US
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Be Prepared
The best statement I can make is that you really need to be prepared for your adventure. The biggest challenge I found was that I was not expecting the amount of travel time that was going to be required based on the itinerary. Because the infrastructure in Kenya is really not good outside of Nairobi, traveling from one park to the next often took 7 or 8 hours and in one case took 12 hours. Had I been advised of this ahead of time, I might have chosen to book smaller adventures, with a re-charge break in Nairobi, rather than stringing one park to the next next. I booked the budget safari, so I was not expecting a whole lot, and that was pretty much on point. I was OK with that, because that's what I booked. My guide James was fantastic, and really knows how to track animals. Because of him I saw the Big 5. A good guy and deserved every ounce of appreciation. Although I booked a shared tour, I was the only one in the group, so it made for long boring rides. I have no problem recommending this company for Safari, but just be prepared for long days, and early mornings, and consider shorter safari trips to different parks, rather than tying them together.
35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Super friendly and knowledgeable guys
We stayed a night with the guys at African Bushlovers Hide Inn Campsite in Maun, Botswana. They are still finishing a few things off, but are really nice, considerate and accommodating. Their knowledge of animal species etc is very impressive. We really enjoyed the visiting bush baby that comes most days in the late afternoon/evening.
US
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
A quality tour, but room for improvement
Maraka Tours and Safaris gave us a great time in Uganda. However, they lacked strong communication and preparedness at times. For example, important documents were often misplaced which delayed our travels, we had multiple vehicle issues, some preventable, and we were often arriving very late to our lodges. While no African Safari is without issues, some issues we had on our trip were completely preventable and this is what left us feeling frustrated at times. It is my hope and wish that Maraka will continue to improve their service in order to better demonstrate preparedness to all future clients.
While I still recommend Maraka, I encourage all future guests to understand there will likely be hiccups and to make sure you understand the full itinerary and the very long drives. I hope Maraka can continue to improve as they grow and help make future safaris even better!
I will also say that the staff at Maraka are excellent and very kind. While we did have the issues, they were always trying to work through them. Again, as they grow I hope they will straighten out some things to help make their tours run smoother.
DE
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amazing!!!
Wonderful trip to Tanzania with excellent organization and very professional Guides
We booked our trip Tanzania with Taste of Afrika Safaris the tour of 11 days. Taste of Afrika
designed a wonderful trip with private guide and porters for hiking Mount Kilimanjaro and
mid rage tour to the most famous National Parks in Tanzania. The organization of the whole
trip was excellent, airport transfers to and from the hotel, accommodation and activities. The
guides and porters were very knowledgeable and told us a lot about the countries, their
history, people, economy and much more. We did 6 days hiking Mount Kilimanjaro and 5
days safari tour, we had a chance to see the Black Rhino in Ngorongoro Crater and it was a
really amazing! We had tremendous further game drives in Tarangire park, Serengeti park,
Lake Manyara and we saw very many animals, really, we did the Big Five trip. We had much
more activities than planned and enjoyed very much.
Our request of the accommodation throughout the hiking and safari in different parks were
fully arranged and booked according to our wishes, we stayed in mid-range budgeted lodges
and tented camps. We had clean rooms, nice foods and friendly staff in all places we spent
except in one lodge in Tarangire during the dinner our chef forgot that one of us was
vegeterian but was not a big deal because we got special vegeterian meal for my Dad .
Taste of Afrika Safaris helped us to get PCR test in Serengeti National Park, Moses our Guide
drove us in the morning hours after our sunrise game drive to the PCR testing Center in
Seronera in Serengeti National Park. Seka and Charles from the office communicated the whole
time with us so we felt very safe. We strongly recommend taste of afrika to everyone planning
your trip to Tanzania.
AE
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Delivered promised package with efficiency and safety. Very punctual. Went above and beyond for us
We loved the safari saw the big five in one day. Extreme value for money. Clarity in communications from start to finish. I only wish we had done more research on our end about the city life to enjoy that fully too.
