Dancing Zebra Safari
- Located In:
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United States
- Size:
- 1-5 employees (Founded in 2016)
- Member Of:
- Africa Travel Association (ATA) & The International Ecotourism Society (T.I.E.S)
- Tour Types:
- Custom mid-range & luxury tours that can start every day
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $550 to $2,000 per person per day (USD, excl. int'l flights)
Reviews
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Email Jane | 65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
Jessica with Dancing Zebra Safari Co is simply the best!
From our first inquiry call to Dancing Zebra Co throughout the trip itself, Jessica was helpful, patient, conscientious, and professional. The trip far exceeded any of our expectations due to Jessica's expertise, attention to detail, and commitment to plan a trip that seemed personally tailored for us. It is clear that Jessica has done her homework and wants only the best for her clients. The Lemala locations in Tanzania were stunningly beautiful and the Lemala staff/guides were extremely friendly, helpful,and hospitable. Jessica is passionate about the safari experience and is excited to share this passion with her clients. We couldn't imagine a more perfect experience thanks to Jessica at Dancing Zebra Co. and Lemala.
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Email John | 65+ years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
In a word, Dancing Zebra was FANTASTIC -- most helpful with all of our questions and concerns.
Communications: Jessica with Dancing Zebra was super -- always quick to respond to every question we had.
Service: Dancing Zebra provided terrific service in every aspect. Timely and clear. Provided great details, travel hints, etc.
Expectations: Exceeded our expectations.
Safari Tour: The Tour was amazing. The three locations (all Lemala camps in Tanzania) were each different, providing interesting variation. Through emails and phone conversation, Jessica designed a trip that exactly matched what we wanted. She is very passionate about making sure our experience in Tanzania was the best possible.
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Email Mark and Nelly Emmerson | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Delivered an unforgettable lifelong experience through local knowledge and attention to detail.
My wife and I had been looking to travel to Africa on a safari for a long time, we had many questions, started with Google and reviewed the many options available to us. One rainy afternoon we attended a travel exposition in Santa Clara where we met several tour operators, but we had no idea how fortunate we were to run across Jessica Mathews of Dancing Zebra. The minute we met her, we knew from friendly smile, detailed knowledge of Tanzania, and the fact that she is passionate about sharing her own experiences to provide others an vacation of a lifetime. After discussing our specific "safari" needs and expectations, she sent us an initial draft itinerary that was extremely well thought out and needless to say we were very excited about our upcoming adventure. After some additional discussions and some fine tuning based on her recommendations we had a detailed itinerary with a daily diary of what to expect. Everything about our trip to Tanzania exceeded expectations, from the time we arrived and met at the airport by our smiling guide until the day we left Zanzibar. A couple of highlights - first off our guide (Ian of Nomad) was exceptional, his knowledge and understanding of animals, local culture and respect for both made the trip very enjoyable. With his guidance we were able to see the BIG 5 (over 2000 photos taken) and so much more, we visited Tarangire, Ngorongoro and Northern Serengeti over an 8 day guided tour; The accommodations and food were also outstanding we stayed at Camp Kuro and Lamai Serenteti where the staff treated us like family, the meals and the rooms were first class. During our stay we also had a chance to visit a hospital (FAME) in Karatu, visit with some Masai children and walk with a Masai warrior to his village which was also very memorable. We finished our trip with 3 days in Zanzibar with some relaxing time on some of the most beautiful beaches ever seen. None of this would have been possible without the detailed knowledge of Jessica, every part of our trip was well though out, and the logistics of all travel was carried out without a single glitch! I would highly recommend Jessica if you and your loved ones want to experience Tanzania, she is wonderful to work with and has the knowledge and passion to make it a memorable lifelong experience!!
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Email John D. | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Planned a Perfect Safari Experience and Adventure !!
From the moment we first met Jessica at the Los Angeles Travel Show, we knew we were making the right choice with our safari planner. While there were many safari companies to choose from, Jessica was friendly, knowledgeable, and genuine. It was important to us that our tourism dollars remained in Tanzania and were used to fund local operators, camps, and lodges that were owned and run by Tanzanians who employed Tanzanian staff. Jessica’s focus on cultural authenticity, conservation, and local empowerment was just what we wanted.
