US
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amazing Photographic Safari at Djuma
Traveling from Texas to South Africa was the trip of a lifetime for me. I did not want to go on just any Safari, I wanted to go where I was familiar with the area and the animals. I had been following Zaheer on Instagram for years, so when the opportunity came about to go on a Safari with him, I was eager to jump at the chance and took my sister with me.
We flew into Hoedspruit and were met by Jones, our Transfer pickup arranged by Shaheen. He was delightful and inspiring as he gave us a wonderful chat the entire drive about the History of the area. As soon as we pulled out onto the road leaving the airport we saw Giraffe, Baboons, Elephant, and various antelope on the sides of the road as we drove to Djuma. It was so exciting to see that as soon as your feet touch the ground in South Africa.
Arriving at the Gowrie Gate to the Sabi Sands, we were met by Zaheer and checked in with the Rangers, and then a short drive to the beautiful Djuma Private Game Reserve. Shaheen was awaiting us at the Vuyatela Lodge & Galago Camp. We stayed at the Galego section. The grounds of the lodges were just lovely and landscaped to perfection. Our private bungalow was beautiful and roomy with all the amenities you could desire, from a lovely outdoor shower to a huge indoor deep bathtub for a hot bubble bath, and even chocolate on the pillows with a daily menu of the meals to be served each day. The food served to us 3x a day was AMAZING, to say the least. You never walked away hungry. The ladies of Djuma who cooked and did all the housekeeping can not be left out, they were all fabulous.
Our Djuma guide for the week was Rexon, and our tracker was Mike. They were absolutely the BEST in making every game drive experience memorable. The places you would never believe a vehicle could go thru, Rexon made it easy. He always explained everything in great detail and we learned so much. We had the best of care from the drinks and snacks on the drive to having Rain Ponchos for us when we least expected to have any wet weather.
Our sightings were spectacular...Multiple leopard sightings! Tracking a pride of lions with 9 little cubs and 2 Large Males, resting in the shade on a hot afternoon, watching in awe as the little ones nursed. Following a young leopardess on her morning hunt in the golden light at Sunrise made for beautiful photography. All of the general animals from the birds, to multiple herds of Elephants, Rhino, Impala, Nyala, Kudu, Zebra, Wildebeest, Warthog, Mongoose, Hippo, and Giraffe was all so very special. I have to say, for a Photographic Safari, we were always placed in the most perfect positions to get that once in a lifetime shot, every time. Tracking a drag mark across the road, and through the bush, to find a half-eaten python stashed under a log and followed the tracks to a female leopard with week old cubbies in the den was epic. Following another young leopard from drinking at a pan to settling upon a termite mound at sunset in the background was breathtaking. The perfect African Sunset. Then traveling thru the open wild as the light fades away and parking next to a lone male lion resting in the evening darkness, waiting, as if on cue, to have him lift his head and call out to his pride and his brothers who had gone off far away just absolutely vibrates within your entire body and grabs your soul. Absolute MAGIC!
All the people in our group for the week were just the most lovely individuals. Strangers coming together on Safari, with the love of the animals and the Wild African bush, but at the end of our time, we all left feeling like a family and it was hard to part and say goodbye.
This truly is a wonderful Safari company with very kind, caring, knowledgable, professional individuals. I would highly recommend contacting them to make all your Safari dreams come true. I can't wait to get back and do it all over again.
CA
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amazing experience
My friends and I did a trek of Kilimanjaro and a 7 day safari with Hazina Afrika. We had a wonderful experience. Rama was great at responding and organizing everything for us and our guides and porters were fantastic. Highly recommended.
CA
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Raja tours earned our trust and exceeded expectations.
Raja tours organized a 2 week vacation for our family of 4. A week in Zanzibar and 6 days Northern Tanzania parks and Serengeti circuit. I would recommend to friends and family. Prompt shuttles, quality pop roof land cruiser. The guide/driver was safe, respectful to the animals and to us. The tortillis lodge and farm of dreams lodge were fantastic. Raja tours is a small Tanzanian safari company that was responsive to our itinerary requests. For the price, we were able to bring the kids on safari with us. We were expecting a budget tour - but were pleasantly surprised with the high quality lodges and first class service. If you want a quality, affordable safari, skip the foreign companies that merely subcontract Tanzanians and upcharge 30-50%. Go with this small Tanzanian company instead. You won't be disappointed. We saw the great migration and tree climbing lions! Fantastic.
