ES
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amazing
Awesome:
The treatment, the friendliness, the flexibility and the good service.
We arrived in Kilimanjaro after a lost flight and another canceled, Hamad, the director of this company, traveled from Arusha to the airport (1 hour by car) three times, the first two failed, and when we arrived we found his huge smile and a Welcoming welcome.
Our bags arrived a day after our landing, the safari started the following morning and there was no problem in postponing it until we had our luggage, in addition, Hamad was in charge of bringing it to the hotel where we were staying.
The day we spent waiting for our bags, Hamad offered to take us on a tour of Arusha and showed us the city from below, we were at the local market, he explained many curiosities and how is the life of the local people and took us to to visit a museum.
We started the safari with a driver (guide) and a cook, everything worked out great. We saw the big five, a lioness hunting in Serengueti, we slept in some dream places and the food of our chef was great (especially the soup, from which he gave us the recipe).
We were also very lucky with the company, a couple of Australians and another from Poles with whom we had a good time and ended up making friends.
At the end of the safari, our volunteer work began and almost every night we stayed with Hamad for a beer, dinner or dancing in the city. We had a great time!!
In short a 10 for Hamad, a 10 for his workers and a 10 for his company.
I hope you have my humble opinion to decide on the company Face of Africa and enjoy its innumerable advantages.
Greetings travelers!
US
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Trip of a lifetime
The whole group at Lomo made sure to give us he most amazing African safari experience I could have ever imagined. Erasto and Ben were our guides and they made sure every detail was perfect every step of the way. Their attention to detail was so on point and it made the world of a difference. We enjoyed their company so much and they had so much knowledge about the animals and our surroundings that we were able to learn so much about everything we were seeing. Because of the experience they provided us I surely plan to go back one day and whenever I do Lomo Tanzania Safari will always be my number one choice!
US
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Review about Chobe National Park by Sully858
Get on the river! Whatever you do be sure to take a pontoon boat ride at sunset. It's incredible. We saw Crocs on the river bank, Bald Eagles in the trees, Elephants drinking from the river, pods of Hippos, Water Buffalo, Impala and a bunch of birds.
US
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Be Sure to See It From the Sky!
The Okavango Delta is truly a special place but to truly appreciate it nothing beats a flight tour offered by any number of charter companies operating out of the Maun airport. On our flight, we flew over herds of elephants, Antelope and Impala grazing at sunset. Hippos and Crocs bathed in swampy grassland ponds. Lots of wildlife and an incredible view from a couple thousand feet in the air. We took in this region and flight experience while on a three-week 2,200+ on and off-road motorcycle ride from Victoria Falls to Cape Town. We rented BMW
GS800s and stayed at a dozen or so places along the route. Incredible "bucket list" trip and the Okavango Delta was a special part of it.
US
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Review about Botswana by Sully858
We rode from Vic Falls to Cape Town on motorcycles and the amount and variety of wild life we encountered - often in the middle of the road - was truly incredible. One of our riders had an accident in Botswana and the people at the scene couldn't have been more helpful. Truly good people - many living in awfully modest conditions to say the least.
RO
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Website information
I would love to experience Tanzania at least one. This website has information for an individual traveller and has information about tour-operators and packages that you can buy. It's also good for anyone who wants to take such a trip to be informed about what you can expect. Congratulations for the initiative! Keep up the good work!
NO
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Exceeding expectations
We were meet at the airport and given vert good information, before We drove of with our driver Dixon. His knowledge about everything from animals and safari to school, politics, and everything else We wanted to know about Kenya, made This trip exceed all our expectations.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Adventure in Africa
Simon's organisation, communication and knowledge ensured that my two safaris were simply amazing. His attentive nature via Whatsapp completely affirmed the fact that I had made the correct decision after choosing to book with him. He provided a variety of different and detailed quotes as my requirements changed. He then ensured everything ran smoothly before, during and after our collection by the drivers.
I'll be back in East Africa next year and will undoubtedly use his services again.
US
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Exceeded our very high expectations.
From my first enquiry on the website to the very last moment of our trip, we were completely satisfied with everything. Clyde was informative, knowledgable, personable and even called us at home in the US to discuss our requirements. He arranged a mobile safari for my family that we will never forget. It was the experience of a lifetime and, although my husband and I have been on safari before, this one was far superior in every way. On arrival into Botswana until we were taken to the airport in Zimbabwe, we were treated brilliantly, felt completely safe and had access to professionals 24/7. I would definitely have no hesitation in recommending Clyde.
CA
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Truly a safari filled with amazing memories! :)
We booked with Anne and the Amazing Memories Safaris team for our Kenya honeymoon in June 2017 for a group of 4 (joined by my sister and her spouse). As their name says, it was the most amazing experience we've ever had! Our driver and guide for most of the trip was Joseph, who was so friendly and fun and extremely knowledgeable. If we ever go back (which we want to do!) we want him to be our guide again for sure! We also had a special interest in birds and he knew and showed us so much.
Anne was prompt, professional, and very lovely to correspond with from the very beginning. She helped to tailor our experience to exactly the way we wanted it (we had a shorter time frame then the suggested itinerary and also wanted to make sure we had some beach time at the end). We had looked at 5 different companies through safaribookings.com in total, narrowed it down to 2, and ended up going with Anne due both to our interactions with her and the best quote we received.
We had some troubles getting our money wire through when making our initial deposit (this was not their fault at all, more so on our bank's end), but she stayed calm and was on top of it and everything worked out in the end.
