Serengeti Smile Team
Serengeti Smile
- Office In:
- Size:
- 10-20 employees (Founded in 2020)
- Member Of:
- Tanzania Tourist Board & AMREY Flying Doctors Insurance
- Tour Types:
- Custom mid-range & luxury tours that can start every day
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $190 to $800 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
DK
Email Helle | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Excellent 6-day safari trip (The Great Migration Tour)
We had an absolutely amazing trip with John our driver and guide from Serengeti Smile. We saw so many different habitats and countless animals. John was always very patient with us taking pictures. Accommodations were all good and the food lovely throughout the trip. We can highly recommend Serengeti Smile!
Serengeti Smile is courteous, responsive, and affordable, providing an excellent and friendly guide
We (two couples) had a fantastic time with Serengeti Smile in our 7-day Tanzania safari (Tarangirie, Serengeti/Mara and Ngorongoro) and 5-day Zanzibar beachside holiday. We chose Serengeti Smile as a mid-range provider (even though they are a relatively new company) based initially on the TripAdvisor review score of 5, and then on how reassuring and responsive Frank (the company owner) was in our planning meetings in What’s App and Zoom. He helped us design a customised itinerary that fully covered our various interests, was friendly, courteous and professional right through the organisation process and then during the actual safari, right down to arranging a sunset sail on a dhow in Zanzibar with just a few hours’ notice on our last day.
Our guide Ayubu was also excellent – courteous, friendly, and professional, with excellent driving skills, incredible animal-spotting skills, and a great sense of humour. He clearly knew his way around the parks and had a great rapport with other guides and so was able to get information from them on where they were seeing animals. We must admit that it did take a day or so to gain confidence in his driving skills at what initially seemed to be high-ish speeds over some rough roads. However, after a couple of days we realised he knew what he was doing, as he clearly knew every inch of the many kilometres we travelled. Ayubu was very skilled at placing the vehicle in the best possible place for viewing and photographing animals when there was lots of competition from (sometimes) 10 or more other safari vehicle looking at a lion pride, for example.
Our safari vehicle was a few years old but was comfortable enough with just four of us. Six people and luggage would be a squeeze. Our lodges were also very good, without being 5-star, and the tent camps in Serengeti were impressive in providing roomy spaces with comfortable beds, functional bathrooms, electric lights and even in-tent Wi-Fi facilities, as well as a dining room & bar tent.
And the animals were fantastic – not just the ‘big-ticket’ items like the Big 5, and the wildebeest crossings of the Mara (we saw two!), but the myriad and often ridiculously colourful birds and lizards, the amazing diversity of antelopes and more. Plus, of course, some insight into the lives of the local people – the Maasai with their herds, and the locals in the towns and villages.
Asante Sana
Email Clive | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Made it all about us.
We had an incredible experience with Serengeti Smile.The price was very competitive and accommodations were very good. It's great to have had an excellent guide in Ayubu who was such a fantastic guide that made our trip unforgettable. He was very knowledgeable, real gent, humorous and professional, and his fluency in English was definitely a plus. The fact that Ayubu provided lunch, reference books for different animals including birds plus binoculars in the vehicle also shows that he really took every detail into consideration to insure that my 16yrs Son and I had the best experience possible.
The hotels were of a very good standard, and Frank whom organised our trip was friendly, very communicative, flexible and did his best to accommodate our needs throughout the whole process. We done 6days safari and 4 days in Zanzibar which was also a quality experience from the guided tours to swimming with the dolphins.
Overall, we had an amazing time with Serengeti Smile and Ayubu as our guide. It's clear that they really know how to provide their clients with an unforgettable experience.
Thank you Frank and Ayubu.
Email Kayla & Jaspa | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Magical experience - great guides, good service and so many animals
My partner and I embarked on our first Safari together. Our expectations were matched by Serengeti smile as a result of their welcoming, informative and chilled service.
They picked us up at our hotel promptly at 8am the first morning, we were greeted with cold bottles of water in the car which I'm sure you can imagine, in the hot weather was very needed! They continued to provide snacks like peanuts and other little bits throughout the day.
As we progressed to the different areas, they provided facts and information about the land, animals and tribes which was good as it adds that educational layer.
