50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Family trip to Southern Africa.
Wayfairer organised our trip of a life time to Zimbabwe, Zambia & Malawi. They listened to our requirements and found beautiful small personalised places to stay and the whole trip ran like clockwork. We stayed at Batonka Lodge in Victoria Falls, Flat Dogs Safari Lodge in Zambia, Huntingdon Lodge (tea plantation) and Blue Zebra Lodge ( lake Malawi).
US
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
great experience; superb tour guide; excellent administrative support
Noah and Samuel provided excellent support from booking our hotel, arranging for my strict dietary restrictions to be accommodated, answering our many questions, and offering options for payment methods. Our safari tour guide and driver was fantastic! He was experienced, knowledgeable, and passionate about sharing his knowledge of the animals/area we are moving through. He was also conscientious and ensured to give animals a wide berth as not to encroach upon their natural movements (e.g. not being in the way for wildebeests crossing). He was a very safe driver. The terrain getting to/from our hotel and while driving in masai mara could get rough, tight, muddy, etc. But he worked through them with expertise. Overall, my group of friends were very happy with our safari experience.
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amazing Safari with a fantastic, ethical company
We have just returned after an amazing 7 day Safari with Suricata Safaris. We were so impressed with every aspect of the service we received from beginning to end.
Having arrived in Kilimanjaro airport at 4am we were met by a driver who drove us to our hotel in Arusha. Suricata had arranged for us to have a very early check-in which enabled us to get a few extra hours' sleep. We were then met later that afternoon by two of the owners, Hilary and Prince who introduced us to Ezekiel our driver, and Benjudah, our cook.
Our Safari started the next day at 8.30am. We are a family of 5, and so had our own private tour. We went to Tarangire, Lake Manyara, Serengeti and Ngorongoro national parks. Each park was very different, with different landscapes and animals. We saw so much wildlife in each park, and over the week we saw four of the big five (with the exception of rhino). Because we had 7 days, we had time to head to the Mara River in northern Serengeti and saw the wildebeest and zebra cross the river during their migration. This was definitely a highlight.
Ezekiel was a great driver, and an exceptional guide. He had so much knowledge of each of the parks and all of the wildlife. He knew just where to look for the animals and never failed to answer any of our questions (and there were many!). Each evening Ezekiel joined us for dinner to an amazing feast prepared by Benjudah who created incredible dishes, from his little box of ingredients. Each meal - whether breakfast, lunch or evening meal - was so delicious, varied and healthy.... Even our 3 boys loved every meal! Some of our 'picnic’ lunches were even served on white crockery while those around us were eating from cardboard boxes!
We chose a budget Safari and 4 of the nights were spent in 3 different public campsites. Each site was in a spectacular position within the national parks, and each night we could hear hyenas or lions roaming nearby, while zebra and even an elephant roamed freely around the campsites. Facilities were very basic and not always clean, but we felt it was still worth it to be in the midst of the park.
At the end of our trip, we returned to Arusha for one more night in a hotel (again included in the package). Hilary and Prince were there to greet us. However, the service did not end there. Prince was so helpful and enthusiastic and arranged for one of the Suricata drivers to take us to a restaurant where he knew we could get a good meal for a good price, and also helped us arrange transfers for the next part of our holiday in Zanzibar.
We would absolutely recommend this company - they are a great organisation with a great ethos. Remember to take enough US dollars to pay your driver and cook a tip (recommended as $US 10 per person in the group per day. This will be shared between the driver and the cook.)
SK
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
We definitely recommend booking with Tanzania roadside expeditions :)
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Paul was very helpful with planning our safari and responded very quickly to our questions.
The safari was truly well organized, we enjoyed it very much.
They picked good accommodations and the food they served was beyond our expectations.
We had a great guide/ driver Justin, who was always making sure we are happy and getting the best customer servise. He was very nice and explained to us a lot about animals and he knew all the good spots, where to find animals. We have seen the big 5 (although the rhinos only from very far).
Also Justin took very good care of us when our car broke down after game drive towards our hotel. He made us feel like nothing even happend, because within 5 minutes after break down another car took us to hotel. Although they fixed the car, company sent another car just to be 100% sure we are good to go for our last day. Very well handled:)
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As in other reviews mentioned the jeeps are a bit older (also by other operators).
