20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Review about Serengeti National Park by Sara Silvestri
The park is hugely overcrowded, safari vehicles are everywhere speeding at 50 miles an hour across the park, it is impossible to have any close sightings without going off the road and pay a bribe for it due to the noise from all the cars. The whole park is completely natural with no concrete roads which some people might consider positive but that also means that you will eat dirt all day due to the cars shooting across the park. Also you will barely do a drive a day cause you will be put together with people who booked a different tier than you so you will spend 2 hours a day driving around to drop on and off all the others cause everyone stays at different sites, often over an hour away from each other. I had chosen to stay at a resort and they put me in a place an hour away from the entrance so I only slept one night at the park and was mostly on the road to be dropped on and off. I have seen the campsites where the others were staying and the state of them was absolutely shameful. Charging foreign visitors $100 a day so shower in cold water in dirty shared facilities. Unbelievable.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Review about Ngorongoro Crater by Sara Silvestri
Beautiful place and potentially full of opportunities to spot wildlife if it wasn't that there were over 50 vehicles at close distance from one another at all times driving around in the middle of the day so wildlife was very far away when spotted. Safari cars drive at crazy speed across the park and the experience is overall loud and messy.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Review about Lake Manyara National Park by Sara Silvestri
The only highlight was the accomodation overlooking the lake, the wildlife was extremely poor and we drove there in the middle of the day when it was probably too hot to spot lions.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Review about Gombe National Park by Sara Silvestri
Very poorly maintained accommodation, zero security provided for personal belongings, extortionate pricing for sleeping in the dirt. Over $2000 for 4 days in a 1-star hotel room with cold water.
AT
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great experience
Had a wonderful safari experience—everything was well-organized, the scenery was breathtaking, and seeing wildlife up close was truly unforgettable. Overall, a very enjoyable and memorable trip!
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Absolutely horrible experience for female solo travellers
My experience has been FAR from pleasant. I have travelled across different regions using 2 different local tour operators and different accommodation providers and the overall feeling was the same: everybody pressures you into giving them money, overinflated prices for basic necessities (you can't even get a bottle of water without paying more than what you would pay in London!), constant harassment on the beach or anywhere touristy for tips, and the worst part is that the tour providers DO NOT PROTECT YOU from it, they are COMPLICIT. They will take you around to gift shops that will demand extortionate prices because they get a cut from it, they will demand tips daily because their employer doesn't pay them enough after you have paid THOUSANDS of pounds for the trip already. I was travelling alone and they took full advantage of that, especially at the beginning. I have used Jambo Safari Tours for visiting the national parks in the north and Mwanamshiki Tours And Safaris for chimp trekking in Gombe National Park. The second operator was a complete joke, tents at the park are regularly attacked by baboons and despite the park authorities knowing they do not provide any security to ensure your personal belongings are safe. All they do is sleep all day while you pay $100 a day to be there in a semi-destroyed tent that they call "luxury". My operator refused to pay for any damage despite paying over $2000 for 4 days (FOUR DAYS!!!) of trekking. Once they get their money, you can forget about it, whatever happens they won't have your back.
Not only I was heavily disappointed by the tour operators, especially the second one, but even the state of the National Parks was in shambles. Demanding foreigners to pay $100 a day entrance fee to a park in a third world destination where basic facilities are not provided. Imagine how many millions the government is making off tourists and then look at the state of the country and their citizens. If you wanna fuel this corrupted industry go ahead, if not, honestly I had a MUCH better experience in South Africa in 2023, where national parks fees were actually HONEST and PROPORTIONATE to the cost of living, camps were very well maintained and organised, and they even organised game drives through the national park, which means you didn't need to rely on private scammy tour operators who demand thousands of pounds to drive you around barely once a day in the middle of the heat when animals are sleeping, but you could actually do several drives a day for less than $20 per drive and you could book sunrise drives, sunset drives and night drives. All of that through the OFFICIAL national park website and for very little money.
I'm not saying it was the perfect experience, I think when travelling to Africa there is always quite a big margin for error and dangerous situations and south africa was definitely not a stroll across a meadow but at least I paid half the money and got way more out of it!
I also went to Zanzibar at the end of my trip and even there nothing good to say. I felt sick possibly from food poisoning and had to get some antibiotics and the hotel manager told me I'd have to pay $80 dollars for it cause it was coming from Stone Town. My insurance doctor had it delivered to me from a local pharmacy and guess how much it was? Less than $5. I did a snorkelling trip where the boat was sailed by a barely legal young boy, no safety whatsoever, 30+ boats all around the same spot trying to chase dolphins. The island is extremely dangerous to go around so you can only stay in the resort, the seaside is indeed blue but not crystal clear, you can barely see anything as it's always very murky. Beach boys harass you continuously, taxi prices are CRAZY due to the island being dangerous for tourists and tours were quite the disappointment as I explained above. So I'm sorry but heavily not recommended!
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
A beautiful adventure with the wonderful people of uganda
We loved the ziwa rhino preserve. It was amazing to be so close to those beautiful animals. We did multiple boat tours on the Nile.And saw different animals each time. I love safaris.We saw many, many elephants giraffes, seven leopards, only a few lions. Our highlight of uganda was the gorilla trekking and the chimpanzee trekking. The small villages Were eye-opening
Of the hardworking people of this country. Our guides made our trip.
Very pleasant and memorable. They did everything they could to please us.
Were very friendly and willing to do extra.So we could have the best at experience. For us, a once in a lifetime adventure.
65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great trip to Madagascar and Kenya
This was my wife and my first visit to Madagascar and Kenya. Harilala from Natural Tours was a great choice. He arranged a 10 day tour of Madagascar, including Rainforests and Nosybe Island and a 10 day Safari in Kenya with an associated tour company Holidayworks. He communicated through WhatsApp timely and clear. Flight delays due to the Iranian war at the end of the trip required an additional day at the last hotel which was accommodated . The cost for our driver and guide was very reasonable. The guide’s English was excellent and he was informative as we drove out to Andasibe and other national and local parks. We went on night hikes and saw lemurs, chameleons and other animals. Went for many day hikes and saw lots of different lemurs. Harilala’s service was great including local boat tours of smaller islands near Nosybe, where he provided a local guide for the island. Highly recommend using Natural Tours.
65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
Fantastic Kenya Safari
The experience we had with Holiday Works was fantastic. Our 2 Guides, Lawri and James, took such great care of us. They worked very hard to made sure we saw the Big 5! We understood it is mainly Luck to reach that goal but Lawri did not give up. It was like being in a National Geographic special on TV. The lodgings we stayed at were right in or adjacent to the parks. We had so much fun and can honestly say it was a trip of a lifetime! I would highly recommend Holiday Works and will use them again for our next trip back.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Excellent
Me and my family had an absolutely unforgettable safari experience with Savanna Adventures in Victoria Falls! From start to finish, everything was perfectly organized and exceeded my expectations.The guide was incredibly knowledgeable, friendly, and passionate about wildlife. He made sure we not only saw amazing animals up close but also understood their behavior and the surrounding ecosystem. The scenery around Victoria Falls is simply breathtaking, and Savanna Adventures made sure we experienced the best of it. Their attention to detail, professionalism, and warm hospitality truly set them apart.
If you’re looking for an authentic, exciting, and well-guided safari experience, I highly recommend Savanna Adventures. I would definitely do it all over again!