

50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Attention! Unprofessional safari company, The boss begged my daughter to delete her negative review!
I know it's a very long review. I hope you will read until the end. The purpose is I just want to tell people the truth about this company. My personal opinion is completely different than all positive reviews here.
Since there’re many positive reviews here, we decided to go for Focus. At the beginning, the communication between me and Nelson (the owner I guess) was smooth. He wanted us to pay 25% deposit to confirm the booking. We insisted to pay only 10%. He agreed. The entire fee was $1700 for two persons 5D4N budget safari with jeep.
On arrival, their driver picked us up at the airport and dropped us to their assigned hostel “Arusha Safari Hostel”. Since we booked budget tour, so we didn’t expect that much. Although google reviews show that the hostel has 4.1 stars, from our point of view, I would only rate 1. The staff who opened the gate at midnight (we had night flight) was kind of piss off that we somehow woke him up. Our private room with bathroom is very small. The toilet light is ridiculously dim. The worst is we needed 2 sim cards and we didn’t have time to go downtown to get. So we asked the hostel staff what time do the telecom shops open? He said he could send a staff from vodacom to the hostel. This person was wearing vodacome T-Shirt, he had also machine for registration. So we believed that he works for vodacome. At the end, we paid $60 for two cards which is a lot but we had no choice. After that, I checked on internet, two SIM cards should cost less. We paid too much and I texted that vodacom guy, he ignored my messages. So we are pretty sure that we were ripped off.
On our first safari day, we met Nelson personally. I was going to pay him the balance of the tour fee which is $1600. I kept $1700 aside including $100 for the tip. So I counted only $1500 after taking the $100 out in front of Nelson, I asked him to count to make sure, he counted and confirmed it was just $1500. But I was pretty sure I kept $1700 aside. There must have $1600 in total. I counted again, thank god it was $1600.
We were supposed to go with Brideson. He picked us up and he seemed to be very kind. He told us that he would be our jeep driver. At last minute, another driver Dickson has been swapped.
We proceeded to Tarangire National Park, one the way, there was smoke coming from the cockpit area. Of course we had to stop. We drove to a garage and luckily we could still proceed.
Dickson didn't give us briefing at all before we started the safari. So we all didn't really know elephants are very aggressive and we should never try to touch or make any noise in front of them. (We knew it because we just learned from our other safari tour. One of our group members who is from Ethiopia hit one elephant and made noise, I said it loud "don't touch!" We are in danger if the elephant get mad. Dickson has heard this but didn't say anything. We were speechless. We arrived our first camp, Dickson told us (we are 7 people in the tour, but 1 guy stayed at the lodge)
At dinner, Dickson was supposed to give us briefing but he has never shown up. One of our group members tried to find him by the help of the camp staff as we have no idea what time should we wake up, breakfast and start time.
On the first day in Serengeti, we all hope to see big five. My daughter and me had safari experience in Kenya, so we know that the drivers use walkie talkie to communicate each other. Once an animal has been seen, all drivers drive there. Dickson didn't use the walkie talkie although there is one in his seat. I asked him why didn't you use? He answered „he doesn't need because he has experience".
We were skeptical about it and we still have hope. We saw many animals but no leopard. At night in the camp, people talked to each other and we figured it out many groups have seen leopard but we didn't. We were very angry because Dickson refused to use walkie talkie and of course disappointed.
The rest of our safari was just nightmare. As I mentioned there is one guy from Ethiopia. He is the only one on our group to stay in the lodge. So we have pretty much different wake up and pick up times. On the 2nd day game drive in Serengeti we all wanted to wake up earlier in order to catch the sunrise and hope to see leopard. Dickson told him already his pick up time, since we know other groups have seen the leopard on the first day so we all agree to leave to the game drive half to one hour earlier. So we suggested Dickson to phone the Ethiopian guy at the lodge. Next day when he got into the jeep, he asked Dickson, "who came the idea to wake up so early? My daughter said “all of us” After that he said to Dickson, “next time I will beat you up “. Dickson didn’t respond. At the end we left Serengeti with disappointment without seeing leopard.
