CN
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Baraka is very funny and lovely. He made an already amazing trip more special.
Great experience, affordable price, excellent safari experience. Every service staff is warm and friendly, especially our guide Baraka, who is familiar with wildlife and brings us a detailed explanation and gives us the best travel experience.
DE
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great tour
I did the 3 day budget safari to Maasai Mara and had David as my guide. It was my first safari and an amazing experience. David was a great driver / guide who was knowledgeable, friendly and helpful. The only thing I would say that could be improved is communication- what the plan is for the day, when we will be eating etc.
The parks had an abundance of wildlife (saw many of the big 5 apart from a rhino and leopard). The vehicle was in good condition (Land Cruiser) and the accommodation was really comfortable - I wad expecting a lot worse for the budget option. The passengers of our car had been spread across 3 accommodations which where quite far apart. Due to the bad roads it took approx. 45 min. to pick up/drop off everyone. Thus, one thing I had wished for is that the people you are in an accommodation with are also the ones in your car - to avoid unnecessar in the morning and evening (loosing precious time to see the wildlife). Alternatively a meeting point just outside the national reserve could be introduced where passengers of the car could be swapped according to the tour operators/accomodations.
If you want a more detailed description, then you can read my travel blog entry for this safari: https://findpenguins.com/6jjjgruit3szw/footprint/65c92fec1d1a40-06088084
MT
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Wildlife Overdose!
I spent around two weeks in Zanzibar which was a mistake. The island seems to be the place to go after a game drive / safari on the mainland. I wish I had given it a miss. Zanzibar is dirty, the shop owners in Stonetown just don't leave one alone, they have no prices on anything, you have to haggle ALL the time which is very tiring. There are some lovely handicrafts for sale in the souvenir shops but why oh why are there no prices on anything? It just makes you feel like you're constantly being ripped off.
We hired a car, you have to get a driving permit (?) which costs an extra USD 10, then police are just ready to stop you on the roads and hassle you for your documents, they lie about the speed you're doing in order to get a fine off you. It just doesn't make for a relaxing holiday. The beaches are dirty, I witnessed several hotel beach boys cleaning the hotel area of the beach on a daily basis then just wheeling down the wheelbarrow full of rubbish into the sea!! What's that about? Is there no rubbish collection in Zanzibar? The sandbanks are the same, piles of tourists over for a stopover, some including lunch, so piles of plastic are left behind along with hot charcoal. It's a dump, such a shame because it could be paradise. Zanzibar clean up your act. I definitely wouldn't recommend it to anyone. The only way to swim in clean water is literally to jump off a boat into the open sea, at the snorkelling spots, which is lovely.
As for the mainland, I went on a 3 day safari to the Serengeti and Ngorongoro which was absolutely fantastic, especially the latter. It truly is breathtaking. We saw lions feasting on a gnu, countless zebra, hippos, flamingoes, warthogs, amazing birds, elephants, buffalo, antelope and I've no idea what else. I wish I had gone on a five day safari rather than just three.
CA
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
They are a professional tour operator
I was lucky enough to have them arrange my tour. They promptly provided me with the quote, so that I could reserve my air ticket according to the final itinerary just in time. The initial travel vehicle was luxurious, and the hotel accommodations were very nice. I had a wonderful trip thanks to their professional work, and I hope they could have more business in the future.
FI
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
This safari is good for nature lover, like camping and if you are traveling with low budget.
Safari was amazing experience. Our driver James had 20 years experience so he knew where to go and did everything that we could see all possible animals. The chef Ibrahim was so kind and made tasty food everyday in modest conditions. The tents were okay, but mattresses weren't that comfy and sleeping bags should be updated. There also were no pillows. Almost everything went good but sometimes we didn't get enough information and we needed to ask things many times. And sometimes the schedule of the day wasn't clear for us. Even though we got help when we asked something from Vicent who was from the company. He picked us up from the airport and let us leave our backpacks to the office during safari. If you manage without comforts this could be your safari.
NL
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
In a few days you see and learn a lot about Zambia: the culture, the nature and zambezi river.
