US
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
A safari to remember!
Dancing Zebra was extremely helpful when arranging our safari in Tanzania. We had multiple locations and schedules to arrange and Jessica Matthews managed it all. We stayed at Dunia Camp in the Serengeti and Gibbs Farm near the Ngorongoro Crater. Both properties were magnificent. The Camp was beautiful, comfortable, and provided a wonderful place to return to each night after days of exciting game drives.
The camp is managed by women and their attention to detail for meals, service and accommodations was superb.
Gibbs Farm was beautiful and charming. The tour of the gardens, farm and coffee plantation was a wonderful addition to our safari schedule. Meals were delicious, prepared from fresh produce from the farm. The "cottages" were well appointed, complete with a fireplace that provided a cozy ambiance each night.
We cannot say enough about our guide Alfred. He was professional, expert and engaging. I am sure that everyone thinks that their guide is the best, but Alfred truly was! He could spot game from what seemed like a mile away, was knowledgeable about plants, animals, the skies, and customs. He was patient, allowing and encouraging us to linger, watch the behavior of the animals and not simply check off the animals in our viewing book. This was our third safari experience in Africa and the first time we had the same guide for multiple locations. We all agreed that it was the best experience.
SK
20-35 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Always there, whatever the needs are
We were well assisted from
the very beginning at the border till very end of the trip. Barack was very helpful, he managed to find us the rain coat as it was the middle
of heavy rain season. Communication was very good via whatsapp and in general, the trip was perfect (we were soaking wet after the trekking, but the experience nce will stay in us forever!!). It is very sadthat mountain gorillas are so endangered, they are reapecrful and peaceful creatures. The time we spent watching them
was just one of the best moments of all our africa travels
US
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Very personable and made sure our tour experience was catered specifically to us!
We had a wonderful time on our safari! Our communications with manager, Sylwia, were so positive. Everything that we wanted to do was catered to us specifically and we basically made up our own safari experience. Our tour guide was great and the Camp Bastian staff were amazing! Everything was very clean and the food was delicious!
CA
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Trip of a lifetime, the best experience in Ngorongoro crater
Tanzania Roadside Expeditions was a fantastic choice. After contacting them with our very specific request (a single day+night to Ngorongoro crater), we were given a full itinerary for the day, options for what we wanted to see and where we wanted to stay and more.
Upon arrival, we were picked up from the airport, driven to our hotel in Arusha and told the schedule for the next day. Boxed meals were arranged for, and we set off early the next morning to the crater. Our guide, James, was incredibly experienced, well spoken and we could not have asked for a better guide. We spent the day in the crater and James explained to us stories and the backgrounds of each animal. With his perseverance, we were able to see lions within a couple of meters of the vehicle, elephants literal steps away and new animals around every corner. In the evening, we were taken to the Serena Hotel Lodge which overlooks the crater to unwind for the day.
Throughout the journey, James was very considerate and knowledgeable making stops at the best places for souvenirs, currency exchange and even to take pictures by Lake Manyara.
Our experience was fantastic and we can't recommend it enough.
The Fazals
https://i.imgur.com/ZzL0zRN.jpg
US
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amazing Trip- friendly and knowledgable service and a once in a lifetime experience!
We booked a 5 day Safari for our spring break and could not have been more pleased with the service and experience. From before we arrived we had all our questions answered and had incredible customer service while booking. David our guide for the Safari was absolutely amazing- friendly and incredibly knowledgeable about all the animals we saw. He answered every question we had (and we had a lot!) and we learned so much about the culture of Tanzania as well as the animals. Each stop we made only got better along our trip and we saw so many animals including over 30 lions, a leopard and rhinos! I would highly recommend African Scenic Safari to anyone- it was a once in a lifetime experience due in large part to our wonderful tour guide!
CA
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great organization for our Kilimanjaro tour!
Very professional, with timing, service. Very caring and good attention to the details. We joined a group going to Kilimanjaro through Lemosho route. It was perfect and well organized, even when I had some altitude sickness they helped to reach Uhuru peak. Our group of 6 all made it to the top. We would recommend this company to everyone travelling in Tanzania!
RU
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Excellent experience
I used It started in Africa to organize our safari in Tanzania and we couldn't have chosen a better Tour Operator. From my first email, Bernard was extremely helpful and He guided me, listening to my every need and desires, in order to create a custome-made safari, which would fulfil our dreams.
