CH
65+ years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
VIATU makes it easy to organize fantastic trips that make you feel at peace with nature.
The journey through Namibia, together with my daughter Bárbara, was a fantastic experience! The variety of different animals of all sizes, as well as the constantly changing landscapes, were very impressive. One of the highlights was definitely the hot air balloon ride!
The various lodges we stayed at provided a very pleasant stay. The local staff (lodges, guides) were all very friendly and knowledgeable.
If you’re traveling as a self-driver, I would recommend a 4x4 vehicle.
IN
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Awesome
Great service from Lenchada Safaris accompanied by an experienced tour guide Richard who had good knowledge about the game drives and the concentration of animals in each game park.
Would definitely recommend someone to book through Lenchada Safaris
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
A magical first safari experience with Zohar safaris
This was our first time visiting Tanzania and Zohar safaris provided excellent support before, during and after our trip. We had a phenomenal 6 days organised by Josephine and the team at Zohar, starting in Arusha and then visiting Tarangiere, the Serengeti and Ngorongoro crater. We could not fault the companies communication, organisation and genuinely warm and friendly support whilst we were in Tanzania. We chose to stay in mid-range lodges/camps throughout our safari. The lodges we stayed in were clean, high quality and very comfortable. The beds in the Serena hotels were outstanding!
Our guide, Solomon, was a real asset to the team at Zohar. Anyone being guided by him will have an excellent time. He was professional, enthusiastic and made sure we always felt safe. He had an abundance of wildlife knowledge and was always trying to ensure we stopped and learned about what we were seeing, referencing encyclopaedias as we travelled. My partner is particularly interested in birds, and Solomon took a lot of time to point out specific birds he felt would be of interest. We are were also interested in photography, so Solomon spent time trying to position the safari truck with appropriate lighting for good shots. The days are long on safari (often 10-12 hours out in the bush!) but Solomon always made sure we were comfortable and happy with the timings and length of the day.
We noticed many other guides were very quiet or stayed sitting whilst their groups were watching the animals. Solomon often stood with us and explained about the animal, or specific animal behaviour. We felt very lucky to have him guiding us. He also had incredibly good eyesight and could spot lion/cheetah/leopard/rhino from hundreds of meters away! He was often the first guide to see an animal, and then other guides followed him.
The small extra touches provided by Zohar made the whole experience feel very special for us both. It was a trip organised for our honeymoon, and we were made to feel very special at each lodge we arrived at. The whole trip felt very personal to us both.
We wouldn’t hesitate to recommend Zohar to anyone who wants to feel genuinely welcomed by a company, provided with high quality guides and accommodation. We loved every day of our travels and hope to be able to return one day! Thank you for such an amazing once in a lifetime trip.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
memorable experience
We had a great time overall- lovely team and good organisation overall with quick responses to all queries and great flexibility as well with regards to the tour! Overall, it met all expectations and would definitely recommend if you are looking for a well tuned operator who can deliver a memorable and well organised experience.
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Communicative and professional staff and a very knowledgable and friendly tour guide.
Top level: Marst are a sound outfit that delivered what was promised and communicated with us clearly, and an absolutely excellent guide Ben. If I went on another safari I would not hesitate to book with Marst and ask for Ben again, and I recommend them to anyone.
We booked a 6-day safari with Marst that took in Amboseli (Serena lodge - 2d), Naivasha (Sopa lodge - 1d), Nakuru (Sopa lodge - 1d), and Mara (Ashnil Mara - 2d). We decided on this itinerary after looking at various itineraries on safaribookings and then getting some quotes, and then selecting the itinerary we liked best and asking for more quotes for specifically that so we could compare like-for-like. We chose Marst based on the fact they had great previous reviews, were responsive and clear in comms, and they matched the best price from others.
Things to note:
1) be prepared to be in the car all the time. We knew this in theory but it really is a lot of driving - ~5h between parks, and within the park nearly all the tour is based on driving around or sitting in the vehicle to look for animals. We went for a land cruiser with a pop-up roof and I would recommend this - comfortable, roomy and with lots of suspension and ground clearance. There are also smaller minivans available which we did not try so we can't compare.
