Galloping Safaris Staff with Director
Galloping Safaris
- Located In:
- Size:
- 10-20 employees (Founded in 2013)
- Member Of:
- ASTA, TATO, TTB & EAWLS
- Tour Types:
- Small & medium group tours (Mid-range & luxury)
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $225 to $2,000 per person per day (USD, excl. int'l flights)
Reviews
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Email Neil/Patrizia | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Communicating with Galloping safaris was easy and the holiday was customized to our needs.
The safari was well planned using the Lemala tented camps which i would strongly recommend to those that want a truely memorable experience. The service at all the camps that we visited was excellent and the staff were very friendly and jovial, the "bush TV" in the evenings is a wonderful part of the day, relaxing around a warm fire with cold beers. In the southern serengeti we were visited in the camp by a pride of lions which was an experience that we will never forget. For those that really want to be in close contact with the animals and to be able to see them without worrying about the roads, then a rented vehicle with a professional guide is the best way to visit the game parks. Our guide for the trip was Maxi and through him we were able to see all of the big 5, even the tree lions in Manyara and the Serengeti. Galloping Safaris is not a large outfit but they are locally run and managed and becuase of this i believe that they can provide a more personalised service, even going so far to provide me with a bottle of champagne on my birthday !! If i return for a Safari to Tanzania i would certainly use Galloping Safaris with Maxi as our guide.
CL
Email León Carmona | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amazing experience -- Galloping Safaris is the best option!
I highly recommend Galloping Safaris. I went to Tanzania with my wife for our honeymoon and everything worked perfect, just on time. Mazzatu, which was our guide, was very friendly and provide us a lot of information about the animals we were watching. The lodges were exceptionally comfortable, clean, and luxurious.
I would recommend Galloping safaris to everyone looking for a safari operator because of three main reasons: (i) the services are exceptional; (ii) it is not expensive considering the prices of other operators; and (iii) the people who manage this company are from Tanzania. This is not a foreign company.
I really enjoyed this experience and I hope other people can do the same.
CA
Email Priya | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Our Trip was simply Amazing!!!
My husband and I went on a 10 day Safari with Galloping Safari in January 2016.
When we arrived at Kilimanjaro International Airport we were welcomed by Walter and our Guide James.
Where can you expect the head of the Safari company(Walter) personally coming to welcome you.
This company's motto is "we are here to serve you". They stood by this motto, right from day 1.
Our accommodation was excellent and the food amazing and I haven't even started talking about the Safari experience.
Accommodation: we experienced a bit of everything- tents, lodges and hotel. I can assure you that they really pay a lot of attention to details. Right from where we stay to how we are taken care of. There are no surprise additional costs in these accommodation other than tips, which we are already aware. Food was excellent and prepared according to our dietary needs. Don't forget you are in the middle of the forest and yet you are taken care very well by these friendly people. Always with a smile and the expression "Akuna mattata"
Our experience with the Safari: Our guide James was simply amazing and acted proactively, and carefully paying attention to our needs. We saw the Big Five within a few days of our Safari. Although the roads are unpaved and bumpy we didn't feel it much-thanks to our very skillful driver.
This is a company you can trust. They don't make any false promises and they mean what they say. There are no additional or extra costs and everything is dealt with upfront. They send you a program well in advance and you can work with them to meet your interests. There is not one negative comment I can share on this Company.
Their smiling faces and eagerness to make your trip as pleasant, enjoyable and adventurous as possible will be greatly appreciated by you. Guaranteed.
We have already started referring this company to our friends and family.
I wish this company a grand future.
Email LRTravels | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
The VIP safari experience
We have just finished a week safari organized with Galloping and it was the best holiday ever.
I decided to book through this company based on the great reviews they have on trip advisor and I must say that the service we got was even above what you can expect reading the reviews.
Both the efficiency of Walter organizing the safari and the competence of our guide Ayubu were second to none.
The organization was very smooth, I started organizing the trip less than one month in advance, but this was absolutely no problem for Walter. We had many email exchanges and he came up with a tailor made safari perfect for us. We stayed in top end lodges and we were very satisfied with his choice.
Walter will answer your emails within a couple of hours and always very precisely.
Payment of the deposit was also no issue at all. As soon as they get the money they will issue a payment receipt for you. I must say everything was handled extremely professionally.
When we arrived there was Ayubu our guide waiting for us at the airport.
We spent one week on the safari with him and he is an amazing guide, he spotted plenty of animals we would never have seen ourselves and he always knew the answer to all our questions! GPS is his fingerprint and animals must be on the map as we'll ;)
We had constantly the impression of having a VIP safari and be much better served than others, many times we were the first ones to see animals and later there would be other vehicles joining.
And last but not least we truly enjoyed his company during the week.