Since it was only my wife and I to accommodate, we were also looking for a safari planner who could arrange both shared and private safari vehicles and mix mid-level and luxury accommodations to keep our overall cost reasonable. While we had previously talked with some safari planners who were inflexible with these requests, Jessica planned the perfect trip, with the right mix of rustic, yet luxurious accommodations, and both shared and private safari experiences, in absolutely beautiful and authentic settings. She also worked with very well-respected local operators and incredibly knowledgeable and friendly local safari guides (including our new Rafiki, Ian), who all made our 14-day journey through Tanzania exceptionally special. Jessica and the Dancing Zebra team gave us a trip of a lifetime that was beyond what we had imagined. We can’t wait to work with her again!
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Email Walt & Carol G | 65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
Well planned fantastic safari exceeding all of our expectations
Jessica at Dancing Safari's was fantastic to work with in planning our 4 week trip to Africa. My wife and I, along with another couple, have been trying to plan a trip to Africa for over 3 years. The 4 of us are all experienced travelers in our early to mid 70's who travel 4 to 5 months per year and have travelled extensively all over the world. In recent years we have done Antartica, Manchu Picchu, Galapagos, Brazil, Peru, Turkey, Europe and many other places and are not easily impressed. This trip exceeded all of our expectations and is now our #1 all time trip. We have traveled many times together and have never had problems planning a trip ourselves, however we found planning a trip to Africa to be very difficult on our own. First came trying to figure out: what countries to visit, then when to go (to both see the most, avoid bad weather and avoid the bugs), what types of camps to select, how long to spend at each safari camp, how to travel between camps and how to arrange the entire process with minimum wasted days. We tried working with several travel agents at agencies like AAA and other packaged tours advertising on travel sites like Travelzoo, and other companies packaging small tour groups.
Over the past two years we went to the Los Angeles Travel Show where we conferred with various tour operators. Finally we met Jessica at her both in early 2018. We also met with several other tour operators. After exchanging emails with several of these safari tour operators it was clear that Jessica was both the most responsive and knowledgeable and really worked at understanding what we wanted. Whereas other operators tried to steer us towards their own product Jessica worked at finding something that met our desired experience and budget. Although we wound up spending more that we originally budgeted, we had a truly unforgettable experience.
We selected a trip which included 8 days in Tanzania, 8 days in Kenya, 4 days in Botswana, 2 days in Zimbabwe, and 6 days in Cape Town (our friends didn't join the last 8 days). This length trip required extensive coordination amongst over 10 different lodges and arranging both the the air transportation and all the ground transfers. This included over 22 flights. During the planning stage Jessica provided frequent updates and was meticulous in ensuring that everything was planned correctly. The result was a seamless trip where everything went exactly as planned. We were met at every airport with staff who were always on-time and waiting for us. Luggage was handled for us. Unlike other tours planned by organizations like Tauck and Micato, we had a private tour for the four of us (not on first part in Tanzania where we had 4 others on the private charter airplane, but for Kenya we had the whole airplane to ourselves). Our safari tour vehicles were Toyota Land Cruisers or Land Rovers. Although most operators we saw operating out to the same lodges packed their vehicles with 6 to 9 people, we never had more than the 4 of us. The lodges we stayed at in Tanzania, Kenya and Botswana were all 5* quality. The food, service and staff were outstanding.
The safaris were incredible. By the end of the second day we had seen all the big 5 and so much more. Each new camp kept building on the experience.Out game drive guides were extremely knowledgeable and very accommodating. We were worried that spending over 3 weeks on safari would be too much and repetitive. Not so. Each location was unique and memorable.
As for cost, although it was a very expensive trip, when we compared what we paid with others who went on similar itineraries (Tauck and Micato) , we paid considerably less and got a lot more. Overall we would give Jessica and Dancing Zebra our highest recommendation. Although we went high-end I am sure Jessica would also do a great job for those wanting a lower budget trip.
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Email Renee | 65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amazing- best vacation ever. Thank you- Dancing Zebra Safari Co.
Thank you Abdullie for putting an amazing Tanzania Wildlife Safari and Beach Holiday package together. I can’t say enough about what an amazing experience we had on this trip. The safari started in the Ngorongore Region for 3 days, and then on to Northern Serengeti for 4 days. The last 3 days we went to Zanzibar and stayed in a wonderful ocean front villa to relax for the long flight home.
The safari guides were excellent ( Juma and Lorrie) kudos to both of them. Eliya was our excellent personal butler in our luxurious tented camp of &Beyond Serengeti Under Canvas.
The most memorable experience: The last day of our safari we finally saw a Rhinoceros and my husband snapped some pictures. We also saw the Big Five and The Great Wildebeest Migration (incredible)
Jessica updated us during the last few weeks before our trip on additional information- Visa for Tanzania, baggage allowance, tipping guidelines etc. I would highly recommend Dancing Zebra Safari Co to anyone planning an African Safari.
