CH
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Accommodating, professional and experienced.
The team is fantastic, full support from beginning to end.
The tour and the guides were absolutely the best, we saw so many animals thanks to the well experienced guides.
The food was fantastic!
100% recommendable.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Take a Cue from the Big 5 tour
We travelled from the UK as a couple. We originally booked the 'Take a Cue from the Big 5' tour through Tanzania Go Adventures which is a sister company of Destiny Explorers. We booked around 9/10 months in advance. On arrival, it was Destiny Explorers who ran the tour. Prior to the tour, the company made sure they were aware of allergies and were on hand to answer any questions.
We had a private jeep as advertised which great, and I recommend getting private as you have more room to move around and can customise tour as you go.
Our guide Noely was very friendly, knowledgeable and informative, and he went out of his way to make sure we saw everything we wanted to! We never felt unsafe.
We were picked up from our hotel on time which was great. Our tour consisted of 1 day in Tarangire National Park, 1 day in Lake Manyara, 2 days in the Serengeti and 1 day in Ngorongoro Crater. I would suggest to others to skip Lake Manyara as much of it is shut because of flooding, and many animals have migrated. That said, we still had an amazing experience with the elephants coming close to the jeep so was worth it.
The accomodation was all really nice, and we were well fed throughout the trip. There is little downtime to enjoy the pool so if this is important to you, I'd recommend extending the trip to do shorter game drives across more days. The sun is hot during the day but it rapidly cools in the late afternoon when you return to the lodges. We loved the accomodation in the Serengeti (Tuakone serengeti camps) as we could hear and see hyenas at night!! We also heard lions.
We ticked off the big 5 which was amazing, and we saw so many animals.
We had a great time and would absolutely recommend this company!
ES
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
very efficient and thoughtful operator
Well coordinated safari. It adapts to different needs. The cooks were very good. Nothing like the fast food of other operators. It was well cooked local food, also with vegetarian options.
Our guide Maliaki was perfect, a kind person and a great professional: good driver and guide. He has a lot of experience and knows where and when to go to the best places. He explained us a lot of facts about each animal, plants, history and facts of the parks. Thank you Maliaki!!
US
under20 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Mudi was so friendly, informative, and welcoming!
Mudi and his staff were very the perfect tour guides. I was on a class trip, and all the students learned so much about Tanzania, while also having fun. They were responsive to our needs. On the safari, the guides would take us closer to animals so we could have the best time possible. Thank you Mudi and staff for such a great experience in your beautiful country!!!!
US
35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Marcos is incredible and knowledgeable, took great care of our group.
We had a wonderful experience with Marcos and the Bintu team. They were timely and professional. Communication before and during our trip was great. Marcos is very knowledgeable and trustworthy. The Land Cruiser was in excellent condition and added to the experience of the safari.
We will be using Bintu again for future trips. Highly recommend!
US
65+ years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
CrissCross Safaris provide us with the most fabulous safari/trip we’ve ever had!!
We recently returned from a 19 day private safari with CrissCross, visiting Zimbabwe, Zambia, Botswana and Namibia. From the moment we contacted Andre and Michelle, we knew we were in good hands. They are very knowledgeable about the area and provided great suggestions and ideas. They really listened to what we wanted and tailored the itinerary around things we were interested in seeing and doing and our budget and timeframe. They were always very responsive and communicated back quickly when we had questions or concerns. We opted for a private driver and guide and they provided us with Dewald, a local Namibian. He was very reliable, courteous, always informing of us of where we were going and what we were doing and what to expect. He was also very knowledgeable about the history, animals, geography and people of the area. He became a good friend during the trip, he was also an excellent driver on all the dirt roads and dunes! We were able to follow our itinerary as outlined and there were never any missteps or glitches.
The safari lodges and hotels that Andre and Michelle chose were always top notch. The service, food, game drives, boat cruises were always very professional and staff were always helpful and friendly. They were all clean and very comfortable, many were very luxurious! We were celebrating our 40th wedding anniversary, and Andre and Michelle had several nice surprises for us at the lodges. That was thoughtful and generous.
Then there were the animals- we had so many amazing animal sightings and experiences that it’s hard to describe. We also enjoyed the cultural aspect visiting some local tribe villages and also the beautiful landscapes, especially the Sossusvlei dunes in Namibia-magical.
