50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
My first visit to South Africa, my first Safari.
Just to put things in perspective my holiday was actually called "Butterflies of South Africa" it was a four centre holiday starting at Wakkerstroom then uMkhuze, Saint Lucia and finally eShowe, only 2 nights were actually spent in the game reserve.
The main entrance to the reserve was flooded due to recent heavy rain, so we made a detour to another gate. Even at this one there was plenty of water about. For the remainder of my visit we never had any problems with floods, and the tracks and roads around the reserve were dry and in good repair.
I was provided with a tent. It had all modern conveniences, shower, flush toilet, electricity. Beds had mosquito nets. Unfortunately I was never at ease in the tent and didn't have a minutes sleep on my first night. I missed having a solid door! There are chalets on the site so if I went back I would definitely stay in one of them.
Butterflies and birds were our main objective, but we still had plenty of time to drive around the reserve to see much larger wildlife. It is hard to explain just how thrilling it is to see antelope, rhino, giraffe, zebra in their natural surroundings. We were actually in two minibuses, window seats were at a premium. Generally, my fellow travellers were considerate to others needs, and there was much moving around within the vehicle so everyone had a chance to get a good view and take some photos.
I have to mention our guides: John Davies and Bert Palthe of Lawson's Birding Safaris. They were very friendly, resourceful, and had a totally awesome knowledge of the fauna and flora of the region. In short they were totally amazing, and this added greatly to an already amazing experience (please remember this was my first safari)!
Some highlights of my visit were:
An early morning walk in the reserve searching for butterflies. The chief warden with his rifle made this particularly memorable, it also proved very rewarding in terms of butterflies seen.
An early morning drive to a viewing tower in the reserve. John and Burt supplied tea and "rusks" while we gazed over a panorama of the reserve. Mainly zebra sighted, but still rewarding.
An evening barbeque, where John and Bert cooked the food. A bright light shone on a white sheet attracted many insects. Another member of the group was wearing a white shirt and a gigantic dragonfly landed on it and stayed their for quite a while.
Finally I would just like to mention the drive into the reserve. It was particularly striking due to the enormous number of vast spider's webs on view. Large Golden Orb spiders were clearly visible on many of the webs.
CA
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Review about Tanzania by JD~PHOTOGRAPHY
Tanzania has some of the best national parks in the world and numerous species of animals can be found quite readily in many of its parks.
PL
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Review about Tanzania by TK
Tanzania is simply beautiful! Breathtaking! And people are so nice and hospitable. You will definitely fall in love with Tanzania. Believe me.
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Review about South Africa by romicom
There is a huge variety of wildlife facilities, the infrastructure is excellent too.
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Review about South Africa by Jetzipops
The guides are amazing‼And it's a very beautiful country.
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Africa, Tanzania and a totally awesome Safari experience
Where do I start? I’d looked at taking a safari for quite some time but never quite gotten so brave as to book, but as time goes by you realise with our rapidly dwindling animal population it’s something you’re going to have to do sooner rather than later. After looking for a while at the various companies, along with studying some reviews I thought I’d give Java Safaris a whirl so sent off an exploratory email to see what they could offer me.
Their reply was both prompt and courteous and after a few more emails we had the skeleton of a plan (Safaris do take a bit of planning) armed with this I decided to book a 10 day safari. Java Safaris organized everything for me, going through lots of options of parks and accommodation styles and Catherine at Java Safari took plenty of time to answer all of my questions and allay any concerns that I had.
I was still a little apprehensive about such a big trip with this being my first time to Africa but from the moment I stepped off the plane at Kilimanjaro Airport until I stepped back on the plane everything was amazing. Java Safaris met me as soon as I have got my luggage and took so much care of me throughout the whole trip, giving me lots of information and making me feel totally at ease. Tanzania has so much to offer, it was beyond my expectations. All the accommodation choices were perfect and I was made to feel like a VIP throughout with amazing staff and excellent food. The game viewing was beyond words and the driver guide, Nixon, was just incredible with such animal spotting skills and vast knowledge, not to mention quite a sense of humor.
I cannot stress enough how impressed I was with Java and how professional they are with such attention to detail. Now that I have the taste for Africa 'll be going back, may visit Kenya or Uganda and would not hesitate in going straight back to Java Safaris.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
AMAING BACKPACKERS SAFARIS EXPERIENCE
Backpackers is your trusted safari partner in-case you care about remote and local travels. They are personalized and detailed as they are in touch with both local community and service providers. The drives, treks and stopovers in company of experienced tour-guides is breathtaking!
PL
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Best Safari, Best Team!!!