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Email Bob and Rita, Whittier CA | 65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
Dancing Zebra helped us select , then organized a trip that in all ways exceeded our expectations
When we and the couple we frequently travel with decided to plan a trip to Africa, we contacted Jessica Mathews of the Dancing Zebra Safari Company, whom our friends had met at the LA travel show. Jessica was a pleasure to work with, being very helpful and extremely patient with our initial uncertainties regarding which countries to visit, when to travel and what kinds of accommodations to book.
Once we settled upon visiting several sites in Tanzania and Kenya, plus the Chobe River in Namibia in late September and early October, Jessica efficiently handled all of our bookings, including transportation from each site to the next.
We and our traveling companions needed to make separate arrangements getting to Tanzania where our safaris began, and out of Namibia where the trip ended for us. Jessica had no problem coordinating two sets of rather complex travel plans, ensuring that we were met at each new location by someone representing Dancing Zebra. She also maintained contact with us throughout our trip, to ensure that things were proceeding as planned.
Our safaris took us to Tarangire, Ngorogoro Crater, Lake Manyara and Serengeti National Parks in Tanzania. In Kenya we visited Amboseli, Meru and Masai Mara National Parks, while in Namibia we enjoyed daily river excursions on the Chobe River.
All of our accommodations were of uniformly high quality with friendly staff, very good food and excellent knowledgeable guides, who led on several game drives each day.
We were fortunate enough to see large numbers of wildebeests and zebras crossing the Mara River. Other highlights of the trip were close-up viewing lions, leopards and cheetahs dining on their kills. We even were able to closely follow lions and a family of cheetahs as they stalked their prey. We were also fascinated by the many hundreds of elephants we saw at nearly all of the places we visited. Finally, we left home with little thought of birds, but having seen and photographed such a wide variety of them in Africa, we now have a new-found interest.
We were delighted with what Jessica and Dancing Zebra arranged for us, and will happily recommend them to any of our friends interested in a trip to Africa.
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Email Bob Myers | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
10 Day Safari in Tanzania
We chose Dancing Zebra after talking to and getting quotes from several Safari companies we had seen at the Santa Clara travel fair. Jessica, at Dancin Zebra impressed us with her willingness to listen to our desires for the trip and the way she worked to meet them. Some of the other companies seemed to being trying to fit us in to one of their pre packaged trips. In the end she designed a 10 day trip for our group in Tanzania. It included Terangire Reserve, Ngorongoro Crater and the Sarengeti. The accommodations were all part of the Elewana Collection and were all top notch, great facilities, food and staff. One of the lodges (Manor at Ngorongoro) was quite possibly the most luxurious resort I have ever experienced. Our guides for the game drives were all very knowledgeable about the animals, birds and plants of the area they covered. They worked very hard to make sure we saw what we wanted to see. The highlight was probably the wildebeest crossing of the Mara River. Our group had planned this Safari as a once in a lifetime trip and all our expectations were met or exceeded. I can’t think of anything I would change if I had it to do over again.
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Email Jim | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great experience!!
Jessica was great. She was always on top of things and quickly responded to my questions. It wasn't until I took the trip that I truly realized how much she had her act together. Each of the tour operators and/or hosts were top notch. Accommodations were fantastic. All the staff would do anything they could to help. We choose Tanzania for the trip and were not sorry. Each place within the country we went was different and we saw different things. We saw everything we wanted to: a crossing with a kill, lion cubs, the big 5...you name it, we saw it. Great trip!
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Email Mike & Barbie G. | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Trip of a life time! Amazing safari adventure!! Planning and execution by Jessica was flawless!!!
We had an incredible 3 week journey through Tanzania, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Botswana and South Africa. Jessica was phenomenal! She is extremely knowledgeable and very easy to work with. She listened to what we wanted to do, made excellent recommendations and customized our trip to meet our wishes. The customer service and follow-up was world class (and I am a very tough critic!). There were a few things she guided us towards and all of them turned out to be spectacular. There were also a few things I was stuck on doing based on my own web research. Jessica told us about the pros & cons of some of my choices, but I still insisted. Everything she recommended turned out to be fabulous. Everything she warned me about turned out to be true. She batted 100%. I learned her personal knowledge/experience was much more reliable than the (extensive) web research I did on my own. We cant say enough good things about Jessica & Dancing Zebra. If you are thinking about going on safari I highly recommend you talk to her!