We compared several other outfitters and found that for the money, CrissCross provided more value than the others and more personalized attention and greater variety of experiences.
The whole experience was exactly as we wanted and imagined it to be. “Turning dreams into Memories”. We would highly recommend CrissCross Safaris for your next adventure. Thank you so much Andre, Michelle and Dewald.
CH
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Fantastic trip
It was a fantastic trip ! The parks are breathtaking. The guide Ombeni was very professional and very nice 👍🏻
I recommend
NZ
50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Excellent, don't hesitate to book with Lion King!
From the outset the communication channels were superb - very fast responses to emails, and detailed information was provided. The itinerary was tailored to our requirements. The pick-up by drivers was timely. Freddie was our tour driver. He was amazing. Kept us informed of the daily diary, and excellent at finding the big (and small!) cats. Asked us what we wanted to see, and he definitely delivered on that! Would recommend Freddie for your driver. The arrangements for the balloon ride were seamless - highly recommended. We booked mid-range accommodation as my 85 yr old mum was with us and she wasn't up for camping. Mid-range was luxury for us as we are used to camping holidays. All staff at the hotels/permanent camps were amazing, food was great, and plentiful, lots of variety. Nothing too much trouble. We were very happy with our trip!
CA
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Lion King did an incredible job with this tour - it truly was a once in a lifetime trip!
Lion King did an incredible job with this tour - it truly was a once in a lifetime trip and an experience I will never forget. The logistics of the trip were managed impressively, from the airport pickups to accommodations to game drives.
Highlights of the trip include game drives through the Serengeti, exploring the Ngongoro Crater, the stay at Nyota luxury tents which was phenomenal, the hot air balloon operated by Serengeti Hot Air Balloon tours and most of all our incredible guide/driver Freddie. Freddie made sure my wife and I were safe, comfortable, and most importantly having fun! I would highly recommend requesting Freddie if you’re booking a trip with Lion King.
Two areas for improvement:
1/ The stay at Eileen’s Tree House was a step down from the other accommodations in terms of quality of room, food and service.
2/ I believe there is an opportunity to increase education within the tour. While our guide was great at answering questions, he rightfully needed to stay focused on driving (and finding animals!), thus couldn't proactively give us info about the various parks, culture, history, animals, etc. Finding a way to weave more education into these tours would be a great way to improve!
IT
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Moses guide made the difference
I booked a 6-day budget tour with Lenchada Safaris:
Mara-Nakuru-Amboseli.
At the last minute they made me change to go in the Jocky Tours Jeep since they were all in pairs and I was alone: there was a free seat next to the driver.
Here, my new companions had paid $50 less.
In addition, the manager of Lenchada Safaris wanted to charge me another $50 more than the price agreed months before.
We had agreed that I would pay in € in cash at the right conversion rate compared to $, but when I got there he wanted to charge me €20 more than the right rate.
I'm sorry because I should have given this extra money to my guide.
However,
apart from this, I was very lucky to experience my safari with Jocky Tours.
I give 5 stars thanks to my guide Moses, who made the difference.
He tried in every way to show us the best he could, on the first full day at the Masai Mara I had already seen the Big Five, + much more.
He is an excellent driver, multitasking, knows the animals well and shares everything he knows about them.
He has the eyesight of an eagle and often manages to spot animals before anyone else and anticipate their behavior, placing the Jeep in the best spot to make the participants take the best photos.
In fact, many times it was him who opened our eyes on what to photograph, for example with the trees as a background, the sunset etc.
he is very patient, he always asked before leaving if it was ok for everyone, what we preferred to do etc.
Always with a smile.
Lenchada tourist camp is beautiful, excellent staff and the food is good.
The Masai village costs $15, it is optional, be aware that you will be asked for donations for the village, they will try to sell you things insistently, even at high prices; in + you will visit the school and enter the classroom with the children, here too a donation is requested at the end.
Powerful experience.
Live these things consciously and serenely trying to understand the context.
The hotel near Lake Nakuru was ok, it also had a swimming pool and a gym.
the Nyati Camp Amboseli was ok, in my room however there were many cockroaches, only in mine, not in my companions'...
They asked me if I wanted to change my room but I let it go.
I recommend it.
Thanks Moses, I wish you the best.
Ciao!!