What our guests have said
Hot stuff ! - Lava on Etna
Group on Santorini during a boat trip
More and more people are looking for
a different type of holiday - going on an adventure with us is one! You don't have to be a volcano fanatic to join one of our tours and you don't need too much previous travel or photography experience. We have a
range of different volcano-inspired tours with more or less emphasis on culture, photography, local traditions, strenuous hikes, relaxing, exploring the local food, volcano eruptions, ... so we have something for (almost) everyone! Traveling with us means
experiencing a destination as much
off the beaten tracks as possible and
in small international groups which
always include a volcanologist familiar with the local geology. On this page we gladly share the enthusiastic feedback from our customers so you can have a browse through what previous travelers say about joining in on one of our volcano adventures...
"Hi Tobias We are writing to express our high level of satisfaction with our tour of Naples on 3-6 May.
We are impressed with your professionalism and competence to coordinate travellers from different countries. Our sensation is that you are very professional agency, providing fast and clear answers to our series of e-mails, making it easy the tour booking and solve problems. Additionally your excellent website provides clear and useful information.
The hotel was great, the Napolitanean food and wine were delicious and the itinerary was wonderful appropriate to our interest with a perfect combination of geology-nature, historical values and the interesting city of Naples. All the places visited were very interesting in itself, but after the explanations and assistance of our guide, Marta, they became sincerely impressive. We want to make a special mention to Marta, our guide-driver-assistant-bodyguard, because she was very good and has make our trip better.
It was a pleasant experience to find a company like Volcano Discovery, which provides a service so different, fun and interesting even in places where everything seemed invented on tourism. We are already planning our trips for 2009, we'd like to repeat in the future with another trip in Italy, and why not, in your loved Greece which we have not visited yet. Once again, thank you very much for organising the trip. We had a fantastic time! Many thanks and regards Miguel A. V. & Maria del Carmen P." (M.A.V & M.C.P., Spain - Vesuvius to Pompeii tour)
"Hi Tom and Tobias, I just wanted to tell you what a nice job that Marco did on our volcano tour last month. I had originally asked for Marta because I thought she would be great with the grandchildren. Marco did a fabulous job with both children-the eight year old grandson especially enjoyed Marco. They were great friends by the end. ...
Thanks again for a great volcano tour, Terry" (Terry D., Coloroado,
Stromboli to Etna trip May 08)
Marlies and Solomon at Dallol
Hello Tom Hello Solomon
WOW - the DANAKIL has it all
Sand - stones - rocks - lava - salt - camels, not to forget the fascinating volcano ERTA ALE and the mysterious and magic scenery at DALLOL. Thank you TOM for taking me on your pilot expedition. Thank you SOLOMON for being such a great and helpful tour guide. (Marlies B, UK,
2007 Erta Ale - Dallol expedition).
Thanks again, Tom, for
this great week in Santorini.
Thanks for your competency, your kindness, your support in all situation. Thanks for the ouzo, the orange juice, the wine ...Keep in touch, Marie-Paule (
Fascination Volcano, Santorini)
One word that describes Etna is 'awesome'and one word that describes Rosario's skills as a guide 'outstanding' ! (Etna tour - Kamal M., UK)
Lengai volcano mirrored in Lake Natron (photo: Philip Benham)
"Hi Tom
Thanks for the
fantastic trip to Lengai. ... We had some spectacular experiences on the remainder of our trip. Rwanda's Volcano National Park is very beautiful and back in Tanzania we witnessed vultures tearing apart an antelope, two hippos battling on land for about 20 minutes and wildebeests giving birth.
The highlight though was my two days on Lengai." (Phil from Canada, Lengai expedition Jan 08)
Hi all, Sorry about the late reply, just getting back in the swing of things at work. We climbed Etna as planned, although you do not appreciate the grand size of it until you are there. Etna being over 3 times higher than any mountain in Ireland. We met our guide at the top of the road near the excursion centre by the cable car. After he had sorted us out with gear we headed off up the cable car and trekking across the snow. i must admit that i had never trekked in snow before nor had any of my team. (We hardly get any snow in Ireland only rain). After hiking for about 4-5 hours and lots of breaks we got to the cabin at the top with in about 30 - 45 mins from the main cones.
It is hard to describe the mountain. it was total covered with snow and was a small bit cold but once you keep moving you don't really feel it, a clear blue sky since we were above the clouds and total quite not a person for miles. Peaceful a bit different than my job.
