IN
50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Easy wildlife spotting and in quick succession
We left our hotel rather early in the morning to enter the crater hoping to leave behind the crowd. A large number of sightings and in quick succession are possible as the crater or in fact the Ngorongoro Caldera holds a variety of mammals and birds. All mammals are contained within the crater and most of them live here till they die, without easy access to the outside world.
Within a few minutes of entering the Crater we were rewarded with a sighting of a Serval cat, which according to our driver is not rare but difficult to spot. Then started a series of spottings, rhinos, elephants, gazelles, hyenas, lions, kori bustards, wildebeests, ape buffalos and many birds.
If in a short while one wants a taste of African wildlife then one must visit the Ngorongoro crater.
Go there early in the morning and take in the wonderful landscape in the early morning sun. The landscape changes with every minutes with the sun changing the quality of light swiftly.
In a couple of hours and after more than 20 minutes with the black rhinos we decided to drive over to Ngoitokitok Springs for our breakfast, Ngoitokitok means a bubbly spring and this is a great spot to spend some time watching the Hippos grunting, coming close to the shore and staying away at a respectful distance. Weaver and other birds coming over to share your food, the ducks making noise all add to the wonder of this place. A drive to Lake Magadi to watch the flamingos though from a distance and at the same time watch the numerous mammals that graze there will make one believe that this a Garden of Eden.
The walls of the crater offer a great background for photographing the animals here in the open crater and this along with the quality of light make it a photographers delight.
No visit to Tanzania can be complete without a visit to Ngorongoro crater.
IN
50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Review about Tanzania by Hari L Ratan
Great wildlife, hospitality, kind people make it a great destination.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Mt Kilimanjaro Climb
Afrishare organised a 6-day climb to the top of Mt Kilimanjaro for a group of three friends. From the very first email enquiry, we were re-assured by their timely communication, helpful advice for packing, recommendations on the best route to take based on our skill levels.
Once on the ground, we were provided with a detailed audit of our trekking gear with advice and guidance from our two guides on how to approach the mountain (pole pole as they say in Swahili). We met the guides and a couple of the porters a couple of days before-hand and this helped to no end.
The trip itself was very well organised. The support provided on the trek itself was superb. The guides were extremely knowledgeable and skilled - providing advice, tips, identified birds, animals and plants along the way and shared stories of the history of the mountain and the surrounding countryside.
A lot of the porters spoke English and even those that didn't were happy to have a friendly chat.
The food was delicious and freshly made with our very own mess tent set up in advance at every camp site. Appetisers consisted of popcorn and ginger snaps which was *delightfully* welcome at more than 3000m above sea level. We were very well fed throughout with hearty soups, fresh food (fried chicken, toasties, fish fillets, rice, spaghetti) made all the more impressive because all the food had to be lugged up the mountain.
Ibrahim, Kija, Goodluck and the rest of the crew were a great set of people to travel with and we'd do this again in future.
CA
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Nature Travel Namibia rocks!
My husband and I have recently returned from a 16-day birding safari to Namibia, Caprivi, Botswana and Zambia organized by Nature Travel Namibia. I cannot say enough wonderful things about this company. If I could give it a 6 star rating I would! Nick, our guide was enthusiastic, professional and very knowledgeable. From the moment we made contact with him, he helped us organize and tailor the trip to the last detail. I should also mention that he is probably the best bird guide we've ever had the pleasure of working with. His passion for the birds and all the wildlife made it seem as if he was also seeing them for the first time. He definitely gave us 100%. We would not hesitate to use Nick and this company again and would highly recommend them to anyone thinking of visiting southern Africa.
CA
Elizabeth and Lauren were both amazing, they tailored a wonderful safari for us.
The safari totally lived up to our expectations if not exceeded them. Elizabeth and Lauren were always on hand to answer any of my questions before we went on the trip.
SE
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Good communication and excellent service and choices of hotels and tours.
Very good communication and service. By all means living up to expectations!
The safari was magic!!
DK
Super good guides!
I went on a 2-day one night safari with Kilimanjaro Vacation Company in May 2015.
We were 12 people traveling together, which made bookings a bit complicated. Also the information provided to do the transfer wasn't quite sufficient initially for the international tranfser.
However we made it work and the guides and the parks were amazing! Very nice safari vans as well!
The camp we slept at was a bit dissapointing though, as it was basicall justy tents in on lawn in the courtyard of a hotel. And you had to bring you own towels, which we had not been informed beforehand.
