Caracal Tours & Safaris
- Located In:
- Size:
- 1-5 employees (Founded in 2010)
- Tour Types:
- Custom mid-range & luxury tours that can start every day
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $120 to $1,000 per person per day (USD, excl. int'l flights)
Reviews
NL
Email Koen | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Amazing people for your perfect safari experience
We booked our safari with 10 people at Caracal Tours & Safaris. 9 days of safari and 4 days at Zanzibar. The organisation was perfect. Marion arranged every small detail perfectly and was very responsive and thoughtful. The contact with Marion is very nice and she is very accessible and flexible. For example, 2 months prior to our journey we wanted to add one more person. Marion arranged every overnight stay and every journey to make the addition of our extra person possible.
The overnight stays were all fine, ranging from luxury to more of a glamping style in the middle of all the wildlife. Because of personal preferences we wanted to sleep in beds, which was taken care of very well by the organisation. Especially the overnights stays on the Serengeti in Gnu Migration Camp and Mawe Tented Lodge were an absolute wildlife experience. The atmosphere was very friendly and a cake got baked for the birthday of our daughter. We also got a cake, arranged by Marion, for the 35th anniversary of our wedding, a very nice surprise. In these camps, you are escorted to your tents at night where we had a nice meet & greet with a hyena and buffalo at approximately 10 meters. However, at no point we felt any fear, because of the great expertise of the camp crew.
Also the visit to the Masai was a very cool experience.
The structure of our journey was very good and we kept on seeing more and more impressive things. The expertise of the guides (Ben and Julius) was outstanding and they entertained us very well. They both speak English fluently and were very enthusiastic. The cars were fine and included a refrigerator for cold drinks. Moreover, the guides were very flexible to our preferences. The organisation and its' guides distinguished themselves in their respect for the animals and their nature. They sometimes chose to stay leave sooner at certain animals because of the extreme overcrowding (read: 2 lions, 20 cars). Of course they did this in consultation with us, but it did show their respect for nature.
All in all, we greatly advise Caracal Tours & Safaris to everyone who wishes an unforgettable journey in this amazing area. You will not regret your decision.
BE
Email Frank | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Guarantee for a great holiday
Via a Dutch travel agency, we (a Belgian family of 5) have been brought in contact with Caracal Tours & Safaris. Based on some trip examples, I made my own proposal of an exploration of North Tanzania with more safari and less beach. Marion of Caracal Tours & Safaris then returned with a great trip schedule taking my wishes into account and by adding some very promising extras (a.o. seeing the great wildebeest migration and the possibility to climb the Ol Doinyo Lengai volcano). Also the reservations of lodges must not have been easy because we were quite late (end of May for the trip in July) to plan this travel. It was so good to be in contact with such an experienced person.
Ben, co-owner of Caracal Tours & Safaris, was our driver and guide. A really kind man with great knowledge of the wildlife. Travelling with him gave us a holiday without any worries. Beside the common visited national parks, he was also familiar with the less known areas. Thanks to his experience and good eye for spotting animals, we have seen more kinds of animals than we ever expected to be able to see! I especially also appreciated his respect for the animals and nature in general.
So, I certainly recommend Caracal Tours & Safaris for its good experience, flexibility, and kind people.
NL
Email Marja | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Fantastic 25 days tour in Tanzania
We have just returned from a fantastic 25-day tour through Tanzania.
Of course, we wanted to spot wildlife, but we also wanted to see and experience the people and culture of Tanzania. We had already heard many good things about Caracal, and that only got better. The first contact with Marion was very pleasant; the fact that communication could simply take place in our own Dutch was also very nice. She quickly put together a fantastic itinerary that even exceeded our expectations. A route that would take us 5,000 km overland from Dar es Salaam, passing through all the famous national parks in the south and north of Tanzania, and other great places, to finally arrive in Arusha 3.5 weeks later.
We were picked up from the airport by Marion's husband and owner of Caracal, Ben, who was our driver and safari guide for the entire trip. We travelled in a robust, spacious, well-maintained 8-seater Land Cruiser that, with Ben behind the wheel, handled any terrain without problems. Ben's knowledge of wildlife and birds, and of Tanzania itself, is excellent, and he is even better at spotting those animals, even while driving and even from a great distance. He always knew exactly where to stop, and we were given plenty of time to observe and photograph the wildlife. We could plan our own days, decide for ourselves what time we left in the morning, whether to take a packed lunch, or how long we wanted to stay in the parks.
We were lucky enough to see many different animal and bird species, including all the big cats (lion, leopard, and cheetah), saw the entire Big Five in one day, and witnessed the breathtaking sight of thousands of wildebeest crossing the Mara River. We also visited fascinating ethnic groups like the Hadzabe and Datoga, attended an unforgettable Maasai ceremony. There was also time for a few beautiful nature walks and a visit to the stunning rock paintings in Kondoa.
The accommodations where we stayed were a nice mix of tented camps, cottages, and hotels, all nice and comfortable, with a friendly staff and excellent food.
If you are considering going on a trip to Tanzania, I definitely recommend Caracal. We really had a great time.
Caracal Thanks!, Marion Bedankt! and Ben Asante sana!
Tony & Marja
Very well organized, accessible, experts in nature, animals and African people
We had an amazing guided tour in the north of Tanzania, accompanied by a very expertised guide, who showed us beautiful scenes, many many animals, close ups and sights. The lodges and tented camps in which we stayed were perfect. We met so many nice people, locals and from abroad. All of this made our journey warm, beautiful , interesting and spectacular.
One tip: three weeks traveling with a guide was a little much, sometimes we missed privacy. But this is only a detail.
Thank you Marion for a well organized trip. We loved it!
Ron and Daniëlle.