva did not give me the itinerary until I asked when at Rio airport. When I got to the Airport from Iguazú there was nobody to meet me ! I could not connect my phone to the internet and it was 8pm. I managed to get a local person to connect to their internet and they called up Viva on their own phone. They informed me the pickup car had broken down on the way to the airport, but this was not the initial response I heard, they had forgotten to notify or book a driver. Finally another local sat with me at the airport for the next 2 hours before the driver arrived. I managed to get on the internet by going on to roaming and got hold of the head office Viva and the Brazil side of it. They apologised and sent through my itinerary plan. I gave the 2 people who helped me at the airport some tips in Real ( lucky I had the cash on me)
I was scared and disappointed in Viva Brazil
The next day the guide ( who was Brilliant and we became friends) asked if I had a voucher ? I had to show her my original itinerary from my travel agentto prove I was booked for half day tour. Same thing happened the next day as the guide had no idea what I was booked for and I had no vouchers ( which I was told I would not need) Again I had to show my itinerary from travel agent. The full day guides were very good
I enjoyed my trip very much but had no confidence in Viva for Brazil. I sent a message in my day of travel home to make sure that a driver was booked to take me to the airport on time.
Overall a magnificent holiday as far as accommodation, food, hospitality, entertainment and guides but had that moment of being let down at the airport in Rio and felt frightened.
Cheers Kath Buchanan

We thoroughly enjoyed our safari adventures through Kenya and Tanzania. The itinerary was brilliant, the accommodation excellent, and the tour guides/drivers were friendly and very accommodating. We couldn't fault the tour and it more than exceeded our expectations. I'm happy to give our trip 5 stars out of 5!!!

Liked the accommodations, organisation and would have liked an easier to understand English speaking guide. Guide himself was lovely.We felt we lost a lot of valuable information. Need to be low pitch, slower (Spanish speak fast!)

The Inverdoorn safari was very good with pleasant staff, great food and a very knowledgeable safari guide, Ashlee.
As we had a late change of hotel accommodation, our pickup driver went to the wrong hotel even though we had confirmation that the change had been confirmed. We would suggest a slightly earlier pickup as the last 10kms of road is unsealed and slow which made us late to the lodge for lunch and the formal greeting. Allow for 3 hours travel not 2 hours.

Jambo :)
Our driver was friendly, professional and always did his best to get us as close as he could to the animals.
From entry to leaving : Pollmans delivered for me; being on time, caring and safe.
The whole experience was worth every cent for me. With the accomodation - the food was clean and plentiful. The rooms including the tent were luxe. The facilities ie. pools, gift shops, toilets, hospitality was better than Dubai!!
What I loved was the ambience of the Riverside champagne breakfast, Dinner under the stars and that breakfast outside after the Hot Air Balloon ride.
Even though it was long rides to get around the x4 lodges/reserves - I got to see the Kenyan people, the markets, nature and I really felt like I was part of Kenya.
The highlight for me was buying the usb of the Hot Air Balloon ride. It's the most beautiful capture of my whole safari. I love it immensely!!
Viva delivered for me.
Asante :)

Terrific Guides and good personalities and on time.
Good accomodation but would have been good to have a couple of option showing price range.
The Argentina Estancia Los Potreros was not what we expected. We requested to view something agriculture and upon arrival we soon discovered the main focus was horse riding for rather with experience. We were not experienced. We are a NZ dairy farming family.
However we were novices but really embraced the experience particular due to the group meals and conversations with staff, guides and the owner.
We learnt much about the economy and really enjoyed the sharing of opinions.
We were not told that there was a minimum of 3 nights accommodation. However as mentioned we embraced and enjoyed.

We had a very memorable trip to South America! The itinerary was well planned with interesting events and places to visit. The pace suited us well. The quality of the guides was exceptional, very knowledgeable and informative. All the logistical arrangements were well communicated and punctual. Our hotels were good with good locations. We felt safe throughout the trip, as we always had a 24hour emergency contact available. If we have the privilege to travel to South America again, Viva Expeditions will be our go to!

Our experience with Viva Expeditions (via Pia Knarston, Senior Expedition Specialist) was excellent. Pia has an intimate knowledge of most things South American and tailored our SA adventure after listening to our many and varied requests.

Our experience on the ground was seamless. The Whatsapp contacts were a really good idea, having someone local in each country to contact, if necessary, was definitely very helpful. The local guides were all very professional and passionate about speaking really good English and made each tour so interesting and enjoyable.

The location of hotels was also really great with most only being a short walk to city centres, etc. What was also wonderful, in our opinion, was after arriving at the next destination, we would exit Airport Arrivals and someone would be waiting for us holding a sign with our name on it - no need to worry about transport and finding the way to our hotel!

Thank you

exceptional service and knowledge

Magic in the Air
Everyone on Rakiura was a pleasure to meet - a wonderful community sharing magical spaces. Our guide, Shona Sangster, was all we could wish for, and the Twinkle tour hosted by Al was the standout experience.

Viva Expeditions put together an amazing adventure in the Pantanal, Brazil. The documentation before arriving set us up for the time, with clear communication and information. The choice of lodge was excellent as the service, friendliness and activities was truly amazing. The location of the lodge inside the Pantanal National Park allowed us to experience wildlife in their environment. Sitting outside with macaws freely flying about is a memory I will have for a very long time. The activities were varied allowing us to access the surrounding environment in different ways. Where else would we see otters swimming in the river, anteaters strolling across the land and monkeys swinging in the trees. From start to finish, it was truly exceptional.

Wonderful trip to Stewart Island to hunt the Aurora. Lucky enough to see on first day although cloudy.
We had lots to occupy us the rest of the time with beautiful scenery and bird life . A highlight was seeing albatross
Shona was wonderful and accomodating. Will definitely be back
Thanks for a wonderful experience

Viva were excellent to deal with and tailored our trip to match our interests. Local guides and drivers were extremely knowledgeable and went out of their way to learn what we were interested in and adapt the trips accordingly. Later in our trip one of us became ill, and the local representative went way beyond expectations to navigate us through the hospital system and support us during this tough period. We couldn't ask for better. Thank you Viva.

Itinerary was great. People were friendly and helpful. Things happened as they said they would.

Overall was good, but lacked communication on pickup / drop-off times and how to get that information, which was a bit stressful when abroad.

Stress-free travel. All flights, transfers and organised tours were seamless and well organised. Accommodation was great.