Marvel in the majestic Serengeti!
Seven Wonders Safaris
- Located In:
- Size:
- 10-20 employees (Founded in 2011)
- Member Of:
- TTB & TLTO
- Tour Types:
- Customizable private tours and fixed group tours
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $180 to $1,115 per person per day (USD, excl. int'l flights)
Reviews
CA
Email Ailsa | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Do not book with this company
Do not book a tour with Seven Wonders in Arusha. In all of my travels, it was the worst experience I’ve ever had. This is not just a post about a bad tour company, this is a safety warning to all travellers – please do not use this company.
My boyfriend and I booked a safari to the Serengeti and the Ngorongoro Crater for 3 days and 2 nights. Our cook was great, but our guide was awful. We shared the safari truck with two lovely French ladies, and we were all told that the guide spoke both French and English – but he didn’t speak either (other than a few basic phrases), which made communication very difficult.
He couldn’t tell time, and kept telling us to get up for breakfast at 2:00 am (which we actually did the first morning!). He was very disorganized and always late, which decreased the amount of time we got to spend each day in the national parks. We had to set-up and take down his tent each morning to try and speed up our departure time, as he didn’t know how to. He didn’t spot one single animal our entire trip! And when we spotted them he would drive past more than half of them. And on our second day when I spotted a leopard, and we requested to park for a better view, he kept driving and said that we had to go home for lunch, yet proceeded to stop for antelope!!! We’re not usually picky with driving, but he was honestly very unsafe and came close to hitting walls, trees and animals on the road on multiple occasions. He was always on his phone in the truck, and when he wasn’t talking on it he was taking creepy pictures of the young French girl (trying to disguise them as selfies). He made the experience so bad that it brought the French ladies in our truck to tears - they called Seven Wonders several times to complain and to try and get a replacement guide, but the manager of Seven Wonders yelled at them over the phone and called them “liars” and refused to compensate them in any way.
As if this wasn’t bad enough, on our last day we were scheduled to visit the Ngorongoro Crater. Our guide had forgotten to pay our tickets for entry the night before, so we were late entering and late leaving the park. Our guide on exiting the inner gate of the crater told us that we had to pay a $70 USD fee per person for exceeding our permit time. We explained to the ranger that it was our guide’s fault because we arrived late, and the guide lied and said that we had threatened to fight him in the truck (3 small girls and 1 guy vs. 2 grown men!), and that we had made him stay late. When we tried to exit the last gate of the park in a taxi, we were detained because the fee had not been paid. The head park ranger agreed that Seven Wonders should pay the fee, and he arranged over the phone with the manager the he should mobile transfer the money. He never did, and as a result we were kept at the gate until after dark before being allowed to finally leave at 8:30 pm (after waiting for 5 ½ hours).
The next day, we were approached at our hotel in Arusha by the manager of Seven Wonders, along with a group of 5 other men. He told us we needed to pay him the $140 USD. We tried to calmly reason with him, but he was simply aggressive and rude, and accused us of lying. They wouldn’t leave, and harassed us until we asked for the police to be called. The police warned us that these men were dangerous, and that they believed that if we didn’t give them what they wanted they were going to hurt us. The police were unable to charge them unless they did first harm us, so we filed a police report and had to be driven to a hotel outside of town where we were safe.
Please be warned – these are bad people. Do yourself a favour, there are many other tour companies you can choose from.
LT
Email Svetlana | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great first safari experience
This was our first safari and Seven Wonders made it unforgettable experience. The communication before arriving was quick and clear. The program was explained in every detail and all of our questions were answered briefly. We had a very good guide-driver Edward, who picked us up in the morning from the hotel. Edward spoke good english, new a lot about wild animals and could spot many of them. He was a very nice person, highly recommended! We lived in a camp, which was basic but fullfilled all of our needs. We even had a private shower at the back of our tent!! All in all three days at the safari were great and thanks to Seven Wonders Safari.
