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
Email Lindsay Chatfield | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Great safari, superb game guide
We used Kiliholidays for our trip into the Serengeti, Ngorongoro crater and lake Manyara. Thomas was our guide and not only was he a superb guide but great company too on our 4 day trip.
We saw more than we expected, loads of cheetah, lions, buffalo, hippos, elephants and a wonderful black rhino. And of course lots of other creatures and birds too
Mack has always been very quick to answer our questions and his company offers a very personal service so we would highly recommend
IT
Email Stefano Bosso | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Perfect trip with a super professional agency.
Kiliholidays is a small but professional, well organized, easy to communicate with and at customizing the trip, agency. Mack, the boss, is very flexible and open to provide customized solutions for your trip, while Thomas was an amazing driver/guide,
Easily the best around, for an 8 days safari, together with a great cook as Daniel, who cooked us a great and diverse selection of vegetarian meals. Also Laurian, referring to a shorter trip, was a good driver, talkative and flexible as the good ones! Definitely super worth to experience!
TW
Email Howard | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Professional team
Kiliholidays has the most professional team.
No matter the meal, ride, or scene during the itinerary, this team can always surprising you.
IL
Email Michael and Gabriela | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amazing experience with Kiliholidays!
Our 5 day safari to Tarangire Park, the Serengeti, Ngorongoro Crater, and Lake Manyara exceeded all expectations! We were met with care and had the pleasure of meeting Edward and Moses, two guides who took the time to answer all our questions and were very knowledgeable. Edward led our safari tour and did an incredible job doing so. He knew how to spot every hidden animal throughout the game drives and provided interesting information on them. It was a pleasure to spend the 5 days with him. Moses took the time to give us a tour around Arusha the day before the safari even started.We highly recommend them and all Kiliholidays guides. It was a pleasure working with Kiliholidays and we hope to meet again!
Reply from Tours by Locals (aka Kiliholidays)
Posted on Jan 11, 2019Short and sweet - Thank you so much for your feedback indeed! We are glad that you chose Kiliholidays
Kind regards
Mack Msechu
Kiliholidays Team Leader
FI
Email Vee | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great safari with good guide and we saw lots of animals
We did a 4 days 3 nights safari in Selous Game Reserve. We had really good experience with our guide Paul. We saw pretty much all the animals that could be seen in Selous and our guide told us many things about the wildlife. The only animal we did not see was leopard but they are really hard to see in Selous. Selous is a beautiful park with diverse scenery. Our accommodation in African Safari Camp was also good. The huts were clean and staff was very nice. We would definitely recommend this safari and the accommodation.
The walking safari was not what we expected since we thought that we would be walking inside the Game Reserve but the walk ended up to be outside the park in a bush. The food in the safari was not the best so maybe there could be some improvements regarding the food. It would have been nice to eat local food. But other than that all excellent!
Thanks for a great experience!
Email Jessica | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Unforgettable Experience
Wow! The safari experience we had was indescribable but I will give it my best shot!
From the moment we booked our safari trip we had good communication with Kiliholidays.
On the first day, the drive through different villages gave us a a glimpse of African life, this was accompanied by the information given by our guide.
The African Safari Camp was where we stayed for the first 2 nights it was amazing, all the staff were friendly and accommodating and gave a very enjoyable stay. On the first evening we went on a boat safari, the 2 guides on the boat gave us lots of information about the different animals and birds and took their time to take in the sights. We saw; birds, hippos, crocodiles and a stunning sunset.
The next day, we went on a walking safari. We were taken around by Salume who was a outstanding guide, full of knowledge and was very engaging showing us different games, secrets of the jungle and songs! We highly recommend him.
After this we started our first game drive, we got see so many different animals and throughout the 5 days we saw 4 out of the big 5! Leopard, Elephant, Lion and Buffalo. We never felt rushed on the safari and Paul allowed us to take as much time as we wanted to photograph and really take in what we were seeing.
Paul our guide was very informative and ensured we had a great experience.
The safari experience surpassed all of our expectations, it truly was a holiday of a lifetime.
AT
Email Johannes | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
got the big five
It was a great experience and especially our Guide Hussein made the trip perfect running. Communication was perfect running and from the pick-up at the airport till the sadly saying "good bye" - perfect running. We could skip the tour and make/fullfill our wishes. Accomodations was brilliant and still talking about the tent nights in the Serengeti. Highly recommend Kiliholidays Tours & Safaris for the Tansania-experience. Thanks a lot and wish you all the best!!!!
ES
Email Manu | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
It could have been better
We didn't have the best experience with Kiliholidays Tours & Safari.
We booked a three-day-safari at Mikumi Park. The first day we couldn't access to the park. They told us "drive to Mikumi National Park which is approximately 5 hours from Dar es Salaam". It's totally false. It was 8 hours and a half. The driver drove at 45 km/hour and the arrival to the park was almost sunset. They saved the access to the park of the first day (which is included in the safari price). So we paid for something that we didn't enjoy.
Additionally, the car broke down several times. The first time it had refrigerator problems. It was solved and we continued. The second day, the car stop and it ran out the battery , we push the car in the middle of the safari :) . The third day we spent 8 hours and a half to Dar Es Salaam. There was a huge jam and the car spent all the battery.
So, we had to take OTHER CAR with a non-known driver, and 3 minutes later ALSO the new car ran out of gas. Really? The driver (who didn't speak english) left the car in the middle of the darkness and 30 minutes later he appeared again with a bottle with gas. We stay alone waiting for him without knowing what to do.
The only positive point was the safari driver, he was nice.
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!).
CH
Email alla1510 | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Our guide Thomas was great.
My husband and I booked a 3 day private tour into Selous game reserve from 02 to 04 February with Kiliholidays. We reserved by paying 1/2 down and paid the remainder upon commencing the safari. We too had trepidation about paying more than 6 months in advance, but the
company is honest. We kept in touch with Mack Kornelio by WhatsApp and arranged the pickup in Dar es Salaam thru this means as well. Mack is responsive.
Thomas met us at our hotel in Dar es Salaam on the dot at the prearranged hour. He was super throughout the whole trip explaining fauna and flora as we went along. He is a great driver and professional guide and I can recommend him hands down.
The negative portion of our trip was the nightly camp. Here USD 500 and 50,000 shillings were stolen from us by the staff at the Selous Jimbiza Camp from our locked lodge. We were the only guests, thus later the police ruled the theft as an inside job. Everything about this camp was negative - slow to react, simple breakfast not on time, food barely palatable. Simple hot water for coffee in the morning took too long despite stating the night before we’d leave at 0630h for the game drive. They would not even power on their generator because the camp had “its” schedule. I asked the ceiling fan at the restaurant to be turned on during lunch because it was very hot but got the response it would be at extra charge being outside generator hours! Jimbiza is not customer focused and contains thieves.
Kiliholidays subcontracted to Jimbiza and Mack promised to sever relations with them upon hearing of the theft. I hope relations will be terminated not only by Kiliholidays but all other tour operators for the sake of future safari participants. However with this incident, Mack showed support for clients. He and Thomas talked and agreed to involve the police. Thomas took the initiative to take the room attendant to the police station in our vehicle with ourselves. He knows how to deal with local procedure. Thus we had an unexpected adventure to see Mloka police in action.
All in all I can recommend Kiliholidays for safari tours.