US
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Jenman Went Out of Their Way for Us
A friend and I worked with Will Lane of Jenman to plan a trip to 4 national parks in southern Tanzania, a location that doesn't get many tourists. We gave Will our budget and the kind of itinerary we wanted. (Both my friend and I had done safaris before.) Will and Jenman's East Africa team went out of their way to create exactly the trip we wanted, meeting out budget expectations. We stayed in 5 camps, including Greystoke Mahale, which is on Lake Tanganyika and an incredible experience. Every camp we stayed in was fantastic, even the lower-budget ones. Jenman arranged all the flights between parks, accommodation, and fulfilled a few special requests. Will went out of his way to make sure we were happy, and he felt like a friend by the time we left for the trip. If you are dreaming of a safari in southern Africa and want to use a company that knows the local places, I highly recommend Jenman. Just ask for for Will!
BE
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Safari was fab! Rob and Frank were like old friends, how lucky can you be with 2! wonderful guides!
We booked our Botswana-trip through a Belgian travel agent, that works together with Rob Barber and his Golden Africa Safaris. From the moment we had expressed our wishes and vision, we immediately felt that our journey was planned just accordingly. With very fluent conversation through almost amicable e-mails, we were fully confident when we arrived in Kasane, that it was going to be a wonderful holiday. Yet, we were still overwhelmed, as everything ran so smoothly: flights, transfers, accomodations with always a hearty welcome, serving and quality of food. Moreover really everbody was so kind ! Nothing, really nothing to grumble about, we felt spoilt as we have never been before.
After Chobe and Okavango River, we arrived at the mobile Khwai camp (set up only the day before!) We were welcomed by Rob and Frank (the other guide) and a staff of 9, who were all friendly and caring. Chef D.H. worked magic in his field kitchen, not just cooking, but also baking cookies, scones and cakes – even a birthday cake for my wife :-) :-):-) .No wonder we were totally at ease in the silence of the evenings, soon talking and joking like old friends. In the mean time the frogs in the river next to us were making a racket…
The 4WD – drives were at the same time exciting, interesting ánd great fun; a leopard, a family of 5 lions with 3 cubs devouring a lechwe – catch, a giant herd of 400 buffalo trekking, 30 something elephants passing by our tents to cross the river, but also a hamerkop swallowing a frog after picking it to death. And birds, birds, birds of course ! Frank started every morning saying: “ Let’s see what nature has got to offer us today ! “ which translated his ánd our spirit perfectly. He’s a master in finding wildlife, mostly driving with one hand, while giving interesting and funny details of all this beauty, his love for baboons, the odd Green Elephant Syndrome, and his unknown knowledge of Spanish….;-). Rob was a relaxed and considerate observer, cracking a joke now and then, and clearly enjoying just being amid the wildlife with some nature buffs. All this topped off with a daily sundowner (or 2), admiring the unforgettable African sunset.
Thank you Rob, and everybody at Golden Africa, for taking such good care of us. Thanks to you lot, our safari was like a wonderful dream, better than a second honeymoon. Any marks to be given, we’ll go for 6 stars on all items. We’ll be back !!
ES
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
100% recommended
For sure my next tour will be with Widman’s. We could arrange the tour from one day to another. Punctual and a big 4x4 for 2 persons with good price. Include accommodations, food, water and entrance. The guide Girbert Kamnya 100%, always try to find animals and do explanations. I will recommend to all my friends. Tks Widman.
AE
Amazing tour!
We really enjoyed our tour in Kenya with our tour guides Raymond and Kevin.
They were happy to accommodate us each day and gave us the freedom to spend our time. Even if we wanted to change location or spend extra time elsewhere they were happy to do so without any bother.
Raymond very knowledgeable about the animals and all questions asked were answered.
Always on time and reliable if we wanted to meet and certain place or if we was late there was no issues at all.
US
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Our guide was very knowledgeable. There wasn’t a single question our guide could not answer.
Our tour organizer, Lawrence took care of all the details of the safari. I did not have to worry about a single thing. All the hotels were incredible and the best in Tanzania. Overall it was a once in a lifetime experience being in the Serengeti.
Our Guide, Ernest, was the best driver in Tanzania and a former instructor so his knowledge of animals and the climate was endless. Great people to get to know.
We did a 8 day safari which included the Tarangine national park for a day. We say most of the big 5 that day. The next day we went to the Ngorongoro crater. Definitely worth the experience. We saw plenty of animals and a Male lion with a fresh kill. Then after that we spent time in the central Serengeti. It was beautiful with endless views and incredible skies. We saw plenty of more animals. The last 3 days were spent in Northern Serengeti to see the Mara river crossing. It absolutely was worth the time and money. We had 3 days dedicated to the Mara river crossing and I saw a crossing of 1000+ wildebeast all three days. It was an incredible “planet earth” experience. Felt like I was apart of a live documentary. The Mara river crossing is why I chose this tour group over others because they were one of the few who offered it. They definitely delivered on the experience. I will remember it for the rest of my life.
