RU
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Best Tanzania Safari Operator
Booked a 2 day Zanzibar Plus Tanzania Safari experience which I used them to organize our car transportation and all activities in Tanzania.
I found the service and response of this travel agency to be excellent. Easy 5 stars. My emails were immediately reacted and everyone showed up when they should. The $ 110 charged transfer fee for my family seemed to be very good value.
The only reason I give this travel agency a 5-star is because our experience tour was very good and overly fantastic, so there is little room for improvement (or, for travelers, for whatever reason, consider other options). While a good tour, we found our private guide's Russian guide to be just good, not excellent (I could only understand 85 to 90% of what he said) and the tour was somewhat "standard. He took us A bit off the beaten path on the sites, however, it was a very enjoyable tour.As the guide and driver were friendly and polite and they constantly rely on the freedom of bottled water (and you need this, Even in the “cool” winter months) 6am sunrise in the Sernegeti National Park was an amalizing etam (my favorite shots are elephants and hundreds of other tourists, snapped photos), but I would do it again "for the experience"
(automatic translation from Russian)
US
Experience level: first safari
Incredible detail and planning of customized Safari
If you are planning an African Safari, you will want to work with Compass Odyssey (Darren and Kate). Our trip included South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Botswana. They were great to work with, always very responsive, and very reasonably priced. We were able to customize our safari to choose which locations we visited and how long we stayed at those locations. They were even able to accommodate some changes we wanted to make within a month of our safari. Darren and Kate provided us with so much helpful information prior to our trip that took a lot of the stress out of trying to research everything for ourselves.
The trip was very well planned and our itinerary was very detailed. During this time of traveling during Covid, Compass Odyssey made sure all of our Covid testing was scheduled and that we would get results back in time before we had to travel to the next country. This was a huge relief as we would not have known where to go to get the tests completed or the contacts to ensure we got the results back. In addition, our drivers/guides helped with navigating through the land border crossings, which was important with the added complication of providing the negative Covid results to health officials prior to going through customs. Compass Odyssey provided us with detailed instructions on what to expect with each of the airport border crossings. It was nice to not have any surprises with those.
When we added a couple of extra days, Compass Odyssey scheduled us to go on the Rhino Walk and go to the Elephant Cafe in Livingstone, Zambia. We were all so thankful they did as these were experiences we will never forget.
All of the accommodations were incredible. We stayed at the Senalala Safari Lodge on a nature preserve in South Africa, Camp Nkwazi on the banks of the Zambezi River in Zambia, Batonka Lodge in downtown Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, and the Chobe River Lodge on the banks of the Chobe River in Botswana. All of them had great rooms, wonderful food, and extremely nice people.
The guides and drivers we met along the way were all so friendly and knowledgeable. Our guide at the Senalala Lodge was James. He did an incredible job tracking the animals for us on our game drives. He had really good information about the animals and you could tell he enjoyed finding the animals for us to see. In Zambia, we had a different James as our driver/guide. He was very friendly and shared a lot of very interesting information about Zambia and Victoria Falls. Mortimer was our driver/guide in Zimbabwe. He was always willing to help us out when we needed and was a wealth of knowledge. We really enjoyed talking with him. We had a boat guide (Leo) and a game drive guide (Tifl) in Botswana. Both were great guides and were able to get us close to the animals. They too had a lot of information and you could really feel their passion for the animals.
Overall, I would not hesitate for one second to recommend Compass Odyssey to anyone looking to do an African Safari. They made sure that our experience was one that we will treasure for a long time.
US
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
If I could rate 100 I would
Superb in every manner. This was a complicated vacation for my 80 year old father that was put together without any issues. All credit to the shadows of Africa team and Lies. I plan a lot of scuba travel but this was very different adding in my father. I needed help and guidance and did not want to go through the American travel agencies that just slam you into want they want and who they like. It took a bit of time but Lies was always there for emails and questions ans we hammered it out over a few weeks. She put in a tremendous amount of time and I felt like she genuinely cares about my father and us having rhe best possible itinerary. She helped guide me to places and what to avoid during the planning. Her knowledge and ability to match what we needed with a price point was just stellar. Now that we are back we we very pleased with every accommodation that we booked. Our tour was 9 days starting in Arusha for 1 night to rest. Then off to tarangire for 2 nights. 1 night on lake Manyara. 1 night in ngorogoro. 2 nights in central Serengeti and 2 nights in northern Serengeti. I will recommend every location and lodge we stayed at. It was the perfect blend. We saw everything we came to see and had the greatest guide possible. I know everyone loves their guide but Loma is the best. He was so polite and genuine and took great interest in my father and wanted to please him. He truly made the trip even more special. He is a friend for life and you would be blessed to have him tour his country with you. He consistently put us in the right pace for the action and is just an overall great human being. He’s a tremendous asset to Shadows. I highly suggest you ask for him if you go. Addition ( forgot to add Assad to my review. He was just as intrumental getting us to the airport rapidly to finalize our covid tests. We had an 11:45 pm fight and wondered last minute if the covid testing center closed. They did at 8 pm. What could have been a disaster was avoided thanks to his connections at the airport and willingness to go the extra mile Many thanks Assad :))
I can assure you no details will be overlooked if you book with Lies and Shadows. They are super professional and care about every detail. Literally nothing was a problem at all.