CN
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Nice flying safari
We were a group of 8, and went a safari with Sino Africa Safari. It was a nice flying safari, we had good drivers, accomodfation, and everything was good. There was only one thing, we waited for almost one hour at the aitstrip in Masai mara. We went there early and the plane came late. My father was very happy because we could have do more safari if we know the plane come late. It was not their fault, but they could commmunicate with the airplane company to get more updated information. Overall, our safari was nice. We loved to stay at Fairmont hotels.
CA
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Amazing Safari
Great experience with Naftal and his agency. Communication was excellent, perfect service, absolutly without any problem. We have really enjoyed our 2 days trip.
US
65+ years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Attentive and professional
We are an older couple visiting our son and his family who live and work in Kampala. We will be here for several months so we expect to take several short excursions around Uganda while we’re here. I researched tour companies, selected what I believed to be the five best suited to provide what we wanted, and I contacted them, asking for itinerary proposals. Of the five Grassrootz was by far the most responsive and professional, and their representative here in Kampala, Anne, provided us with exactly what we wanted at a very competitive price. Although they were not the least expensive, I felt they were definitely the most professional, and I was confident in my choice.
Our first excursion included my wife and me plus our son, daughter-in-law, and grandson. We did a five day trip to Murchison Falls with Moses as our driver and guide. We were booked at the Murchison River Lodge which we found to be adequate to our needs, but not luxurious. It was quite acceptable. During our stay we did two game drives, a guided game walk, river cruises both upstream to the falls and downstream to the delta, and a drive to the top of the falls.
Although we were very happy with Grassrootz overall I have given them only four stars instead of five for what we felt was one shortcoming in their service. It is true that due to Covid 19 tourism in Uganda has been severely impacted, and lodges and services are only now recovering. As a result we felt that Grassrootz was not quite on top of the situation existing at Murchison Falls which impacted our overall experience. Highway and bridge construction through the park has seriously limited access to the game tracks north of the river, and the river is at perpetual flood stage due to a disastrous water management project. Bridge construction combined with discontinuation of ferry service due to flooding severely limited our ability to do game drives at optimal times as our lodge was on the south bank of the river. The flooding of the river has not only closed the hiking trail from the base to the top of the falls, but it has completely drowned the delta causing much of the birdlife that was there to relocate. I will reserve comment on these joint Chinese/Ugandan projects other than to say that I fear for the future of the park. In any case, I believe Grassrootz should have been more aware of the situation at Murchison, and they should have provided us with this information ahead of time.
In spite of this I continue to have confidence in Anne, and I look forward to working with her in planning more short excursions in Uganda during our prolonged stay. She has already given us a proposal for a trip to Lake Mburo and Kibale which we expect to do next. I believe Grassrootz is a five star operation with quality people, so I will continue to utilize their services, and I will write off our experience at Murchison Falls as just one more casualty of the Covid pandemic.
RU
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Two days filled with impressions
The trip to Tanzania will be remembered by me and my friends for a long time. We have never had such a bright journey before.
When we were going to Zanzibar, we knew right away that we had to go on safari.
Our choice fell on Uhuru Travel & Tours and we did not lose.
Abdullah selected the optimal program for us for 2 days. Always available via WhatsApp for coordination and always very responsive.
A huge thank you to him, his entire team and our funny guide-driver who accompanied us all the days of the safari.
Our first day on safari turned out to be more vivid, perhaps. Our small group was the first to discover the pride of the lion, which had not been seen by the others for several days. A rich program, a stop for the night at a hotel in the Mikumi Park, and most importantly, we managed to see almost all the animals.
It was a bright trip, well organized. Getting to know Tanzania was a great experience.
Thank you very much!
AE
The best place for Safari lovers, JS.
The best place for Safari Lovers in Africa. best ride, best guide and good people.
#jayeshsainikenya.