Particularly if you're doing South Africa, call Daisy du Plessis (https://www.rhinoafrica.com/en/about-us/meet-the-team/daisy-du-plessis/131). She worked with us on our southern Africa stint and was a lifesaver when Covid shut down South Africa.
As you can probably see from my initial post, I am not a big fan of travel agents. I like doing my own research and booking my own shit directly. But in Africa, there is still a strong culture of using travel agents. Some lodges won't even let you book directly; they only deal with travel agents. That's how I came to use Daisy--I really wanted the Thorntree River Lodge in Zambia, but I couldn't book with them directly.
By the way--I do strongly recommend taking a few days to see Victoria Falls. It's amazing. I was like "ok--it's just a waterfall." Yeah; no. It absolutely blew me away. But beyond the Falls, staying at Thorntree was great. You're right on the River, and you wake up to the sounds of the hippos snorting.