Regional Tours & Safaris
- Located In:
- Size:
- 5-10 employees (Founded in 2008)
- Member Of:
- TATO, ATA & ZATO
- Tour Types:
- Custom mid-range & luxury tours that can start every day
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $100 to $300 per person per day (USD, excl. int'l flights)
Reviews
CA
Email SD | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Unforgettable experience
With Regional tours and safari's you get what you pay for and then some. We had an incredible safari experience thanks to our driver John who was extremely knowledgeable and accommodating and made sure we saw the big 5! All the places we stayed at were clean and comfortable with very friendly and welcoming staff. The food was great! All in all a top notch experience.
NL
Email Leon | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Transparant, honest, knowledgeable and flexible operator. Well recommend.
Maturaf was a big help in putting together our customised itinerary. We took the six day individual pack (Tarangire, Manyara, Ngorongoro and Serengeti) and changed it to fit in Lobo (migration) and put Serengeti last, as it is the most spectacular park. Maturaf was very involved and flexible in setting up our tour, fast communicating through email and Skype.
When you spend a lot of money on a safari, trust is a big thing. We have found Regional to be very transparant and honest, booking the best available lodges and camps. Some operators (apperently) may promise a upmarket accomodation, but tell you it is under construction when you get there, to put you in a lower priced facility, no such thing happened with Regional.
Solid car (LandCruiser), with a pop-up roof and cooler. No cutting back on gamedrive hours or distance we could notice. If anything, there are two minor recommendations to Regional to be made: at the price of a safari, one might expect binoculars to be on board. Second, we might have wanted to fly from Seronera airstrip to Zanzibar, instead of driving to Arusha. This would have been a good suggestion, outside of the safari arrangements. All things considered, we had an unforgettable safari and we would highly recommend Regional and Maturaf.
Our driver, Emanuel is an expert driver, a very knowledgeable guide, fluent English (and Spanish) speaker, a very decent spotter and above all a friendly and helpful guy. He is an experienced driver, which is a big asset: he knows the Serengeti by heart and knows a lot of people, which helped us several times to smoothly pass checkpoints and reach destinations quickly. No racecar driver, but easy pace driver, who really knows his car well. Expect full safari days. With early rise and long gamedrives. We would very much recommend him.
US
Email madhvi | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
I would book through them again!!!
Maturaf was awesome, very helful, accommodating!! Put together an awesome perfect trip and even surprised us with awesome amazing hotel upgrades!!! He also gave us the best tour guide and driver Peter, couldnt ask for anyone more knowledgeable and skillful and fun loving driver then Peter!!!!
Trip of a lifetime and would do it all over again and not change a thing!!!
CA
Email Tonya | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amazing experience and fantastic service
Just back from a mid-range Safari and Zanzibar tour with Regional Tours which is a local company. Maturaf was really helpful and his responses were timely. The price was not over the top for the tour that we got. The accommodations and food were fantastic. Emmanuel, our guide, was fantastic. We couldn't have asked for a better guide. He is extremely knowledgeable about the wildlife, birds and parks. He has the best vision and pointed out things that we could until we got the binoculars out. He went out of the way to ensure that we had the best trip and also suggested changes to the itinerary to maximize our time. Thank you!! We had the best time.
SG
Email Pooja and Malcolm | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
We are a family of five and it was truly memorable and special holiday. Everyrhing was excellent!
Right from the time we asked for a itinerary our experience was great. Maturaf was helpful, listened to what we wanted and accommodating. Our guide on safari was superb very knowledgable and well spoken he ensured our safari experience was superb. The lodges were fabulous, the surprisingly good. We had 9 days in Tanzania followed by a beach holiday in Zanzibar including a day in stone town. We loved it and regional tours took all the hassle out of our trip. We would highly recommend them and if you can Arun to guide you even better.
US
Email Mary and Doug | 65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
We got what we expected and a great deal more with Regional Tours, Maturaf and Emanuel.
