Nsavi Safaris

Extremely responsive and an absolute pleasure to work with!

I debated between a 4 and 5 star but ultimately went with 5.
The 5 stars part -
From the moment I reached out to Nsavi they were so very responsive and kind and warm and thoughtful. The whole planning and booking experience was high end from a service perspective. They helped us through every part of the journey. When we had trouble confirming flights from Kilimanjaro to Kigali, they stepped in and helped with Rwanda Air; when my mom broke her foot on the way to Tarusha we reached out and asked if they could get us a cushioned boot for my mom and when we arrived they had what we needed. The tour operators in Tanzania were thoughtful and extremely engaged. We felt they really wanted to provide a great experience for us. The operator in Kigali was very engaged, friendly, genuine. I truly cannot say enough great things about the people we were with day to day.

The 4 star part -
I wish they set our expectations about the conditions of the lodging, the Tanzania roads, and tipping. We chose the mid-range option for lodging based on reading reviews of the hotel options for both mid-range and high-end. We decided to go mid range because the Google ratings of the hotels were all about the same and the difference in price, for us, did not justify the potential for a better experience. The first hotel in Arusha, rated a 4.1 or 4.2 on Google, was very unpleasant. The sheets and towels were dirty. We were there to literally just sleepover and leave so we didn't ask to change any of that, and honestly, I'm not sure how much better new ones would be (we had 2 rooms and both had similar conditions). The other hotels were nicer but it was also extremely cold in the rooms. The hotel in Kigali did have hot water bottles and a space heater which felt like heaven!!!
We were there in July and based on Accuweather the temp was around low 60s in the evening but felt much much colder. We didn't expect it and weren't properly prepared for that.
The roads in Tanzania are mostly unpaved and extremely bumpy except for the highways. And while you don't think much of it, it's very impactful when you're traveling for hours and hours on those roads and then come back to a very cold unpleasant room. Again - not Nsavi's fault at all! I do wish they prepared us in some way for that. But now you will know :)
Finally, the tipping. Yes, in the tour docs it does give you a general expectation of what to tip. However, everywhere you go and everyone you encounter is expecting or asking for a tip. I wish we brought USD (or Euros) with us. We ended up going to the cash stations to take out money. That's the other thing - it's better for them to receive USD or Euros vs local currency. Again, a stronger "heads up" would have been great.