DK
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great experience, nice people, good with kids
Great experience. Beautiful scenery lotus of animals. Worked extremely well as a 1-day safari setup.
Smooth experience throughout, very nice people (guide, driver, handler) also good with kids.
FR
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Kihindo Tours and Safaris made our safari experience absolutely amazing. Thanks a lot William !
Communication with Kihindo Tours and Safaris was easy during the planning stages of our safari. They were very responsive to our various concerns and questions. The safari itself went very well, and everything was exactly as planned. A huge thank you to William, our fantastic guide, who made this experience so special. I wholeheartedly recommend this company, which works with high-quality partners (safari boat and hotel).
DE
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amazing experience
We had an absolutely unforgettable safari experience and were super satisfied from start to finish. Everything was very well organized and thoughtfully planned, which made the whole trip smooth and relaxing. Our guide Joshua was amazing – he shared so much historical background and interesting facts, so we learned a lot along the way. Thanks to him we saw the Big Five and many more incredible animals in their natural habitat. The whole experience exceeded our expectations and we truly enjoyed every moment of it. We would highly recommend this safari to anyone looking for an authentic and memorable adventure.
IE
Wonderful experience
Teddy was very friendly and flexible upon all our requests. The experience went above our expectations at all and we felt we couldn't have a better experience. Will for sure recommend to everyone who's looking for this lifetime experience!
CN
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Professional, passionate, and thoughtful.
First-class service, genuine passion, and great attention to detail. I'll be sure to tell my friends about your amazing East African Safari trips.
JP
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Exceptional service, i highly recommend anyone.
Our experience with Mellivora African Travels was nothing short of extraordinary. From the very first communication, the team demonstrated a deep understanding of luxury travel and crafted an itinerary that was perfectly tailored to our expectations.
Every detail of the journey was thoughtfully arranged from stunning high-end lodges to seamless transfers and expertly planned game drives. The accommodations were exceptional, combining comfort, privacy, and breathtaking views of Tanzania’s landscapes.
Our private guide was outstanding: highly knowledgeable, attentive, and genuinely passionate about wildlife. Each day felt exclusive and unhurried, allowing us to fully immerse ourselves in the beauty of the parks while enjoying close encounters with incredible wildlife, including the Big Five.
What truly sets Mellivora African Travels apart is their commitment to personalized service. The entire trip felt effortless, refined, and curated with care exactly what you hope for in a luxury safari experience.
We would not hesitate to recommend Mellivora African Travels to anyone seeking a sophisticated and unforgettable safari in Tanzania. It was truly a once-in-a-lifetime journey.
KR
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Thank you for everything!
The guides were incredibly kind and always ready to help whenever I needed anything. They handled everything from the airport pickup to the accommodation so smoothly and kindly. Thanks to your team, I had an amazing safari experience and a safe trip. Thank you so much!
CN
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Sweet arrangement from Splendid but mixed experience with the guide
We had an 11 day safari in Kenya, it’s such a wonderful adventure. Splendid did great in helping us with the arrangement and making sure everything connected smoothly. Our tour consultant James from the office was patient, reliable, and a pleasure to communicate with. I was a little nervous in the beginning paying the deposit when I’m not in the country yet, but the moment we landed in Kenya and were met by the James and the driver, we instantly felt relieved. The vehicle was in excellent condition—clean and tidy inside, spacious and comfortable, and fully equipped with charging ports and a fridge. Splendid even prepared special honeymoon decorations on the back of the car, which was a wonderful surprise for us. It attracted many smiles, friendly conversations, and congratulations along the way. It was clear that they had put a lot of thought and care into making the trip special for us. They had been quietly working behind the scenes to make everything run smoothly.
Although we had a very good experience with our tour consultant James, who was professional, reliable, and patient, our experience with our driver and guide James was mixed.
On the positive side, James is an experienced guide and very good at spotting animals. We weren’t focused on ticking off specific animals from a list—just encountering wildlife naturally was already a joy for us. But thanks to James’s excellent spotting skills, along with some good luck, we ended up seeing an amazing variety of animals and birds. James was also a good driver who always managed to get us arrive in time and drive smoothly even in the most bumpy conditions.