The planning of our safari was thorough and gave us, as first timers, a safari as complete as I can imagine. Our driver/guide, Emanuel, was knowledgeable and had a real awareness of the animals we were hoping to see. He seemed to understand quickly that we wanted to really watch the animals in their home setting and not to just tick the sightings off a list. Emanuel's gentle guidance made our experience positive in all ways. We very much appreciate the fact that the three of us who went together were not joined by strangers. Apparently, some operators fill the vehicle to maximize the use of the car rather than focus on the individuals involved. We are grateful to have had the luxury of fewer people sharing the car, the driver/guide and the experience. Our accommodations were comfortable in all cases and luxurious in some. We can highly recommend Regional Tours with the caution that initial communication may be slow. Once we were on the ground in Africa, the communication was efficient and very much up to our level of comfort. Thanks to Maturaf and Emanuel, we will safari again. I would note that we especially liked the lodges and tent camps that had accommodations for our guide on the premises. Please note, Emanuel washed the car thoroughly virtually every day. His attention was very much appreciated.
Everything was perfect!
Our safari tour was exactly as outlined by Maturaf - the drivers were always ready and waiting when we arrived. The accommodations were wonderful and the food was excellent. We saw many animals in our short 3 day safari, and even managed the 'Big Five' on the first day! The travel plans were busy, but allowed us to see a lot of things in a short time span. When we were in Zanzibar, we were left to book our own tours, which was ok, but an additional cost to me. It would be nice if a couple of tours were included in the tour price. Otherwise, the service, tour and experience was top rate! Thank you! Asanti!
DE
Email Stephan | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Excellent organised tour
We were looking for a short holiday in July that included a safari trip and a few days at the beach to relax, after checking for different options we found the offer by Regional Tours which covered all of our interests in one package (northern circuit and Zanzibar).
The correspondence with Maturaf (Managing Director) was good, he responded to our emails very fast and with the relevant information. As mentioned by other people before the frequency and the response time reduced after confirmation of the advance payment. However all arrangements and bookings were done immediately upon receipt of payment - so do not worry. The pickup drivers were always on time and the staff of Regional Tours very reliable. Everything was well organized from arrival until departure.
Our driver/guide for the safari Emmanuel was very helpful and informative. Every evening we would plan the next day schedule together with a lot of suggestions from Emmanuel which made the trip more exciting and we could enjoy to the max. Emmanuel is very experienced and knows the route, hangouts of the animals, fantastic places and viewpoints quiet well. There was not a time when we were bored, whenever we thought we had enough of the gazelles, zebras or the long rides we came across something interesting that made trip; that moment; special. In the end all we remember is the lovely experience and the treasured moments. Thank you, Emmanuel, for making our trip a memorable one.
The accommodations during the safari were on the upper end (Tanganyika wilderness camps) and the hotel in Zanzibar (the Z hotel) was great. Minor adjustments or additions to our tour on short notice (Trip to Kilimanjaro, safari adjustments and Stone Town tour) were organized easily and without any problems. I can and will highly recommend this company and our tour guide Emmanuel to anyone who wants a great organized trip/safari for a reasonable price.
MY
Email Jeff | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Fast, straightforward and competitively priced
We found the company through other recommendations and it lived up to its review. The company was prompt in replies, helpful in some descriptions and efficient in assistance. The guide assigned to us was excellent, very experienced and trustworthy. Ask for Peter Pendaeli if you need a great guide!
PH
Email Raymond Caunca | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amazing trip indeed!
After careful considerations between different operators, my friend and I decided to go with Maturaf as he provided the best rates with the most amazing choices in accommodations. Although there were small lapses during communications while working on the itinerary, Maturaf had been very cooperative working on our requests. The guide that he sent us named Peter was also amazing. He was as well cooperative and made things work all throughout the Safari trip. Except for the rhino, we saw the rest of the Big Five and made close encounters with a bunch of lions.
The safari accommodations were great. We stayed in Zawadi House in Arusha upon arrival, Lake Burunge and Serengeti Kati Kati tented camps, Serena Hotels in Lake Manyara and Ngorongoro, and Tloma Lodge. We visited Tarangire, Lake Manyara, Ngorongoro and Serengeti National Parks.
The Zanzibar accommodations we stayed in were also amazing although personally, we prefer La Gemma dell'Est over Hideaway of Nungwi as it provided guests activities that they can join in such as beach soccer, water polo and beach volleyball. La Gemma dell'Est for me is more family-oriented but the facilities in Hideaway of Nungwi are more luxurious, as well as the food spread in their buffets are better. We stayed 2 nights each in both hotels.
The only downside, as my friend has been pointing out the whole trip, was that most of these accommodations failed to "sell/market" local cuisine but rather serve the usual intercontinental dishes.
Overall, the experience was amazing and proud to say this trip checked two places/activities in my bucketlist.
I highly recommend this team. KUDOS to Matural, Peter and the rest of Regional Tours!