Next day our whole group wanted to wake up earlier but the Ethiopian guy insisted to wake up after 7am. We the whole group including Dickson (I empathize he is the representative of Focus of Africa" and the Ethiopian guy were standing in the camp among many other tourists. He started to argue with us because he didn’t agree to wake up before 7am as his lodge is 1.5 hours away from where we stayed. He insulting us like leave “my” country although he isn’t from Tanzania few bad words. He shouted at all of us “you fxxking white people go back to your countries and stuff like that. At the end we all told Dickson we don't want to travel with this guy anymore and asked if he could talk to the boss. Next day as planned we left our camp with a compromised meeting time and pick up point (someone will pick up the Ethiopian guy and bring him to an intersection.
At the meeting time he didn't show up, we proceeded to our game drive without him and we were all very happy. Unfortunately some hours later he joined us again. I understand that a travel agency could not choose who is joining the group. What I wanted to say is, Dickson as the representative of the tour, he should have done better with communication with the company and express our concerns. He told us he did but the company cannot do anything. Our group has spilt today as most of them finished their tour and we proceeded to our final game drive.
On our last day me and my daughter knew that one Japanese guy at the same camp is going to join us. One more person is missing, we don't know who is going to join. We asked Dickson, who is going to join us? He surprisingly responded us “don’t worry, she is WHITE”. We were speechless, we never say any bad things about any color, we respect all human and we’re shocked to hear his response.
Finally our tour came to an end. My daughter and me will fly to our next stop, she will hike later in kilimanjaro. She needs altitude pill from pharmacy. Dickson brought us to the meeting point to meet the driver to the airport. Someone from Focus took my daughter to the pharmacy, the pills costed $22 for one single pack. After that we were in Zansibar, we went to two pharmacies, both charge the pill only $1-1.5 for the same amount of pills. Was it another scam?
Go back to the story at the beginning, here is my conclusion::
The cooperated hostel is taking advantage of their guests for instance providing extremely expensive sim card service. Was it a coincidence?
Money counting could be a coincidence but also could be on purpose, we will never know
They don't care how the whole group feel, they just ignore our demands. Instead of separating the whole group and one individual person, they insisted to put us together for the rest of our tour which is unacceptable. At the end nobody could enjoy our last day. Nelson has blamed me about not telling him before. In fact, Dickson should have communicated with the company.
Was it a coincidence that their staff ripped my daughter off due to the 20 times more expensive pills?
My daughter has written a negative review here, I didn't know it and Nelson wrote me one day via WhatsApp and asked why am I doing this? I told him I still haven't gotten the time to write. He beg me to convince my daughter to delete her review and offered me a partial refund. I forwarded the message to my daughter, we both agreed that we could only accept full refund. Money is for us important but unfortunately money cannot buy us the time back. Nelson trying to persuade me for the partial refund by making me uncomfortable, saying that the negative reviews will lead to a bankruptcy of his company, unemployment and family financial difficulties.
Their jeep has broken down for at least 5 to 6 times for our entire trip. On the last day, we got flat tire and Dickson said it’s safe to proceed.
Dickson didn’t really care about the group, we were taking photos, he didn’t ask if we are done and just started driving
Sometimes we saw animals and wanted to take pictures, he didn’t stop and keep driving until we said please stop.
At all briefing times Dickson was always disappeared.
Dickson didn’t deserve to receive so much tips from the whole group, he then gave us hard time about this.

