Our Team
Swahili Paradise Tours & Safaris
- Office In:
- Size:
- 10-20 employees (Founded in 2001)
- Member Of:
- TTB & ATTO
- Tour Types:
- Customizable private tours and fixed group tours
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $50 to $350 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 Nassira | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
I was simply amazing. The driver was amazing. We saw a lot of animals from up close.
It was more than i expected. Everything was good. I’d def recommend it!!
IT
Email Chiara | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Enjoy Tanzania!
They are very professional team. Always kind and friendly with all people. The program was perfect and the organization too
PL
Email Simon | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Safari 5 day
Jim from office is cery nice guy. He organized safari Tour and Zanzibar Tour. Everything was perfect for my.
He is the star.
Thank You for everthing
Regards
Simon
Email Camie | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amazing experience
Jimmy is very professional and all his team is dedicated to success.
We went on a 3 days safari and everything was perfect.
NL
Email Remy | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Good service, everything well organised
We have booked a safari with Jimmy some months before the safari. Swahili Paradise Tours did a great job on making the safari. We had a good 4x4 car and food was good. There were no problems on the safari. We have seen beautiful spots in the Serengeti, Ngorongoro and Lake Manyara. In the end, we skipped the Masaai tour (because it was too commercial). Unfortunately a refund could not be made. Our driver (Emmanuel) was the best driver we could imagine.
We do have some suggestions, because there is room for improvement. For example: the camping gear was old and dirty. It's better to fix better gear for more comfort. Also, we ended the safari in Lake Manyara, while it's better to start there (because it's not that impressive after you went to Serengeti).
After all it was a beautiful experience and we're happy that we've booked with Swahili Paradise Tours! Thank you Jimmy.
Email Lizzie | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
The ‘guide’ Philemon really let it down
Communication with Jimmy before the trip was good. We paid a 50% deposit, and the rest the morning of the trip. The best thing about the trip is the price as it was much cheaper than almost all others. I suppose in this case, we got what we paid for. Pick up was well on time and journey was smooth. However, when we arrived, we were put with another group (which we expected) but with another guide called Philemon, which we had not been told about beforehand. We believed we would have Jimmy as our guide as that’s who we’d done our research on, but he didn’t even tell us he wouldn’t be the one taking us. This was really disappointing. It would have been ok if Philemon was a better guide. From the start he told us how much to tip him and the chef, which is a big no and far far too much. He was disinterested in us for the rest of the trip, and was purely a driver, telling us nothing about the animals as we went around. The bottom line is - if you go on safari to the Serengeti/Ngorongoro crater, you will have an amazing time. There are so many animals, and we saw everything up close including lions elephants zebras giraffes gazelles a leopard, birds, hippos wilder beast cheetahs and warthogs. we didn’t see a rhino up close but did as a tiny spot from the viewpoint at the end. However, if you want a guided and attentive tour, this is not the tour for you. Philemon would stop when necessary for most of the trip to let you view the animals, and particularly when other jeeps stopped, but as the trip went on, he got impatient and drove far too fast to see things and wouldn’t stop for animals. This was particularly on the last day, when I was actually shouting at him to stop so we could see what I believed to be elephants in the jungle part of the Ngorongoro crater on our last drive, and he heard me and refused to stop and dangerously went even faster right out of the crater til the end. This was so disappointing to miss the final animals and completely unacceptable as a safari guide. We were all so shocked. One of them might’ve even been a rhino but we’ll never know as he didn’t give us a chance to find out which felt a bit like we’d been robbed of an opportunity. An elephant walking around our campsite right up close when we got back made up for this, but I felt very let down. To top it off, we had asked jimmy to arrange us a lift back to the airport from Arusha, and the driver knew nothing about it so we had to get another. The chef didn’t even say goodbye after he left and we’d tipped him. The animals were amazing, food was pretty good and we saw incredible things, therefore we still had an amazing time. However, this was definitely not down to the ‘guide’ Philemon. The car had also lost suspension on one side which my boyfriend noticed and the driver admitted and had to keep checking which is really quite dangerous. The highlight was being able to get out at a hippo lake and see amazing hippos right up close. Because it was so cheap and the animals were amazing , this deserves 3 stars.