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
We looked for the best and came up with Pembury , they surpassed all expectations
When we looked for the best tour operators in Africa we came up with Pembury and in many of the reviews Tammy Harding was named. We are lucky to work with Tammy in planning our trip. Never have I ever come across someone so passionate and caring about what they do. Tammy was incredibly responsive to all my questions, and there were lots, she changed things whenever I had doubts and came up with what we thought was perfect. We travelled to Botswana, Vic Falls, Sabi Sands, Cape Town, Rovos rail and Johannesburg. From the minute we arrived at the airport to the moment we said goodbye it truly was exceptional. We were met at every stage by the most wonderful people to help us on our journey, every camp, hotel was out of this world and the food and hospitality second to none. We travelled with my elderly mother and it was her first trip to Africa. We all loved it so much that half way though our holiday we decided we wanted to go back and indeed called Tammy to start the plans for 2020. we have just now confirmed next years trip for 6 of us and I can't tell you how much we are looking forward to it because Tammy has truly gone above and beyond to help us achieve something magical. I had many ideas of what i wanted next year and we worked through every option, every country suggested, every flight connection to make sure we did not spend log times travelling. It was never too much effort.
So what I can say is if you want the best, go to the best and if you want perfection ask for Tammy
IE
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Outstanding!
From the 1st time we contacted Tekko Tours to our 12 day safari we have nothing but praise for them. Our contact in the office was Carol who was so efficient and patient in dealing with us. We changed our mind so many times and she was always back to us with new details and ideas without delay. She was a pleasure to deal with. Our guide for the 12 days was Jackson, a smiling, kind gentleman who couldn't do enough for us and is so knowledgeable on all the animals, birds, his country - he made our trip so memorable and we couldn't score him high enough. We would have no hesitation whatsoever in recommending Tekko and in particular our wonderful guide Jackson. We hope to return again and would without hesitation would travel with Tekko Tours and Jackson. Thank you so much.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Unforgettable experience!
Highly and trully reccomend Kilismile to everyone who looking for a real, unforgettable mountain experience with a pinch of Tanzanian humour and music. We've got much more than we'd ever expected. Kilimanjaro with Kilismile was not only a trekking to the top of Africa. It was one in a lifetime experience, wich will stay in our memories forever! Beautiful views, amazing nature, the most spectacular sky at night, sunrises and sunsets. All of these were fantastic, but it wouldn't be the same without the amazing Tanzanian team from Kilismile. They've done their job perfectly with the beautiful, honest smile all the time! They helped us a lot, I've got no words how grateful I'm! They took care of us for six days, but they've done much more than be just guides, porters, cooks or waiters. They've done it in a such way that we felt they were a part of our group. Not as they were at work. They spend hours on talking with us, laughing and singing together. Were always kind and ready to help. Proffesionals with a huge knowledge and skills. But primarily - great people with fantastic sense of humour, massive respect to others and huge joy of life. Massive thank you to every member of our team - Oscar, Selestini, Godwin, Winston, Fred, Evans, Ramadan, Salim and others - you're great people, I'm glad I could met you! You've been strangers, became great friends :)
CH
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
great safari in Tanzania Southern parks
we enjoyed 5 days safari with family in Selous, Mikumi and Ruaha. The organisation was just perfect, the guide Miriam very nice and the driver an expert despite the roads! they took very good care of us and made sure we had everything we needed. Only downside if I may was the car which already went through many safaris and was a litle old... thanks to the great driver we never felt in danger though!
Margaret who booked all the accomodation for us always made sure everything was going well and that was very much appreciated as we could add a visit in Zanazibar at the last minute!
US
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Memorable 10 day safari & beach excursion!
We had a positive experience with Eyes on Africa and would recommend them as a great company to book your private East African adventures with. Agnes was extremely patient, attentive, and responsive during the process of building our itinerary. She listened to feedback and adjusted accordingly to ensure that our experience was shaped to our satisfaction (and within our price range). Our guide in Kenya (George) was spectacular and I highly recommend requesting him. Our guide in Tanzania (Mohamed) was not as great (but, adequate) and we would not recommend him. We were able to spot all of the big five animals everyday (rhinos only at the Crater, though) and noted around 30 different animals overall. We enjoyed learning and speaking Swahili with the friendly staff throughout our stay. Overall we felt that the variety of our accommodations and sites were very good. There were only a couple negative accommodation issues. We felt safe, well taken care of, prepared, and with everything being handled by Eyes on Africa we enjoyed every minute instead of worrying about travel logistics! Â
65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
Everything went very smoothly with excellent recommendations.
Very good contact with our agent and good travel details. Wonderful lodges and great personal animal experiences shared just between us and our guide. Our desert island experience on Fanjove was a perfect choice and we loved everything about it. All in all a perfect holiday experience with excellent hosts and guides.
SE
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
We had a fantastic 5 days safari booked with Lion King Adventures and everything worked out perfect!
Booking with Lion King Adventures went very smothly and they lived up to our expectations al the way. All the accommodations also lived up to their standards, very clean, good food and friendly.
My favorite was Serengeti and the Heritage tent camp, with it's view.
Our safari guide Gilbert did his very best to get close and did not give up before we had spoted all the animals to see : ) Gilbert made us also feel safe during the way.