SG
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Tanzania Go Adventure is the Best Company in the market!!
My husband and I were on holiday in Tanzania and we booked through the Tanzania Go Adventures both a safari trip and a trip on the top of Kilimanjaro. On both trips we had sweet and competent guides and we have got the best service all the way through. We would definitely recommend this company!
NO
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Professional, reliable, welcoming and friendly
At first, I was a bit concerned selecting a small operator like KingTomondo to organize our “once in a lifetime” 8-day Kenya safari. I learned about them only through the internet, and it seemed like so much could go wrong. But what a great choice I made! We really had a trip of a lifetime.
Communication with Lisa and Nick went smooth, never waiting long for an answer to my many questions on e-mail and WhatsApp. Lisa helped us selecting excellent lodges in Masai Mara, Lake Nakuru, Amboseli, and Tsavo West and East. Payments went smoothly.
On the trip, we got two guides, Said, with ~30 years in business, who was the most considerate and safe driver, smile always on his face, occasionally taking photos “of an exceptionally beautiful” zebra or acacia tree by his cellphone, and Ali, spotting animals for us, identifying species and explaining behaviors. Ali could get M.Sc. in East African wildlife at the spot. Waiting for an hour for an animal to move to get a better photo was never a problem for our guides, neither was to stop for 100th time for me to take another photo. We dined with our guides a couple of times. The big five were seen in 3 days, including a leopard devouring a fresh kill in the tree.
We upgraded to a jeep (i.e., Toyota Land Cruiser, which appears to be the standard in Kenya safaris), which was in good technical condition with excellent tires that do not puncture easily. If you think this is not so important, do check other reviews for experiences of people puncturing in the bush.
KingTomondo has a competitive pricing compared to other operators I contacted. This is _not_ because they are cutting corners. The company is all Kenyan, and I believe just has lower overheads and marketing budget.
I hope to make another Kenya safari in a year or two, and I know which operator I will choose.
IT
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great professionist and wonderful organization
Glad we chose this operator. On a Safari in Africa, what matters is organization and reliability, as well as, of course, looking for animals. African big cats assisted us with professionalism right from the first email contacts. Once in Arusha everything was perfectly organized for the following days: Tarangire, Serengeti (2 days), Ngorongoro, Lake Manyara. Even the hotels selected for our overnight stays turned out to be a wonderful surprise. A special mention for the guide, who in a safari is the real balance and can make the holiday unforgettable or terrifying. With Lovoi, our guide, we felt at home, he is very nice and helpful, he drives carefully and has identified many animals (we were lucky and we completed the big five). Special thanks to him, Justice and Emanuel! Super recommended experience!
(automatic translation from Italian)
NL
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Special trip to remember
We had booked our trip with Matoke in December 2019. Because of the COVID Matoke managed to rebook it 2 times without any problems, so that we could finally go to Uganda this year.
Three days before departure, my wife developed a bursa infection in the knee. The doctor indicated that we were allowed to go on holiday, but that we should not put any strain on the leg and that we should rest as much as possible. We have informed Matoke of this situation. They indicated that they would look at everything per day and that they would discuss with our guide what was and was not possible.
So we flew to Uganda using crutches and met our guide Kassim there. A very calm, helpful and thoughtful guide.
During all activities he consulted with the rangers beforehand whether it was possible to carry out the activity with crutches. And if necessary, he arranged for us to have a private supervisor, so that we could carry out the activity at our pace.
This way we were able to enjoy a wonderful holiday where we did a rhino walk and chimp tracking and various game drives with crutches.
Kassim was good at spotting game during game drives, having seen a leopard before the rangers noticed it.
His knowledge about nature, wildlife and all birds is enormous and definitely had an added value. But the conversations on the road about life in Uganda were also very interesting.
Thanks to the medication and sufficient rest, we managed to do the Gorilla tracking without crutches at the end of the holiday.
We would like to thank Matoke and specially Kassim for a special trip!
AE
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Customer oriented, positive and helpful
Wild safari was my dream!
First of all, I’d like to say that 2 days adventure is amazing. We saw many kinds of animals from a very close distance.
Secondly, Obed is a nice guy, who loves his job and he does everything for his guests to be satisfied. At the beginning we couldn’t see lions, but Obed did all his best to find them. Which adds him high points. I believe not all tour companies do it. Overall, he is very positive and helpful. We had not a nice experience with accommodation, but Obed was so kind to change it for us. We are very thankful!
