US
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amazing Honeymoon
We contacted Natasha @ Sun Safaris because a friend had used them and recommended them. We needed help booking accommodations, flights, and transfers in Cape Town, Kruger, Joburg, and Seychelles for our honeymoon. Natasha was very quick to turn around itineraries and meet our needs. All the hotels we stayed in were beautiful and catered to our dietary needs per request! We had an unbelievable time on Safari, staying in Timbavati at Kambaku River Sands. The staff there was amazing and the lodge itself was beautiful. We got to see the Big 5 and the rangers, chefs, and staff accommodated our every need during our stay. All the transfers and flights were hassle-free as the drivers showed up on schedule according to the itinerary and we did not have to worry about anything. Every part of the trip was incredible and exceeded our expectations. I would absolutely recommend Sun Safaris to others (and I already have done so).
US
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great experience
Had a great experience with Katona doing a 3 day tour to Uganda to do gorilla and golden monkey trekking. Jackie was quick to respond, very responsive to my many questions, and offered a variety options based on my interests. She even offered an alternative to gorilla trekking in Rwanda to save me hundreds of dollars when the price of the permit doubled unexpectedly. Jackie provided a detailed itinerary, and checked in with me each day during the tour to make sure everything was going well. Elias is a great guide who helped make sure that the entire tour went smoothly. He made sure I got to where I needed to go safely and make sure that I had a good time.
US
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
A Brilliant Trip to Masai Mara reserve Accommodation good, food excellent, guides good.(tripAdvisor
A Brilliant Trip to Masai Mara reserve Accommodation good, food excellent, guides good.(tripAdvisor 8th August 2017)
All arrangements made on line comfortably from home. Tavernsolia Prime Safaris & Tours (K) gave the best suggestions for the trip we wanted. Transport to parks went perfectly. We saw all the animals on our wish list, guides wonderful and extremely knowledgeable. Accommodation good, food excellent. Even gave us the best weather
PH
35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
A company you can trust and rely on your safari needs!
Last December we had a global conference held in Nairobi and we got Ngurumah Tours and Travel to facilitate all our inland transportation starting from the airport to the different places in Nairobi.
All I can say is that this company is really reliable. All their office staff, including the owner, are very kind and accommodating. They are very keen in making sure all our requests are met. The mini buses that we used are new and well maintained and the drivers are also on time and very helpful to our participants. I never encountered any problem with them. I highly recommend this company if you need inland transportation for your conferences held in and outside Nairobi, tours, and private car rentals. Their prices are very fair.
They are simply the best.
US
Awesome
We booked a day trip to Mikumi in late August with Joseph and had an amazing time. We were picked from our hotel at 4:30 am and arrived around 9 am, before stopping on the way for breakfast. Joseph was extremely friendly and responsive to all of our questions before, during and even after the game drive. We saw a lot of animals, even lions which are often hard to find and had a great lunch inside the park. The trip back to Dar was a bit exhausting, so I would recommend a two days trip if possible, but overall it everything about our safari was worth the long journey.
We thank Joseph for a great day!
NL
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Very nice safari, good price
My girlfriend and I went on a 4 day safari, visiting 3 parks: Tarangire, Serengeti and Ngorongoro crater. Trip was well organized and included overnight in the hotel before and after safari. During safari we slept in tents, which were complete. The guide was very good and friendly, drove very well, showed and told us a lot. The cook made us a nice meal three times a day.
In short, very cool trip, complete, well organized and for a good price.
US
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
High Quality Service, Amazing Safari, Extremely Competitive Price. Best Value in Serengeti”
6 day Safari: Ngorongoro Crater, Lake Manyara, Central Serengeti, Northern Serengeti/Mara River
8 family members spread across 2 Land Cruisers for entire trip.
I’ll start out by saying that I don’t often leave reviews and when I do, it’s usually to warn folks about trouble. It’s a pleasure to leave a glowing review. This is the best I’ve ever left.
Highlights:
First the Guides/Drivers/Animal locators: Saleh Omari and Oswald Shayp.