Ayubu is a very good driver and the vehicle used is very comfortable for the safari. I have some back problem but didn't have any issues on the bumpy roads!
There is even a fridge in the vehicle to keep your drinks cold and if you run out of battery you can charge your device while on the road.
If one day I would be back for a safari I'll definitely organize it with Galloping again.
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Email Jody | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Most of safari was fantastic, but disappointined with Galloping Safari Owner, Walter Tenga.
Our family safari in Ngorogoro and Serengheti with my two young adult children ( 18 and 21) was an incredible experience. Weather, variety and quantity of game viewed, Four Seasons Serengheti Lodge, Balloon ride and our safari tour guide, Kennedy, were all outstanding and lived up to all our expecations and more! I am, however, quite disappointed in Walter Tenga, the owner of Galloping Safaris. Our hotel the first night in Arusha was changed (downgraded) from the hotel documented on our itinerary, without any advance notice of the change. Mr. Tenga described the change as a "mistake". The hotel we stayed at was nice, but not nearly as nice the one stated on our itinerary. During our return from Serengheti to Arusha on the last day, we ran into a problem with our flight. We wer e told a flat tire on our small aircraft would result in over a two hour delay of our flight. I attempted to contact Galloping Safari Tour owner, Walter Tenga, for help. I called his office and cell phone multiple times, but he never answered and I was not able to leave a message. As a result of our delay, we missed a farewell luncheon at beautiful hotel on our last day and shopping time. No alternate lunches were provided, although I had already paid for these meals in our tour package. I contacted Mr. Tenga and requested a refund for our meals, but my request was ignored. Very disappointing. Last but not least, our Galloping Safari driver who took us back to the Killimanjaro airport seemed to misunderstand our flight information. Once I reviewed our departure time with him, he drove at a dangerously high speed to get us there on time. He was stopped by the police because he was driving so fast. When we entered the airport, my kids and I were met by security personnel because of our very late arrival to board our plane. All this made for a very stressful ending to an otherwise wonderful trip.
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Email Tobin | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Great planning, mediocre execution
We booked a 4 day Serengeti honeymoon through Walter with a 5-day Zanzibar add-on. We chose to book with him because he was easy to communicate with and seemed extremely knowledgeable. The detailed trip descriptions customized for the season gave me confidence that he would arrange a great trip for us.
Altogether, Walter's recommendations for lodging were all spot on. All the accommodation he recommended were truly outstanding.
Reasons for the 3-star review:
1) My most serious complaint was our guide named Anderson. While he was a safe driver, always punctual, and seemed very competent at finding game we had an unbelievably hard time communicating with him and that really put a damper on the trip for us. To give you some background, I have lived in the Middle East and Africa for extended periods of time so I would consider myself adept at speaking with non-native English speakers. However, both me and my wife found ourselves constantly frustrated. Anderson could not teach us much about the nature that we came to see nor could he answer our questions. To be honest, we would ask a question and usually get a completely off-the-wall answer as he didn't understand what we had asked. Eventually driving around gets boring if you don't know what you're really looking at with any depth! Other travelers and their guides we met along the way did not seem to have this issue.
2) There were some permit issues entering two of the parks, each one causing a 1-2 hour delay when we would have preferred to have been relaxing in the lodge. The driver tried to tell me it was the network, the park employees clarified it was poor preparations although didn't further elaborate. I ended up having to pay entrance fees to one park which I did get reimbursed for.
3) Our guide decided to go off the road in Serengeti to get closer to some lions. It was our first day and we had no idea that this wasn't allowed. Sure enough, the rangers came and we had to follow them back towards the airport (nearly an hour away in the wrong direction) for our driver to get a 'ticket.' About 5 minutes into this drive they stopped and motioned our driver out of the car. Next thing we knew our driver was asking us for money to bribe the rangers. I said I would not give him money. A few minutes later we were on our way without paying a fine. I have no idea what exactly was going on... I have no idea if this is a setup or common occurrence but it certainly left a bad taste in our mouth.
4) The airport transfer that Walter arranged for us in Zanzibar consisted of an hour of entrapped salesmanship. The transfer company he contracted was also a 'tour company' and spent the hour pushing countless tour options which we were not at all interested in. We both arrived with headaches.
Bottom line: I would trust Walter's planning again but I'd be weary of your guide. I honestly would go so far as to talk with your guide on the phone ahead to be sure you can communicate. Don't trust other's TripAdvisor notes mentioning guides because ours actually had a few decent comments!