FR
Email Guinevere | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
So disappointed for this special trip, very bad organisation of 7 wonders
Hello, we did a 1 day safari to the ngorongoro crater. Everything went wrong (excepting that the car was ok)...we were supposted to be 4 and leave at 6am but the night before, we learnt we were 6, ok why not. And then a few ours later, before going to bed, we learnt we would have breakfast at 8:30 because we had to wait for another 2. I was upset because everyone knows you have to leave early so you see the animals active while it is not too hot. And by the way, all the other groups left at 6...Impossible to discuss...we would leave the Park at 5pm to 'earn those ours back'. The next day, we were still waiting for breakfast at 8:30 so the whole group was complaining! In the end we left at 9:30, arrived at the gate at 10. We were into the crater at 10:30 and went out at 15:30 because the driver did not want to arrive too late in Arusha. I was really trying to stay calm, we spent so much money on this day we dreamt about for so long...about that, in discussion with the others, we learnt that some of us paid 150$ each, others 350$ (we were in between)...they also forgot the water so we had no water and I got very sick that night (was it the food?). And to finish with, the driver only stopped when we asked him to... Please read these reviews before going with them, I wish I had done it...
SE
Email Fabian | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Not recommendable! Book your safari with a different operator, safe the trouple!
I booked the 5-Day Group Joining - Manyara, Serengeti and Ngorongoro luxury package with Seven Wonders Safaris.
Initially everything was really great. Evelyn helped me greatly with getting my lost luggage from the airline to the hotel, all the driving worked out really great and the first day we changed the schedule from Manyara to Tarangire (more animals in Tarangire). We had a wonderful day at Tarangire. The driver Nestory was very experienced and a great park driver/guide. The disaster started from day 2!
I got picked up 2h delayed by an old driver called Abdul. Instead of driving towards Serengeti we drove back towards Arusha to pick up other people from the shared Safari. Why he didn't pick up the others first and me last was unclear to all of us. After arriving at the camp side, we had been told that one of the cars is damaged and the entire group of 12 people needs therefore to wait here for a replacement car to arrive. After having lunch and waiting another 2 hours we finally started the drive towards Serengeti. The drive didn't last very long since the police stopped us and denied us the drive, since the car lacked the permit to transport passengers. After waiting for approx another hours we finally started driving to Serengeti. We arrived the Serengeti park entrance just a few min before they closed the gate around 6 in the evening. From there its another 1h drive to the accommodations/camp sides. Here is where the real mess started. Abdul had clearly no idea where any camp side was. So we spend the coming 5h driving through the dark Serengeti Park, while helping the driver with google satellite images. Abdul constantly insisted that he knows the way, while it was very obvious that he was just randomly driving around (trying to enter roads with clear signs private only, making turns all the time, messing up left/right etc). After 5h I gave up finding my accommodation and we drove back to the main camp side, where we figured out that the car with the cook and tents never made it to the campsite. So the majority of the group had to asked complete strangers if they could join them in their tents without a mattress and sleeping bag. Since it was already 1am I decided to sleep with the driver in the car. Luckily for me the damaged car with the tents arrived in the middle of the night and I got a tent to sleep in for a few hours. During the entire day Seven Wonders ignored all our messages! We could reach anyone in their office. Even the day after I got mostly ignored by Evelyn. This was not the luxury version of safari that I pictured.
I am deeply sad to see how bad the company is handling problems. I can totally see how you can have a great time with Seven Wonders, but be aware that the moment anyone runs into problems, you will be let alone by the company. Problems can and will arise, its the way you handle them and how you communicate with your clients!
Seven Wonders tried to make things good the coming days, by providing me with a private driver and refunding part of the trip, which is the reason why I gave one extra point in the rating. But I would not recommend this tour organizer to anyone!
Maybe worth mentioning that paperwork was done wrongly when we left Serengeti and the driver had to bribe the guards to let us leave the park. Also the transport from Ngorongoro to Arusha lacked some kind of documents, so we were driving around police checkpoints or bribing the police officers to keep going.
RO
Email Roxana | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
one wonderful experience by 7wonders safari❤️
100% recommend! Everything went smoothly ever since i have first contacted Evelyn via whatsapp, she has been very responsive to all my requests and offered the best advice.
they have been so flexible and easy to communicate with, made sure our overall experience was the best one from the beginning.
Our guide, Joza is smart, polite and has a wide knowledge about every animal/bird in the savannah and constantly asked for feedback to make sure we are getting the experience we want!
Nathan is a talented chef, humble and hardworking, his food was various and tasty and even made us pancakes and cake!
