PT
65+ years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
LongWay Expeditions thrive to share with us their knowledge/love of Tanzanian wondrous wildlife
I got acquainted with Ann+Abu (the knowledgeable organizers) via Responsible Travel in 2022. Communications with both are very easy since they are both very professional and have a great command of English, both spoken and written. Via many e-mails, I did organize with Ann my first trip with my son and in-law which we thoroughly enjoyed during 8 days in early September 2022; Abu was the attentive and caring Driver/Guide. During our many conversations Abu mentioned the Migration calving in Ndutu area as something very special. A few months after my return I started friendly communications with Ann in order to organize my solo safari, this time 10 days which just happened in February. I have enjoyed safaris before, but the inner quality, professionalism and care of Abu raise these safaris to another level of friendly interaction where we learn to appreciate animal behavior details, that enhance the whole experience. This time I always stayed inside the Parks: 1 day Tarangire, 4 days Ndutu, 2 days central Serengeti, it was awesome. I must say that I never read anything about Tanzania tourism, hence these wondrous experiences rely on their profound knowledge and love of Tanzania. I cannot wait to go again with my new friends ANN and ABU to those mesmerizing Tanzanian Parks. I know how extremely reliable they are in every sense, organize safaris with great care both in the perspective of enjoying the diversity of scenery and animals whilst paying attention to the client budget and choice of Parks and Lodge .
LT
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Real adventures!
We chose Morning Star Tours for safari, because they offered most suitable custom safari for me, my husband and our 4 year old son, moreover, their prices were 30% lower for the same intinerary compared to the other big tour operators.
We were really happy about our guide and driver Alex. We thought he was a newbie (looking very young ;) ), but we found out that he was an experienced guide working in the business for 7 years!
Alex is a really good driver (we felt very safe) and he is an adventure seeker, due to his effort and persistence, we managed to encounter a male lion in one meter distance protecting his resting lioness. What a memory!! And I am not talking about his effort during all the trip to meet all big 5!
He was also very patient with our toddler, who used to get bored during long trips.
Thanks for great experience!
Much recommended!
65+ years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Perfect Tour Company
When my wife and I decided to go on safari we had no idea which company to go with. After a great deal of research and selecting 12 companies I gradually crossed each one off before I arrived with Mufasa and I believe I made the right decision. From my initial contact with them to being dropped off at the airport for our flight home Mufasa were magnificent.
Polly was my point of contact at Mufasa and she was one of the main reasons why we went with them. She responded instantly to my first email and her enthusiasm was clear for us to see. I gave her a rough idea of the itinerary I was looking for and she fine tuned this to perfection. She filled us with confidence, something that was welcomed for a couple going on their first proper safari, and anytime I contacted her with any questions she replied super fast.
A day before we were due to fly to Nairobi we had a problem with our flights (booked independently) which meant we would be arriving 5 hours earlier than planned. I contacted Polly who assured me that everything would still be okay at the Nairobi end and she would make sure that the hotel would be fully aware of our new arrival time.
After arriving at Nairobi airport we were met by John and Jim, two staff members from Mufasa, who took us to the Tamarind Tree Hotel for our overnight stay. During our drive to the hotel Polly rang to check that we had arrived safely and everything was fine, this was at 10pm on a Sunday evening!
The following morning we were met by Mary another member of staff who expertly took us through our itinerary just to make sure we knew exactly what the holiday entailed and also gave us the opportunity to ask any last minute questions. Mary then introduced us to Odhis who was going to be our driver/guide for the next 5 days. Odhis is the kind of person you dream about, a stranger one minute, your friend the next minute. A kind and warm hearted man who immediately puts you at ease.