I cannot say enough about these two. During the 6 days, they became my friends. I miss them. Guides are extremely important. Everybody in Tanzania will see elephants, giraffes, wildebeests, and gazelles, but if you want to get really close to lions in trees, leopards, cheetahs, and other more rare sights, you must have good guides. They work their radios and networks of fellow guides to find out where the animals are, which roads are passable to get you there and they know how to get you to the choice spots for viewing. The good guides all know one another and share secrets with each other. They leave room for one another when a crowd forms If you aren't plugged into that network, you will miss stuff.
Saleh and Oswald (Ozzy) spent the majority of game drives cruising slowly (pole pole) and pointing out the sights, stopping frequently, letting us take pictures. Then all at once they would start talking on the radio (in Swahili so I was in the dark) and suddenly take off like they were driving firetrucks. Then we would get to a spot and there would be a leopard with a gazelle in a tree, or a pair of cheetahs under a tree, or a pride of lionesses with cubs. Meanwhile other land cruisers would be passing by on the main road completely oblivious.
My favorite Saleh story: It was the end of a very long day. (Every day is a long day for guides, sunrise to sunset and then off the clean the vehicles.) Saleh is driving along looking for a rhino or something… pointing out baboon babies and so forth. Then he motions toward the side of the path and says, “Look, a snake.”
Now I spend a lot of time in the woods. I’m better than anyone I know at spotting wildlife. Especially snakes. So I ask for a better signal. Saleh stops the Landcruiser and points “There”. I still don’t see it. He practically has to get out of the vehicle before I finally spot the 10 foot long cobra. Saleh had to get close enough to it with his finger that it defensively coiled up and spread out it neck before I saw it. And he saw it while driving and looking for a rhino in the distance.
Their English was very good. Oswald's was good enough that he could tell jokes and kid around. Both had extremely interesting, in depth knowledge of the animals habits and tendencies. Both would stop occasionally to swap stories with other connected guides from other companies or at least wave while passing. I cannot recommend these two guides highly enough. They know everyone, they know everything.
My advice: Find good guides and please tip your guides generously. Nobody works harder. I tipped them at the end of each day and a bonus at the end of the trip. The deserved every bit.
As for logistics, we had some (ok, several) last minute schedule changes and Anna juggled, pivoted, parried, did magic and found us spots to stay that fit our schedule. She did a great job explaining everything and working with our changing needs. Lion King made everything smooth for us despite our large party and lack of organization.
As for accommodations:
Ilboro Lodge was perfectly adequate and fun in Arusha.
Eileen's trees was super nice, Very big, clean, comfortable room. Excellent bathrooms in each room. Very pretty, rustic dining room in the lodge and excellent food for a great value.
Serengeti Heritage Tent Camps in Central Serengeti and Heritage Migration Tent Camp on the Mara River: These tent camps are amazing. They are basically hotel rooms in the middle of the Serengeti. Inside each tent was a super nice queen or twin bed with night stand and even a plush chair. Then each tent also had a separate bath compartment with regular western hotel toilet, a tent wall shower and a vanity sink. The mess tent/dining room was very nice. The one on the Central Serengeti had a full bar. That's right friends, a Full Bar!!! Generator powered charging stations for cameras/phones/etc were provided during dining hours.
The food was excellent, buffet style dinner and amazing breakfast. It's hard to describe. I don't know why but it was the best lamb stew I've had. I'll grant that this probably had a lot to do with the wildebeest, zebras and gazelles strolling around our campsite. but it's still... great food.
Sleeping with all the animal sounds and glowing eyes around the campsite was a singular experience. That's why one goes there. Impossible to describe the feeling.
The Heritage Migration camp was 5 minutes from the river. You could have walked there were it not for the lions.
In sum: Lion King Adventure Safaris had top notch staff and top notch accommodations. They exceeded all my expectations.