Both of them helped me surprise my fiance for his bday with cake and wishes and for this i will always remember them.
All in all, i made the best choice in booking with 7wonders and it really was a wonderful tour!
ES
Email Chema | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Wonderfull
I wrote to about 15 operators, and it took little time to choose 7 Woders, very little. First of all, the treatment received from the first mail by Evelyn. Evelyn is the manager of the company, she could write about 20 emails, she answered all of them in minutes, she always attentive to what she might need, to any question. You always fear for your money, and she told me at all times that it was not necessary for me to pay anything, to pay it when it arrived, that confidence that someone gives you who solves all your doubts and who dedicates your time to you, without rushing to a payment. He also understood perfectly that in times of Covid there can be many complications to get there.
Not only that, but when we landed in Tanzania, there she was, spending her time welcoming us and asking us how was the flight, and if we needed anything. They are very elegant details that make you enjoy your vacation, and make you forget the customer-company relationship, you are dealing with people who just arrive after 15 hours by plane, they ask you how you are.
When we finished the safari, she was there too to ask us how everything had gone and if we needed anything else. She traveled from her offices to the hotel, just to get our feed back. Only with this deal would she do it again with them.
They provide you with a hotel for the day before and after the safari, but the hotel ..... is spectacular !! Clean no, very clean, the treatment of the employees super cordial, good breakfast, in a quiet area, with a good restaurant and super cheap.
They also provide transfer to and from the airport, included in the price. The boy in the super nice taxi, the immaculate taxi.
Now the safari:
We were lucky to do it with the best possible driver: Linux. Always helpful, if you had to stop to get money or buy phone cards ... there he was, with a smile ready to help you. He knew all the corners where each animal could be, and he not only explained to you about them, but also about the trees, custom, everything. And very importantly, he never bothered any animal with the jeep, he never got closer than the respect for the animal allowed, unlike other drivers we saw. If you needed something, you didn't have to ask for it, he had already gone ahead and he was giving you the binoculars, or he was coming with some beers. No matter how much you asked him to stop, go somewhere, this or that, he NEVER stopped smiling at us. Always worried about what to do to make us even better. And ... her sense of humor about him! Not only did we meet incredible landscapes and wonderful animals, but this person left more of a mark on us almost than Serengetti himself.
In the safari you have real food, there we saw many companies at noon that distributed picnic boxes, in our case, it was always freshly cooked food, warm, the cook always arrived (breakfast, lunch and dinner) with the pans with freshly cooked food. The food is very good, breakfast with omelette, pancakes, toast, fruit, coffee, tea, and many more things. Lunch and dinner ... very tasty, but there was so much that it was difficult to finish it.
The perfect vehicle, comfortable, you could carry all the suitcases, with phone chargers, you always had a lot of water bottles, or some popcorn to hang out.
In general, one reads many reviews, I would not hesitate to criticize them to avoid a bad experience for others if they had, but honestly, out of 100 times I would repeat 110 with them: it is a super professional company, well organized, with human values hard to see today.
(automatic translation from Spanish)
IL
Email OrandUri | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Best safari experience with Seven Wonders and hoza as our guide!
My husband and I booked the mount Meru hike and 5 days safari trip with Seven Wonders- both experiences were amazing! We will focus on this review on the Safari part.
We took around 6 price offers from local companies and Seven Wonders gave us the best and fair offer, price and quality-wise.
From the moment we landed at Kilimanjaro airport Evelyn and her team took the best care of us, supported our every need, change, accommodation, question, and request. Our tour guide was Hoza and he was a real expert- I'll start from the end: we saw the great migration crossing of the Mara river! He knew where all the interesting things are, drove fast but safe, highly professional and knowledgeable guide, share with us stories and information about the wildlife, culture, and the country. Due to his experience, we had the best decision and chose an alternative route; We initially planned one day in lake Manyara, one in Serengeti, and one in Ngorongoro, and one day in Tarangire. in the first day we were offered an alternative of two days in Serengeti and one in Ngorongoro, and one day in Tarangire, since lake Manyara is currently flooded (we also saw this on our way to the Ngorongoro). I would definitely recommend two days in Serengeti- it is the most beautiful park, very close to Masai Mara and has a lot of wildlife. It was also the only reason why we had enough time to see the great migration crossing. We are very thankful that we were offered this alternative.
