Tanzania Vacation Operation owners-Family couple
Tanzania Vacation Operation
- Located In:
- Size:
- 5-10 employees (Founded in 2018)
- Member Of:
- IATA, TTB, KINAPA & TANAPA
- Tour Types:
- Custom budget & mid-range tours that can start every day
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $195 to $750 per person per day (USD, excl. int'l flights)
Reviews
HK
Email Bonny | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Worst nightmare
If you are looking for a tour company for your dream tour in Africa, NOT THIS ONE. Run away!
Only if there was the option of negative stars, this company would deserve 10 of them. Travelling with this company was the most horrifying experience, but trusting his owner John was the worst decision we had in life. He was lying to us till the very end of our tour. Never had I want to go home that badly for any vacation.
My husband and I came for our 12 days honeymoon, paid huge amount of money (50% deposit upon booking with them and 50% upon arrival, totally of $5500 USD per person) for everything inclusive and got the worst nightmare in our lives.
We know for sure we are not underpaying them, but they have not been keeping their promises, not even making sure everything on the itinerary were carried out accordingly.
It was a trip including safari at Kenya, safari at Tanzania and beach holiday in Zanzibar, Kenya.
The trip in Kenya was the first nightmare. The owner John, who was helpful and responsive ONLY ONLINE, turned to this disappearing person that never replied to us when we got here. He outsourced the job in Kenya to a local guide called Rufus, whom had never showed up at all. There was no designated person for our 4 days there, different people were responsible for driving us and bringing us around. They changed our itinerary without prior notice. One day, we left early morning towards the safari from Nairobe Kenya. We were promised lunch on route and afternoon safari game drive once we arrived. But that day, we arrived at 2:30pm to the hotel and didn’t have lunch till then. Itinerary also got changed from an afternoon safari game drive to a village visit which was a complete tourist trap and scam to us. They just found some Masai people on motorcycle and picked us up from the lodge, and told us this is the activity we have for the day.
The next day, we had our game drive at Masai Mara, we had to start late because the driver forgot to order lunch boxes from the Lodge the day before (all the drivers just came and took their lunchboxes and went for the game drive right away). We ended up waiting for 60 mins for lunchboxes to be ready.
At the National Park Gate, there were also some ticketing issues which made us wait for another 30 mins for entrance, which was not seen in the other jeeps. The worst was yet to come, Rufus hired a shabby car to drive us 5 hours to the Tanzania border, very terrible condition of the car and very poor road condition. We got stopped by the rangers at the park gate, and even got pulled over by the police because it was an illegal car for driving passengers.
Luckily, the experience in Serengeti National Parks in Tanzania was good, because John happened to have outsourced the work to a responsible and helpful guide called Michael.
Just as we thought the nightmare in Kenya was going to be over. John threw us a surprise again. Right at the time we boarded the plane to Zanzibar from Arusha, John sent us a hand written letter saying he could not pay for our trip at Zanzibar because his staff made a calculation mistake, and requested a top up of $1000 USD per person in order for him to complete our tour in Zanzibar. That was already the 8th day since we have settled out final payment, this whole calculation thing should not have heppened if he had booked everything for us as soon the payment was received. Therefore, we did not believe him. We didn't pay him, and the nighmare extended till the end of our trip.
These are what happened in Zanzibar:
1. He did not arrange transport for us from the airport to the hotel, so we were left stranded and helpless at the airport at 8:30pm at night.
2. He did not even book the hotel for us that night until our guide in Tanzania Michael helped us to call him. But when we arrived at the hotel, the hotel staff actually asked us to pay the hotel by ourselves. We refused and after negotiation with John, he finally agreed to pay the next day
3. We had to keep asking him for confirmation on the activities written on the itinerary. Eventually, there were 2 days of activities and 1 night of hotel not booked and not paid by him, which include 2 scuba dives ($120 per person), 1 snorkelling tour with dolphins (~$40 USD per person, and 1 night of hotel stay ($230 USD),
4. We had to pay by ourselves the diving we had, which was $250 for 2 persons, and paid $230 for 1 night at the hotel because he stopped replying to our messages. He made a lot of promises, but never came to fulfil them.
We have proof and receipts of everything we had to pay on our own. And we have pictures of his hand written letter.
From our experience this is the worst company you could get, terrible management, untrustworthy and dishonest owner, and all together made our nightmare.
Reply from Tanzania Vacation Operation
Posted on Sep 8, 2025DEAR CUSTOMER,
Thanks for sharing your feedback for your safari.
We are Sad to hear the negative feedback that happened on your final days of your trip on Zanzibar, we have being doing a follow up on it and we found that the mistake was done by our Zanzibar Representative and I John I was available on same time and offered another supplier who organized well your tour in Zanzibar and we ended well in that part and all our tour.
As we upgraded your tour in Serengeti to luxury with overnight at Lake Masek Luxury lodge from normal tents to compasate where you said the vehicle for Kenya organizer was not in a Good condition. Also your jeep for Serengeti we offered very luxury photographic safari jeep which we rented for $400 per day to make your safari very luxury hope all this was enough to forgive the mistake happened from our suppliers.
We have arranged the refund of all the amount that you paid total of $690 as we agreed and we ended all in happy and Mr Jones as promised that you will delete the review.