After the guide digging out the snow from the cabin door we ventured in to get some much needed food and hot drinks which we had carried up the mountain. after resting at the cabin it was decided to head back down, as one of the teams old back injury had came back to haunt him. On the way down we looked at some lateral craters and vents. We later headed back down the cable car and to the excursion centre.
This trip was well worth going and i would recommend it to any one traveling to scissile to attempt this trip. Who knows I may come back and attempt it again myself one day, when I am a bit fitter I think.
A special thanks to the guide for staying with us and showing us the beauty of the mountain. I am sure he could have climbed the mountain in the half the time it he wanted to. (lol). And to all the staff of Volcano Discovery for making this trip one of the best trips i have been on.
Yours sincerely
Christopher Corbett, Igor Kendrinkski, Paul Doolan, Marco (Ireland)
"MANY THANKS again to TOM for the
incredibly wonderful trip to Krak. OK, tell him I will wait to exit Krak photos until next monday or tuesday, I will need many days to edit so many photos............ Hoping Tom is amusing of Indonesia summer, warm greetings from a very cold Trieste!! m"
(Marco Fulle, a VolcanoDiscovery Europe Team member after his tour in Nov 07 to Krakatau; his photos are now online on
www.stromboli.net at:
http://www.swisseduc.ch/stromboli/perm/krakatau/index-en.html)
Tom,
I am writing to you to
thank you for a wonderful tour.
Both yourself and Rosario provided a fantastic service from the moment we enquired to the moment we arrived back at Rifugio Sapienza. Rosario was a great guide and he helped us to get much more out of our trip to Mt Etna than we could have hoped for and truly made it a trip to remember.
Should you ever need a reference, I would be more than happy to oblige. As soon as I can, I will be putting some photos on our website of Rosario and our trip. Should you want a copy of any of them, just let me know. I will let you know when I have published them. It will probably be at least a week though.
Many thanks once again, Daniel & Julie
http://www.danielandjulie.co.uk/ "Tom, Had a great tour, Etna was more than impressive, just fantastic - like a moonscape up there. ..." (J Perston, UK)
".. Just got back from Sicily. I had a very enjoyable time even though Etna has been shy and did not want to put on a performance. On the Monday I went round to the North side visiting the Grotta del ghiaccio, first time wearing crampons. The second day was spent in the Valle del Bove. The third day spent at the summit craters. The fourth day I joined Marta visiting the Alcantara Gorge, Taormina and spending the evening and next day in Catania.
As usual, Marta maintained the professional standards I have come to expect from the "Volcano Discovery" team, and I expect the three other clients felt the same way." (S. Banfield, UK)
Merapi at sunrise
Majestic Merapi
Me and Doni
Semeru at sunrise
Bromo volcano
Me on the rim of Ijen volcano
"Hi Tom
I would like to tell you about my Krakatoa to Bali Tour, June 07 but I dont have enough time. I would like to tell you, I had
the most magical tour of my life. To start with Doni is the most lovable, caring, and funny person I have met in many years. He looked after me like a queen making sure that everything was just the best.
Krakatoa was unbelivable, Merapi was Majestic, and Bromo beautiful. The whole beauty of Java and its people was very addictive. May I say thankyou to Doni and everyone that helped along the way, in
making my life long dream come true ...the whole trip was a very healing experience and I loved every
moment of it. Thankyou Doni for making it my Magical Java Tour....Cheers Joy Poortier Alice Springs, Australia" (
Krakatau to Bali tour, June 07)
4-Day Kilauea Volcano Special Private Tour w/Tom, July 2007:
"We have arrived at home last night as per schedule...We could enjoy our tour very much and we think that our tour aim was 100% satisfied. We could have
wonderful experience that we could never forget. Thank you very much for your guide. Later, by mail, I will send two video files, mpeg2 format and mpeg4 format, that recorded the lava. Sincerely, Seiji" (S. Takeda, Japan,
Kilauea Volcano Special tour July 07)
One of the participants sent us this nice spostcard she made herself.
Sacred Sites in Greece 2007 tour - hand-made postcard.