We chose the camping option and the facilities were OK.
The Seronera camp in Serengeti was not the best. There was no hot water and the bathrooms were dirty- it was manageable but something to take into consideration.
The Simba campsite of Ngorongoro was nice, hot water and pretty clean.
We were a group of 4 people, a guide and a cook- the food was great!
IT
Email Davide | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Wonderful experience highly recommended!
I planned the Safari in 2019 to celebrate my girlfriend's 30th birthday.
After reviewing and contacting several companies by email, we've decided to do the Safari with Seven Wonders Safaris.
The experience overall was wonderful, and I would like to list all the points for which I highly recommend such company if you are lost in the decision of which company (they are so many!) to choose for this unique experience:
1) Very smooth, fast and precise communication remotely with Evelyin (Tour Consultant of Seven Wonders). She has been answering all of our questions and helped to organize exactly the kind of trip we wanted (we had a 4-days Safari visiting Lake Manyara, Serengeti and NgoroNgoro). She has been very patient and provided information about the trip, the car, the services included and organized sharply all the transfers we needed from the airport (we landed in Arusha and left from Kilimanjaro airport).
2) Highly flexible and understanding behavior. When Covid came we had to postpone our trip of more than 1year and half and they have been very helpful and willing to keep the deposit we gave without applying any penalty.
3) Salim (our guide) was absolutely a game changer in our experience (and we strongly recommend him also for your future trip). 26 years of experience that you can feel when you drive around immense parks looking for animal in the wildlife. He has been extremely professional and informative but also pleasant and we had a lot of fun together.
4) Everything in the organization was perfect and respected as agreed. Transfers were punctual and the game drives done to the maximum extent. Lunch in the park was prepared by a cook that came in the car with us, and also such meals were prepared very well, delicious!
5) For our trip we decided to sleep in 'lodges' and not in 'tents'. Although lodges are a bit more expensive than tents we are very happy we chose such option as the places where we spent the nights were really nice, clean, and comfortable with very good dinner and breakfast. I also believe that if you are up to a bit more of adventure you will enjoy the tent as well, but lodges will for sure give you the small comforts (nice bed, hot showers, electricity) that can make the difference to make sure you rest well and are full of energy during the days for the game drive.
6) Animals were amazing!
Overall, the experience exceeded by far our expectations. The Safari itself is a magic experience, very emotional, but without such organization and team it would not have been so memorable. Value for money is really satisfactory!
As a side note, we believe we were also quite lucky doing the Safari with a couple of young guys (we were a group of 4 visitors doing the Safari together) that we didn't know before and that were very easy going and nice people. During such Safari you can be in close contact with people you do not know (unless you organize a private Safari trip) and if the chemistry is not good it could affect your overall experience. But this didn't happen at all with our group (thank God!).
Last but not least, Seven Wonders Safaris is a local company and if you chose them you will also be supporting local entrepreneurs!
Well done Seven Wonders. Keep up the good job and looking forward to our next visit!
US
Email Shun | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great experience with great nature!
We were extremely happy with our journey. Thanks to our guide, Hoza, and our chef, Godson.
Hoza is a person who is both strict and polite yet very professional and informative about various topics. Though the tour company is known for highly skilled tour guides, it is rare to find a guide such as Hoza, who is a professional and can care for all customers. I enjoyed casual conversation with Hoza about lifestyle in Tanzania which was eye-opening.
All meals prepared by Godson were delicious! Especially I loved the zucchini soup which I now regret not asking him a recipe. I think he tried his best to cook food that accepted by most diversity, which included spaghetti to rice. I appreciate that, but I wanted to enjoy some of more local recipes too!
The tour itself was equally good! With our tight schedule, Everlyn, the coordinator, restructured the whole travel so that we would not miss a thing while we are in great nature which was truly thoughtful. We saw the big five, the great migration of zebras and wild beasts, the endless plains of Serengeti, the animal paradise of Ngorongoro. Each of the experiences was astonishing. Everything I saw made me speechless. This tour truly is a life experience.