NL
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
The real African wilderness north of Jo-burg
For the second time a perfect safari experience with Tailor Made Safaris. Two years ago we went to the east coast, this time we drove north of Johannesburg towards the Botswana and Zimbabwe borders. Well-equipped with our tailor made self-drive pack we visited the Black Rhino Game Reserve near Pilanesberg National Park, Madikwe Game Reserve, Kololo Game Reserve, the Mogalakwena River Lodge, Leshiba Wilderness Game Reserve, Kruger National Park and the Panoramaroute. A lot of safari parks we thought in the beginning. But it appeared to be a perfect mix of parks in which each park had it's own attractions and charme. Of course we saw a lot of game (we only missed a leopard, but that was by far compensated by cheeta's, wild dogs, lions, etc.). But the different types of landscapes and various atmospheres of the lodges made every park a new experience. The main strength of the concept of Tailor Made Safaris is that the parks are not located too far away from each other. It took us about half a day to drive from one park to the next and we stayed at least two or three days in each park, so we had the feeling to really get acquainted to each park. We had an unforgettable holiday and are looking forward to our next African dream. Most probably again organised by Tailor Made Safari´s. The big question remains the destination: Namibia, Botswana?
CA
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Experience of a lifetime
We went on a 13 days trip across Uganda and Rwanda with Achieve Global Safaris from August 20th to September 1st 2017 and must say that everything was perfect from A to Z. Mark was very attentive to all our needs and very comprehension throughout the booking process. We customised a lot the itinerary based on our needs and our wishes and everytime, Mark responded to our request in a quick and efficient way.
Upon arrival Polly was at the Airport with our guide Yampa to welcome us to Uganda after a long travel. Our guide, Yampa, has been amazing throughout the trip and was very knowledgable. He knew somebody in almost every lodge and park that we visited and always managed to make our stay as perfect as could be. We traveled from Kampala to Murchison Falls to Kibale to QENP to Bwindi and then on to Rwanda. Everything on our bucket list as been checked.
A trip to Uganda is an adventure of a lifetime. The nature is wonderful so are the people. Everybody was so welcoming and nice to us, those memories will last forever.
TIP : Don't miss out on the comunity encounter. We have spent half a day in the Ishasha community and met with Deo and Agatha who were so proud to show us their way of lives and how they have adapted throughout the years to live in peace with the surrounding wildlife. An amazing and profound experience !
50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Fantastic 10 Day Big 5, Bush and Beach Safari
We booked the 10 day bush and beach safari as our "once in a lifetime" family holiday and chose Wild Planet Safari based on all their positive reviews. We were not disappointed! Even before the trip they really looked after us with regular updates and messages. Our guide Ryan and his assistant Benjamin collected us from our hotel at exactly the appointed time and looked after us fantastically from then on.
We spent four days touring Kruger Park, travelling from north to south and staying at Letaba, Orpen and Berg-en-Dal. En route we saw all the Big Five (Big Six if you count Black and White Rhino separately!) as well as many more birds and animals. Ryan guided us excellently throughout, telling us not only about the wildlife, but also the geology and history of Kruger. He really knows his stuff and answered all our questions patiently, as well as regaling us with many stories over a glass of beer in the evenings! As a birdwatcher, I was pleased to find that Ryan is one too and he really helped me increase my life list, even stopping for the "small brown jobs" from time to time! We recorded over 100 bird species in Kruger alone. Ryan certainly has eagle-eyes and some kind of special intuition for when and where to find the wildlife. He helped us connect with some of the more unusual creatures too, such as porcupines, honey badgers, and a rock python.
From Kruger we travelled south through Swaziland and spent one night at Royal Hlane, where you get close-up views of White Rhino in particular at the waterhole there. We then continued south and spent two days in Hluhluwe, staying at Hilltop camp, where we saw plenty more rhino, as well as lots more other birds and animals.
After seven days on tour we ended up at Greenfire Lodge on the beach front in Umdloti, near Durban, where we spent two days relaxing by the beach and unwinding. There is wildlife there too - vervet monkeys in the town, and whales and dolphins in the sea, which we watched from the balcony of our room - fantastic!
We had an absolutely fantastic holiday - truly a "lifetime" event - thanks to Ryan and his team, and hope to repeat it again one day. We cannot recommend Wild Planet Safari enough - book your tour with them and like us, you will not be disappointed!