The jeep was reliable, safe, and comfortable. They even had cold beers for us during the day when it got hot. Best vacation I have had so far.
Highly recommend this tour group. They take care of you every step of the way once you land and take care of all of the details.
DE
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Absolutely recommendable safari with delicious food, great guide and the chance to see the Big Five!
Our 4-day safari through the world-famous Serengeti Park, Tarangire National Park and Ngorongoro Crater with Suricata Safaris was absolutely breathtaking. Not only that we saw all the Big Five and much more thanks to Vincent - who by the way is an absolutely gorgeous and relaxed guide with extremely good eyes - but also everything around it just harmonized perfectly. I was more than convinced by the food, because as a vegetarian I was already afraid that there would only be meat. This was not the case, there was a lot of vegetarian. Whether it was the pancakes for breakfast, the pasta or the quiche, it all tasted very good. The whole crew had everything under control at the campsites, took care of everyone's needs and it was a great experience to camp among the roar of lions and eating zebras.
Also the communication with Hillary, who explained everything important to us in advance was great. I can only recommend it to everyone to go on safari with Suricata Safaris.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Suricata made a dream of a lifetime come true
I would give more than 5 stars if I could! Suricata safaris took care of everything for us, including airport pickup and initial accommodation in Arusha. The whole experience was well organised. All the camping facilities had showers and good size double tents. Suricata safaris provides mattresses, sleeping bags, pillows. The food was abundant and very good, including a selection of vegetables, rice or pasta and meat with every meal. Water was always readily available and wine was included with dinner. Vincent was a lovely guide, always with a smile on his face! His driving and spotting abilities were second to none! In just four days we were lucky enough to see the big 5 plus a cheetah and a lion cub!! Mainly thanks to Vincent’s eagle eyes… 10/10 would definitely recommend! Highly suggest to bring binoculars. Communication was timely and precise throughout.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
It was massive and fun
Sooooooooooooo fun
Amazing,we visited murchsn falls whereby we had different activities that included boat cruisr,hiking etc
We ate,this was the most amazing activity
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
4 days with Vincent
Great safari from start to finish. Vincent was a very knowledgeable guide who had eyes like an eagle. The 4 day tour offers up a little taste of everything but also provides a lot of game viewing time as well.
DE
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Small company which tries so solve any issue as fast as possible
We did a 4 days, 3 nights camping safari which was organized through Crater Explorer. They are a small company with 5 employees and cooperate with another company to fill up the safari Jeeps. Since they are relatively small, they do not have their own Jeeps yet.
For the lazy reader I will summarize our experience, but you can find more details down below if you are interested.
Summary:
The first two days of the safari did not go as expected. But after we mentioned that the owner Emanuel tried it's best to improve it. The next days then where really good. Overall the trip was very nice. Emanuel was very responsive and helpful in all situations.
So I would recommend booking your safari with him. Because if you have an issue and you talk to him, he will try to fix it.
Long story:
We got picked up from the airport by Emanuel and he drove us to the hotel in Arusha which was included (Pearl Royal Hotel).
First day:
At 6am we drove from Arusha to the Serengeti, which was a 12h drive in total. On the way to the campsite we did a game drive but since the guide (Ole) was driving really slowly we arrived very late in the afternoon. Also our Guide barely talked to us which is not what you expect in the first place.
Then our cook prepared dinner which took him 2h for a very basic meal. In the end we had dinner at 9:30pm and needed to get up already at 5:30am in the morning.
Tents and sleeping bags are basic but fine. Here I assume they really do not differ between other companys since they all get picked up at the same place.
Second day:
We woke up early and had breakfast (food was always good) and had our first game drive in Serengeti. This time our guide again barely talked to us so we had no information about the park or the animals. Nevertheless we saw quite a lot of them. But I think our guide only found those because he heard it on the radio from other guides.
When we returned to the campsite in the afternoon, nothing was prepared by the cook. So we had to wait again 1h for lunch and 1h until they loaded up everything (all other groups had already left for a further game drive).
This was the time we decided to talk to Emanuel. As I said he was very responsive, took actions and next day turned out to be better.
Third day:
When we woke up a large breakfast was prepared and we went into the crater. Now our guide talked much more and explained some stuff to us. Also the gamedrive was longer than usual.
When we arrived back at the campside food was already prepared. During lunch they already loaded the car, so we lost no time.
It turned out that Emanuel talked to our guide to improve things. Also for the next and last day he decided to switch our guide.
Fourth day:
Instead of camping we where able to sleep in an apartment, which was really nice and a big plus.
Also we now had a new guide for Tarangire (Kindu) who was really communicative and new a lot of interesting information.
We had a very pleasant last day before we headed back to Arusha.
Back in Arusha we met again with Emanuel to talk about what happend.
And he truly showed us that he was sorry and also decided not to work with the guide any longer.