Our holiday consisted of 3 nights in the Masai Mara, 1 night at Lake Naivasha, a visit to a tea plantation before making our way back to Nairobi for our flight home. The safari was when Odhis came into his own for his knowledge and his instinct, he excelled in knowing to be in the right place at the right time. He asked us if we had any special animals we would like to see, we told him Lions, Leopards, Cheetahs and Hyenas, for the first couple of safaris this is what he concentrated on and he gave us a magical time. All together we saw 44 Lions, 8 Lion Cubs, 2 Leopards, 7 Cheetahs and over a dozen Hyenas. On our first dusk drive we also got to see close up a Black Rhino. There was never any rush when viewing all the animals, Odhis gave us as much time as we wanted and it was clear to see that he took much enjoyment in seeing us being thrilled at all the different animals.
During our holiday we stayed at the Tamarind Tree Hotel (Nairobi), Keekorok Lodge (Masai Mara) and Sopa Lodge (Lake Naivasha). We were more than happy with all accommodation especially the Sopa Lodge which was very impressive.
I would recommend Mufasa Tours and Travels to anyone wanting a thoroughly professional company who look after you, put you at ease, have staff who are kind, caring and knowledgeable. My wife and I plan to return to Kenya in early 2024 and there is no doubt whatsoever that I will be contacting Polly and we will be using Mufasa once again.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great experience
I recently worked with Kathi to plan a trip to South Africa around plans to attend a wedding there. Kathi was very helpful and easy to coordinate with. We had the most amazing trip and everything went smoothly. Kathi set us up with private tours around Cape Town, and Graham (the tour guide) and Pierre (the driver) were a big hit with our group. They were both very friendly and super knowledgable of the area. I would highly recommend booking your travel with them!
FR
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Shoes is fantastic
What an amazing expérience. Shoes was fantastic during our 2 days stay. He knows his stuff, he knows where to go, he is very considérate and understanding. Spécial mention to his cooking skills :)
It was overall à brillant expérience, bar the insects in the camp but thats outside of everyones power.
I plan to come back again soon.
AT
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Perfect trip to Kilimanjaro.
Hey, my name is David and I booked a Kilimanjaro tour from Adventure Makers. The tour was the Lemosho rod and it was perfect. I have never seen Tanzania from this view! The team that was on our side was nice, helpful and really kind. The food was always freshly cooked and delicious. The tour guides were really polite and nice to us. Without them, we would not secede on the Kilimanjaro. All in all was this adverser wonderful for myself and my friends. If i every clime the Kilimanjaro again, I will choose Adventure Makers!
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Disappointing
Short story, animals were good everything else was not, I would NOT recommend Azas Safari.
Long story.
I had high (honestly too high) expectations, and this trip left me lacking in all areas.
I did a lot of research and narrowed it down to a few options. Prisca was very friendly and quick to respond via WhatsApp, she sent us a very professional quote and was willing to customize (better hotels, different activates, charge more money) our 10-day Ugandan safari. However, communication decrease as we got closer to our trip and we only stayed in 1 of 6 of the original agreed upon hotels, the other 5 hotels changed 2 or 3 times each from our agreement till on our trip. The hotel pictures in the agreement looked very nice and I googled every hotel we were supposed to stay at and was excited, but most of what we got was disappointing. The hotels are important because in general the nicer the hotel more options and better food. Almost all of your meals will be at your hotels.
Our guide Christopher had a good eye for spotting wildlife and had substantial animal knowledge, he lacked customer service skills and communication skills. He set the bar for the trip by arriving 1.5 hours late to pick us up on day one, with no fuel or drinking water in the vehicle. The vehicle was an older Toyota land cruiser. Nicer than a lot of the other vehicles we saw but not great and not the one in picture from Prisca. We got to experience 3 minor break downs and 2 very minor fender benders. We had problem with one of the front hubs, going up a hill overheated? and problems with the ignition, so we got to push start the vehicle twice. My shoulder seatbelt on the back passenger side did not work correctly, none of the gauges worked and the vehicle had no air-conditioning.
