CH
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Our guide Thomas was great.
My husband and I booked a 3 day private tour into Selous game reserve from 02 to 04 February with Kiliholidays. We reserved by paying 1/2 down and paid the remainder upon commencing the safari. We too had trepidation about paying more than 6 months in advance, but the
company is honest. We kept in touch with Mack Kornelio by WhatsApp and arranged the pickup in Dar es Salaam thru this means as well. Mack is responsive.
Thomas met us at our hotel in Dar es Salaam on the dot at the prearranged hour. He was super throughout the whole trip explaining fauna and flora as we went along. He is a great driver and professional guide and I can recommend him hands down.
The negative portion of our trip was the nightly camp. Here USD 500 and 50,000 shillings were stolen from us by the staff at the Selous Jimbiza Camp from our locked lodge. We were the only guests, thus later the police ruled the theft as an inside job. Everything about this camp was negative - slow to react, simple breakfast not on time, food barely palatable. Simple hot water for coffee in the morning took too long despite stating the night before we’d leave at 0630h for the game drive. They would not even power on their generator because the camp had “its” schedule. I asked the ceiling fan at the restaurant to be turned on during lunch because it was very hot but got the response it would be at extra charge being outside generator hours! Jimbiza is not customer focused and contains thieves.
Kiliholidays subcontracted to Jimbiza and Mack promised to sever relations with them upon hearing of the theft. I hope relations will be terminated not only by Kiliholidays but all other tour operators for the sake of future safari participants. However with this incident, Mack showed support for clients. He and Thomas talked and agreed to involve the police. Thomas took the initiative to take the room attendant to the police station in our vehicle with ourselves. He knows how to deal with local procedure. Thus we had an unexpected adventure to see Mloka police in action.
All in all I can recommend Kiliholidays for safari tours.
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great value for money but poor organisation and communication
First of al we both had a great time in Zambia and its an amazing country with lovely friendly people and amazing wildlife and stunning landscapes. We organised a 18 day trip with Den of Den's Safaris. He was great at replying to all our queries prior to booking the trip but once we had paid everything communication totally dried up. We had a lot of questions just before we flew to Zambia and despite emailing on several occasions there was no reply from him. At one point we thought the company no longer existed and our money was down the drain!! Luckily my boyfriend was out in Zambia beforehand on a private visit and he was finally able to contact him by telephone. It was very inconvenient for us not being able to find out the name of the lodge we would be using while staying in Lusaka as we wished to leave part of our luggage there. However, many times during the trip neither our local guide / driver knew where we were going to be staying!! Nor did one guide know whether he was flying with us to Livingstone or not as his ticket was booked 10 min. before flight departure!! In fact Den really believes in doing things at the last minute and if you book him you must realise that he has very competitive prices based on the fact that lodges / campsites, etc. are booked totally at the last minute. We travelled in November which is the rainy season and we were incredibly lucky with the weather until we went to the Zambezi River National Park. The road to our lodge was susceptible to flooding and thus when it rained hard part of the road washed away. Den being a safari operator should have known to have that component of the trip at the beginning of November when the weather is more likely to be dry than at the end when the rains come. Unfortunately, we had to leave our lodge a day earlier as otherwise we would have been stranded there. Unfortunately, Den's staff didn't really know what to do and all decisions have to come from Den who as you have probably realised is quite difficult to get hold off All in all everything worked out for us and we had a really great trip, however, it was much more stressful than expected due to the lack of communication and organisation from the operator. On a more positive note it was an amazing trip and ended on a really high note with a houseboat trip on Lake Kariba.
AT
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Highly professional organizing of an unforgetable 7 day Masai Mara, Serengeti & more adventure
We booked a 7 day safari with Allan from Back of Africa Adventure for January 2018 on short notice. During planning he was very flexible in his offering and responded to all of our requests within few hours. He gave as a very detailed description of the safari in advance which was customized to our needs. Payment of deposit through wire was easy to handle as well as the final payment when we started the safari. The guides he hired were very knowledgeable, flexible, warm-hearted and open people and we spent great days with them and learned tremendously much not just about the wildlife but also about the people of Kenya and Tanzania. The standard of the accommodation was above our expectations and convenience was assured throughout our trip. In terms of accommodation, the highlight for us was the wildlife experience in the tended camps inside the Serengeti. Allan kept in touch with us during the safari and made sure everything worked out. Definitely, Back of Africa Adventure is a tour operator to recommend.