Once in Tanzania, our driver Deo was waiting for us at the airport and he has proven himself a great and very knowledgeable travel companion; thanks to him, we saw so many animals in all kind of situation. We went to Lake Manyara, to Ndutu, to Ngorongoro and to Serengeti. Each of these parks were wonderful and all the lodges and tended camps suggested by Bernard were just outstanding.
So do not hesitate if you want to have a superb experience in Tanzania and enjoy a problemless safari and stay, It started in africa will do everything to help you!
US
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Really wonderful, exceeded expectations
The safari tour was really magical, to see so many animals and a fascinating new culture. The tour guides and overall experience was also very positive. The company gave good attention from start to finish and enabled me to get the most out of my two days there. I especially appreciate it when having booked on such short notice.
AE
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Amazing tour, perfect guide, private, wonderful stay, great food, perfect comfort, saw the big 4!
Nice and easy, hassle free, no negative experience or surprises. Everyone was adorable, the animals and enclosure is by far the best I've seen
DE
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Experience for a lifetime!
In December 2017 we were looking for a safari. Since we wanted to contact a company in Arusha directly - instead of hiring a travel agency in Germany - we wrote several emails and tried to find a company which meet our demands. This is really hard as there are soooo many! Once you are on safari you will see all the different logos on the spare tire. Everyday we saw a company we haven't seen before.
ORONGAI is a rather young company. It started their business in October 2017. When we contacted them in December 2017 there weren't many reviews online. Still, the few reviews available were really good.
Martha (email contact of ORONGAI) always answered immediately and tried to satisfy our wishes.
We told Martha all our plans, wishes and price range. After all we booked a safari for 7 days and 6 nights, beginning in February 2018, with a mixture of tented camp and lodges:
- night 1 & 2: Haven Nature Camp
- night 3: Seronera Wildlife Lodge
- night 4 & 5: Ndutu Safari Lodge
- night 6: Ngorongoro Wildlife Lodge
On day one we visited Tarangire Nationalpark. On day two we saw Lake Manyara. Day three was a bit traveling all the way to the Centre of Serengeti (Seronera). Day 4 we did some game driving in the Centre of Serengeti and drove to the Ndutu Lake after lunch. We stayed there for day five and the morning of day six and did game driving in the southern part of Serengeti. After lunch on day six we drove to the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. We did game driving in the crater on our very last day, where we also finished the big five with a rhino.
We had a privat car with our guide. Therefore we were able to decide everything. The speed of traveling in the Nationalpark, wether to move on or stay at some place to do more game driving and observe big herds of elephants or sleeping lion.
This really was the PERFECT SAFARI for us! We had a combination of different parks and different campgrounds and lodges. We really enjoyed the campground because it was really quite, the food was great and we sat together with our amazing guide Isaac. In the lodges the guests and guides sit separately. Something we found strange...
We were super lucky with our Guide Isaac. Isaac is super friendly and funny. He laughs all the time, sings and really is full of energy. We enjoyed every day with him and are super grateful for his amazing job! Also, he is a really experienced driver and guide!
He knew that we wanted to keep up with the park rules and stay on the roads. While other tourists and guide rush all the way through the park and leave the tourist roads we wanted to respect the nature and animals. And for sure we did not regret this choice because we saw 43 lion, 4 leopards (one baby leopard), several Cheetahs and thousands of elephants, zebras, antelopes, giraffes...
The nature and parks are super different. While we saw sooo many elephants in Tarangire Nationalpark, we only saw five elephants in Lake Manyara. Therefore we didn't see any zebras in Tarangire but saw a lot of them in Manyara. Therefore I would not want to miss out on one of them! We would definitely recommend to visit all the parks as the wildlife and vegetation really depends on the weather which can change quickly. Before booking the safari we did some research as we wanted to watch the great migration which - at that time of the year - was supposed to be in Ndutu area. But as we were in that area we realized that there was much more wildlife in the Seronera area because it had rained there a couple of weeks before. Had we focused solely on the Ndutu area, we would probably have been disappointed.
We saw really special things like a leopard in action, a hunting lion etc. Without Isaac we never would have seen all of this. He always knew where he would need to go!
Thank you Isaac and ORONGAI for our amazing safari!
We will never forget this experience and will highly recommend ORONGAI to everyone we know who wants to do a safari in Tansania!
Important advise: take binoculars with you! ORONGAI has some but they aren't too good. We took our own with us and we super happy about that! Even our guide Isaac always searched for animals with our binoculars. Also, bring cash for the payment as there charge you extra if you want to pay with credit card!
