"Benson Safaris: Thrilling Adventures Await!"
Benson Safaris Tanzania
- Located In:
- Size:
- 10-20 employees (Founded in 2006)
- Member Of:
- TATO, TTB & IGS
- Tour Types:
- Custom mid-range & luxury tours that can start every day
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $300 to $1,200 per person per day (USD, excl. int'l flights)
Reviews
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50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Superb service throughout fantastic Tarangire/Serengeti/Ngorongoro 4 day safari adventure
Our party of four had never visited Africa before and chose Benson Safaris recommended by friends who resided in Tanzania - and they provided great advice and assistance long before even booking the trip. 4 days is a bit short for all of Tarangire/Serengeti/Ngorongoro, but do not skip any of it, rather add a day or two. We saw all the big five on multiple occassions, masses of wilderbeast and zebras on the plains and many other great animals and each park has its distinct flora and unique splendor. An absolutely overwhelming experience for life! Our guide Issa was extremely knowledgeable and managed to always put us in the right spot at the right time. We highly recommend this operator for safari tours.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Perfect honeymoon in Tanzania!
My husband and I spent our honeymoon in Africa and chose Tanzania because we wanted to see the big 5 and also have a beach holiday.
I have travelled to many countries but never to the African continent so after talking to travel agents here, lots of research online and emailing different tour companies in Tanzania we decided to make our booking directly with Benson Safaris Tanzania because we found they offered great value for money and they really listened to what we wanted to see and experience from our honeymoon and made some great suggestions. We also found that many of the tour companies in Tanzania took a long time to reply to our emails and didn’t answer our questions properly and some didn’t respond at all. We dealt directly with Benson, the owner of Benson Safaris Tanzania and he was always quick to reply to emails and answered all of our questions (and there were a lot!) in great detail.
We went on a 7 day safari to Tarangire, Lake Natron, the Serengeti, Ngorongoro Crater and Lake Manyara. Last year we had read an article about Lake Natron and it was a “must see” destination and when we were initially looking at joining an overland safari company none had Lake Natron on their itineraries. One email to Benson and he worked a 2 night stay into our trip. It is definitely worth the long drive and extra money because it is amazing! He also included a visit to a Maasai village which was a real eye opener – very dusty but the people were so welcoming and danced and sang songs for us. On the last day of our safari we spent half a day in Lake Manyara and then drove to a village where we had lunch with a local family. They didn’t speak English so luckily our Guide Francis was there to translate and tell us what we were eating. It was good fun and we really enjoyed it.
We stayed in tented camps which was a fantastic experience. It was very romantic and even better than we expected. The sounds of the animals at night is something l will never forget and the staff went out of their way to make sure everything was perfect for us and the food was delicious. It is amazing what a chef can prepare in a bush kitchen.
After our safari we had 2 days in Arusha because we wanted to go on a City Tour. Benson personally escorted us and took us to a museum called “Cultural Heritage”. We spent a few hours looking at all the paintings and wood carvings before having lunch at a restaurant called Shanga Riverhouse. We were greeted with champagne in the garden before eating a four-course lunch which was delicious. Shanga Riverhouse is part of the Shanga Shangaa project which employs disabled people and is the only place where glass-blowing is done in Tanzania and I bought some lovely wine glasses from the gift shop.
The next day we flew to Zanzibar where we spent a week relaxing. We had a few days in Stone Town and spent the rest of the time at Nungwi on the northern part of the island. This was also booked through Benson Safaris Tanzania and the accommodation was fantastic. In Stone Town we stayed at Tembo Hotel which is located right on the beach and a few minutes’ walk to the Old Fort. In Nungwi we stayed at Langi Langi which was small and intimate and had the whitest sand I have seen. Benson also booked our day tours and we went on a walking tour of Stone Town, a dhow cruise at sunset, Jozani Forest and had lunch at a spice plantation tour. Everything was organised perfectly and so easy. He also booked our flights from Kilimanjaro to Zanzibar and back again.
When we were in the process of booking our honeymoon we asked for advice on international flights. While they don’t book international flights there is an Australian lady in the office (I can’t remember her name) who worked as a travel agent for 6 years and with her guidance we booked our flights online through Expedia. She gave us lots of suggestions and answered all our questions on the best and fastest way to get to Tanzania from our home in Sydney.
Our honeymoon exceeded our expectations and we could not recommend Benson Safaris Tanzania enough. The whole team from Benson, to the lady in the office, to our Guide was professional and gave us a honeymoon experience we will never forget!