65+ years of age
Trek to Kilimanjaro;change of plans; poor decisions;no real interest in clients;unsatisfactory; bad
Not what expected; "ladies group"? I was told on the day "just you" but luckily one more lady otherwise me at 75 and 7 or 8 local men. Route changed for doubtful reason . Staying at Kibo Hut for 2 cold nights a bad decision. No breakfast and a few dry biscuits, peanuts after a 5 hour climb, starting at 5am. Should have been 4 am but guides overslept. Could have reached final summit easily with a good group. Physically fit, no altitude problems just terribly hungry. I am quite small. A fuss at the hotel over security of items left "in Storage". A plan to drive 2 more hours was changed by me. Trauma in Arusha when Tony attacked a man.
US
65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
From Texas to Tanzania
Super job, Kakasii ! Amazing, so worthwhile. Made me feel like a queen.
NL
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amazing 3-day safari to Mikumi National Park
We booked a 3-day safari in Mikumi National Park in March 2016 for two persons with Hello Tanzania. It was a last-minute booking, as we started the inquiry on Friday and wanted to leave already three days later on Monday. Originally we wanted to visit Selous too, but as we leaned from Ms Mwajabu of Hello Tanzania, that is impossible in March, as it is rainy season and the lodges are closed. Ms Mwajabu was very pleasant to deal with. She reacted immediately, sent a complete itinerary, consisting of transfer from and to Dar es Salaam, two half-day and one full-day game drives, all meals, soft drinks and snacks on the way, and a stay in a mid-rang lodge. She answered all our questions, booked a very nice lodge for us (Camp Bastian Lodge), and arranged a driver and a car to pick us up where we stayed in Dar Es Salaam on Monday morning. She also made sure that the staff at the lodge knew about our dietary preference which is vegan, so absolutely no animal products. We paid the fee, $600 per person, in advance, plus a 5% service fee, via the online payment provider Ms Mwajabu selected.
The drive from Dar to Mikumi took about 6 hours, including two bathroom breaks on the way. Mikumi is a beautiful national park, with vast open landscapes and mountains in the background. There is so much wildlife that you can literally spot animals at almost every corner. Already during the afternoon drive on the first day of our safari we saw baboons, impala, shoebill, giraffes, elephants, warthogs, gnus, and zebras. On the second day we also saw hippos, lions, vervet monkeys, a monitor lizard, water buffaloes, vultures, marabous, superb starlings, crowned lapwings, and many other birds and butterflies. We visited during the beginning of the rainy season, so not all roads were possible to drive on, but we definitely saw a lot of different animals and species in those three days and took hundreds of beautiful photos through the open roof of the safari vehicle, a 20+ year-old Toyota Land Cruiser Prado. Watching the animals in their natural habitat was what we came for, and we were rewarded with an absolutely wonderful experience, which we will certainly remember for the rest of our lives. The driver had good knowledge about the different species we saw and did his best to answer all our questions about the animals, their English and Swahili names, their behavior, and all kinds of peculiarities.
We also enjoyed our stay at the lodge very much. The staff was friendly and attentive, the property is situated in a beautiful garden, and our dietary preferences were met by providing us with delicious vegan meals. The room was clean, if a bit small, had two beds, a fan, mosquito nets, and had a shared bathroom (which we didn't have to share as the other rooms in our cabin weren't occupied) and a veranda with deck chairs. The property includes a restaurant and a bar with comfortable seating around a little fire pit, which keeps the mosquitos away from the guests.
Unfortunately the old vehicle broke down twice on our trip: on the first afternoon due to a defective fuel injection which kept us sitting in a mud hole at a 30-degree sideways angle for almost two hours in the middle of the park, until the driver had arranged help and the safari car of the lodge picked us up. The second time it was because the battery had died during our drive back to Dar. We were stuck in Chalinze, 120km from Dar, for another two hours, until the driver had bought and built in a new battery. Also, one of the rear passenger doors didn't open, and the air conditioning wasn't working either, which is a bit of a drag on a 6-hour drive at 34C, especially when sitting in Dar's traffic jam. The driver was very apologetic about the vehicle incidents, but it would have been a more pleasant experience in a more reliable and comfortable vehicle.
While we were very happy with the game drives, the driver tried several times to cut them short. On the second day, he wanted to drop us off at the lodge already after lunch, even though we had booked a full-day game drive. On the third day, he wanted to leave for Dar already in the morning, even though the itinerary had promised us another park entry and half-day game drive. Although we had already seen animals of all species after the morning of the second day, we enjoyed watching the animals very much, so we had to insist that we wanted the full program as booked. The driver was also not aware of our dietary preference and on the way to the park stopped at a place in Morogoro that had chicken soup for lunch. We rejected and waited until we were at the park, where we had a nice lunch made of rice and cooked vegetables.
Apart from these small glitches the safari was a truly great experience, and I hope we will be able to return someday to Tanzania to see more of the gorgeous nature and wildlife this fascinating country has to offer.