I found Kanuth Safari on the Internet. It was one of many companies that I had approached. I quickly realized that this is the one — they were responding promptly and prepared an offer perfectly matching our needs. I immediately felt that I was speaking with a man, and not a “name.” Our choice of their company turned out to be excellent — we had a great time during our Tanzanian vacation. Private safari in the Selous Game Park surpassed our expectations. Additionally, Kanuth took care of us in Dar es Salaam, for which we are very grateful to them. We will certainly be recommending Kanutha at all possible Polish travel forums as a company and a person who meets all the expectations of the most discerning travelers!!! Kanuth, Tony and wonderful Nico — thank you very much for the wonderful vacation. We wil meet in Northern parks soon! Today with full conviction and utmost joy we are recommending you to all our traveling friends! Asante sana :)
CZ
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Generally it was a really nice safari experience.
Tarangire - Ngorongoro - Lake Manyara
We saw "The big 5". Driver George was very helpful, able to answer each of our questions. Dinner was delicious, the lunch boxes were a bit poor. We spent two nights in a lodge in Fanaka Campsite & Lodge. Staff was very pleasant and also the accomodation was not bad. Everything was clean and tidy.
Tarangire and especially Ngorongoro was a great experiance, many animals and very varied nature but Lake Manyara was very different. There was almost nothing to see.
FR
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
An unforgettable experience climbing Mount Kilimanjaro
We booked our six day climb via the Machame route on Mount Kilimanjaro with Kili Smile Trails & Safaris and we can only recommend them. Even before we left for Tanzania, they were very helpful and quick in answering our questions about the necessary gear and the planning. We flew via Dar-es-Salaam to Kilimanjaro airport with Fastjet where we were picked up and brought to Keys hotel in Moshi, which is a quiet and clean hotel.
On the night of our arrival, our guide (Bakari) checked our gear for the hike and recommended additional things to rent out for the hike, for example warmer sleeping bags. There is a lot of stuff that you carry up the mountain but only use during the last day, such as warm gloves, hat, trouser and jacket. But it is well worth it because you do not want to feel cold during the last bit of the ascent. It was no problem to rent out the additional gear on the morning of the first day. It was also possible to leave some of our stuff, which we did not need on Mount Kilimanjaro, in the hotel. Ezekiel from Kili Smile was kind enough to pick up our stuff and bring it to the gate after we finished our hike on the sixth day as we went straight on for Safari.
On the morning of our climb, we paid the outstanding sum (as we had transfered part of the whole amount beforhand). It was no problem to pay some of the amount in Tanzanian Shillings, although normally in Tanzania you pay larger sums in US Dollars.
During the late morning we arrived at the Machame gate and around lunchtime we could start our ascent. There is always some waiting time involved as some administrative procedures need to be done and the porters need to weigh their lugagge as they are only allowed to carry up to 20 kg. We had to guides (Bakari and Edi) who were very helpful and explained us many things along the way. While the first day of hike is through the rain forest, the vegetation is quickly becoming less dense at the end of the first day and from then one you will not see that many trees any more. The ascent is in generally technically not very demanding, but the Baranco wall on the fourth day is certainly more challenging.
Every evening we were cooked a nice dinner with a soup as a starter, a main (very varied including meat, fish, potatoes, rice, pasta) and some fruits. We also drank a lot of tea as it is very important to stay hydrated during the hike. After dinner, our guide would come into our dining tent and explain the next day, how long we would hike and what to wear. Every morning we were woken up around 6.30 am with a fresh ginger tea and then after a quick wash, had an excellent breakfast, including omelette, pancakes and fruits. Before breakfast we also packed our stuff as the porters would already start to load their stuff and dismantle the tent.
You normally walk about four to five hours a day and enjoy a beautiful landscape with great views on the cloud cover. If I had to do it again, I would certainly enjoy this unique experience more, as I was quite a bit worried about altitude sickness. Already during the first night at 3000m I suffered from headache and did not sleep very well. But from then on, I did not have any problems with headache again except for a short time at the Lava tower on the third day at 4800m. The both of us were very lucky not to suffer from strong symptoms of altitude sickness, but this can be very different from one person to the other. It is certainly important to drink a lot.
After four days of hiking Mount Kilimanjaro, the most exciting part came on the fifth day, the day of the hike to the summit. We started around midnight from Barafu hut (4600m) in a pretty cold and completely dark night. Equipped with a head torch we went up the last 1300m, which except for the first bit, is not very challenging but steep. Surrounded by many lights from other head torches you go up very slowly (one of the first words in Kiswahili you will learn is pole, pole, i.e. slowly, slowly). After walking up a few minutes, our guides offered us to carry our backpacks, which made the ascent even easier. During the ascent on the last day it is important to keep drinking and also eat a bit, but the breaks are relatively short as you get cold very quickly. Six hours after we left the base camp, we reached Uhuru peak at 5895m and were rewarded with a spectacular view of the rising sun.
Having just made it to the top of Africa, the following descent of about three hours to Barafu camp and then another three hours to the last camp are certainly less enjoyable as the first bit is on loose gravel and very dusty.
All in all, it was a great experience going up Kilimanjaro and we can only recommend Kili Smile as we always got the necessary support. We are also grateful because they arranged for us to be picked up at the gate on the last day in order for us to start straight away with our Safari.