Half the time it felt like Christopher was on a trip and we were just riding in the back seat. Should have been him taking us on our dream trip. He never asked us what we wanted to do. We had to pry the daily plan out of him. He would stop and get a snack for himself but not offer us or information is that lunch is still 2 plus hours away and we might want to buy our own snack. Our agreement said meal plan “Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner drinking water, non-alcoholic drinks”. We ended up buying one of our lunches and only water in the safari vehicle was included, we had to always pay for water and soda at meals. (Honestly drinks were cheap but not what was agreed to).
My wife and I agree we would NOT go on another trip is Azas. I don’t know if the other companies are better or if this is the standard of service in Uganda???
CI
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Beyond expectations
Best safari experience ever, Michelle has organised the whole trip perfectly. It is definitly worth more than 5 stars...as i said, beyond expectations.
DE
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
It was à great Adventure and an excellent Organisation by Frank. Thank you
We had a very nice trip and a safe and very good driver. He organized the „Giraffe“ day as well the Elephant day. We also loved the Baby-Rhino. I will come back with my husband. Thank you so much!
65+ years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
I have been on many safaris; you cannot find a better tour operator, experience, value than ABC S
I live in Denver, CO, USA but am from South Africa originally. I am a physician. I have been on numerous (over 30) safaris, including Kruger, luxury safaris near Kruger, Chobe, Okavango, but have always wanted to do the "big one" - Tanzania.
As you know, there are many different tour operators, so it was difficult to choose one. My son is a medical student (at Harvard), doing research in Dar Es Salaam. We wanted to do a Tanzanian owned and based safari, in order to try support their economy in our small way. He asked around and the consensus was ABC Safaris (African Big Cats).
I then looked at reviews and saw only 5 star reviews. I was a bit suspicious at first as it seemed too good to be true, but the reviews and their websites seemed genuine, so we went with them.
Best safari decision I have made.
Communication: excellent.
Justice, the organizer, Emmanuel, the owner, and our guide (Endeni) always answered promptly, politely, professionally, in a welcoming, reassuring and friendly manner. Their correspondence was informative and they addressed and answered all our (numerous) questions. We were never left guessing.
Flexibility: excellent.
We changed our itinerary a few times, making it 2 days longer, and included two hikes. This was never an issue with ABC - they gladly made all the changes we requested in a seamless and accommodating way, never making us feel we were being demanding or difficult.
Itinerary: excellent.
We went on the Ndutu Calving Luxury safari, to Tarangire, Serengeti, Ngorongoro, and Lake Manyara.
Numerous baby animals seen - so adorable.
Saw teeming game, more than I've ever seen, including their calves, of numerous different antelope, elephant, rhino, buffalo, hyena, eagles, vultures, numerous other birds, hippo, jackals etc etc. We saw "kills". We saw carcasses being eaten. We saw the big 5. We were part of the migration (not the crossing of the Mara River though - wrong season).
Accommodation: excellent.
Luxury glamping, lodges had awesome views, great abundant food, immaculately clean and comfortable, safe, and the staff are the friendliest nicest people you can imagine.
Vehicle: excellent.
There were three of us, my wife, son and myself, in an 8 seater. Comfortable Land Rover, with a roof that pops up so we could stand and look for and view game even while driving. Also has a fridge and chargers.
Guide: Unbelievable excellent!!!!
Endeni was the best guide and spotter I have ever met!! He knew the roads, how to find game, was so knowledgeable, patient, friendly, funny, kind, caring. Never tired of our questions. He honestly was BRILLIANT, the best, and I've met many guides in the past. Spoke excellent English.
Value: excellent.
For what we did, saw, got, the price was more than reasonable, fair, appropriate, affordable. Excellent value for the money.
Reliability: excellent.
We received everything we expected and asked for. Seriously, nothing went wrong, and it could not have gone better...
Side note: on the way to the airport, my son's flight was cancelled by Tanzania Air (not the most reliable airline...). He had to be in Dar the next morning. ABC had nothing to do with our transport/airline. Nonetheless, Endeni phoned Emmanuel, who then drove to Precision Air, booked my son a flight, paid for it, and "saved the day" - an example of how ABC went above and beyond...