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Email Rebecca | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
4.5 / 5 A fantastic experience, with a few minor - very minor - glitches
From the beginning, Pendo at Benson did an outstanding job communicating with us to arrange our trip just to our liking. This was not an easy task, as we had 2 families with different needs attempting to create an itinerary that would appeal to everyone. She took all of our changes to the itinerary in stride and arranged everything to our liking. Our guide, Kessy, was amazing - we could not have asked for better. When you spend as much time in a vehicle with someone as you do on safari, it's really important to have a good rapport. The first part of our trip was with my husband and me with his brother and family. Kessy was great with the kids, even when they weren't always the most fun to be around. Kessy was very knowledgeable and friendly, and was always open to our whims when it came to animal-watching and our questions about everything. The second part of our trip it was just my husband and me, and having Kessy all to ourselves was wonderful. He even put up with my obsession with watching dung beetles and my husband's need to get just one more really good picture of that giraffe... one more... (As a bonus, he was also very patient with my unending - and at times pathetic - attempts to learn Swahili.)
We did a side trip to Zanzibar, (midway through for my husband and me, at the end of the trip for my in-laws), which was unfortunately a little disappointing. The hotel we stayed in was great, but it was a very busy area and swimming and playing on the beach was not pleasant because we were constantly being approached by folks trying to sell us tours or boat trips. This is of course not the fault of Benson Safaris, but it would have been nicer to stay somewhere where there was a little less commerce happening at all times of day and night. There was some confusion with Benson when it came to the snorkel outing that had been planned. In our itinerary it stated that we were going to Chumbe Island, but when the guide came to pick us up he said that no, we were going across to Prison Island, a much shorter trip and by all accounts not nearly as interesting for snorkeling. After some back-and-forth telephoning with the tour representative in Zanzibar and with Pendo we figured out that the tour was incorrectly represented on our itinerary. It turned out to be too choppy for snorkeling in the Prison Island area unfortunately, so we missed out completely on that. Obviously the tour company has no control over the ocean conditions, but had we actually gone to Chumbe as we thought we were going to, it would have likely been better due to the location of the snorkel site there.
The other minor hiccup came with meals. My in-laws are vegan and we were assured that accommodating this would be no problem. Somehow, however, it was not communicated to the lodge we stayed in for safari, and lunches were not only not vegan, but there was only one lunch packed as vegetarian at all. Also, there were extremely limited options for vegan for the family at the lodge. Kessy did his best to try to fix this, but I think that communicating what vegan means was difficult. Again, a minor hiccup, but if you have very specific meal needs it would be a good idea to double and triple check on this.
Overall, though, an amazing experience! My recommendation overall is Benson Safaris for safari, and perhaps a different, local Zanzibar tour company for visiting the island.
HK
Email Anna Tsang | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
It was an amazing experience to see the animals
The Benson Safaris provided a good services during our trip. The tour guide - Kessy has good knowledge and experience and he also good at driving. Besides, the accommodation was perfect.
I had a great time with Benson!
I took a lower-budget camping trip with Benson. It was great working with him before the safari. He helped me pick the best palaces to go and the right times. On the day we left his guide, Simba, picked me up at the house I was renting and we were off. From that moment on, Benson took care of the rest. Our tents were set up for us, our meals were prepared, and there was always a nice bottle of wine waiting for us at the end of the day. Even though you are in a truck all day, it's tiring, so the wine was a nice touch.
The campsites he picked were very nice, but one of them had the option of upscale tents with beds. I wish I had know this was an option before hand as one night in a bed would have been good. The tenting area was nice too and there were hot showers.
Our guide did his best to take us to the animals we wanted to see. Most of us in the truck really wanted to see baby elephants and on our second to last day we found them! Being able to see the animals you want is part skill and part luck, but Simba was able to pull it off!
Email Megan | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
1 Day Manyara, 1 Day Ngorogoro, 2 Day Serengeti
Benson Safaris was very professional. Benson himself picked us up from the airport and introduced us to our guide - Dennis and chef - Charles for the 4 days. The knowledge and driving of the guide was great, and so was out food, always plenty of food. The trucks were great, with the pop up roof.
Before coming on the trip we discussed many itineraries and Benson was able to help us in was seemed to be an unbiased opinion. Although the description for Manyara still included the flamingos which were really not due for another 7 weeks. However this is hard to predict months in advance, and we saw 30 or so Elephants instead. We saw all the big 5 plus many more. Really engage with your guide to have the best trip. We used tents, and found all the gear to be great.
They even dropped us off at our next destination!
A great tour company, I would book with them again.