Meet and greet went smoothly. The Eka hotel in Nairobi that we stayed in the first night was excellent - we appreciated the honeymoon touches (a bottle of wine, and flower petals everywhere!) they added. We had time our first day there, and ate lunch at the Carnivore buffet (not recommended to do after a long flight... none of us were able to eat much, and to be honest, other than the novelty of trying ostrich and crocodile, the rest of the meats were similar to steakhouses we have at home in Canada). We then visited the giraffe centre - highly recommended! - you get to feed the giraffes, learn more about them, and see them up close. Finally, we visited the David Sheldrick elephant orphanage in the evening (to do this, you must foster an elephant), which was lovely. They tell you about the amazing work that they do, and then you get to visit each of the baby elephants while they're feeding, a giraffe, and their one resident rhino Maxwell.
In Maasai Mara, we chose to stay (through a friend's recommendation) at the Little Governor's Camp for two nights, which was a bit more expensive than the lodge Anne had suggested, but totally worth it. Beautiful spot, excellent food, and very friendly staff. The security guards walk you to your tent at night and we felt very safe. We opted for the hot air balloon ride which again was more expensive but worth it! Absolutely breathtaking to ride over the river at sunrise. They take you for breakfast in the fields which was good and so fun - the crepes were amazing. The game drive back with our driver Jeffrey was also excellent. Our other game drives at the camp were with Moses who took us to see lots. The only animal we missed seeing was the leopard. We saw lions, wildebeest, buffalo, elephants, zebras, baboons, giraffes, different antelope, and 1 black rhino from afar. We did not see much of the wildebeest migration given the time of year we visited.
We then had a 7 hour drive to Lake Nakuru and stayed at the Sarova lodge. Loved this lodge. Good food, and a fantastic guitarist who plays at your table at dinner. The cultural dances in the evening were enjoyable. We were only here for one night. We were hoping to see lots of flamingos, and while we did see some they were quite far away. We did see 3 white rhinos here which was quite nice. In restrospect, given we only had 1 night and enjoyed the other two reserves more, we would have skipped Lake Nakuru given how long the drive was in between, and stayed an extra night in Maasai Mara.
After that, we had a 7 hour drive to Amboseli, at the base of Mount Kilimanjaro. It was so interesting to see the different landscapes at each reserve. Amboseli has lots of swamps, so very different mix of wildlife. We saw lots of elephants, vultures drying their wings out, hyenas feeding, lions feeding, a good number of lions, cheetahs from afar, zebra, wildebeest, different antelope, giraffes, and lots of monkeys (many around the lodge!). We stayed at the Serena lodge which was also quite nice. Food was decent, a bit less selection then the other places we stayed at (but still plenty). The crepes the make are amazing!
Finally, due to traffic, it was a 9 hour drive to Mombasa. We stayed at the Serena resort. When we got there we did not have ocean front rooms as we had requested. The lady at the front desk was able to change this for us and we waited over an hour for them to get the rooms ready. It did turn out in the end that Anne had booked the standard rooms, but it worked out. Unfortunately, we did not actually spend time on the beach itself - there were not many people swimming, there was lots of seaweed close to the shore, and many people trying to sell items / outings that interfered with our experience. It was otherwise beautiful to look at. We did spend time at the pool and enjoyed our pizza lunch there. We also went for wonderful massages at the spa and played table tennis. However, since we were unable to actually have beach time, I would not return here. Instead, I would have done more days of safari, and simply utilized the pools available at each of the lodges.
In terms of weather/clothing: Weather was mostly warm in June (their winter - equivalent to Canada's summer in June!), with 1 day with some mild rainfall, and somewhat cooler in the mornings so thin long pants at that time were helpful (however, you could still wear shorts and be very comfortable). Found myself wearing long sleeved shirts mostly to cover up from the sun and dust (it's very dusty on game drives!). Also be aware that some of the roads are quite poor and bumpy.
Also to note - at souvenir shops (stopped by for bathroom breaks during long drives), be prepared to bargain! We actually ended up paying more at the first shop on our way to Maasai Mara from Nairobi at the lookout point for stone animals than we did at the hotel lodges gift shops, which was a bummer (this was despite bargaining down as hard as we could).
Not related to this review so much, but I thought I would mention - we flew with Ethiopian Airlines from Canada, and while the trip there went smoothly, the trip back was hectic and poor. The attendants on the airline overall were fine, the food was not great but they do attempt to feed you a lot which we appreciated. On our way back, because we were stopping to Addis Ababa and then had a very short layover in London, we wanted to get our boarding passes in advance in Nairobi. When in Nairobi, the airline rep who was supposed to check us in was very rude (he was upset that all 4 of us who were traveling together were checking in together - not sure how it could have been faster if we split up? He kept smirking at us and continually mentioning it). He told us that he was unable to give us boarding passes for the layover in London, but that he checked us in. When we got to Addis Ababa, they were only able to print out 3 of 4 boarding passes for us. It was such mayhem at that airport - one customer service rep for a LOT of people - people kept budding in trying to get help, and the lady was clearly overworked. They also clearly did not have enough people covering the security check and also had several flights delayed and then chaos trying to get people on to their planes. It was an experience, and we will definitely not be traveling anywhere that requires us to stop over here again. When we got to London, there was a lot of running involved and when we found out we in fact had NOT been checked in by the rude rep in Nairobi. Luckily - it all worked out - almost missed our flight but did not, and got home safe with Air Canada.
In summary: Anne, Joseph, and Amazing Memories Safaris was truly amazing all the way through and I cannot recommend them highly enough. Thank you so much for such a wonderful experience. We hope to book with you again in the future!