PT
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Wonderfull
Did a 4 day safari to Lake Nakuru and Massai Mara and it was wonderfull.
Asked the staff for a special night with my girlfriend since it was her birthday and they got me a cake with Massai tribe dancing for us!!!
MX
35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Exquisite attention to itinerary details and flexibility, rearranging for better game viewing option
Our expectations were well exceeded! With great confidence, Alex at Mama Savana, wrought last minute changes to our itinery that proved well thought out. We avoided hours of unnecessary travel to the northern Sarengeti area; the expected wildebeest migration hadn't begun to cross the Mara River. Our days proved better spent on the Central Serengeti. Our Mama Savana guide Haroun was incredibly knowledgable and personable, able to spot all sizes of animals at great distances and give detailed information with ease and humor.
US
65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
Quickly responded to inquiries and did an excellent job matching our itinerary to our desires.
My husband and I just returned from the most spectacular trip we have ever taken: a 10 day Safari in Tanzania! Ute Sonnenberg gave us an itinierary and arranged accommodations that exceeded our expectations, going well beyond our stated focus to see elephants and the Migration and to learn about the animals and culture of Africa. Ute's attention to our desires, quick responses to inquiries, and accessibiliy throughout our tour was very much appreciated.
As we had never been to Africa, it was a little daunting to plan. Along with some research of my own, Ute helped us successfully manage the entire trip, from booking airlines to obtaining visas, to arranging a day lodge before our flight home. Although I must admit I never really had a comfort level with tipping guidelines....
The safari itself was absolutely amazing, in no small part due to our extraordinary guide, Hassan,with Simba Safaris. The company was well organized and efficiently operated. We always felt safe and that we were in good hands. But it was Hassan's passion and expert knowledge of animal behaviors, his knowledge of the country's people, as well as his warm personality, attentiveness to our interests and safety, and excellent driving skills that brought us up close and personal to the Africa we came to experience. This truly was the trip of a lifetime..... Asante sane to Ute, Simba Safaris, and Hassan for making it happen.
CA
65+ years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Our Exciting CrissCross Namibia Adventure
Three of us plus a driver/guide in a 4x4 were privileged to go on a month long/6600km holiday primarily in Namibia and fortunate to have chosen CrissCross Namibia Safaris as our tour company. We based our choice of company on previous online reviews and the flexibility allowed in planning our itinerary. They organized the tour and route we requested. We were also impressed with the prompt responses to any inquiries that we gave them.
Our trip started in Capetown where we spent four enjoyable days, before proceeding north. We spent a few days travelling through western South Africa up to the border of Namibia. This was carried out by another company organized by CrissCross.
At the border we were met by CrissCross owner, Thinus, who escorted us through the border, and from that point on we decided we were in good hands!! We had a very enjoyable 8 days with Thinus.
First to the Orange River and the Aussenkehr Nature Park with amazing rock formations, next Fish River Canyon which rivals the Grand Canyon in size, then onto Luderitz and Kolmanskop, a diamond mining ghost town which has been encroached on by dunes and so interesting to see, especially for photographers. Next was on to Soussevlei and the amazing dunes, fun to climb, even part way up to the top.
Some of the drives were long but the scenery so different from Western Canada that it was still interesting. Thinus always seemed to find great points of interest, along with interesting stories. We went on to Swakopmund and had a very enjoyable dune ride out of Walvis Bay where we also enjoyed seeing the large number of flamingos. In Swakopmund we were met by Markus, our guide for the rest of our trip. He was also a very capable and knowledgeable driver. First stop was Twyfelfontein where we saw the rock engravings of the Bushmen. Next we travelled to Grootberg with beautiful scenic views and then proceeded to visit a Himba village. An experience in itself! From there we continued on to Etosha Park NP, where we saw lots of wildlife including four rhino sightings which was a thrill for us!!
Driving through the Zambezi region (Caprivi Strip) we saw many local villages and this gave us a glimpse of how the local people carry out their daily lives.
Next we had a stop in Bwabwata NP where we had very up close encounters with elephants!! We then went into Chobe NP in Botswana where we were surrounded with hundreds of elephants. Finally we visited Victoria Falls, although less water than usual due to the drought, was a fantastic experience seeing the strength of mother nature.
All our accommodations were very nice, comfortable, had interesting views and great food, often with an opportunity to try game meat.
Although it was the driest spring on record, it was a welcome contrast to home where we get too much rain!!
Thanks to Thinus, Helena and Markus for a wonderful trip, so much variety in a short time, landforms, scenery, wildlife, some quirkiness, a meteorite, a castle, desert elephants, wild horses, always something unique in this special country. Not much traffic either!!
We were glad to have been shown the country by two gentlemen who know their country well and could share so much with us.