If you want to see and learn a lot about Zambia in just 6 days then the trip of Lochinvar Safari is perfect for you. In a SUV we travelled from Lusaka to Livingstone whit 4 poeple. So it was almost a private tour. The schedule was good and flexibel if necessary. The accommodations and food were good but not luxury. Mark, how drove us safely, told and shown us a lot about Zambia. We always feld safe on this trip. The rafting and the Victoria Falls were amazing. We saw and learned a lot about Zambia in a few days for a good price.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Fantastic Safari and Guides
Really good value for money. We got to see absolutely everything we wanted to see over the 6 days on Safari. We got split across 2 tour guides over those days, particular mention to one of the guides Francis who was amazingly friendly, engaging and insightful. He really put the cherry on top of a really great trip especially when there's a lot of travel time between locations. Accommodation was good, the only thing that could have been better was a noise issue in our hotel in Nakuru but the tour company apologized and the other places we stayed were nice. The Masai Mara accommodation was SUPER basic so just be prepared for that. The food was generally ok, local cuisine which usually was rice, veg and a protein. As a veggie it was usually lentils and beans. Not a huge amount of variety over the week but you do get fed A LOT! I would say if you're veggie, try and be specific about what you want in your packed lunch beforehand because we got pretty stingey stuff compared to the meat eaters...
The Manjara Camp in Amboseli was super accommodating with the food though. What a lovely place to stay as well!! It was the best place we stayed by far! Henry was an amazing host and if we could have stayed longer there, we would have!! Special shout-out to Chef, she blew us away with how much she catered for us.
All in all, we had a fantastic time. If your focus is on seeing animals and being treated amazingly by very experienced guides, this is deffo for you! Bear in mind you spend maybe 10-15% of your time at camp so if you just want the basics like we did, it's perfect without all the bells and whistles!
NL
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Great stay travelling through Uganda
We hired a supercustom and had great service from Pamoja whenever there were problems with the car due to very bad roads.
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US
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Simon was great!
I found cuckoo safaris during my research when starting to plan this trip. They were super responsive and accommodating to making changes in the itinerary that we wanted. I think it’s important to know that cuckoo is not with you the entire time they have partners in different countries such as Botswana. I had no idea that we would be passed off to some other company so it was a bit nerve racking when you are not familiar with the country. We were with cuckoo for 6 nights and 7 days and here are our pros and cons. Pros: everyone is on time for pick ups and drops off, the variety of activities provided is a great mix, AC vehicles for long drives or transfers, bottled water is supplied daily, the price was within our budget compared to different operators, the game drives are very long days but you get to see all the animals which is a very unique experience. Cons: all the hotels except the one we stayed at in Victoria falls were just okay (even with researching prior they were rated 4 and up on Google but just didn’t really fit/meet our expectations) good thing is you can ask for a higher tier, and biggest CON was the food was absolutely terrible. On long game drives they pack you a lunch but it’s a boiled egg, some deli sandwich and randoms snacks that have been sitting in a open door SUV from 5am in the morning not refrigerated or the drivers have food like rice and a meat just chilling in the trunk for long periods of time. You feel bad saying no thank you because these people are working incredible hard but I do not trust food that requires refrigeration at home to just be in the back seat of a car when it’s 100 degrees. I would highly advise bringing a bunch of protein bars, jerky and snacks to get you thru the day. Even at some hotels the breakfast buffets had under cooked eggs or meat or flies swarming a huge bowl of yogurt. I find it better to not have open food buffets in areas with lots of insects.
We did have a good experience and very glad we saw Zimbabwe and Botswana but with the amount of money you pay you would hope that there would be better food during long days. But unfortunately the food goes across the board for many tour operators as you see several different companies throughout your trip.
US
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Gave us a great tour of Kruger and the Panorama route
Picked us up at the airport on time and drove us to Kruger and our accommodation for 2 nights at Sabie River bush lodge. Great location right next to Kruger where Hippos would play right in front of lodge. The lodge was fine, the food was less than acceptable. served child portions with old food at times. We saw big 5 2 times on our tour of Kruger. great experience. Then they drove us up to Panorama route and showed us all the cool sites up there with Gods window, waterfalls and Blyde river canyon. Drove us back to airport on a really bad road. driver would go so fast and then slow down really quickly for 3 hours, made my wife sick from the driving so erratic. We are happy with our tour and tour operator. I would recommend this tour for anybody who wants to be taken care of for the tour of Kruger.