Grassroots Safaris
- Located In:
- Size:
- 5-10 employees (Founded in 2013)
- Tour Types:
- Custom budget & mid-range tours that can start every day
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $160 to $400 per person per day (USD, excl. int'l flights)
Reviews
FI
20-35 years of age
Very well organized trip to Selous
Grass Roots Safaris did very good job to make our adveture in Tanzania perfect. I'll recommend their services.
FI
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Good experience, excellent servise from operators
Our safari trip to Selous game reserve was perfectly organized. We stayed two nights at a budget accomodation. It was perfectly suitable for us. We had a driver/guide and a chef with us. The food was so good and it was more than enough for us. We took a full day game drive which was a good experience. I would not recommed the walking safari. It was just walking in the near by forest and looking at the baobab trees and other vegetation. Not a good experience. Consentrate on the game drives. Those will give you so much more.
Great experience - we had a fantastic safari due thanks to the Grassroot Sarari team!
The Grassroots Safari team combines the unique values of a) understanding a visitors preferences/references and b) ability to translate this leveraging their local knowledge and connections - setting up every trip for success! We saw the big five within 36 hours :) thanks Grasstoot Safari team!
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Experienced a 5-day Southern-Tanzania safari with Grassroots Safaris in July 2014.
Grassroots Safaris really delivers for the price they sell! I travelled with three friends in the 5-day Southern safari tour.
We started off at Dar early morning with requested stops at ATM and groceries. Lunch was arranged at a eatery close by Morogoro (if I recall right). We were puzzled at this because we had a chef with us. The food at the eatery was great, but I had severe stomach problems later that evening. By the late afternoon we had a stop-over safari in Mikumi with great close-by views on elephants and zebras among others. We spend the night at wonderful Tan Swiss Lodge. The place exceeded our expectations, but we would have wished for better explanation on what was included on the stay by Grassroot Safari staff.
Day 2 we started off towards Ruaha national park. We enjoyed the views and the quick stop at Iringa town where we had another lunch in a restaurant. I cannot remember the name of the place, but the service was not good. I wouldn't recommend Grassroot Safaris to continue taking guests there. However, a small guided tour in Iringa would be amazing add to the safari program!
We arrived to Ruaha National parks' new Camp by the sunset. It was not that excotic as a tent camp, but the cottages with indoor showers and toilets and a common restaurant house once again exceeded our expectations. We had wonderful two nights with bright star skies and beautiful river views there.
Day 3 we started off with a great omelet and pancake breakfast (with Nutella!) and had a whole day game drive in Ruaha with packed lunch in a designated lunch area. We were lucky to see a lot of elephants and zebras, a great big heard of buffaloes, several type of antilopes, giraffes and a male lion. We had great fun photographing and chatting with my travel mates, and we enjoyed the explinations of our driver and guide from Grassroot Safaris. Anyhow, we could have listened more of stories about the place and animals during our safari days.
Day 4 We started with a morning game drive where we could marvel the sunrise from a viewpoint, several elephants and birds among others. We had a quick look on a leopard, too, before it disapered to the bush! After the breakfast we headed off towards Udzungwa national park where we arrived after a two hour sightseeing (on our own) stop at Iringa and a lunch stop at a road side... we thought these could have been better arranged. Anyhow, it was fun to observe the goats as we ate our box lunch.
After a day on the road that seemed to last forever we finally arrived to our camp in Udzungwa. It was really a loooong day on the road and we already started to think it would have been better to pay extra for flying back to Dar from Ruaha, but Udzungwa Forest tended camp Hondo Hondo really was amazing! We were flubbergasted by the luxury tents and private dinner table set in the garden. It was magical!
Day 5 - Great private breakfast set in the garden before setting off to the mountain trail for a few hours. We had amazing guide, Maria, she really was so helpfull and darling we could have stayed another day or two hiking those mountains! The waterfall and the views to the sugarcane plantations after reaching the top were great! Our enthusiasm on the hike lead to late start off towards Dar. This together with a terrible traffic jam at Dar outskirts made us reach our hotel at midnight instead of 8pm as planned!! We were dead tired, but happy to reach our destination.
Grassroot Safaris is a great option for anyone looking for a budget safari. They are really flexible to find the best solution to your wishes and price range. We really enjoyed our 5 days on safari!
FR
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
great time in Ruaha
We went to Ruaha, stopping at Uluguru Mountains on the way and at Udzungwa Mountains on the way back. We really enjoyed traveling with Grassroots. It was so easy and convenient to organize our trip with them. We just told them some places that we wanted to see and they adapted the trip as per your wishes, it was so personalized. They even gave us several options and we discussed them together. Plus, they have good prices, the food was great, and the driver really knew what he was doing, we felt safe and were glad to be with him. Grassroots' people were very nice and always made sure that we are good and enjoy the trip. We also had good laughs and will not forget this trip. I highly recommend it, I was living in Dar Es Salaam during 1 year and never found such a good and friendly company.
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
What an amazing way to seeing the best Tanzania has to offer!!!
We had a wonderful time on safari it was amazing!!! The children loved seeing the abundance of animals and really enjoyed the roof of the 4WD being up and driving open air!!!
Fikiri was great, met us promptly at Firefly and informed us of what to expect. He is a very safe and considerate driver who took all our needs into consideration. We all felt very safe in his hands. He found animals in the Serengeti with ease and got us as close as we could get and still showing respect to the animals and their space.
It was just wonderful how you were able to design and cater a trip that suited our family just perfectly. The accommodation was really lovely and the food was perfect. I was even catered for with my gluten free.
