50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Perfect planning, perfect execution, perfect trip!
We just got back from an amazing trip to Tanzania and Rwanda. Jake and Stacy from the Shadows of Africa USA office were very responsive, and accommodated all our preferences and even last minute changes. Emanuel (in Tanzania) and Ziwa (in Rwanda) were excellent guides, knowledgeable about where to find the animals. Emanuel gave us an amazing up-close view of the wildebeest river crossing migration. All local travel/flights were smooth and efficiently handled. The accommodations were all high-end and very comfortable, with attentive staff and careful consideration for our vegetarian requirements. Thanks Shadows of Africa, for a once in a lifetime experience that we’ll remember forever! It was one of our most expensive vacations but totally worth the price!
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Excellent safari trip with steve
We booked budget safari with Jocky tours, it was easy and they were approachable, replying to emails promptly, providing options, answering questions and their advice about packing, etc was useful, it was a smooth process
Steve was quite knowledgeable, very helpful and keen to show us the best of Kenya culture and showed us the big five multiple times. I learnt a lot about animals and Kenya culture from him.
I would definitely recommend this trip as budget safari, accommodations as shown on website and all inclusive (no large buffets but local Kenyan food)
FR
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Amazing once in a lifetime adventure
Our safari with Sky View Adventure exceeded our every expectation. My husband, my adult daughter, and myself just returned from our 4 day best of Tanzania safari. We were treated like royalty the entire trip. Our accommodations, including food and service were excellent. Our guide, Bakari, not only made it possible for us to view numerous animals, he was very knowledgeable. Not only did we see elephants, baboons, zebras, and lions up close, we witnessed a cheetah and two cubs following their prey. We saw more animals and a wider variety than I would have ever imagined possible. For anyone considering a safari I would definitely recommend Sky View Adventure.
65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
Completely Amazing
We just returned from an incredible 13-day Great Apes & Africa Safari trip, and we can't say enough good things about our experience with Lush Africa Safaris. Abbey did an outstanding job planning our itinerary, spending extra time to adjust it to include additional locations we wanted to visit. The itinerary featured breathtaking sites in Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania. The trip was very reasonably priced. The only glitch was a minor hotel reservation mess-up in Kigali. Our guide, together with Lush Africa Safari regional office got the issue quickly resolved. (By the way, the hotel was the Hotel Des Mille Collins, the same hotel where the event described in the movie Hotel Rwanda took place.) Although it was most likely an error by the hotel and not Lush's fault, Abbey even upgraded two of our hotels and tents as we traveled.
Our guides Yves in Rwanda and Uganda, Peter in Kenya, and Joseph in Tanzania were all professional, reliable and did their best so that we can see as much wild life as possible. Their knowledge, experience, and keen eyes made our journey unforgettable. They knew the parks and reserves inside and out, spotting animals that other visitors often missed. Peter and Joseph always took us out very early in the morning and stayed later for game drives. Peter seemed to be a leader among the tour guides; he was often the first to find wildlife and would then radio the other drivers. During traffic jams (yes, believe it or not, there were traffic jams in African parks and reserves!), Peter acted like a traffic controller, directing drivers to back up or move to resolve the gridlock. Somehow, the other drivers seem always listened to him.
Seeing the great migration was a challenge. At the Masai Mara Reserve, the rangers blocked the road due to the many jeeps, so we could only
see the wildebeests running into and out of the Mara River, but not crossing it (Peter was even more upset about this than we were). On our first afternoon in Serengeti Park, Joseph spotted possible crossing site three times. However, over 30 inexperienced drivers rushed ahead and blocked the animals access to the river! We told Joseph to give up and move on, but he refused. The following morning, he drove an extra 1.5
hours back to the crossing site. Unlike others who rushed to the riverbank, where more than 50 jeeps were jammed up, Joseph stayed
back on a hill, watching closely. Then, suddenly, he turned in a different direction and drove like a maniac. Guess what! He beat the others and got us to the crossing site just in time. We witnessed the great migration with our own eyes! Another example, also in Serengeti park. We were waiting, with several other jeeps, for a group of leopards, hidden behind bushes, to come out. Joe intensely looked at horizon far away. Then he said "these leopards are not coming out anytime soon. I saw a elephant group in that direction, probably cross a road soon. Let's go there first." Even with a binocular, I saw nothing. I thought Joe must be kidding. We went anyway. After 3 or 4 mins fast driving, a family of elephants was about to cross the road right in front of us. Exactly the right time, Exactly the right spot. Exactly as Joe said! Amazing! He must have a 20/5 vision! Thanks to Joseph, we saw so much more than we ever expected. I must add this additional comment. In the morning of the last day of our trip, we drove from Serengeti Park to Ngorongoro Crater. On the way, we saw a disabled jeep. Joe and several other jeeps stopped to help. However, the problems could not be fixed, and other jeeps left. Joe asked us if it is ok if we took the passengers and the driver of the disabled jeep into our vehicle. (Our Land-cruiser can take 6 passengers, I and my wife were the only passengers). It would add a bit inconvenience to us. But of course, we said fine. So we continued our game drive to Ngorongoro Crater (also the designation of the disabled jeep). After the drive was done, Joe sent us to our hotel. Then took the rescued passengers to their hotel. We must praise Joe for his professionalism. Not only he helped his
fellow tour guide, he saved a young Italian couple's dream vacation!