Saw the big 5, very well organised and eager to please!
The safari was amazing. We saw everything we wanted to in three days. I don't think anyone else would have got as good service for the price
FI
Email Ilari Ilmakangas | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Exellent service and flexibility from the begining to the end
We were very satisfied for the sales, communication, safari and the services. Flexibility was very nice since we travelled with 4yrs old
CH
Email Dominique | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Well organised Safaris for a very good price
We booked a 10 day Safari in Tanzania southern parks and got a very good offer from Swahili Paradise Tours & Safaris. We never found a comparable price for the tour we wanted to do. The communication was with Jimmy via WhatsApp. That is a very easy and fast way for the bookings. The lodges were really nice and the drivers were also very good. One time we were disappointed with a walking safari that we took part of, as it was not what we expected. We called Jimmy and he made us a new booking for free immediately, and that one was great!
After Safari we went to Mafia island, where Jimmy booked a nice location for us. Apart from the raining weather every day, we enjoyed the island a lot as well. I would recommend Tanzania to everyone who loves Safari and booking with Swahili Paradise Tours & Safaris makes everything quite easy.
AE
Email Loks | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Change in itinerary, no communication maintained, overall a bad time
Communicated that pick up will be 07:45 am but the driver appeared at 6:30 and was insisting to join immediately as some other people are waiting. On the way after asking the driver I came to know the itinerary is completely changed and Jimmy didn't inform anything. Picked up from my hotel dropped at another hotel. Picked up by another driver and dropped to a camp in Manyara where I had no itinerary to go. After waiting for 2 hours picked up by the actual safari vehicle at 11 am and drove to Serengeti while the original itinerary was Tarangire for the first day and next day early morning start for Serengeti. The whole day gone driving to Serengeti and reached at 7 pm. No game drive on the first day and lost the whole day in travelling.
They didn't inform that the tents to be pitched by ourselves. Had to do that in the rain at night!
After Serengeti & Ngorongoro, no information received who will pick up and which camp as this group had the last day on Safari.
Finally was dropped to a camp near Manyara. The camp was fantastic, the first time in 3 days was feeling well in Tanzania.
Last day the driver was supposed to pick up at 7:30 am and the driver arrived at 9:30. As I had the flight scheduled at 19:40 from Kilimanjaro airport, one driver was supposed to pick up at the park gate so that others in the group can continue with the safari. No driver arrived. The safari had to end early for others also and drove on the way to Arusha. On the way petrol ran out and the driver was complaining that the safari company didn't pay full amount to fill petrol. Somehow he arranged petrol on a highway garage.
After a drive I meet the driver who is supposed to drop me to Arusha. The driver was driving the car as if its a bullock cart and he was so scared of driving in traffic.
I insisted that I am dropped in the taxi stand for taking a taxi negotiated with good rate for Kilimanjaro airport. I was informed one driver is waiting at Arusha to drop me to the airport and I was in an impression that the drop off could be complementary for making my life so bad for last 4 days! :) The driver dropped me and asked the full amount 40 USD. I could have easily take a taxi from the taxi stand with less fare if I was dropped there and in time!
Overall what is experienced is they are very bad at communication and tour management and do not care about client satisfaction. Although most of the people are good at heart and very simple. They need to improve communication & management.
Reply from Swahili Paradise Tours & Safaris
Posted on Dec 30, 2019By the way Lok the sharing safari can start with any destination but all destination or parks listed on the confirmed list of itinerary MUST BE VISITED, so the group you join was already departed in a day before and it was already in Manyara thsu why we transferred you to Manyara to the meeting point where the group was located at the time being. But you visited all 4 parks and no park was scaped...hope you can confirm this.