Tours by Locals (aka Kiliholidays)
- Office In:
- Size:
- 10-20 employees (Founded in 2004)
- Member Of:
- TATO, TTB, KINAPA, MNRT & TPO
- Tour Types:
- Customizable private tours and fixed group tours
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $50 to $400 per person per day (USD, excl. int'l flights)
for a custom tour
Your request will be sent directly to the operator
If preferred, you can contact the operator directly
Reviews
SE
Email Gustavo Cevallos | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Great service, accomodation and experience
Tanzania has a very good standard in their safaris and this was of course no exception. Mack has been an amazing host. He helped us from the very first minute we arrived in Arusha. He drove us to the hotel, explained us how the trips is going to be and helped us with the planning for the future transportations in the country. The car was good, in good conditions, comfortable. The accommodation was good, clean and we had a great entertainment in the evening in the camping place. Tarangeri was a great park, we could see big 4 in one afternoon and then Ngorongoro Crater is something that no one should miss. The lunch was ok with a little dessert.. We had Lorenzo as our guide, he maybe needs to explain a little bit more what we see in front but we were safe with him all the time. The planning was as scheduled, on time and we were lucky with the weather that we could see and experience amazing things. I do recommend Kiliholidays Tours and of course Mack as a great host!
Email Becky Moxey | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Excellent from start to finish
Communication was excellent. Mack was so very helpful in helping us to plan our trip. John our driver/guide was friendly and his knowledge had no limits, he did everything he could to make our trip truly amazing. The accommodation and game drives far outlived our expectations.
FR
Email Benfedila | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Just amazing!! Thank you
Thank you very much!! My wish came true !!
My guide Thomas and Mack, the director was very professional and passionate!
It's was the best experience in my life!
KR
Email Seunghee Oh | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amazing!
We booked 4days safari tour via Kiliholidays Tour.
The manager of travel agency was trying to satisfy all we wanted and we were satisfied, too. He came to us, when we had just arrived at our hotel after finishing safari tour, to hear review from us. These kinds of efforts can be upgraded quaility of tours from Kiliholiday Tour.
We were also happy with our guide(driver) and cook because they were enthusiastic about their duty. Guide had a lot of knowledge about animals, plants, etc. and foods made by cook were really delicious.
I already miss my days in Tanzania. Hope to visit again :)
US
Email Michael | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Best value for money and very accomodating!!!
Kiliholidays Tours & Safaris were always responsive to all my emails and questions, and got back to me very quickly. They provided a detailed itinerary of our safari and they come as advertised, as well as being flexible to meet our needs. I reached out to 10 different safari operators and Kiliholidays gave us a price in a 5-star luxury accommodation (the best hotel we've ever stayed at!!!) at a price that was cheaper than others in budget camping accommodation. I would highly recommend Kiliholidays and I will only use them when booking a Tanzanian safari in the future!
RU
Email Leyla | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
It was excellent tour.
We were in mikumi park. We saw all animals even lions and gepard. Our guide was English speaking and he know everything about mikumi park and animals who lives there. We had good open safari car and very comfortable loudge - Bastian. It was clean and beautiful and colorful chilling area. Transfers were all in time. Strongly recommend
FR
Email Anetta | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Everything we hoped it would be
Communications with Mack via email were swift and comprehensible.
We were picked up at the airport on arrival by our guide, Thomas, who would be with us for the whole week. We signed up for a budget camping safari, and we had a great time! The campsites were nicer than I thought they would be, and the Kiliholidays team did a great job of taking care of us the whole trip. Thomas was very accommodating, and our 'stomach engineer' did a fantastic job the whole trip. My partner and I were very impressed by the quality of the food. Thomas was an incredible driver; a few times we had to stop and help other drivers who were stuck! This was my second visit to East Africa, and I will definitely book with Kiliholidays for my third trip :)
A few tips for other travelers: The sleeping mattress was a bit thin for me (my partner had no trouble!), but I found that sleeping on my back instead of my side helped. If you have sensitive hips, I'd recommend bringing something to use as a cushion, or possibly arranging for an extra mattress. The tent was high-quality and the sleeping bags were warm. We stayed in Mto wa Mbu a few nights and it was quite hot there. We brought sleeping sacks (very thin) and used those instead. Bring LOTS of insect repellent and use it often (biting flies in the daytime, mosquitoes at night). Same with hand sanitizer (public campsite toilets don't usually have soap). Granola bars are a good idea, too, if you like to snack between meals. There's not a lot of access to ice, so if you like an evening adult-beverage, just ask your guide to stop before you leave Arusha to pick up some wine. We picked up a 5-liter box of South African wine for about 25euros and it was very convenient (bring your own cups!).
RO
Email George | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
perfect safari trip, perfect guide, best price
We had a wonderful time in 4 days safari trip in game reserve Tarangire, Ngorongoro and Serengeti, all organised by
Kiliholidays. We receive also airport transfer and accommodation before flying back home, that a perfect service also. Kili is a small company in Arusha, and this is one on the reason that I choose them. They pay attention for every client, because is very important for them to survive in a high competitive market of tanzanian safari. The communication with the manager, the knowledge and ability of the driver was very important and made for us a great trip and lifetime memories...Mack, Thomas, Daniel, thank you and good luck
US
Email Bethany | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Flexible and fun!
The communication with Mack before the tour was excellent. They were able to add 2 people to the tour at the last minute.
Thomas our driver and your guide was professional, flexible and informative. Highly recommend this tour!
Email Julitha | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Excellent 7 day Machame route with kiliholidays.
We completed the 7 day machame route with Kiliholidays Tours. Well organized and professional services. Our guides and porters were knowledgeable, helpful, and wonderful to hike with for 7 days. The food was delicious and the tent camps were very comfortable. We were led by guide, Barnabas and assistant guide Fred.
The whole team was great to work with from booking and answering questions and last minute requests. All of the wonderful porters who were part of Barnabas team. They did their absolute best to make it wonderful and unforgettable experience.
A couple of things in particular that I would like to highlight. The cook for our trip (frank) was amazing. He made meals that kept us going and were as good as almost anything I had in the one prior week I had been in Africa- Tanzania. His soups in particular were great and kept us warm.
I really appreciated the approach to tipping employed by Kiliholidays as well. We were told up front that at the end of our trek we would be able to give our tips directly via sealed envelopes given to each member of the team, which we did. It was nice to be able to hand each man their tip directly as I had heard that sometimes the porters don't receive all of their tips when they are given to the company directly. These guys worked incredibly hard and deserve every penny.
Finally, Barnabas and Fred did a great job getting us to Uhuru peak. The night of our summit attempt it was snowing, quite cold, and there was already enough snow in places for me to sink up nearly to my waist. The group of 17 behind us only had 7 make the peak. But by carefully picking our departure time, route, and giving us clear instructions we made it just at sunrise and it was spectacular. Thanks to Mack for his great advice on route selection.
I would not only recommend Kiliholidays for the professionalism of the office staff and operations manager but also by the clearly passionate, caring, knowledgeable, and extremely helpful guides, cook and porters. We could tell they enjoyed working together and they were singing to keep up our spirits.