Because we were so close to the wildlife, lions, elephants, leopards, rhinoceroses, cheetahs, giraffes, hippos, zebras, buffalo's, crocodiles,
wildebeests, wild dogs, baboons, warthogs, impalas, kudus, gazelles, ostriches, and more. We took so many photos and videos. We could even
submit some to National Geographic!
Staying in the tents for several nights was a great experience! The quality of the tents and the services were exceptional. We could see wild animals from inside our tents. One night, a few buffaloes even slept right next to our door!
In addition to the wildlife, our guides enriched our trip by sharing fascinating insights into Africa's history and cultures, allowing us to learn a great deal along the way. We feel incredibly fortunate to have chosen Lush Africa Safaris for this adventure. The trip was absolutely amazing, and witnessing the great migration was the highlight of a lifetime. Words can't describe our feelings about this trip.
One thing we missed on this trip was hiking Mount Kilimanjaro. (But, I assure you, this was not the fault of Lush Africa Safari or any of the
drivers). We will have to do it in our next life!
Again, thanks for everything, Abbey, Yves, Peter, and Joseph!
65+ years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Knowledgeable, responsive, and a pleasure to deal with
We traveled to Kruger in South Africa, Vic Falls, Hwange in Zimbabwe, and the northern Serengeti in Tanzania for a 3 week multi camp trip over June and July 2024 and used The Explore and Travel Company to put together the bookings and logistics for us. We live in Australia and wanted to deal with someone local and after intense research decided upon this company located in Cape Town. We dealt directly with the Director of the company, Michelle, and couldn’t have asked for a better experience all round. My 22 year old niece did all the initial enquiries and communication and was extremely impressed with how well Michelle listened to and understood our needs and gave appropriate expert advice. She gave us choices that matched our strict criteria and our budget and helped us decide on the best camps for us with great patience as we peppered her with multiple questions over both Zoom meetings and emails. Michelle kept all her promises, was extremely knowledgeable and was absolutely lovely to deal with. She really went above and beyond to find out the answers to our questions if she did not know by contacting the properties themselves to ensure we got the most trustworthy information. All this care and attention to detail resulted in a most wonderful trip where properties lived up to or exceeded our expectations, ground and air partners were reliable and professional and gave us great value for money. Absolutely nothing went amiss and our experiences were very special and bespoke. We also loved the digital itinerary technology that Michelle used that we could download to our phones and simply check offline anything we wanted to know. We could not more highly recommend Michelle and her company and we would engage her again in a heat-beat.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
3 Day Gorilla and Golden Monkey Trekking
I booked the 3 day gorilla and golden monkey trekking tour with Katsam in early August 2024. Booking was easy and Richard was always prompt on responding. Overall the tour was a great experience and my guide and driver Medard was very friendly and easy to talk to. In the morning of my gorilla trekking day i had woken up an hour late due to the time difference in Rwanda and Uganda but Medard had already been to the park to reserve my spot and still waited patiently for me to have breakfast, an absolute lifesaver! I would definitely recommend doing your Gorilla trekking tour with Katsam and am looking forward to booking another tour with them when i return.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Trip of a Lifetime
The 4 day guided tour by Gifted African Adventures was a dream come true! This was my 4th time visiting Africa-Gift did an amazing job in creating a trip of a lifetime. I did the tour with a group of friends. We started our tour by visiting the Serengeti. We were lucky enough to see all Big 5 and we stayed in a beautiful tented camp within the Serengeti. We saw the Ngorongoro crater, hiked the Maturini waterfall, visited a coffee plantation, and swam in the Chemka hot springs. Gift did a great job in creating a custom itinerary for us. Gift arranged transportation to and from the airport for us and also provided lodging choices-which is very helpful. Gift went above and beyond to make sure that we were having fun, were comfortable, and also safe. He is also a wealth of knowledge that knows a lot about the National Parks and their animals, Tanzania’s culture and history.
I highly recommend Gifted African Adventures for your trip to Tanzania. You will not be disappointed.
65+ years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Knowledge + Service = WOW!
Rex and the great folks from Kalahari Tours coordinated tours of Chobe National Park & River for 4 days for our group of 12. Every single person was very experienced and knowledgeable. Most had been with the company for years, were very personable, and knew all the best secrets and tips to locating the animals. They were easy to understand, funny, and great smiles. They seemed to truly love guiding us.
Every jeep was stocked with all sorts of cold beverages to keep us hydrated and happy. After a morning expedition on our day tour of the park, we dined on a delicious spread of foods and beverages in a picnic area. The tables were covered with colorful African material, and the buffet food line was mouth watering. Martha Stewart would have been envious!
