CA
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
A once in a lifetime experience... provided by Kenya Walking Survivors Safaris Ltd
Everything about this company is about providing clients a unique experience to showcase all that Kenya has to offer. Booking the trip was simple, questions were answered in a timely manner and overall my experience was first class all the way.
Each place that we stayed at offered amazing care and customer service. All staff focused on making our trip enjoyable, but more important we felt as if this was very much a customised and personalised experience.
Our guide was amazing. He took time to show us unique aspects of Kenya, including people, places and animals as we travelled from Nairobi through to the Masai Mara and answered questions as we experienced this journey.
I can't thank Kenya Walking Survivors Safaris Ltd enough for providing me the trip of a life time. I sincerely appreciate each of you involved and hope one day our paths cross again...thank you once again for EVERYTHING!!!
50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Well planned and wonderfully executed custom-built 12 day tour
From my initial enquiries about the tour through to the end when I said farewell to my driver and guide I can honestly say that it was all a marvellous experience.
I started out by asking about group tours as I thought a customised tour for me, as a solo traveller, would be too expensive. My communications with Lionel in the office were always very constructive and together we developed a tour that was perfect for me and for the costs I had in mind. In the end I paid significantly more than I had originally expected but the trip was worth it. The payments were all processed very smoothly and my special requests were attended to by Ilse, the manager.
On the tour itself I was fortunate to have been assigned a freelance tour guide and driver; Confidence Matsiko. He was very professional, knew the job well and he had a number of contacts, some of whom he called upon to ease the minor challenges that cropped up. Confidence has a good knowledge of birds and was keen to learn more; so with our shared interest we never tired of conversation. My tour however was to focus on the larger primates and I can honestly say my close encounters with both chimps and mountain gorillas were way beyond my expectations.
I'm so glad Lionel persuaded me to go for the Chimp habituation rather than chimp tracking. My full day with the chimp group enabled me to experience them successfully hunting a Colobus monkey. The insight into this aspect of chimp life would not have been possible had I been tracking them for just 2 hours.
The Gorilla experience was equally rewarding. Confidence had managed to put me into the group that was to locate the Bitukura group out of Ruhija. His friend was to be the lead ranger for the eight-person group. The Bitukura group were known to have silverbacks and youngsters in them so, when we finally located them after quite a tiring climb up through the forest, I was thrilled and delighted to find a huge silverback male with two young playing and tumbling with each other on his back. He was completely ignoring them until the babies moved off to join their mum after which he set off to find some more food to fill his enormous belly. To watch all of this and to experience the smells and sounds as well as the sights was just fantastic. No TV film could ever match the reality of sitting so close to these wonderful animals.
The choice of accommodations used was also entirely appropriate for me but next time I think I would opt for more homestays rather than the less-friendly lodges.
The only aspect that I offer as a helpful comment is to make customers aware of the journey time between locations. The 12 hour trek between Murchison Falls NP and Kibale was exhausting and I hadn't realised how long it would take. Perhaps in the itinerary some indication of travel time would help clients appreciate what is required and thus prepare themselves accordingly.
I'd like to thank Matoke tours for enabling me to enjoy such wonderful wildlife-filled experiences. All the other game-viewing and birdwatching days of the trip were equally enjoyable and I reckon that I managed to identify, with the help of Confidence, nearly 230 species of birds despite not really working hard for them. If you choose Matoke as your tour operator I think you will almost certainly be very happy with your experiences. Having travelled extensively across Africa I think my Ugandan trip was one of, if not, the best.
PT
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
AMAZING EXPERIENCE
Thank you Soul of Tanzania for making our trip an amazing experience!
Zamo, our game drive, is a very nice person, good driver, extremely professional, attentive to detail, polite, discreet and has a hawk eye for animals.
Lunches were tasty. Service was top! Warm food, cold wine, fresh coffee and good cookies... and nice tableware :)
We loved every detail.
We strongly recommended SOUL OF TANZÂNIA!
QA
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Everything was perfectly organized from the pick up, drop off, accommodation, foods and tour guides.
It was excellent. I have no complains. I love would to go back again in Kenya in the same tour.
FR
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
4x4 Safari Car Rental in Tanzania
Having made prior arrangements to rent a car from another rental company in Dar es Salaam, the agreement fell through leaving us at Dar es Salaam Airport without a vehicle. We made contact with Crucial Tours who quickly and efficiently provided a top-of-the-range 4x4 safari truck for rental. We travelled around Tanzania in this vehicle for a week before dropping the car off at the Zanzibar ferry port per our request.
Upon returning from Zanzibar, and as a last minute request, Crucial Tours arranged a different vehicle rental for our final day in Tanzania. Just as before, Crucial Tours arrived promptly to the ferry port with the vehicle as per our request.
Richard, the representative from Crucial Tours, was incredible helpful throughout both exchanges.
DE
65+ years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Well done!
It was agreable to communicate with African Hartebeest while preparing a trip from Meru to Masai Mara. The drive itself was perfectly done, the guide an untiring driver and an expert. Even the last two days in a Masai concession of which I first had been wary proved to be thoroughly recommendable.
Thank you!
under20 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Safari the old way
Booked a three day safari by road from Dar with Zepisa African safaris who i had used in 2017 for the Selous Game Reseve. The trip started at 4 a.m with a pick up by our driver/guide Mkonda. The drive through Morogoro region , past Mikumi and Iringa is on Tarmac road. From Iringa to Ruaha is initially Tarmac and then a bumpy non Tarmac stretch. The journey took 14 hours in total with arrival at the park at 6 p.m. (a couple of stops for refreshment and a traffic police stop also).On our way to our accommodation in the new Bandas we saw Hippos, crocodile and a family of elephants. The new Bandas have 2 single beds with Mosquito nets and an adjoining shower/toilet room. They get very warm and there is no fan to cool down. The game drive the following day was slightly disappointing as we saw one large group of Buffalo and one large family of Elephants. Lots of Impala, baboons, Zebras, Giraffe, an Ostrich family, the odd Kudu and a pair of Hyenas. The following morning on our way out of the park we saw a group of 5 lions. The reputation of this park is on the large groups of lions, Buffalo and Elephants, i guess we were unlucky. The return journey was again 14 hours with a traffic jam in the Mbezi area at 10p.m !! It is no wonder that flying in and out is recommended but the cost then triples to what we paid.
CN
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
good budget safari of 3 days
we booked only, we arrange all without paying Any money until they pick up us in the hotel, also they help us buying tickets for the train.
The safari was great, we saw 4 of the big five, rhinos are difficult to see, our group also was good, we went 3 days 2 nights, cost 290 usd
So good experience for the money
Important if you write by whatsapp he help you with all the details and recommendations for kenya
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Staff are fantastic, really made the experience a memorable one.
I've only been on safari once, but I have to say East Co did a fantastic job of making sure our trip was both enjoyable and was according to plan. Each night the driver's would give us a full run down of what the following day's itinerary entailed - they even let us have input in regard to the timing and length of game drives that we'd do. We really felt like they'd bend over backwards for us if we asked them to!
Overall, I was ecstatic with my experience in dealing with East Co.
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Brilliant safari - amazing range of animals and environments!
We were thrilled with the itinerary, the parks, the lodges and in particular:
· The great care and driving excellence of Ken and Joseph
· The range of parks and numbers of animals – we were expecting to see just a few animals – we had no idea we would literally see thousands!
· Your excellent and easy coordination – nothing was too much trouble to organise, you were so flexible
· The value for money – the safari was extremely reasonably priced, making it possible for us to involve younger members of our families