Also we have changed our partnership company in Kenya and zanzibar as we paid them to offer good compitive good service as we are doing in our main office in Arusha but they did that particular mistake that mentioned In this review which is very helpful feedback for us.
To all our coming clients kindly don't hesitate to book with us and as the human being it happen to have mistake but I will careful make the improvement to all points that caused our clients to not be happy and compasate them so that all our service can be clean.
HU
Email Gábor | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Great safari experience with excellent organization and friendly staff
We joined a 7-day safari with Royal Tiger Tours in late July, visiting Tarangire National Park, Lake Manyara, Serengeti (two days), Ngorongoro Crater and Arusha National Park. Everything was very well organized from the moment we arrived in Nairobi until the end of the trip. They arranged all transfers seamlessly – between our Nairobi accommodation and the shuttle, in Arusha, and also for our return to Nairobi at the end of our holiday.
The accommodations were simple (as we requested to keep costs low), but clean and well maintained. The only exception was the public campsite in Serengeti, which was quite worn down compared to the excellent campsite at Ngorongoro. Communication was always smooth via WhatsApp, and any questions or requests we had were handled promptly.
One of our sons has gluten intolerance, and the team took special care to provide him with suitable meals. The cook prepared separate pancakes from corn flour, used the gluten-free bread we brought for sandwiches, and often made dishes everyone could enjoy. The food was plentiful and tasty throughout the trip.
Our guide and cook were both friendly and attentive. The guide always did his best to find the best spots for wildlife viewing, and the cook surprised our boys with small treats from shops along the way (lollipops, sodas, chips, even sugarcane). These little gestures made the trip even more special for our family.
Overall, we had a great experience and would definitely recommend Royal Tiger Tours to anyone looking for a well-organized, affordable, and family-friendly safari in Tanzania.
BR
Email Laura Diniz | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Amazing experience!
John's team is wonderful! We planned an ambitious itinerary that included Ethiopia, Kenya, and Tanzania, and John's company took care of everything in the latter two countries! We covered many kilometers, passing through villages and towns, enjoying an authentic and genuine experience. He spared no effort to ensure we saw the great migration, monitoring the herds and making the necessary adjustments to ensure everything went smoothly. The guides are patient, knowledgeable, and very friendly! The hotels were excellent, as were the vehicles we used. We highly recommend them!
NL
Email Annelotte | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Quick replies, understanding, kind
We booked the 7-day Nairobi-Amboseli-Tarangire-Ngorongoro-Serengeti safari which was great! Our guide in Kenya, Rufus, and our guide in Tanzania, Ludo, were exceptional! They really went all out to show us everything there was to see. We saw the big 5, and lots of other animals. The lodges exceeded our expectations. Most people only do the Tanzania part, if you do, I recommend asking for Ludo.
NL
Email Gaby | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Amazing
We had a amazing safari! We have aren the big 5! All thanks to our guise Peter! The food in the hotels is not high standaard and also the room at our First stay was very basic but Malaika was super! Food the lodge and the staff! We loved it! John the contactperson of Fig Tree respons always very quickley and arranged everything very well!
NL
Email Tom Vennesland | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Highly recommended
Very professionally run business, everything was neatly planned from start to finish, high value for money, food was great. My friends and I did the 4 day safari that covers Tarangire, Serengeti and Ngorongoro. We slept in tents, which was an amazing experience (especially hearing the animals serenading at night). It felt safe and we received good instructions on do’s and don’ts before the night fell. This is an experience of a lifetime, and I would not hesitate to book.
US
Email Zack | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
A trip of life time!
Dear all in Tanzania Vacation
We were on Safari and had an excellent time with our Joshua at Tanzania. They are very friendly and professional. They both worked hard and did their best to help us with this extraordinary safari. John replied to our emails and messages promptly, which saved us a lot of time. He is very knowledgeable and answered our questions patiently. He picked us up in the early morning from the airport when we could still see stars! I highly recommend booking your safari directly through Tanzania Vacation. You will be in good hands. It was a trip of a lifetime!
DE
Email Baerbel | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Fabulous
We were a group of 6 and updated and revised the tour with one nice stop at wild serengeti camp. John did assist in organising the 4 day safari very well. We arrived one night before, so we could start jointly after breakfast. Our driver and chef did a great job. We visit Tangere, Serengeti and the crater.
SG
Email Nagaraj K R | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Tanzania vacations was fantastic! Our guides,
Tanzania vacations was fantastic! Our guides, Innocent Lymo and owner Rejeaeli John could not have been more wonderful. Very extensive game drives, amazing guidance on all aspects of the parks and the wildebeest migration, comfortable lodgings and really fun company. I cannot praise them highly enough. A once in a lifetime adventure — SO worth it!!!
IT
Email Vikash Yabav | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
We appreciate Tanzania Vacations for planning our day tour.
We appreciate Tanzania Vacations for planning our day tour. Everything went exactly as planned, including the pickup from our Nungwi hotel and the shared charter aircraft to Mikumi from Zanzibar Airport. We saw elephants, buffalo, wildebeests, zebras, lions, leopards, and many other species at the park, including hippos in the swimming pool. There were numerous crocodiles and hippos present. We are generally pleased with their organization, and the cost was reasonable. We heartily urge everyone to use them when going on a day safari from Zanzibar Island.