Our experience was delightful from start to finish. Trust Kalahari - they know how to do it right!
IN
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Unprofessional and unreliable
I don't know if the 2000+ positive reviews for Karibu we saw on safaribookings.com were fake or were they just related to mt Kenya climbing. I wouldn't recommend our 7 day safari experience to anyone.
When I was booking the safari, I was a bit hesitant since their package is cheaper than most other operators and therefore I was expecting barebone properties and campsites. Surprisingly, the accommodations were mostly decent and the cost cutting was done at the expense of the safari experience which was really unfortunate.
Robert was quite good with communications before the safari started, afterwards he stopped responding to messages or calls. So no matter what the issue is, if the safari is not happening as per the itinerary, or if the hotel is different than what was specified as part of the quotation, or there's some other issue, don't expect Robert to be available. Instead you are stuck with Edward, the guide + driver who was a moody individual with moments of courteousness sandwiched between rude and abrasive behaviour.
The itinerary promised 1 full day safari and 2 half day safaris at Masai Mara. On the first day of the trip, we reached Masai mara campsite and faced 2 separate issues - first that the evening safari is not going to happen and that the campsite was different (+inferior) than what was promised (I had confirmed the names of the properties that very morning at their office in Nairobi and still they preferred to not disclose the truth). We let go of the campsite issue and focused on the promised evening game drive. Robert obviously did not answer my calls and Edward in a passive aggressive manner threatened to organize a half-assed safari the next day if I continued to find discrepancies in the written itinerary and what was happening in reality. When I pressed further he called Robert, who answered his call(!) and said that the itinerary that I booked does not exist anymore (they took the webpage down from Safari Bookings that very instant)....luckily I had taken screenshots of the itinerary to share with my mates so they had to oblige. But not really in a way that counts. We did do one full day game drive as promised + 1 evening drive near the entry gate that was around 30 minutes + on the 3rd morning of the trip, we drove in from one gate and exited from another gate, a 40 minute ride that doesn't really count as a half day game drive. During the game drives, Edward mostly drove around quietly, sharing very little insight into the national parks or wildlife. If you pointed towards any animal and asked he would accurately name it. Compared to other game drive experiences that I've had, Edward was more like a driver than a safari guide. To be fair though, Karibu arranged a very comfortable 4x4 Land cruiser for us and Edward was a highly skilled driver (the 5 of us slept through bad roads and highways alike).
On the third morning of the trip, we reached the vehicle before our driver and since he was still having breakfast, I started loading everybody's rucksacks in the back of the vehicle. I was half way done when Edward showed up. He looked at me for a minute as a I stood there waiting for him to take over. Instead he told me to hurry and finish the job. I dont mind putting my bags in the car and dont really expect anyone to do it for me but I didn't see any reason why I should load rucksacks of the other group members. I dont see the point in treating your clients like that either, maybe he just got a kick out of it.
The quotation included drinking water but in reality that meant only 5.5 litres per person through 7 days so keep that in mind when choosing your operator.
Regardless of whether you go with Karibu or someone else, if you're keen on making the most out of your itinerary, I would recommend the following -
1. Start with Amboseli or Nakuru instead of Masai Mara
2. Skip Hells Gate if you are short on time. If you're going there for the lava wall, that section is inaccessible to tourists now.
3. Skip Naivasha unless you are into birdwatching. And if you are, spend some time near the lake and find a legit boat tour. The current version of the boat ride is a tourist trap where you'll see 1-2 hippos in the water (that was pretty cool) otherwise it'll be an hour long uneventful boat ride with 3-4 bird sightings that are anyway commonly seen in other parks. Not really worth $30 (additional 30$ to step foot on the island)
4. One full day safari in Amboseli is probably going to be enough. Half day in Nakuru is sufficient. Try to spend some extra time and money for Masai Mara. On day one, let the guide hurriedly take you across the park to tick off all the major sightings. On day 2, you go with a plan to focus on only the things that you missed out on day 1. Finish the itinerary with 2 days in Masai Mara so that you end on a high note.
Property Review -
1. Mara Enkajiang - Clean tents but dirty toilets. Bad food. This was given to us instead of Enchoro Wildlife Camp (highly reviewed). If any tent turned on their bathing shower the whole row of tents would lose electricity till a staff member repaired the fuse. This happened 5+ times in one night.
2. Lanet Matfam - Resort property with a nice swimming pool. Best food but very small and weirdly constructed rooms.
3. Leisure Apex - Overall best - new property, clean rooms, good food, no nonsense motel.
4. Nyati Safari Camp - Clean and spacious tents, well maintained, good food. This was given to us instead of Manjaro Campsite but we were happy either way.
IT
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Reactive
The Gorilla trekking is something amazing, once in a lifetime. The agency help me to adapt the tour to me needs and to buy permits outside working hours.
