20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Josh was so helpful and fast to reply leading up to the safari
We loved the private tour and the ease of having choice and extra freedom. Our guides were so knowledgeable
Leaving this tour guide and being handed over to others in a different area (under same company) was a regret of ours as the communication didn’t pass over very well.
Other than that we lived the energy, fun and overall experience!! Had a beautiful time on the Serengeti
US
65+ years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Good bang for the buck!
Our tour was a 13 day/12 night adventure, covering Tarangire, Central and Northern Serengeti, and Ngorongoro Crater, plus a side trip visiting 3 different tribes. A highlight for me was actually visiting the indigenous Hazabe tribe. The safari itself was great. Saw the Big 5, although the rhinos were very far away. Very much enjoyed witnessing the Great Migration of wildebeest, crossing the Mara River. The camps, food, and service were all excellent. Our driver was very knowledgeable on identifying game and birds; plus, he was a great mechanic - which can be very handy if the jeep develops mechanical issues, given the rough and dusty roads. My only downside, was there were a couple of issues with lodging snafus, and the jeep itself (a Toyota Landcruiser) could have been in better shape. One window couldn’t be opened/closed without the help of the driver, and when dust is flying about (often), that’s a problem. Another window was hard to roll up/down. The roof top only had one of two locks working, and one gas shock was broken. Arm rests were stuck in the “up” position, and seat belts were inoperable.
Other than that, the safari itself was great!!
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Adrian was a great laugh and good guide, once asked he gave all information needed
Adrian was a good tour guide, young and keen which is good to see. The tour itself was very organized and thought through, no hiccups along the way. Especially through online bookings.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great fun
Was good to see all the animals the food and organisation was okay but the animals made up for it
SA
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Safari 5 days
It was good, Masai Mara was amazing, the accomodation as described and the driver knew a lot of the good places, however, he was always late and on the last day the car broke down.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Champion!
I loved our 5-day safari around Tanzania. It was even better than I imagined. Our tour guide was experienced, we even got to see the Big 5! Champion (our tour guide) was friendly, knowledgable, and went above and beyond to give us the best experience possible. He was reliable every morning and I felt safe with him during our trips.
The only reason I cannot give 5 stars is because the company did not pick us up from the airport and we could not contact them, we had to arrange our own taxi at midnight to the hotel. They did, however, refund us the amount for the taxi. On the first day, we were told we owed $2000 when we didn’t … this was quickly rectified when we showed them our bank statements.
In summary, we had a great experience and I would recommend Serengeti Smile and Champion to my friends at home.
NL
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
I was great
We had a beautiful Safari and saw many Rhinos, 5 in total on 4 different places. Our guide brought us on the perfect spots to see the animals. We saw 1lion in the beginning and 1 hyena at the and of the trip. Between we saw lot off different beasts.
IE
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Amboseli, Tsavo East & West 3N 4D
We booked with Ton as we were super keen to see Amboseli, Tsavo East & West. He was very patient in sending updated quotes and itineraries until we were satisfied with the final one.
5/5 Stars for our guide Ben
- Ben was a great guide, he was very chill, smiley & made us feel comfortable to ask for whatever we needed. He was a safe driver and was really informative along the our travels. Not only telling us about the animals we were seeing but even about infrastructure, rail roads, plants, plantations everything we saw he had a fact about which we really loved.
5/5 Start for the accommodation selected.
- We stayed in Ngulia Safari Lodge, Penety Amboseli Resort & Voi Safari Lodge. Really could not recommend these enough, Ngulia & Voi Safari had water holes where you could sit and watch the animals (Elephants, Buffalo, Pumba, Baboons, Zebras, Waterbuck & more), Ngulia we also spotted a Leopard feeding around 11pm. The food provided was of good standard, staff were friendly & accommodating.
5/5 Transportation
- Safari's are not easy with bumps and dust but getting into our van our first morning, the seats were spotless, they even reclined. It was definitely the comfiest van / jeep we have had.
5/5 Landscapes of the parks
Aside from these parks being home to many animals, the landscape, views and geology is so fascinating. You are witness to changing rocky landscapes, lava flows, springs, the views of Kilimanjaro and more! Ben was so great in telling us the history of the landscape and when the eruptions happened etc, as someone who loves geography this was fantastic.
3/5 Animal Sightings
- Unfortunately we were not very lucky in regards to seeing some animals. Of course we did our research regarding these parks prior to going and know that it can be more difficult to spot but I definitely wouldn't recommend this safari to someone looking for the "Big 5". We saw many many elephants which was amazing, loads of grazing animals, gazelles, antelope, zebra, giraffes, waterbuck etc but did miss some of the predators such as lions, cheetah, wild dogs, hyeenas etc. We were very lucky to see the Leopard at the lodge and also on our last day during our game drive in Tsavo East, Ben spotted a leopard in the tree and it was amazing as it was just us and him! We also visited the Rhino Sanctuary at Tsavo West and I was really hoping that with 140+ rhinos in a small sanctuary there we would see some but we didn't see a single one... this was quite disappointing. I think more communication between rangers & drivers could help sightings in this instance, it was our main animal we wanted to see at this place given the fact it is for Rhinos. The low animal sightings was no fault of our driver as he was always on the lookout as were we and drove everywhere.
2/5 Netherken Communication
- I think Netherken failed a little regarding communication. The night before it would have made sense to consult directly with the driver for the following morning, instead you are still dealing with the owner or someone else in the company and this made for a delay of collection by 25 minutes due to not being able to speak directly with our driver. No fault of his as he was on time but wasn't sure where we were located.
- We were brought to Mzima Springs for a nature walk, but our group left before us and then we had to rush the first half of it missing animal sightings like crocodiles and monkeys along the way. It felt rushed and frustrating. There was no apology from Netherken about this.
- In addition to communication on our last day, we had lunch included in the price we paid however we were told that we didn't by our driver. He then called the office and was told to let us have lunch and Netherken would have to call and pay the place directly... considering it's in our itinerary I'm not sure how this was missed or why it was paid twice? When I texted Netherken about this, they ignored multiple messages. It sort of felt like once you have paid they don't care anymore as they have their money.
Overall, my rating is an average, the accommodation definitely increases that average, whilst animal sightings and communication with Netherken brings it down a bit.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Alex kept us informed on what to expect on the tour & made us feel welcomed & settled.
It was a great & novel experience as I have never been on a safari tour before. Will highly recommend it