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Email Roopesh | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Pretty good, but not excellent
I selected Benson Safaris because i was looking for a local safari guide vs. using the ones affiliated with the US. i thought that they would be more economical. I asked a friend what he used, and he told me it was Benson Safaris. I selected the Luxery tent and lodge and i thought the price was better than if i had selected the one from the US. I give positive stars for all the good things they did. Pendo was quick to respond, which i liked. The positive stars are for all the things that they did good, as one would hope for. I'm cutting off some stars because I had indicated I was very interested in the Great Migration. I had actually wanted to see the river crossing,but i guess i didn't spell that out. When my friend told me he used Benson Safari, I went directly to their website. Their website does not have an option for choosing the Northern Serengeti Trail where i found out that was where I would see the River crossing. I only found out after the tour that option was available in this Safaribookings.com. I think that its silly not to have that option in their own website, which was where I went to directly. Otherwise I would have gone to Northern Serengeti to see the river crossing, which i really wanted to.
I also wasnt happy that after I made selections on the lodges, after making payment, i am told that they are booked, and i have to pick alternate lodges. The alternate lodges were good; but their locations were not as good as the original ones. And only after i reached Africa did that dawn on me. Location, location, location. For example, I had been told reservations were going to be made for Kubu Kubu; but after payment, i was told that place was booked, so i would be reserved for Lahia Tented lodge. It was under the same ownership, and the quality looked the same, so i said ok. Only during the tour did i realize Kubu Kubu was in Central Serengeti, which was where most of the big cats were. We lost a lot of time driving to Lahia. I was quite disappointed that we did not get to see much of Central Serengeti. My children had really wanted to see leopards and cheetahs. We saw one leopard. We did see a lot of lions (but that was mostly in Ngorongoro). Our jeep broke down in Serengeti too + got stuck in the mud. But i won't make much of an issue of that, because that was just bad luck. I liked our guide and the owner and the staff, but I wasnt able to get the experience i was looking for.
I went with my wife and 2 kids (9 yrs and 6 years). We were given double rooms but they were huge. Like I indicated above, we booked luxury lodges. Each room were huge. We only used one room.
The following is not really a review of the safari guide, but of the optional package selected. I had also gone to Oldovai Gorge, but I don't think it was worth the money. Also, it took away time. Also night time safari in Lake Manyara, didn't really think it was that great. We saw a hippo, some birds, a chameleon, some monkeys, but nothing great like a lion, etc. Even the day in Lake Manyara wasn't great. Didn't see any lions in mountains, etc.
My main disappointment is that due to the website, I didn't go to see the river crossing even though I had said I was interested in the great migration. And the time in Central Serengeti got limited due to various reasons, and therefore my kids didn't get to see leopards and cheetahs. One leopard. No rhino. I had gone to Tarangire Park, Lake Manyara Park, Serengeti and Ngorongoro.
But I did give positive stars for quick communication; wanting to do the best; getting to see lots of lions in Ngorongoro crater; lots of elephants, and zebras, and wildebeests, and other animals.
US
Email Julia | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Company did ok but guide was disappointing
I communicated via email with Benson on a 1-week itinerary for me and my 3 children and he presented a comprehensive mid-range safari package in a timely manner. Everything went well until we started out with our private guide. Logistics were smooth with one exception that was clarified with a quick call to Benson. Otherwise, the guide was obviously more interested in chatting with others on his 2 cell phones and car CB than in providing information to us, his clients. Some of the communication was between guides sharing animal sightings in the area and there was no shortage of those the guide pursued but there was more than one case of me seeing an animal in a place that required backing up and the guide disregarded my request. This was my 3rd time on a guided safari but my childrens’ first and they missed out on so much, even with my advocacy. I prompted the guide several times to provide information - differences in species, etc. - and answers were one or two sentences at best. It got to the point at one meal where, after loudly reminding my daughter that using electronics during dinner was rude and unacceptable, I had to ask him to put his cell phone away minutes later. He never asked what kind of animals we were interested in, never pulled out a field guide, and offered very little personal insight. I felt like my family was a load to be transferred between locations rather than a family who had crossed half the globe to appreciate his homeland. We met other Benson guides who showed far more interest in their jobs (and us) so I think we got the guy who’d grown tired/bored after 15 years of guiding. One other minor thing: Benson claimed he would come by to meet us which he never did. The week was good in the sense that the animals are everywhere in the parks, camps and food were good and we didn’t have any catastrophes but I know the trip would’ve been MUCH better with a different guide.
Reply from Benson Safaris Tanzania
Posted on Jul 9, 2018Hi Julia,
Thank you for your review and feedback. I am very disappointed to hear about your Guide behavior.
I have chosen all of our Guides myself so this is very bad feedback and will be investigated. All of our Guides are very experienced and familiar with international standard and we always get a great feedback from guest.
We welcome all feedback and I real appreciate you taking the time to tell me. I can tell you this will be dealt with right away.