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Very Attentive and Accommodating
We needed to book a safari at the last minute. They were incredibly responsive, and fast! They put something together for us that was almost too good to be true. Definitely check them out!
HU
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Satisfying
I would recommend the service of the Safari soles. We were very satisfied with the 3 days Private tour. Chaddy and Biggy were very helpful and polite, all of our wishes were fulfilled. Thanks for the correct and quick communication to Bryson.
IT
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Wild experience
We had a wonderful safari's tour, it was a very wild experience and then we had relax in Zanzibar, it is a paradise. Savannah Explorers organized everything for us. They are very professional and responsive team. We recommend it for a wild experience.
US
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Great customer service and expertise in planning a safari based on our interests and needs
We had a great experience working with Classic Journeys to book our long safari through Kenya and Tanzania and a few days in Zanzibar. I contacted multiple companies through safaribookings when we were first planning this trip about a year in advance and found Classic Journeys to be the most responsive and helpful. We therefore decided to use them for our tour and were very happy that we did! The staff responded quickly to my inquiry and were able to customize a few aspects of my itinerary before booking, but also provided recommendations for lodging based on their expertise. We ended up using most of their recommendations and had a great time. They handled every aspect of our travel while we were with them and allowed us to store our carry on baggage from our international flights at their office while on safari because we were worried about the weight restrictions on the local flights. The guides were great - friendly, helpful, and assisted us even after we had moved to the next leg of our tour. We saw every animal we hoped to see and more, including a lot of babies! Overall, Classic Journeys exceeded our expectations and we would not hesitate to recommend or rebook with them in the future!
BM
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Deluxe Flying Safari booked by CKC Tours
From initial contact to pick up in Nairobi, Communication with John was prompt and efficient. Once he knew where we wanted to go, he designed an itinerary that covered our requests. Because my wife wanted to go on a balloon ride on her birthday, we needed to extend by a day in Masai Mara-not a problem, John did this, found another accommodation for the night and booked the balloon trip. We were picked up before 6.00 am to get to our flight at Wilson Airport and John was there to brief us on the trip. We stayed at three different safari camps and lodges and they were all unique including Tawi Eco Lodge in Amboseli and Governors and Engai Tented Lodge in Masai Mara. We enjoyed ourselves at each place and met people from all over the world. I would highly recommend CKC Tours for their excellent planning and service.
US
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Awesome Adventurous Honeymoon
For our honeymoon, we chose the 6-day safari with seven wonders to which we added a 1 day hike of Kilimanjaro and a 1 day tour of Dar es Salaam for a total of 8 days. Seven Wonders was very responsive and had a nice itinerary for us. Overall, we enjoyed our trip and would recommend Seven Wonders to anyone. It was an adventurous journey and the company is reliable and trustworthy. Their drivers and tour guides were always on time; and they were all very nice and attentive.
To start the trip, the Seven Wonders driver (Good Luck) picked us up from our bed and breakfast and our Kilimanjaro guide (Gasto). Good Luck and Gasto were both very nice, energetic, and welcoming. We thoroughly enjoyed our hike with Gasto (17 km roundtrip; not including the hike to a waterfall we were too tired for) where we saw some blue monkeys and colorful birds. We were especially thankful that Gasto took good care of us while one of us had unpleasantly fast bowel movements (presumably from malarone, anti-malarial medicine). This was definitely a highlight of the trip.
We were especially thankful for our safari driver and guide, Amos, who was very nice, very aware of our needs, and had a keen eye for animals. He always stopped for us to take pictures if he heard us talking about what we saw, and was patient until we both said we were okay to move on. He also would try to get us to good spots or talk to other drivers for us when they blocked our vision. We also appreciated that he agreed with us that aggressively getting close to the animals isn't nice, and he was able to usually position us where animals would walk by us without blocking their path.
Awesome things we saw: Cheetah chasing Thompson Gazelle and 2 hyenas coming to steal it (chase was unsuccessful, Serengetti); stopped very close to a Buffalo we didn't know was there, grazing and hanging out with a bird (Lake Manyara); two elephant families meeting by a waterhole and "asking" (loudly) to share the water (Tarangire); a Lion family walking to drink water and rest after eating a Zebra (Serengetti); various grazers sharing the waterhole as if they wanted to sing about a baby lion (Tarangire); lots of Wildebeast and Zebra walking in a line (Ngorongoro); seeing (and hearing) a group of 10+ hyenas eating a baby buffalo.
In Dar es Salaam, our city guide and driver, Julius, was very fun, easygoing, and knowledgeable about the city--he's a native that would answer some questions with "I'm a Dar es Salaam guy". We only had time to see a few things, but we really enjoyed the national museum for the music and dance experience and seeing how even in Dar es Salaam a lot of people know what tribes their family comes from.