20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
It was really amazing
We starting researching safaris about a year before travel. Because of Covid, I'm so glad we chose Tanzania in the end.
We chose to work with Salim because he is a local Tanzanian with tons of experience. Be careful with the bigger outfitters, you won't get quite as personalized experience and it will cost more.
Salim had great communication from the beginning and answered all of my many questions patiently. We chose to do an 8 day safari, visiting Tarangire, Lake Manyara, Ngorogoro Crater and the Serengeti. Our guide was a true expert with years of experience and spoke perfect English (which is helpful because they are explaining so much about the animals). Having a good guide is vital to a successful safari as you spend so much time with them.
If you're looking to save a bit of money, here are my tips.
The affordable lodging is the route we went (mid level) and it exceeded expectations. Don't fret about staying at a fancy lodge, you're barely there, and when you are, you are exhausted. Save your money. I would have been disappointed if we spent extra on a nicer lodge because often we were gone from the room from 7-6pm.
Also, 5-6 days is plenty. I have no regrets about doing 8 days, but if I was on a tighter budget, we would have been just as happy with shaving a few days off the trip. We figured it was a once in a lifetime experience, so why not, but we definitely could have saved one day, which would have been about a $750 savings.
Flying from the Serengeti, or to the Serengeti, depending on how your trip is planned, is worth the money, but you could do the drive and save quite a bit. Our flights were $800 and in hindsight, I would have suffered through the bumpy drive back to save the money. BUT if you get car sick or hate traveling for long periods, spring for the flights, it does save time.
Here are some things I wish we would have known that I felt the internet was misleading about.
The clothing.
Yes, wearing lightweight clothing is important as the weather does change rapidly. That being said, you are in a vehicle most of the time. I certainly wouldn't have dropped as much money as I did on "safari" clothes if I knew we were barely going to get out of the vehicle. Bring a variety of clothes but don't fret terribly about the color.
Game drive time.
Everyone told me we needed to be up and on the road at 5:30, 6 am. This isn't true. We didn't start any game drives before 7:30 and saw plenty.
Camera gear.
Yes, having a long telephoto lens definitely helps if you're a photography junkie like me, BUT, you do get fairly close to most animals. Unless you're an pro or semi pro photographer, a 70-200mm lens will do you just fine.
The ONLY con I really have is the food, which isn't necessarily a con, just something to prep for. Most places you'll go are fairly remote and the cooks have to do their best with what resources they've got. While all the food tasted great, it is a simple menu. The packed lunches are quite simple as well, so bring snacks if you're a picky eater. For the total cost of the trip, normally food would be more "gourmet" so just be prepared. Once you see the landscape and the villages, you'll understand the depths the camps go through to provide good, fresh meals.
We had a phenomenal time and if you're on the fence, BOOK it! Using a local guide with on the ground knowledge like Salimu is the way to go.
NL
Customer centric tour operater that will care for you
We chose for Lappet Faced Safaris to be our tour operator when climbing Mt. Meru. We were well taken care of before and after our trek including a small city tour by Francisco. The crew around the lead guide and the porters were very welcoming from the start and left us with great memories from the trek. Highly recommended.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
incredible Experience
I decided to go to visit Uganda to make a pilgrimage to a Polish Church near Masindi where some of my family stayed as refugees after WW2. I then added on a safari tour to Murchison Falls. David was our guide and he really pulled through for us. He was incredibly knowledgeable about the environment (animals & plants) as well as the culture. I left feeling that I really learned a lot about Uganda as a whole.
I gained an appreciation & understanding for the wildlife and culture that I had not expected. He was accommodating when we decided to change our itinerary a bit at the last minute. He also was very respectful and supportive during my emotional visit to the Church. He even went to find a guide for church- someone who knew well of the history as he lived in Masindi his whole life and heard stories from the elders. It was really a gift to receive this new information - I was overwhelmed that I provided this opportunity to reconnect to a past that was lost with the death of my grandmother. As we were 2 women travelling for the first time to Uganda, David made us feel safe, comfortable and well looked after. I would highly recommend him and Dav Safaris to anyone, even if you are just a solo female traveler (as I would have been had my coworker not decided to join me).