However, there are things we did not feel comfortable and behaviors that are unprofessional:
- About driving off-road: this is the dealbreaker experience that made us very unhappy. During our time in Masai Mara reserve, James asked for 200KSH to pay the rangers, I didn’t think too much and thought probably just rangers trying to make a living. But when it happened the second time in Mara Triangle it concerned me, and I did some serious research afterwards on driving off-road. When we were at the gate of Mara Triangle, James read the rules to us (not sure if its park requirement) and one of them was: cars are not allowed to drive off-road and not allowed to drive too close to the animals. In later conversations with different people, I learned that as a private conservancy Mara Triangle had strict rules and enforcements, bribing the rangers is unlikely to work here. We were seeing a cheetah along with a group of other cars and then saw the rangers coming to get the cars to move. James asked us for 1000KSH cash, saying everyone will have to pay. Instead of driving away like other cars, he drive towards the rangers and spoke Swahili that I don’t understand but the rangers seem serious and James also did not look happy. After the conversation James also drove us away. We did not see any official fine issued, receipt provided, or payment made directly to park authorities. Later, when we asked for the money back, James said that he dropped the money on grass through the window (when there’s a cheetah in close distance?) and other cars paid through m-pesa (how possible they know which ranger to pay?), if we don’t pay they will charge a huge fine, and said this is good for us… I just don’t feel he is being honest. If he is honest, then these people playing with the rules in the grey area is ridiculous. Neither is acceptable. It’s not about the money, but about honesty and integrity. If you’re a good guide we’re happy to pay you good tips, but trying to make money in a sneaky way is just not acceptable. Looking back, I felt guilting getting on the grass and getting close to the animals, if I was given the choice, I will for sure not do that. To us, integrity and honesty is more important than getting close to the animals. We hope guides could follow the rules, transparency and clarity could be ensured in such situations in the future.
- Being late: this is a huge red flag for a safari guide. James was on time for the first day when he came to meet and pick us up. But later, he was late most of the time and we rarely met at the supposed time. When he says we leave 7:30am , that probably mean 8am. There’re many times when we’re wrapping up with our breakfast close to our leaving time, we see James just coming for breakfast. I have to admit sometimes we’re behind a little bit, but we’re usually late within a 10min range. We pay for our guide’s time so the guide shouldn’t be the one to be late…
- My husband is a kind and gentle guy who is easygoing and always treats people nicely, but I feel our guide is taking advantage of it. James did not remember my husband’s name even till the last day (11 days and private car with just the two of us) and called the wrong name after multiple times of correction, it’s not a name in a different language but an easy English name, so he just did not want to pay attention.
- He was on the phone ALL THE TIME. Probably 50% of the times when we’re in the parks James is busy on the phone, we had to wait if we had questions about the animals. James is good at spotting animals but didn’t share much about animal knowledge, we had to keep asking questions. We kept asking so he started sharing more towards the end of the trip. He’s different from all the other guides we met during the safari (guides from hotels and parks during our visit), while others usually try to share as much as possible. This is probably just his style.
- Some times I feel confused if we’re the customer or our driver is the customer… most of the times we’re the ones waiting for him; he asks us to take pictures and asks us to send it to him. I feel I have these tasks assigned from him that I have to get done during my travel time. I’m happy with that, but there’s a line between being pushy and asking politely, and you know when the line is crossed, and if you ask for something from someone else, you’ll need to follow their timeline, instead of expecting them instantly.
- The binocular is by default in his hand, he not only asks for the binocular from us when watching animals (for him to take pictures from his phone) but also asks for our phone / camera for him to take pictures of the animals for us (and then asks us to send this this pics), I felt okay at first but uncomfortable with constantly doing so. It’s my experience, its only meaningful when the photos are taken from ourselves, so refused to do so later.
I hesitated for quite some time about whether to include these in the public review, but in the end I decided to do so. I believe people should be accountable for their actions, and sometimes only real consequences can lead to change. With all the aspects that we’re unsatisfied, we still left a good tip in the end—far more than the service level we were provided. We appreciate James' hard work and did not want him to feel that his efforts had gone unnoticed or unappreciated. However, the things that made us uncomfortable are something we hope the travel agency will take seriously.
CN
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Memorable Rwanda Trip with Wonderful Service & Gorilla Trek
We had an absolutely incredible 3-day trip with Golden Safari that far exceeded our expectations! Rwanda is such a stunningly beautiful country, and every part of our arrangement was wonderful. The hotels were nicely arranged, the food was delicious, and the service was excellent throughout.
A huge thank to our driver Sufian from GS—he was an extremely safe and steady driver, and also incredibly thoughtful and responsible. Even when we made some last-minute changes to our schedule and itinerary, he and the whole team at Golden Safari tried their best to coordinate and accommodate us.
The gorilla trekking tour was truly an unforgettable memory of a lifetime. We couldn’t have asked for a better experience!
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Smoothest airport pickups and drop offs
Carson was especially timely and friendly. Got us safely to the airport with plenty of time. Along the way he was giving us fun facts and even helping us plan for our trip to Zimbabwe.