US
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Bucket list adventure
My entire experience was amazing right from the original booking to the actual safari. Mike kept us well informed along the way. For the actual safar, Joseph was our guide and driver and did an amazing job. He gave us some options along the way and let us dictate the flow. Joseph already found us the "big five" on the first day and did his best to give us the best vantage point. By the end of the safari we had seen every animal on my list which was beyond my expectations. I highly recommend Ancient Wild Safaris!!
50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
9 days in the Tanzanian Safaris - Serengeti, Tarangire and Ngorogoru Crater
Dear Afroriginal,
We are all home and just have the most wonderful memories of the last 9 days in your beautiful country. All the places we visited were truly remarkable. Jennifer and I loved the Tarangire and I can see why this is your favourite place. We loved the swamp area and the elephants and eagle life. The lodge there was rather magnificent. We loved going into the crater and the flamingos and the 22 hyena we highlight. The Sereno lodge was lovely and we did want to spend another night there as the views and atmosphere was calming and spectacular.
I am glad we only had to do the one way trip from the crater to the south of Serengeti, this was very long and bumpy but we were certainly enlightened on the quantity of gazelle on the planes and again hyenas. Next time we come will be in summer when the wildebeest are giving birth and on these planes. The first night at Kati Kati was truly in nature with a heard of buffalo around the tents – and I mean even between the tents. My husband was on the toilet and was scared to make any noises as the buffalo was eating right next to him. He could almost feel its heat. I was in hysterics !!!
The trip to the north Serengeti was long but also nice to see the vast expanses of land we covered and with such a different terrain. We saw some incredible fires on route watched the marabou storks sitting close to the flames having barbeque. It was only in this section where we saw endless Wildebeest and got to appreciate the amount of animals that there are. We even gave up counting carcasses! The Wayo camp was very basic and we were the only people in the camp for both nights, which really made it private. These tents were very basic – as you described, but they could have done a bit to make the linen more warm and cosy even in such a situation. The chef at this camp was the best we had all over. His food and lunch boxes were very good for such a remote place.
The day we spent on the Mara river and driving up to the Kenyan border was again more than I ever expected. I would have loved to spend 3 days in this area, and will definitely next time when we come in July spend more time in the north. It was also very quiet with tourists.
Our trip back to Kati Kati was very good and we spent some time in the central area, and we counted we saw 41 lions in the whole trip, 5 cheetah, and 2 leopards, one with a fresh kill.
But there was one thing that really made this trip absolutely wonderful and has made it close to our families hearts, and that was Francis, our tour guide. There are little words to describe what a wonderful man he was and a tour guide. He has the funniest sense of humour and talked so easily and freely with us. At times when we wanted silence to enjoy the environment, he was quiet. His driving was impeccable and we all laughed as he seems well respected and known amongst the “bush telegraph” guides. His spotting of animals and birds and knowledge was great and sitting over dinner and having conversations with him was so humorous. He is a most pleasant person and next time we come I will only ask for him.
Again it was wonderful to meet you, although for such a short period of time. When the time comes for any recommendations I will most certainly send anyone your details, you were most accommodating to my changes.
Keep well and God Bless
Louise, Mike, Stephanie and Jennifer.
NO
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Perfect in every way - comes highly recommended
I do not usually write reviews, but this time Tanzania Explorer really deserve a great review. Why? Because they are great! Sondre (owner) was following us up and kept all his promises. Everything was according to plan and times were honoured by everyone involved. Simply an excellent partner to take you on a great safari and Zanzibar experience.
65+ years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Very helpful and organized a magical safari experience in Bulawayo, Kariba and Wedza. Wonderful.
Our experience was one of good suggestions keeping to our budget in varied safaris across Zimbabwe.
They were very helpful and kept us updated to new ideas.
We had the most wonderful time in Bulaway 'The big Cave' saw a leopard!and lots of other game, then Kariba to Changa which was also
amazing followed by a trip to Wedza 'Imeri' We saw a lot of game and had some great experiences in each of our camps. We also were able to hire a car which was brought to where we were staying.