US
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
A great company to book with
Noah at Wildebeest Safaris was extremely professional and very nice. He was the only operator listen to my father and sister, they were planning the trip, and built a trip around our interests and not what the company wanted us to do. My father and sister spent almost 8 months with other operators who quoted the most expensive options only before they found Wildebeest. Noah helped them plan a unforgettable experience that was fantastic and fun. Our accommodations were great. Our guides very knowledgeable and took time to let us see and experience everything. I had no prior expectations since this was my first trip to Kenya and Tanzania and found this to be a wonderful, unexpected, brilliant trip. A shout out to our guides Max in Kenya and Homza in Tanzania who showed us the wonders of Africa.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Amazing
We used Nick and Buya Buya during our two week visit to South Africa.
Nick met us at the airport and showed us around the area on the way to our lodge. He provided some cold drinks for the journey which were much appreciated considering how hot we were! Nick even managed to get us a car seat for our one year old for the journey that was an additional bonus.
We used Nick for some drives in Kruger and we were so impressed with his professionalism, knowledge and managing to get us some amazing sightings (photos attached!) The time flew by and it was the highlight of our trip.
I cannot fault the communication prior to our trip and attention to detail whilst we were there. It made it for a very stress free first holiday with a baby and we cannot wait to do it again!
FR
had a great 3 days safaris in murchison with Brian
the whole communication from day i sent a request from safaribookings at our hotel in Uganda after we had left France with my husband i brought an idea of us traveling to murchison falls we we sent a request to GoExplore Safaris and Brian responded to us with prompt email response coupled with whatsap call
we arrived in uganda and had 7 days free off our time and choose to go on safari we visited there office and in uganda and made payments then waited for our days fo safaris to begin but we cant tell you how much beautiful this country is the waterfalls in the park were the biggest highlight of the safaris and then seeing the leopards and lions coupled the whole experience to be the best we can recommend to to any one who is travelling to uganda to please use your services Brian will organise the best safari and he is the best safari planner i have found in uganda contact them for your safari in uganda and you wont regret it
we surely will come back for gorilla tracking mid year in august thank you so much
SK
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Januari in Kenya
Hi Robert,
I want to thank you very much we enjoyed our Safari in Style adventure and having cheerful and extremely knowledgable Aroni as our guide totally enhanced our experience. We highly recommend a safari at this shoulder season as the wildlife viewing was remarkable and there were so few other tourists to share it with.
SE
65+ years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
First class!
Back in Sweden after a marvellous trip and stay in South Africa, I like to give you full marks for professional arrangements and your choice of accommodation. All in all many thanks for your arrangements. Ever since 1975 we feel Africa is Greatest!
BY
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
It was incredible safari tour!
My trip to Tanzania was unforgettable. I believe that everyone needs to see with their own eyes the life of Africa, unlike anything else. Here everything is special: huge reserves with unusual trees and unique animals, the life of Tanzanians. It is interesting to look at animals in their natural habitat. They absolutely do not pay attention to the observers and are engaged in their own affairs: they eat, sleep, hunt, have sex and raise their offspring - all this was seen and photographed on camera :) There are a lot of animals. Thanks to you, I have terrific memories of Tanzania! I want to return to you on safari, but for a long time, for two weeks :)
US
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Wonderful wildlife viewing; logistics could use some work.
I took a 6-day tour of Maasai Mara, Lake Nakuru, and Amboseli. Leading up to the tour, Allan's communication was excellent, and he answered all of my questions, sometimes within minutes. The two guides I had were very adequate, especially Obama, who was exceptionally knowledgeable and pleasant. The wildlife viewing went beyond my expectations, which made the safari highly worthwhile. When we arrived at the Maasai Mara camp, there was a problem with my accommodation reservation, so Allan helpfully arranged for me to stay at another camp. The vans we traveled in were functional for a budget tour. However, on the way back from Amboseli to Nairobi, we had to stop twice for flat tyres, and at one point I had to wait for an hour alone in the van beside the highway while my guide went to purchase a new tyre. It ended up taking nearly 12 hours to get back to my lodging in Nairobi! However, Obama handled the adversity well, and it was not nearly as unpleasant an experience as it might have been. Allan was very apologetic about the mishaps. In sum, the time in the game parks was wonderful, but if you book with Back of Africa Adventure, you should probably be prepared for an "adventure."