I can’t recommend this company any higher then I do. Book with them and go now. It will be the best decision in your life.
Thank you Loma, Lies and everyone who made this journey for my father the most meaningful and spectacular event of his life. You are all truly amazing and I am forever grateful.
See you again for sure
Jeff
HK
20-35 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Safari of a lifetime!
Having done quite a few safaris already, I must say that Lion King adventures exceeded by far all my expectations. After contacting more than a dozen agencies I wisely decided to go ahead with them.
The guide Sifael proved extremely experienced through his intuition, eyesight, patience and knowledge. As a result we managed to spot 9 cheetahs, 2 léopards, over 30 lions, 2 spectacular wildebeest river crossings, and numerous actions (lions copulating, eagle and jackal hunting..) to name but few.
Nick the contact through which we booked the tour have been very listening to adapt and advise this program to best suit our dreams.
Thanks a lot Lion King adventures and Sifael for those unforgettable memories!
US
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Phenomenal experience!
We started researching a safari almost one year before going. I was having trouble finding smaller, local operators to work with. This site connected me with small companies which I liked. Richard is very responsive and answered all of our many questions throughout the trip. We did an 8 day trip which included Tarangire, Ngorogoro Crater and the Serengeti. Richard was prompt in greeting us at the airport and provided us with an amazing guide with tons of experience. I would recommend Eyes on Serengeti 10 out of 10.
BE
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
first safari, great experience
we've always wanted to do a safari with my husband and we did it for our honeymoon. We visited safaribookings.com as we knew this website was reliable (a youtuber promoted it by sharing her safari experience). then we started checking all the different safari packages and found that the 3 days safari by kiliholidays tours & safari was reasonnably priced compared to some others. The lodge we stayed in (included in the package) was also nice. Communication with the owner (Mack) was easy and quick (mail and whatsapp). We agreed on the starting date for the safari and made some customized arrangements (hour to pick us up and drop off us at the airports, food we ate etc). then Mack asked us to pay 300 $ as a deposit + 5% fee as the payment is online. Don't be afraid, it's not a scam. We paid the rest of the money on arrival in cash in dollar. During the 3 day experience, you don't have to pay anything except tips and beverages for dinner at the lodge). Thomas was our guide for the 3 days, he's very friendly and has the eye to catch animals. He does his best to make sure you're happy and see as more animals as possible). We did Tanrangire, Ngorongoro and Lake Manyara. We loved the 3 parks and saw plenty of animals (lions, bufalos, zebra, hyppos, giraffes, elephants, wildebeest, hyena, beautiful birds ... and even an attack of a lion on a warthog). tasty lunch is provided every day and you will have the opportunity to eat among animals during the safari. There are plenty of bottles of water in the 4x4 so you won't be thirsty. The only thing I would have liked to be aware of is the tsetse fly. There were plenty of them in Tanrangire national park and we were not dressed properly to avoid them (tip Thomas gave us : don't wear black and blue clothes as the tsetse fly is attracted by them and they bite). I don't know if there is a repellent to avoid them, I suggest you do your research about it. Mack also offered us a night in a hotel in Arusha on the 3rd day as our plane left the day after. The hotel was ok for one night but the area is not really touristic. To sum up, great experience, I really recommend this trip!
FR
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Excellent Safari
I went on a 3 days Safari in Mikumi Parc and it was marvelous !
The trip has been meticulously handled by Vivian who is a very friendly and accomodating person.
All the guides and drivers were cheerful, helpful and made sure that I adventured a lot ! And my god, I was blown away by the landscapes of this area, animals (especialy lions) and food !
I highly recommend this agency !
65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
Well prepared, patient,informed and fun.
Wine, Stars and Wildflowers was a fantastic trip from start to finish. There's no problem whether you are a group, couple or single and the people we met on the trip made it memorable. We were blessed to see lots of flowers and our guides,Nicky Morris and Eugene shared their passion abundantly. All accommodation and food was good and our vehicle very comfortable. Plenty of loo and coffee breaks along the way. Hennie ,Andy and Charles did make this trip fantastic. Thank you.
ES
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Wonderful experience.
The journey has been wonderful. They are very professional. Paul, a great driver. Always doing everything possible to see all the animals, and as close as possible. It has been one of the best experiences of my life. Totally recommended. Professionalism, confidence, great driver, a lot of experience as a guide and an exceptional and very fun treatment. Totally recommended
US
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Well oiled, profesionally run operation
We had a fantastic experience with these guys: the whole safari was very well organized, communication was always easy, quick, professional, the lodges were very good (especially Marera). Our guide and driver, David Simba, is an experienced and very lucky guy when it comes to spot animals in the plain and in the trees! We definitively got our money's worth!