The tour guides always seemed like they had our best interest at heart, getting the good spots to see the animals and pointing out little things that we may have missed, for example a Dung beetle pushing a pile of poop with his little friend on it (you can imagine, this is fairly hard to spot in the Serengeti while driving)
I think the experience was good value for money (it was the most cost effective in comparison to the rest of the options), ways in which this trip could be improved is by providing better quality and more thoughtful packed lunch and upgrading the accommodation provided (the first accommodation was a tented camp, which was a great experience but not particularly luxury) however the 2nd lodge was lovely, it had better food options and better facilities. I think my partner and I largely share this opinion due to being foodies and having quite high expectations, so given that I would say the accommodation and food were sufficient but just not up to our standards. I also think that organising the permits well ahead of time would reduce any wait times and delays which in turn would improve the overall experience and make it more seamless.
Nonetheless, we had the most amazing experience - we saw all of the animals except for the Leopard, it was truly magical and we would 100% recommend this to anyone!
US
Email Angela | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Serengeti Smile may this trip unforgettable.
Serengeti Smile is a very professional tour operator. From the minute I book the tour, the communication was excellent. Frank kept us informed at all times and help us to find the best accommodations for our family of 5.
We decided on a private tour since our family is large. Ayub was our driver/ guide. He was excellent!! Professional and knowledgeable. A very friendly traveling companion that makes sure we get informed at all times. His knowledge of the area and eagle-eyed spotting game made our experience unique. We cant' wait to return to Tanzania with Serengeti Smiles.
PL
Email Eva | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Phenomenal experience
A fantastic trip around Tanzania, which was organized according to: our plans. Serengeti Smile is a team of amazing people who do their best to satisfy their clients. At the beginning, we were a little worried because we only had contact via e-mails and we relied on opinions from the Internet. However, the contact was very professional and we always very quick received answers to all our questions. Eric answered my questions with great patience (over 50 emails) and dispelled every doubt I had. We traveled with a group of 10 friends and the trip around Tanzania was according to our plan (tailor-made), so Serengeti Smile had no easy task to meet all our expectations. However, they did a brilliant job and were also the most flexible in terms of pricing. The hotels they chose for us were incredibly comfortable, beyond our expectations, and they also organized internal flights for us. Everything was really perfectly planned and we are clients who travel a lot around the world, so our requirements are above average. Ayub Kileo and Baraka are dream drivers with enormous knowledge, experience and a great sense of humor. Our Safari wouldn't be the same without them, we saw a wildebeest giving birth, a white giraffe, and lions playing very closely. Serengeti Smile offered us hotels for a very reasonable price that were amazing, very comfortable and brilliantly located. This trip is one of the most successful and all thanks to the commitment of the entire Serengeti Smile team. I recommend this company to anyone without hesitation.
PL
Email Monika | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Absolutely fantastic adventure!
Serengeti Smile perfectly prepared a tailor-made offer for our group of 10 people. We wanted to see not only the safari but also the Usambara Mountains. Everything went according to plan, we had good, comfortable accommodation and really good food. Our driver guides - Ayoub and Baraka were wonderful! They answered all our questions with a sense of humor. We are impressed by their knowledge of animals and their habits. Riding with them off-road was a great adventure! Great team! Lots of smiles and laughter!
PL
Email Justyna | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
More than you expect
The tour organised by Serengeti Smile was tailored to measure and give us much more than we expected. Places we have visited, hotels we have stated in show us real Tanzania. Our guides and drivers - Ayobb and Barraka were perfect - their energy and sense of humour was like an extra added value to our trip. Strongly recommend this tour operator.
FR
Email Ingrid | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Best service and guide
We had a marvelous time with Champion, our guide from Serengeti Smile.
He’s so thoughtful, as well as knowledgeable and made a point for us to have the Big Five to count for.
Always on time, from the pick up until the drop off.
He knows wonderful spots to have the best lunch experience.
It was absolutely amazing and we highly recommend this guide.
Thank you Champion and Serengeti Smilie for this incredible experience !!
QA
Email Z. Family | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Excellent organization !
Value of money is guaranteed with this agency we compared with other tourist staying at same lodges doing the same circuit but paying more...