Kind regards, Benson Benard (Owner)
GR
Email NIKI | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
it was the worst trip we have ever had in our lives
It was the worst experience I have ever had in my life. I booked the safari at last minute but we had already done a program 1 month ago. 2 days before the safari the called me and they told me that they didn't count the concession fees and the price had to be more. I told them that this is not my problem and suddently they didn't answer my emails and phone. The evening before we arrived in Arusha they sent me a message that they will be waiting for me at the airport. Then we went to Mr Benson's office I showed the emails and the offer and after 2-3 hours they told me that we are ok. So I lost 3-4 hours from the evening safari they supposed they gave us. On the way to our hotel they sent me a program with minus 1 day and they told me this is a program. I sent them back the program I have showed them previous at the office and told me that this is not ok. After 30-40 what's up messages and email they told me again ok. The safari in Serengeti for 2 days was good. After we have planned to move to Maasai Mara region and another driver took us from there. The drive supposed to be there from the morning and I paid 250$ more to be there and he came after 3 hours. They asked me for yellow card visa to pay 200$ as the other offices told me that the cost was 80$ for all of us and the driver told us that the officers wanted and tips. The transfer to Maasai Mara supposed to be 35' and took us 3 hours so the park was closed. The driver asked us to give tomorrow 200$ more to bring us to Maasai Mara park and when I told that I have paid for 4 days safari and I have only done 2 he told me that this is not his problem and he couldn't take us to the park in the morning. Yvlyn the girl from the office told him to bring us to the park and he did it but again with a lot of messages and calls and I terrible headache for me from this bad situation. The following day after 1.5h safari to Maasai Mara they had to transfer as at Nairobi and Giraffe manor. The driver stopped every 50km and talked with people on the road and he told us that it's like that in his country. He knew that we wanted to be early to our hotel and suddenly he told us that his car has a problem and he had to transfer us to another car. I asked him if the car is ready and he told us yes. We went to a place 150km away from Nairobi and the car was not there. The driver got down of the car and we were trying to find him. after 20' he answered the phone and he told us that the car that was ready changed the tires. He took us in one place that was inappropriate for my family as I have 2 kids and we waited for the another driver to change the tires for more that 1.30. Finally we started the way to Giraffe manor and because he did some mistakes as he didn't know how to get there we went to our hotel at 16.00 in the evening. We started from Maasai Mara at 09.30 and the distance is only 4 hours. So I totally didn't recommend Benson's Safari as it was the worst trip we have ever had in our lives and thanks god that we are all back safe after all this terrible situation.
Reply from Benson Safaris Tanzania
Posted on Jan 14, 2024Dear Niki,
I trust this message finds you well and thank you for the feedback..
I'd like to provide some clarification regarding the Tanzania and Kenya safari package you initially inquired about, and the subsequent changes in your travel plans.
When you first started inquiring about the safari package, the estimated cost was around 12,000 euros. After several email exchanges, you decided to cancel the trip, informing us that you chose not to travel. This decision was communicated towards the beginning of December.
However, in a last-minute turn of events on the 26th Dec, you expressed interest in proceeding with the same safari package around the same time. You mentioned that you only wanted to hire our car and guide, as you had already booked accommodations and claimed to have paid for everything, indicating that you were ready to go. However, after many calls to your hotels, we found out that only the arrival hotel was paid, and none of your hotels in Serengeti and Kenya were settled. Please note: you were traveling on the 31st Dec, 2023. Also, you made delays in your payment and received your payment on the 31st Dec evening with lots of discussion, as you also didn't want to pay the whole amount. The same situation occurred on the Kenya side, making it hard for us to know your location as you didn’t book and pay for this accommodation on time, causing discomfort and miscommunication.
To facilitate your booking, we requested the confirmation booking forms for your hotels. Unfortunately, these forms were not provided until your arrival. Upon inquiry with the hotels, it was revealed that none of the accommodations had been paid for. This presented challenges for us in processing your park fees, as the confirmation of accommodation is essential for allocating payment for concession fees.
Additionally, when you arrived to travel with us, you had only booked transport, a guide, and park fees with Benson Safaris. The total payment for the car hire, guide, and park fees amounted to 5100 USD. The accommodation arrangements were made independently. This decision, while within your rights, introduced complexities that contributed to the delays in processing park fees and entering the parks.
The delay in paying for accommodations caused a ripple effect, resulting in a delayed start to your safari. Instead of commencing your days with exhilarating game drives, we had to initiate paperwork processes to enter the parks due to the outstanding payments for accommodations.
We had previously discussed the importance of timely payments and coordination for a seamless safari experience. Unfortunately, the delays in payment and paperwork impacted the smooth flow of the planned itinerary.
I wanted to provide this context to ensure transparency and understanding of the challenges faced during the booking and operational processes. Your feedback is invaluable, and we are committed to addressing these issues to enhance our services in the future.
If you have any further questions or concerns, please feel free to reach out. We appreciate your understanding and hope to continue improving our services for the benefit of all our clients
Best regards, Benson
Managing Director