20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Exceeded expectations
Suricata safari exceeded my expectations.
My friend and I booked the 4 day camping safari and visited Tarangire Park, Serengeti as well as Ngorngoro.
Quick summary:
- The staff was very friendly
- The sights were amazing
- The food was excellent
I would highly recommend Suricata safari.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amazing first Tanzania experience
Our 4 day safari through Tarangire, Serengeti and Ngorongoro crater was fantastic. Our guide showed us the best spots to see all kinds of animals and always made sure that we were doing great. Our chef prepared the best meals along the way. The campsites were very adventurous and close to nature. At night we even got to spot some of the big five next to our tents. It was a great adventure and I would definitely book again with this company.
IE
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Very professional and great service
Travelled with my family to Kenya and we had booked a safari with Kiboko. Gibson was really helpful and the service and experience was fantastic. I highly recommend the company.
CH
65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
7 spectacular days
We spent 7 fantastic days with our excellent guide, Wilson, visiting Lake Manyara, Ngorongoro crater and Serengeti. Wilson was very knowledgeable about the wildlife, the regions and local cultures - he couldn't have been more helpful to make sure our trip was a success.
All of the camps were very good with great food and fantastic people. Every day was a new adventure - fabulous, ever changing scenery and of course magnificent wildlife.
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Professional and friendly
We are a family of 4 with 2 young children and its our first time going on safari. The whole experience has been absolutely wonderful. Our guide, Champion is punctual, knows the parks well and is very good with the kids. Not just the guide, the office has also been very helpful too. We left our ipad at one of the lodges and only realised it the day after but the office very quickly communicated with the lodge, found the ipad and arranged for it to be sent back to us. I will definitely recommend Serengeti Smile!
IL
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Above and beyond!
Before my trip I inquired with four different safari companies. Anna, the owner of Porcupine Expeditions was the first one to reply, and did so within about two hours.
After that she remained incredibly responsive and answered all my questions right away. This made me feel I was in good hands, and I stopped worrying about the company being small and relatively new.
When I first got to Arusha, Anna really went above and beyond to make sure I was comfortable. Since I was traveling alone, she took time off her day to give me a tour of the city herself!
Also, later that night she arranged for the company's driver, Godi, who also drove me to Arusha and was likewise a very nice and kind person, to take me out to explore the city's nightlife since we were about the same age.
The next day began the safari itself. I joined a group of 6 more people from different nationalities and we had a great time together. Our driver/guide, Jonas, was extremely knowledgeable and professional and would spot animals from very far away, time and time again. He was also a great storyteller and a fun person to be around.
Overall it was an amazing experience and I am very glad I went with Porcupine Expeditions! If you have time I would also recommend going on the waterfall and hotsprings tour the day after!
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
They are forthright, presenting the best hotel and travel options depending on your budget.
The tour guide was punctual and friendly. He communicated clearly and was quite knowledgeable about the different animals at the Masai Mara. When picking where to stay, they advised accordingly on what different hotels had to offer, making it easy to decide what worked best for me.
FR
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amazing Serengeti
Wow - not even sure where to begin. We did a 5-night 6 day safari with the local tour operator. It was difficult for us to select which company we were going to safari with and we couldn't have been more happy with our choice. We were always comparing our vehicle, food and guide info with others along the way and it seemed like we were always better off then those we met! :) Our guide Rama has a true passion for wildlife and ensuring his guests are happy. He went above and beyond for us in many ways. Our chef Dismas surprised us daily with his delicious meals. Emma (the owner) was very patient and answered my many emails with lots of details and quickly. We received quotes from a lot of companies and the one we picked is extremely competitive and we felt in the end priced very fair for the services provided. We camped for 4 nights and then headed to a mid-luxury lodge for our final night. Camping in the middle of the Serengeti was so cool and it was nice to end the adventure in a fancy place!
One thing that is very important when considering a company is having unlimited driving KM's. We didn't even know how important this was until we were chasing after a Cheetah and 2 other vehicles wouldn't follow as they were limited to the number of kilometres they could drive each day. Nothing stopped Azaria from trying to show us all the animals! :)
I would not hesitate to recommend this tour operator to anyone - working with a smaller company who us truly committed to customer satisfaction is totally the way to go for an expensive activity like a safari.
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Very good organized!
It was a amazing experience. We had very good food!
US
65+ years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Enjoyed our Honeymoon!!
We had a great 4 day/3 night safari in the Masaai Mara and Lake Nakuru with Copious Africa Safaris for our honeymoon. Daniel was very responsive over email in the planning of the safari and answered all of our questions. He was willing to organize a payment option that made us feel somewhat more comfortable than just wiring all the money in advance (which in retrospect would've been fine if anyone reading this is having similar doubts). We also had issues paying for the visa online (a known issue - the website doesn't seem to like major American credit cards) and the timeline got down to the wire, but I called Daniel about 36 hours before we were supposed to leave and he got it all sorted. A HUGE relief. Finally, my husband had left his wallet, camera accessories and e-reader in one of the lodges and we didn't realize until a couple of days later. Daniel organized a pickup and hand delivered the items to our hotel in Nairobi.
The safari itself was great. Our guide and was very friendly and knowledgable about all the animals we saw - got all the Big 5, including some lion cubs and a leopard in a tree, which is apparently a rarity. He was well networked with all the other game drivers we saw, which I think was helpful in tracking down the animals. We went for the more expensive package for lodging because it was our honeymoon (which was not originally sent in the inquiry email but I asked about it after doing a little more research) and it did not disappoint. The prices were on par, if not slightly lower, than a couple of other companies we contacted, although definitely still an investment. That being said, the lodges were luxury at it's finest (Entim Mara and The Cliff) and some honeymoon surprises were organized for us to make us feel extra special.
Overall, it was a fantastic experience and we would recommend Copious Africa Safaris for anyone considering a safari in Kenya.
