50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Very well organised and executed trip
Have just returned from 10 days in South Africa, combining a few days in Cape Town and then a 5 day safari. The whole trip was combined to an excellent standard with everything considered and professionally executed. The safari lodge especially was absolute luxury along with the best service from a team of great people. I would have no hesitation in recommending Rose and her team to source and deliver a first class luxury safari - they clearly understand this sector to perfection.
Prompt personal service where nothing is too much trouble.
I am booking a school visit through Advanced Tours & Travel having used them earlier this year for flights. Patience is brilliant to work with, emails are responded to promptly and the options to choose from are spot on in terms of cost and activities. I will review again once the visit has happened!
AT
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Amazing 6 day safari
Our trip to Tanzania was among the best holidays we ever had so far and I believe we are what you would call "well-traveled". Some friends of ours recommended It started in Africa to us. The customer service is just great. Email replies are prompt and they answered all questions that we had upfront. Also on site they rechecked our itinerary when we were in thior office and also called us on our last day to make sure that we had a great experience. Overall I think that when you go on safari the difference between a good and an excellent experience is the guide and Jackson was definitely an excellent one. He spotted every animal including cheetas and leopards, could answer any question about the wildlife that we had and we had a lot of questions and we very much enjoyed his company and his sense of humour. Even though we had some issues with the car, he could fix almost anything or knew where to get good mechanics and we always felt safe and very well been taken care of in his company. He even took us to lake Victoria which was not part of our initial itinerary. At the end of our trip he even invited us to his house and we had lunch together with his family. His wife prepared fish from lake Victoria for us that we were not able to find when we were there as our time was limited. We were truly amazed by their hospitality and kindness.
Also all camps and lodges where we have been were just excellent, however, we overall prefered the tented camps at Tarangire, Serengeti and Ngorongoro over the lodge at Lake Manyara. The staff was really nice, the food was excellent and the location of the camps was just great. We had a long discussion about what was the best part of our trip and we came to the conclusion that the overall experience at Serengeti was unbeatable. From an amazing sunrise to the most beautiful sky at night, we even saw the great migration even though it was not season for it it in the western corridor due to the unusual dry weather conditions. The only drawback on our trip was that we could not see a rhino but our other wildlife spottings more than compensated for it.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Awesome experience i had with the Blue ocean staff.
All we expected was provided and they made my first time in Tz to always be a memorable moment.
CH
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Great experience
Very good organised-Thanks to Ute. Arrangements were perfect, everything was on time.
The camps we stayed were all good, specially Savute under Canvas was just great!
HU
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Specialized in Flexibility and ideas
I was not an average turist what I wanted a real kenyan life impression.
I am glad to say I received more than I was expecting.
NL
35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Excellent experience
I could absolutely recommend Grassrootz Safaris! Their prices are competitive, yet their services are great. The drivers are very skilled and good with guests and in case of any challenge a solution is made instantly. Service is at high level and the tours are very complete. Uganda is called 'the Pearl of Africa' for a very good reason and Grassrootz is the right safari company to go and discover this beautiful country with!
CN
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Good operator with a few improvement areas
Most of the service from this new operator was good. Response was very fast especially before I paid deposit. Price was nearly the lowest among similar rated operators. Staffs were all helpful and nice. We did the safari as we planned to.
Only a few minor improvements:
1, The operator guaranteed in-car wifi for both Kenya and Tanzania trips. In reality we never had in-car wifi in either of the trips.
2, Operator wrote 1L bottled water offered to each of us. In Kenya there was no water offered. We took bottled water from lodge or bought with price of 3 USD/bottle on the drive way. Tanzania driver offered plenty of water.
3, On our last day, we moved from Lake Manyara to Kilimanjaro Airport hotel. Our driver's home is in Arusha. Apparently he just wanted to finished the job and go home. So what happened was he told us the drive will take 5-6 hours, and asked us to leave Lake Manyara early to arrive Kilimanjaro airport hotel before getting dark. We trusted him and did so. It turned out that the drive was 2 hours, and we spent entire afternoon + evening in a basic airport hotel for nothing. We could have stayed in Lake Manyara for that half day, which is much nicer.
4, Our operator refused to send me all the hotel booking vouchers, even after I paid deposit 4 months ahead of time. Luckily nothing went wrong with hotel booking. But honestly I don't understand it.
AT
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great experience for our first time
It was a very special part of our journey to south africa. My girlfriend and I did a 4 day safari in the Kruger NP and the Panorama Route. We had not that luck with the weather but we saw the big five and a lot of other animals. Our guide Jaco was excellent, he has a huge knowledge about the animals and the nature and he had a answer of each our questions. The back office and the communication was brilliant, they satisfied all our whishes before and during our trip.
US
65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
Best vacation ever. We saw everything.
We had a great time on our safari. Our guide, Anthony Sillo, was the best. He was very helpful to get us into the best position for great pictures, and we got plenty of them. One night when lions came into our camp, he and the men working at the camp guarded our tent the remainder of the night. We were so thankful. We will recommend It Started In Africa to everyone who asks about a safari. Again, we had the best vacation ever!!!
Carl and Pam Rider