DE
Email Josef | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Chaos - another name for Galloping Safaris
More than nine month in advance we booked a helicopter flight to Mount Kilimanjaro with Galloping Safaris (920 US-$ per person). The mail contact was easy at the beginnig! later on difficult. For example twice we were promised that the agency would create a simpler - which means less costly - mode of payment --- nothing happened. At the end no mail was answered and twelve hours before our schedule departure we did not know the location for the take-off. The meeting point initial mentioned (Moshi Airport) was changed ten hours before departures to a place on the outskirts of Arusha - without priori notice. If we had not inquired we would not have known the new place for take-off. Since the first place of our departure was supposed to be Moshi we booked a hotel room there and had to travel from Moshi to Arusha early in the morning and without breakfast. By the way: departures time changed from 10 am to 8 am.
Apart from that the payment of the full amount was due well in advance.
Because of all this trouble we would not recommend Galloping Safaris.
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Email Debra M | 65+ years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Liar, Cheat, disreputable! Do not use under any circumstances
DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY. My husband and I booked through a great agency in Kenya who outsourced the Tanzania portion of our trip to Galloping Safaris. Walter, the owner, is a liar and a cheat. Read other reviews (wish we'd seen them in advance). We were in Tanzania for 5 days. He hired a 3rd party guide/driver for us, Athman was EXCELLENT. He saved the tour for us. However, Galloping Safaris (GS) had us pay our entry fee into the Serengeti park (even though we'd paid everything in advance). He said he was installing a new payment system and was having problems. We put the $642 USD on our credit card, assuming Walter would do as he said and pay us back when we finished the trip in Arusha. Walter with GS outright lied to us. We wasted an hour waiting for him to respond so we could even enter the park. Next, as we were exiting Ngorogoro crater, we were not allowed to leave the park since GS (Walter) had not paid the concession fee of approximately $100 USD. Our driver, Athman, convinced Walter to go to the bank to immediately transfer the $$. Another hour wasted there. Then we arrived at Tarangire Park, only to find out, once again, Walter at GS had not paid the entry fees. He then asked us again to pay $227 USD of our own $$. We had no choice but to pay, because where else would we go? Yup, another hour wasted sorting this out. Upon our final day, we drove back to Arusha, met with Walter, his wife Glory (a Director of the company) and someone who said they were his lawyer. He did not have the money to pay us back upon our arrival ($869 USD total), instead he wrote and signed what we thought was a legitimate legal agreement that he would wire us the money in 2 weeks. That date came and went, no $$$, more lies from Walter and now zero response from him. He should not be allowed to operate. DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY under any circumstances.
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Email Ken | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Unfortunate Experience
Galloping Safaris took our money for a trip they did not deliver. Our hotels were not booked or paid for in advance, as promised. We chose activities that they did not take us on and did not respond to our questions and requests to have our trip as planned. Walter was avoidant of our texts and phone calls, but offered to meet us in person to make it right and explain himself on our last day in Tanzania. We drove for hours to meet up with him and he never showed. Walter has offered to provide my group a refund of some funds, which we accepted, but he has not followed through with that promise. I strongly urge you to pick a different company for your safari.
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Email Melinda | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Broken Promises
I booked a safari though Kenya and Tanzania with Galloping Safaris in 2019. Walter provided a nice itinerary for myself, my husband, and my two best friends. Other providers were less expensive, but Galloping Safaris had great reviews, so I went with it. Walter demanded prompt payment, that the money be wired to him immediately, which we did. The safari took place in February 2020. There were several issues throughout, including Walter and his staff not listening to requests to change small parts of our trip, lying about why we couldn't go to a place we planned to go, and skipping events we had paid for all together. We had paid for two nights at The Four Seasons Serengeti, and Walter instead had our guide take us to a less expensive hotel three hours away, one that was riddled with tsetse flies, without letting us know that we wouldn't be staying at The Four Seasons as planned/paid for. We demanded that they take us to the Four Seasons as planned the next day, but when we arrived the staff at Four Seasons let us know that Walter had not paid for our stay, and we were left sitting in the lobby. They told us that Walter often does this, and they do not extend credit to Galloping Safaris anymore, so we would have to wait until he paid to be taken to our rooms. We asked the Four Seasons staff to confirm the rest of our trip with the hotels in our packet that were booked, and not one of them had been booked or paid for. My guess is that Walter is unable to pay for the current clients' reservations until the future clients give him cash, which is why we were stuck waiting without paid reservations even though we had submitted payment in full to him many months earlier.
When we had issues with the trip Walter ran from us, ignored our calls, had our guide disappear. We drove hours out of the way on our last day of travel to meet up with Walter and settle up our issues, and he never showed up.
Through phone calls and emails Walter acknowledged that he was at fault and owed us a refund, which he never sent. We have contacted him multiple times and its always one excuse after the next.
I have traveled all over the world and have never felt as scammed as I have with Galloping Safaris. I strongly recommend that you book your trip with a more reputable provider.