2) Hotels. If your hotel is "tented" it really means a tent roof in your room. Silly of us not to realize perhaps, but we were new to this. We had that for 2 nights (Ashnil Mara) and its a different experience to a "proper" roof - it gets colder at night in July which is the coldest period of year -- though not too cold, and they provided hot water bottles. the tent was large and high and there was masonry around the toilet/shower facilities, so it was not cramped at all and it was a novel experience. All our hotels were good, Sopa Naivasha had best food and the largest rooms of the 4 hotels. For us 2 adults and 2 kids, all the hotels had prepared 2x rooms that were next door and all except Sopa Nakuru had connecting doors internally. The hotels are all very well spaced out so get used to walking 200m from your room to the main dining/reception area. All except Asnhil had wifi throughout.
3) we sent money by bank transfer to avoid credit card charges. This was a bit scary since you're sending money to a foreign company and there's no "ABTA" industry-wide insurance coverage equivalent, so we sent a few dollars first, asked Marst to confirm reception and amount, and then sent the rest. Expect to prepay as hotels want a large deposit to reserve rooms.
4) The actual animal watching was amazing. We saw lions, elephants, a leopard, cheetah, zebra, giraffe, jackal, hyena, baboons, vultures, flamingos, pelicans and many other birds, uncountably many zebra and wildebeest in the great migration, hippos, rhino, a crocodile, and gazelles and antelopes of many species. Ben was our guide/driver and he is simply excellent - friendly, very very knowledgable, and a great safe and smooth driver (which is important given that there's a lot of unsafe driving in Kenya compared to European standards and it was so good to feel in safe hands throughout), and accommodating any requests.
5) we got esims for data plans which is great since our mobile provider charges for Kenya. We coudl install these in the UK and then just turn them on on landing for data only, with calls/texts coming through the normal sim. Recommended for convenience and not having to sort it out on arrival.
6) We got dropped off at 5pm for a British Airways 11pm flight, and the check-in didnt open until 7pm, and there's nowhere to sit in the pre-check-in areas of JKIA terminal 1A, so i'd recommend ensuring that you have somewhere else to be up to checkin time.
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Our memorial and Remarkable tour Experience
I and my family were warmly welcomed by Davis ( Guide) of serengeti Green Tanzania when we arrived in Arusha for Holiday. He was such a humble guy that we felt welcomed from the first day. He real deserves a special thanks and appreciation. During our tour we were able to see elephant, leopard and rhino very closer. We had a nice accommodation particularly Rhino Lodges,they are very nice Generally we highly recommend serengeti Green Tanzania for their professional expertise in tour guiding
FR
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great assistance from the bookink, kindly suggested!
The best price and service for safari trip, worm suggested!
CH
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Excellent service and value for money!
We just returned from a four day Masai Mara and Naguru Safari with the brilliant Francis.
From start to finish he was a fountain of knowledge and did everything in his power to make sure we had an amazing experience.
I cannot recommend Lenchada and Francis highly enough. Thanks to then we had the most spectacular and unforgettable time.
EG
35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Amazing trip
Everything was perfect and done as scheduled. The internal flights, hotels and transportation were good, safe and perfect as planned. I like their hospitality. They were so kind and cooperative all over the trip.
35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Great experience, friendly service, and good food!
We booked a last minute 3 day safari with Tanzania Inside and Safari that included Tarangire, Ngorongoro Crater, and Lake Manyara. Our tour manager, Joseph, was incredibly friendly and reached out immediately to help us shape the exact experience we wanted, even with the tight timeline. The lodging was excellent at Lake Manyara Serena Safari Lodge, we had a great view of the lake and got to watch a large troop of baboons wander through the grounds from our balcony. Our driver, Edward, was very accommodating, particularly as we had an excited three year old with us. He was knowledgeable on all the animals we saw on safari, in particular the many beautiful species of birds. Edward had a sharp eye and was always quick to point out birds and animals we otherwise may have missed. Another bonus of Tanzania Inside and Safari was the food, rather than the boxed lunches we've gotten with others, they provided a delicious lunch of Swahili food each day of the tour. Overall, we were very satisfied with our tour and would strongly recommend them, particularly if you are traveling with young children. The 3 day experience was perfect as it was not overwhelming or too exhausting for a toddler. We will definitely use Tanzania Inside and Safari for future excursions.