Alex was also just brilliant and we all enjoyed his knowledge and relaxed nature with the children.
As a whole we were very pleased with the organisation and the care taken with our family.
We will definitely be recommending your company to anyone who might need a safari company.
Thank you again, it was a terrific experience.
Email Mycaela & Gregory | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Wonderful experience - Selous 3 day safari
We had a great time on the 3 day Selous safari. We stayed at Jimbiza Lodge for two nights which was lovely - The food there was really nice and the staff were very friendly. There were quite a few creepy crawlies in the room so be aware of this if you are frightened - I am not a fan of insects myself but it wasn't really a big issue. On the first night we did the boat safari which was great, followed by an early morning walking safari which was really interesting. The last part of the safari was a full day game drive which was really exciting! The whole trip was such a great experience and we loved every moment of it!
AT
Email Elisabeth and Lee | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amazing 6-day safari to Ruaha NP, Mikumi NP and Udzungwa Mountains
Our safari to Ruaha NP, Mikumi NP and Udzungwa Mountains exceeded our expectations by far, it was an amazing experience. We're really greatful to the team for having made our safari so unforgettable and can only highly recommend Grassroots Safaris to anyone planning a safari in Tanzania.
Here are more details:
Wildlife
July seems to be a great time for visiting the above mentioned national parks: We got to see way more animals than we had ever possibly hoped for! There's lots of elephants, giraffes, zebras, baboons, water bucks, impalas, hippos, crocodiles, wart hogs, wilderbeests etc. We got lucky and even spotted lions with a cup, a hyena, a cheetah, a leopard, ostriches, a pelican, a buffalo, a pelican, jackals and many more.
Food & accomodation
We had our own chef with us, Asha, who prepared excellent meals for us. She even made sure to prepare vegetarian food for us when she realized we didn't like meat so much. Even though Asha cooked really well, there was always more then enough food. We also got the chance twice to help her with the shopping at the local markets in Morogoro and Iringa.
Our accomodation was always very nice. We particularly enjoyed staying at Ruaha Bandas for two nights where elephants and hippos sometimes walk through the camp (the guides always make sure that you're safe). As the camp is situated next to a river, you could just sit in little pavillions and watch animals such as hippos, zebras, elephants and giraffes when you're not on a game drive.
The first night we camped at a campsite, which we enjoyed a lot as there were local people making music and dancing. The atmosphere was amazing and many people joined in. Our tent was huge and we didn't sleep in a sleeping bag. Instead, they provided us with mattresses, pillows and blankets, so it was very comfortable.
One night we spent at a hotel in Iringa where we even had wifi in the main area.
Our last night we spent at our own little bungalow with a nice veranda in Camp Bastian in Mikumi". The camp looks like a big, beautiful garden and you have your meals at tables outside under the sky. So relaxing!
Driving and safety
Fikiri (our driver and guide) is a great guy who you can have a lot of fun with. He picked us up from the airport in Dar es Salaam and we started the safari right away. He explained lots of things en route - I think there was no single question he couldn't answer. He knows a lot about all the animals and plants, but he never bored us. ;) He's also an excellent driver and we felt very safe at all times.
Our jeep (a 4x4) was perfect for the safari. You could fold up the roof, so it was possible to take great pictures in the national parks while being in the shade.
Team and Communication
Grassroot safaris has an amazing team - Fikiri is an amazing driver and guide, Asha is a great cook and Micky made sure we had the perfect itinerary for our time frame and budget.
Micky planned our itinerary for us and answered all our questions promptly. He provided us with lots of information and we felt very well-prepared. He even talked to us on the phone during the safari to make sure we were having a great time.
Value
We payed about 1.100$ per person in a group of two, which is a great price for a six-day safari. It includes all entrance fees, accomodation and food, so only tips are extra. We are more than satisfied with what we got to see and do for that price, the value is great!
Email Ian Briggs | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Great 3 day safari to Mikumi
Grassroots arranged a 3 day safari to Mikumi. It was a private safari for our family of 4 adults.
Our driver/guide was Kenneth and he was great. He was a safe driver and made sure that we saw all the animals we wanted to - including the lions. Kennet picked us up as arranged in Dar and dropped us back to our hotel south of Dar.
We stayed just outside Mikumi at Camp Bastian. The accommodation was in basic huts but they were clean and the food was great. We felt very safe and the staff were efficient and friendly.
The safari was great value - I am pretty sure we could not have done it cheaper if we had arranged everything ourselves.
Mikumi itself feels fairly small and this year they have burnt a lot of the grasslands. As a result it is easy to see the wildlife but the outlook is a bit bleak.
Overall, we highly recommend Grassroot Safaris as a trustworthy and good value company.
DE
Email Melanie | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Absolutely perfect safari trip!
At first we thought, there must be a hook on the 6-day big southern Safari by Grassroots, because to the compared to others cheaper prize AND at the same time the term "private safari". But shortly it turned out, that it was the best idea ever, to do the trip with Grassroots Safaris! The E-Mail contact with Mickey, the organizer, was quick, friendly and trustworthy, and then in Tansania it all went great.
Our driver was really nice and knowledged about the wildlife, our chef did absolutely perfect African cooking and we really enjoyed our private safari tour a lot! We saw so much of the country because of the long distances driving, experienced wonderful wildlife in Ruaha park without many other tourists and loved the walking in Udzungwa mountains.
I can really recommend Grassroots - they did a great job and we had a wonderful time on our holidays!