50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Review about Lake Manyara National Park by geospace
Not as spectacular as Serengeti or Ngorongoro but good close up views of elephants. Close to Arusha too
20-35 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Review about Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Game Reserve by U. Adophis
Great park, but lots of private vehicles everywhere and our ranger decided to harp on about her positive views about hunting for an hour -- so ironically I wished I was in a private vehicle! We saw fantastic rhino, but sadly KZN has a significant drought at the moment which was very noticeable and meant pretty poor game viewing in areas.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Great safari, nice (and closer) alternative to Krugar
Madikwe was a fantastic reserve and great alternative to Krugar, particularly as there are no self-drivers. We stayed at Jamala which was luxurious and beautiful in every way. The owners built this from scratch, and since they know what has worked and what hasn't worked in other places, everything is organised and chosen to give the "best" safari experience! Madikwe was in a pretty bad drought while we were there, and so the waterhole was pretty quiet since animals were heading to places where it had rained. Also the wild dogs had just had a wave of rabies (we didn't realise this happened) so we were lucky to see the few dogs we did. Even though there were few guests, we still went out in separate cars which was great (this didn't happen at Bush House). We then stayed at Bush House -- this was good as we got to see the other side of the park. Note that at Jamala we could see the north east and south east sides of the park, which was too far if we had only been at Bush House. Our friend stayed at Tau Lodge and had more success at the waterhole -- that is a much larger lodge though, and you lose the exclusivity. Bush House was a lot less posh and extravagant, but the waterhole was very busy (60+ elephants?) and the food and accommodation posed no problems. Also good to check if children can come on drives, as we had 2 incessantly talking kids on our last day who didn't, but could very easily, have affected game viewing. Our guides in both places were very experienced -- the main thing is you need to be watching for animals too, as it increases your chances! On our first drive at Bush house our ranger went off tracking to find a lion. So we sat there with 5 other cars for an hour till they came back, then we drove off and for the next hour none of the rangers could find the ranger who had stayed behind near the lion kill!! Our guide than said "oh, it's getting late, we probably should go now" to which I gave a significant death stare. Thankfully she then found the lions, but at no point had she explained what we were looking for or anything. In this case we were lucky, but I think it's worth being clear with your ranger how much time you are prepared to spend waiting for them to track. We could have wasted 2 hours out of one precious drive, which to them doesn't mean much, but I think they forget how much we pay and how far we come to see animals which cannot be seen by sitting in a non-moving car. We explained this to her that night and from then on everything was fine, but if you haven't done as many game drives as we have, you might not be so confident to voice such opinions.
NO
Savannah. For real.
Masai Mara is the kenyan reserve to visit if you want to experience the large plains of the savannah. This is the bush, and it has a lot of "bush vibe". It offers a lot of animals, from elephants to cheetas, lions and hippos.
By the border and the river you can get escorted by armed KWS guards to watch hippos and crocodiles whilst out walking. Wonderful experience. Wonderful park.
NO
20-35 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Skyscrapers and lions side by side
Nairobi National Park is a nice park. Here you get the opportunity to see wildlife in the bush, accompanied by tall buildings and city landscape.
The park is a very good park for viewing lions. It is also a sanctuary for endangered rihnos, so the chances are pretty high for spotting rihnos. It also offers a wide range of landscapes, with forest, plains, river and a small lake.
To walk on the paths with a KWS-guard to look for crocodiles and hippos in the river is reccomended.
The park also has an advantage with not beeing to big. It is a nice park to drive by yourself, without a safariguide.
Highly reccomended park to visit!
CA
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
The animals are great, but the travel companies could be better.
We had a short safari (2 nights) at Mara Intrepids, Masai Mara National Reserve. We loved the wildlife. Population density is high, and it was not hard to locate the big cats. Leopards, cheetahs, lions, elephants, and giraffes abound. On the first hour of the first day, we came 10m from a leopard! On the other hand, the people were less than stellar. Negotiating with the hotel manager and Wilderness Bookings was difficult, to say the least. Calls were not returned, agreed upon prices changed (and kept changing), extras crept onto our bill, and there was stampede to our wallets which put the wildlife to shame.
NO
20-35 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
CA
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Review about Kenya by Michael Colwell
This is somewhat difficult to assess as it was our first safari.
DE
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Uncomplicated, well working safari
Arriving in Tansania we had the wish to go on Safari for some days and found near by Arusha in Usa River this Safari Organizer who could arrange a Safari for us within two days (of course it was low season;-)
With our guide and driver Elias we spent three special days in the North of Tansania, visiting Tarangire NP, Lake Manyara NP and the Ngorongoro Crater. Elias tried to give us an view on the tribes living here in the north peacefully together. He drove us with safe handling on each kind of road and was a patient driver in the NP's who showed us nice places to see the animals near by and to have a view on the impressing nature.
Also our lodge in Mto wa Mbu- the twiga lodge- was a good place to stay- with its clean rooms, nice food and over all the pool.
Thanks to Elias and to Rose and Albert
20-35 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Amboseli National Park - My favorite park in Kenya
Love the landscape views and Elephants during game drives as well as from the Lodge. (Ol Tukai Lodge).