Though--I cannot emphasize more that this is none of the tour company nor guide's fault, yet, unfortunately, our travel companions were (simply put) terrible. They were gullible, arrogant, filthy, ugly, uneducated, and shameless African Americans who cannot respect this great nature but constantly murmur about the most trivial "problem" they can find to bother both the guide and other customers. (If you happen to be one of those who cannot show some respects to the locals/culture or only care about how many "likes" your selfies can get, do me a favor and don't travel at all. They are truly a cancer of tourism.) I feel sorry for Hoza for what he had to go through; regardless, he tried his best to accommodate all those uneducated swine while trying to be fair to the rest of the pack. That is, after driving more than 11 hours of bumpy roads of safaris! It was truly shameful! I feel sorry for the tour company, that a customer can freely pick a company, but not vice versa.
All in all, we were very happy with what we experienced and all of the services which we receive from Seven Wonder Safari and Hoza. With all the hospitality which they offered, we now only wish to come back again to Tanzania in the future (perhaps with longer periods with a little more flexible schedule), and when we do, hopefully, we do have a better tour companion.
US
Email Renee and Kole | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Booked a group camping 5 day safari, and all expectations were exceeded!
Pre-booking experience: They responded to all emails in a day and would answer all personal questions with specific information - not just copy & paste answers that they send to all people.
Airport pickup/drop off: They picked us up from the Arusha airport and dropped us off at the Kilimanjaro airport - all included in the price! The cars were clean and the drivers were friendly.
Hotel before/after the safari: They booked us a room in the Ambassador Hotel for the night before the safari and a night after the safari - all included in the price. The Ambassador Hotel was clean and comfortable enough.
Safari Car: The pop-up roof car was the perfect safari experience! You could tell that our car was a bit used (some broken arm rests and one window that was jammed and couldn't open), but after being in it for 5 days and seeing the road conditions in the parks, I'm not surprised that it had a few little problems.
Staff: Our tour guide+driver (Hozza) and cook (Kelvin) were phenomenal and truly made the safari top-notch! The guide could talk for hours and hours about any and every animal and plant. He was really experienced, professional, funny, and kind. He would explain facts and habits of different animals when we would see them on the safari and then he would go really in-depth on one specific animal every night at dinner. He was also an aggressive driver when he needed to be - making sure other cars didn't block our view for certain popular animals.
Food: For a budget camping safari, the food (quality and quantity) far exceeded expectations! We had a cook who traveled with us every day and would make 3 meals. You will NOT go hungry!! Breakfast always included fresh fruit, omelettes, pancakes, toast, juice, and coffee/tea. Lunch was boxed (you would eat it at the national parks) and included a sandwich, chicken, banana, crackers, chocolate, and juice. Dinner was also a huge spread, and varied every night - homemade soup, fresh salad, pasta/rice, meat...
Drinks: We had unlimited water bottles in a cooler in the car (cool water!) and juice at every meal. We also were served wine and gin and tonics every evening at dinner. The alcohol was included!
Lodges/Campsites: We booked a camping safari, but we ended up staying in a basic lodge for two nights and camping in tents two nights. The basic lodge was a pleasant surprise - hot water private showers, a real bed, and wifi. The tour company provided all of the camping supplies - large tents (each couple/individual got their own tent), sleeping bags, and pillows. We set up our own tents with the help of the guide and cook. We never slept very well while camping because you would hear animals outside of the tents, but totally worth it for the experience! We saw a hyena, warthog, and buffalo at one campsite and an elephant from the other! The campsites have flush toilets and cold water showers.
Safari Itself: The itinerary was different every day, but generally we woke up early and would stay in the park for 6-8 hours a day. Driving between parks takes a long time, but the car is comfortable. The guide is always radioing the guides from the other cars to find out the locations of different animals, but you can expect to see EVERYTHING! We saw so many lions (and lion cubs), cheetahs (and cheetah cubs), leopards (and leopard cubs), as well as elephants, giraffes, zebras, antelope, warthogs, hyenas... PHENOMENAL EXPERIENCE!!
Thoughts on a 5 day safari: By the end of the five days, we were definitely safari'd out. I would recommend to my friends to only do 4 days (Serengeti, Ngorongoro, Manyara/Tarangire) - no need to do both Manyara and Tarangire. The scenery is different in each park, but you get to the point of being tired of sitting in the car for the full day.