In few words - this tour worths it’s money. I definitely recommend it.
35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Professional
Makario Safaris has a wonderful and well coordinated team who work well together to provide an amazing experience for their clients. The team is very professional and their services remain my best experience so far. They are worth every coin spent!
IT
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Wonderful experience
We did a safari of 6 days with Karibu and it was wonderful, expecialy thanks to our amazing guide Aruni, he was explaining very well everything and he was so funny. We were lucky because we had a very nice partner of trip
US
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Thrilled by Face of Africa Team, Hamadi and his team.
We were really thrilled by the service and care provided by the Face of Africa. Mr.Hamadi is such a nice person that he took care of us to the best level in every details , receiving us at the airport to taking them to hotel, providing the best hotels for our stay and making sure our safety , everything. They have not missed anything that was part of the tour and fulfilled all the services. The guides/drivers for the game drive were gentlemen and knew the safari so well that we were thrilled by all the animal we saw and they were very nice all along in taking care of the kids , making sure all of us were comfortable in every aspect. Our group enjoyed to the best of our time and had amazing stays in the hotels and all the hotels were so courteous in customizing the food for us. All the hotels chosen for us were 5 star and the quality of the food was amazing. I strongly recommend Face of Africa for safaris and all other services they provide. We even went for Kilimanjaro hike with their team and it was an amazing experience and successfully climbed to the peak with their amazing guides. All in all , I thank and appreciate Face of Arica and Hamadi for making our trip really unforgettable.
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Incredible Family Journey
I found Pius and Gundua on Safaribookings.com as well as a few other companies and contacted them all with a rough outline of what we wanted from our trip which was a family trip for 2ad and 2ch (13/10) for my 50th.
I met with Pius on Zoom and then chose Gundua as our operator as he was efficient, provided good advice, responded quickly to enquiries and adjusted accommodation to accommodate our budget.
We started in Kenya, travelled to Masai Mara, across into Tanzania to experience Serengeti, Ngorongoro and Tarangire. Our guides (1 in K and 1 in Tanz) were outstanding, made us feel comfortable and were able to provide invaluable information in response to our many questions on culture, politics and of course animals.
The accommodation Pius arranged was fantastic, I would recommend staying in the parks or just outside as we lost valuable time in the Crater by staying further away. The meals and packed lunches were really good quality and varied enough, without exception. I would have happily stayed longer everywhere, especially Serengeti and Lake Manyara, to enjoy the surroundings at a more leisurely pace.
The game viewing was completely nuts, I have done this before a few times in Southern Africa but K&Tanz were another level. I had warned my family not to expect any cats… Masai Mara offered up lioness, cheetahs galore, leopard but sadly no migration crossing as I think we were too waylaid en route to the river…so disappointing but I guess we have to have a reason to return one day. The shrieks of the children (& my husband!) as they first encountered giraffe, zebra and elephants were unforgettable and worth all the work for the trip in those moments! Serengeti was my birthday and the quality of up close and personal viewings that day were incredible, quite moving. Osinon Camp was just a beautiful place to wake up on a special day. Ngorongoro, a place I had learned about 25yrs ago, was worth waiting for, the geography of being in a caldera rather than the plains of the Serengeti, was unforgettable, and we were rewarded with male lion and a rhino! So lucky. Elephants galore in Tarangire and beautiful baobab trees, watering holes providing wonderful interaction between animals after a night on the shores of Lake Manyara with wildebeest and zebra accompanying us to breakfast at sunrise.
The trucks are comfortable and well maintained, given the super challenging terrain they cover, our guides were professional, well informed and did everything they could to help us see whatever was willing to be spotted that day! The roads are tracks and the timings not always accurate, so add 30-50% to have realistic drive times and allow for the fact that between parks they drive fast on tracks meaning a bone shattering experience! If you have more time, or are happy to just experience one park, that’s the way to reduce travel times.
It’s not a trip we could keep affording to do every year but if we could then I would book every time with Pius and Gundua. Excellent comms, excellent advice, excellent value all made a superb week. We then travelled on to Kili and Zanzibar independently but felt Pius would have been available had we encountered any issues whilst in Tanzania.
Thank you Gundua and Pius!
MX
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Review about Masai Mara National Reserve by Valentina
Just amazing.