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Superb tour
Amos and Dav Safaris arranged a completely fantastic trip for my wife and I. We traveled throughout Uganda viewing and photographing 534 species of birds and many animals of Uganda including the shoebill stork, mountain gorillas, chimpanzees, zebras, Cape buffalo, elephant, and hippopotamus. The accommodations were always comfortable for the areas we visited.
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Friendly and extremely knowledgable
Ken and Victor were fantastic throughout. We always felt safe and considerable respect was shown to the animals which is extremely important for us. We saw a huge number of animals and learnt a lot.
The choice of Zebra Plains as the camp they often work with is fantastic - Kenyan owned (as is Beacon Safaris), most of the employees are locals and enable us to go for a morning walking safari with one of the Masai staff who was guide and waiter. Fantastic experience.
highly recommend
US
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Great East African holiday, Outstanding Adventure from an excellent operator
The Avens T.W team worked closely with us to customize what was a dream come true safari holiday in the East African destinations of Uganda and Tanzania. We had planned our travel to Uganda only before covid but had to postpone until this year it became quite safe to travel and since i and my wife had more time for holiday our travel planner Anatoli recommended we have extra 4 days in Tanzania.
From the initial to final communications with our travel planner it went all well to the adventures in the far south of the country where we went to see the gorilla apes in Bwindi through a slippery steep rain-forest, we moved over 3 hours with the ranger and guide all way where we found trackers who directed us where these great Apes were and it was emotional watching them with their youngones. The next day we went to the Queen Elizabeth park where we met various savanna wildlife on game viewing in safari car and boat along a water-steam of Kazinga.
After our safari in Uganda we left for Tanzania to Ngorongo Conservancy and Tarangire and these two destinations are otherworldly wildlife destinations. The crater drive in Ngorongoro C.A and its wildlife and the tree Lions of Tarangire were the highlights of our visit to this great country, our local guide in TZ Majaliwa was charming. Can't wait to explore more of Africa.
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
The tour operator was knowledgeable, experienced and was fun
My friends and i took girls trip to Mombasa in Kenya, Maraka Tours & Safaris being our 1st choice tour company we entrusted them with all our travel arrangements from Kampala through Nairobi and finally to Mombasa that was our destination point at Diani Paradise Hotel. Maraka tours staff was amazing. We booked a package that was pocket friendly with them and they handled all the bookings and we didn’t have to hustle with anything, the cars used in transportation are clean, well maintained and in good Mechanical condition. The staff are courteous and keen. Their guide was very knowledgeable about tourist destinations and was fluent in English.
DK
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Good value for the money
We are two people who booked Kilimanjaro and safari with Gundua.
Overall we had a good experience.
Our Kilimanjaro climb was a great and very challenging experience and we are very proud we made it to the top. And a huge thanks to our team for this. Our guides were very knowledgeable, nice and experienced and the team as a unit was well functioning and helpful. And the food was good! We booked the 7 days Machame (whisky) route, but be aware that it is only 6 actual days on the mountain because the first day is just the arrival day in Arusha, which is a little misleading. We would not recommend doing Machame in only 6 days since the route is very tough and challenging - we would recommend 7 days on the actual mountain. We choose Gundua because of the pricing. This means, that with Gundua you get a tour with simple facilities, but you have what you need. But it is not a luxury tour so ex you don’t have a private toilet tent and you need to use the camp toilet which are not so clean. So you have to be fine with this (which we personally were satisfied with).
The safari we booked was not one of those that Gundua normally offers, so we were in a car with people who booked the Safari with other companies. The tour satisfied our expectations.
Only bad things we have to say is that we were not informed forehand, that card payment was not an option and also not informed on the tipping recommendations for Kilimanjaro which put us in a very awkward situation in the end of the climb after an otherwise very good experience which was quite a shame to finish up in this way.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
A very exciting experience in Watamu
A 4 days trip to Turtle Bay Watamu courtesy of Bovid Africa Safaris. It was a very relaxing experience for my family and we plan to go for another trip to the coast soon.
US
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Beautifully Company, Beautifully People!
I was looking for an affordable safari and messaged many operators. Emanuel from Crater Explorer was the most attentive to my questions before booking and I was very happy with the end result. I was able to see 4/5 of the big 5 in the Serengeti and Ngorongoro. I also want to shout out my excellent guide Waldon. He was awesome and made sure we didn't leave the Serengeti without seeing a leopard