US
35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Overall nice experience but a little more bang for buck expected
The staff were friendly and accommodating, changing the itinerary as per requests without fuss. The only thing we were really unhappy about was the driver's level of experience. While very nice and professional, he was just that, a driver. He clearly did not have a lot of experience as a guide and could not properly answer a lot of our questions. In the end we found out he was a trainee. If that was the case, I wonder why he was sent to guide us on his own instead of in accompaniment of an experienced guide from whom he could learn. For the money spent on this trip, that is the least Wildebeest Safari could have done. We would consider going with them again, but would certainly ensure we have someone who is more knowledgeable.
IN
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Fraud. Just two days prior to tour commencement they wrote email that Safari is cancelled
We had booked the KWSS Safari for 13 days on 5th of July 19. Paid them advance of 50 percent of tour cost. It was to be our dream tour. The air Tickets to nairobi were on 19 th aug 19 for two of us. On 17th aug we wrote to KWSS to confirm for airport pick up transport.
They wrote back saying Safari is cancelled due to technical reasons and we may expect return of money paid between 60-90 days. We lost nearly Rs 250000/ besides air tickets and ruining our holiday plans as at this late stage as no other Safari is willing to accommodate us.
There is no contact number for KWSS. It has suddenly turned in to a nightmarish scam. How will anyone ever trust such Safari operators. All those unsuspecting tourists looted like this should join together to get justice.
Sanjay ( mumbai india) - +919867455169
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
One of a kind, amazing
Communication was exceptional from the enquiry stage until when we landed back in England.
There was consistent emails/whatsapps to let me know of the plans and Madam was very understanding answering all my questions.
This company were great at arranging everything even down to someone collecting us from the airport which also provided us with assurance and allowed us to pay before the day.
Our driver arrived promptly from our hotel in Dar to collect us through torrential rain and provided us with snacks for the journey which were so needed so early in the morning!
Our safari instructor was phenomenonal and his knowledge was beyond the average, we had a great 2 days with him. And due to his wealth of knowledge he knew the park so well and we were able to see lions on the hunt, pythons, lion cubs and even porcupine needles which we would've never seen. Admittingly we were a little confused with such a high suggested tip price at the end of the tour considering we assumed the price of the safari would cover some of his cost, but this didn't spoil the experience.
The hotel picked for our accommodation was amazing and was definitely an experience with a great safari feel.
The team here did a great job and would definitely recommend to all.
US
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Breathtaking. Incredible. Will Book Again!
This was my first time on safari and it was absolutely incredible. There is nothing like it! What made my experience top-notch was our driver, Edward. His eyesight was incredible and I often felt like he would spot things that very few drivers would spot. In the short couple of days, we saw over 60 African animals (I counted), including rare animals like the leopard. On that note, Edward kept his eyes on the road as well and I felt safe the entire time. The hatchback roof was often up, allowing us to stand and marvel at the sights in front and around us.
If given the option, it is worth booking accommodations inside the park; doing so will cut out 1-2 hours of driving into the park per day and the scenes at said accommodations are out of this world.
This will not be my last safari, and I will be booking with Africa Flash McTours again!
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
The team at Encompass go above and beyond, a truly wonderful company.
Encompass Africa arranged an amazing tour to South Africa in honour of my Mum's retirement.
I called around to a number of companies when planning this trip and I felt like Stephanie at Encompass truly listened to what we wanted to get out of the trip. It was great to work with the same person to tailor a personal tour. Everywhere we went was fabulous and suited us very well. We were given a variety of options within our budget, so I didn't feel like we were being forced into anything that was more than we wanted to afford. The process of booking was very easy and communication was always very quick. We especially loved having the TravelKey App so that our itinerary was always with us on our phones. We had some flight problems on the way there due to the airline and Encompass took care of everything to make sure that we were the least impacted. I definitely felt safe having such a capable team watching over us during our travels. We have already booked a second trip with Encompass Africa.
You will not regret going with Encompass Africa, they are wonderful to work with and are true Africa experts!
AE
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great tayloring Safaris adjusted on your budget. Team was flexible with very easy communication.
Msafiri Travels team prepared a well balanced trip to Tanzania in very short term (only 6 days before traveling). Since the beginning comunicaton was fluent.
Even though country is not prepared for stricts Vegeterians, Leina and the team were always in contact with the hotels to make sure everything was prepared for us (daily!).
Perhaps now (after the trip) I would had chosen another park to see more animals. That's the only point to improve from our trip.