"Hello Volcano Discovery and especially Marta, I just wanted to let you know how much we all enjoyed our tour with Volcano Discovery... For me personally the whole trip was fabulous from the hikes to the boat trips on the Mediterranean. There is not a single thing I would change for myself. Marta-You did a nice job, the ladies all loved you. .. Terry" (Colorado, USA)
"This is a note to say that we enjoyed the climb and you made it
successful, interesting and informative. Thank you very much for being an excellent guide. I attach two of our photos, one taken at the crater rim - and one of you! ... Thanks again Rosario!" (T Ecott, Etna private tour, May 07)
"Just a quick email to say what an amazing time I had hiking up Mount Etna last Thursday. It was an
amazing experience I shall never forget, much thanks to our guide who was
informative, safety conscious and extremely patient! Regards, Francoise J." (Etna private tour, May 07)
"Doni,
Just a quick line once again to thank you for your assistance , companionship and friendship over the last two weeks. I had a
brilliant time." (B. Barker, Isle of Man,
Krakatau to Bali April '07)
"... I just wanted to thank you for another nice trip. I'm sure it won't be the last. ... You seem to choose your people well...Marta was quite knowledgeable and very enjoyable to be with..." (Stephen, USA)
"Having been back from Italy for a week, just a few lines to say what a great holiday it has been. I thought that Marta did a brilliant job as tour manager, up to volcano discovery's usual high standards, if like the rest of the group, it had of been my first time travelling with the company i would have been very impressed..." (Steve, UK)
8-hr Lava Proximity Hike (Private Tour) w/Philip, January 2007:
"We hiked the volcanic lava with Philip on Jan. 30 and what a thrill it was for us! Philip was able to point out various configurations and structures that we saw along the way and explain their existence because of his background as a geologist and volcanologist, and that just made the whole trip for us. He also took us close to a skylight where we could see the glow from the lava flowing through the tube and be the first people to walk on the new lava around it, and that was definitely a thrilling experience! We have shown just about everyone we've met the pictures of the skylight and have told them about your company, so hope you get some business out of it. There was certainly a lot of interest.
Anyway, I just wanted to thank you for enabling us to have such a wonderful experience, and to thank Philip again for taking us on such a fascinating hike. It was the highlight of our cruise around the Hawaiian islands. We're glad that we got to ride in Philip's old hunker of a jeep as it made it a bit funky for us, but hope he enjoys his new vehicle." (Sheila, US)
"Just wanted to say thank you very much to Marta Gasparrini, for her mamzingly led trip through Naples, to Amalfi, which I was on the last two weeks...thank you for making it one of the best holidays of my life!" (J Brown, UK)
Hi Doni! "Hey guys! What's up, what's up yo?!"
We're all sorry we have not written to you earlier, guess we've had enough just thinking of all our good Indonesian memories. It was really an exciting and exotic adventure for us, we are often talking about when we'll do our next trip to Indonesia. There sure will be one. And as a gesture of our gratitude, we'd love to show you Scandinavia if you're ever in Europe. ... It's really amazing how different countries and lives can be and Indonesia is probably the most interesting place all the three of us have ever visited. So, of course we've told our Scandinavian friends about the amazing trips to Bromo, Sukamade, Ijen plateau, Bali, all the towns, other places and of course our new Indonesian friends. If any of my friends want tips for Asian trips, I will without any doubts recommend them Indonesia and your guiding.
Sorry, but I don't remember your wife's and older son's name, but I do remember "little Buddha"'s name - Yoni. Anyway, say hello to them all and Manitro (hope I spelled his name correctly) from all of us. And of course Annika and Fredrik send their best wishes to you. Terima kasih for the magnificent tour and wonderful company!
//Arvid E H." (Sweden, Java custom tour)
"Hello Doni, back in my home I would like to thank You again for the 3 ½ weeks on the islands Java, Bali and Lombok. It was
very, very nice weeks. The job with our group was not surely always easy for you. In spite of that you made Your Job good and fulfilled every wish. Next to the wonderful landscapes, to the interesting volcanos particularly the people in Your Country for whom it is been surely often heavily but they are always cheerful and sociable,
left me enthusiastically. Very different than we European. I request you always good health and a happy family. I hope, we see ourselves again. ... Once more thanks and greetings, Karlheinz" (
Krakatau to Bali tour, 2006)
"Once again, thank you very much for for organising the trip. We had a fantastic time! Many thanks and regards, Penelope" (UK, Volcanoes of East Java tour, summer 06).