Our flights to Kariba and back were wonderful way to get there with limited time to drive.
In all, Experience Africa Safaris really worked hard to give us a trouble free and wonderful holiday.
I would recommend them every time.
Amazing experience, would do it again!
We are a freshly married couple and wanted to have a honey moon combining a safari and beach at the end.
We contacted many agencies on the internet. We already had plans for Zanzibar for the end of our stay, and needed advice on the safari part. Interestingly, most agencies we saw on the internet were based outside Tanzania. We liked the fact that Bestday safari is based in Tanzania. They were very fast in sending us concrete proposals and even adapted the proposals to our preferences, both regarding the itinerary, hotels and budget expectations. Peter is very professional and our guide - Dula - was very nice and helpful, explaining everything and making the tour very interesting. Our 4-day safari was really super exiting because we saw si many animals from very close - including leopard and lions - and it was also a great human experience. We had a combination of luxurious hotels and tented camps because we wanted to experience the two types of atmosphere (and also to keep the budget reasonable) and that was a great combination : the tented camp offers an actual self contained hotel room with a very comfortable bed, hot shower and real toilet, all this in the middle of a national park (we found this so amazing!). We were welcomed by the campfire with a welcome drink. The hotels (we chose them also based on Peter's advice) on the other hand offer very nice view on the valley, with swimming pool and all, which is very nice at the end of the safari. We were totally happy!
DE
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
It was a tour with an excellent driver - great experiences and memories we'll certainly never forget
It was a tour with an excellent driver - great experiences and memories we'll certainly never forget
35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Great Experience!
We are staying in Malawi and decided to do a safari-trip to northern Tanzania end of June. After consulting some friends in Arusha, doing some internet-research and reading through plenty of reviews, we came up with a short-list of some 5 safari-operators. After some Q&A sessions via email and fine-tuning our itinerary, we chose Sunny Safaris, because of the generally positive tune of reviews (trip-advisor & safaribookings.com), and the best offer (in terms of value for money). And what can I say: we did not regret anything and had a wonderful safari experience. We are a family with 2 adults and two kids (7 & 10 years of age), with quite some safari experience in the region, including Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Zambia, South Africa and of course Malawi. For this trip we went out for six-days/five-nights, with three nights at Serengeti (Katikati Tented Camp) and two around Ngorongoro. We focused on Serengeti, with a one-day descent to Ngorongoro, and Lake Manyara on the way. We left out Tarangire and other parks. That worked perfectly well. Particularly the tented camp in Serengeti was a great experience. But also the wildlife: We saw plenty of animals, with the intended focus on predators, including cheetahs, which we do not have in Malawi. Every box has been ticked. We saw lions, leopards, and of course cheetahs - also on the hunt, and even making a kill. Great experience. Our guide cum driver Abdul did a great job and the whole management of the trip by Jessica from Sunny Safaris was perfect, highly professional and absolutely recommendable. The whole safari was mind-blowing and will remain a great memory to the whole family; it exceeded our expectations.
ES
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
I haven't like this tour operator
We booked a five days safari to Masai Mara, Nakuru and Naivasha. The driver , and he didnt take us to see the migration. It happened the 4th of August. Later, a person who was in Masai Mara that day, said me that all tourists were seeing the migration. Instead it, he "sell" us a "walking" to see Mara river. the price (the tip) was 5 dollars. Besides, he was very dangerous driving.
50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
A true gem in the travel industry
I cannot recommend Cardboard Box Travel Shop highly enough. My travel consultant was Lily. It started with a brief phone call (UK to Namibia !) and Lily suggested I detail my needs in an e mail so she could review and respond. Lily was outstanding. She was quite simply one of the best travel consultants I have ever had the pleasure of dealing with. She worked quickly and efficiently on all our requests. More importantly she was pro active rather than just reactive... a rare quality.. We had a brilliant trip - we will certainly use them when we are next visiting Namibia.
IT
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Very good experience
Everything was fine, the experience was as expected. Kanuth and the team were very kind. The food was very good and the hippo tented camp was as expected. Very good quality/price ratio.