20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
The best tour operator
I highly recommend Porcupine Expeditions. We were on safari for 4 days 3 nights (Tarangire, Serngetti, Ngonkoro - budget option (in tents and a car shared with other tourists). The safari was amazing and we saw all the animals we wanted to see.
But most of all I would like to thank Mrs. Anna, who is amazing woman. Very caring and helped us with everything. Mrs. Anna picked us up from the airport and took us to the hotel from which we were leaving for safari the next morning. In the meantime, Mrs. Anna prepared a hearty meal for us in her restaurant. We also wanted to take advantage of the fact that we have a few hours in Arusha and visit the immediate area. Mrs. Anna's daughter showed us around the city and told us a lot of interesting stories. Only during the tour we found out that Abigale is a guide and that's why she has such amazing knowledge. Thank you, Abi!!!. Additionally, Mrs. Anna arranged and activated a local SIM card for us, ordered bus tickets for us while we were on safari and provided us with great care. We returned from the safari around 5 p.m. and the bus was at 8 p.m. Mrs. Ania arranged for us to take a bath after the safari in the hotel next door, prepared a meal for us again and then took us to the bus.
I will also add that Porcupine Expeditions offered us the best price of all and I compared the offers of 20 agencies. I highly recommend it again. You won't find a better company

35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amazing experience in Tsavo East and Tahita Hills.
Thank you Mercy and Francis for making this experience just great! Communications with Africa Marvel Tours was perfect, after checking many other we definitely trusted Mercy and team for her availability and fast reactions.
First hours in Tsavo our driver Francis brought us to a spot where lions could be and we were so lucky to see a lioness right in front of us!!!
We slept at Sentrim camp on a beautiful open view builded tent, food was amazing and the private environment really resonated with the experience.
That day we also spotted very close by hyenas, buffalos, zebras, giraffes, elephants.
Second day we begin seeing 3 sleeping lions and many others before going to Tahita Hills where we really enjoyed the more green areas and variety of landscape. But the best part was on our last day where another lioness crossed our path and was so close to our jeep.
Highly reccommed to upgrade on a open roof Land Cruiser and to have a private safari experience,

35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amazing Tour company - Andrew was 🤩
Great company who coordinates an itinerary specific to your needs and the time of year you’re there. Our guide Andrew was amazing - he’s very experienced and keen to please - we saw 10 lions per day and saw all of the big 5! He was enthusiastic, knowledgeable and funny! He also troubleshot issues as they arose and advocated for us to ensure we had the best experience on safari and with our lodging. Amazing experience overall! Delicious food!

35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
absolutely fantastic attentive efficient and super helpful and experienced
We did an amazingly well curated safari that took us first from Materuni where we did a short but lovely hike to a beautiful waterfall followed by a visit to a coffee plantation and authentic local lunch with delicious food. This was a nice start before gng to the parks
Visited Tarangire first then Ndutu and then Southern Serengeti and then Ngorongoro conservation area and finally the coolest spot which is the Ngorongoro crater.
From the very beginning of planning the trip at this particular time etc. Serengeti wakanda were very attentive and helpful and advised us extremely well on what places to visit and routes and accommodation.
We saw awesome things every single day and had honestly the best experience ever mostly because of our AMAZING guide Andrew.
From the beginning Andrew was wonderful. Friendly very attentive welcoming and very funny. He took amazing care of us wherever we went, making sure we were comfortable and made each game drive so fun and worked really hard to make sure we spotted as many animals as possible. Your guide makes ur trip and our trip would not have been half as good if not for him. He's smart very capable and has loads of experience having done this for almost 10 years and dad being a ranger for 25 years he's grown up with so much experience .
Highly recommend Serengeti Wakanda and more than that Andrew as the guide. I can't recommend him more highly. If we could do a safari again it would only be with him as our guide. He is really the best. Thank you S. Wakanda and thank you Andrew! :)
We wanted a special holiday and Dan definitely made that happen tks Transtrek for a perfect service
Tony well what amazing guide your 29 years experience shine through there mate like everyone says he knows everything and gets you that perfect picture and memories the accommodation sopa lodge and basecamp 5⭐️ all day long really look after you and staff have a great sense of humour we saw so much wildlife
A big thankyou to Tony for making our 4 days the best tks mate
And Tony (Strauss) 😂
We will definitely be coming back
Wayne & Natalia 🏴🇺🇦
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Perfect holiday, immaculate planning, highly recommend to anyone
I had been doing my own investigations for taking the family on Safari for my wife's 50th birthday for some 18 months before talking to Clyde through a mutual acquaintance. I wish i had met him 18 months prior as it would have saved me a lot of time researching and changing my mind about where and what to go and do.
TMA were quite fantastic at planning, preparing and handholding us through our Safari experience and checked in with us through the trip had we needed them, though we didn't. We had a couple of zooms and a in person meeting before our trip where Clyde told us everything we needed to know and think about and left us very excited about our Safari. We had a 7 day safari in Tanzania followed by 5 days in a beach resort in Zanzibar over Xmas 2023.
The execution of the safari itself was perfect and nothing was left to chance. Our guide, was knowledgeable, passionate about Tanzania, wildlife and left a lasting impression on us, i got the feeling that that wouldn't be uncommon with any of the established guides out there. it's difficult to see how the safari could be improved on, we literally saw everything, counting 62 different animals in total which was mind-blowing as the animals felt very content and very much in the wild. We kept on the move through the National parks, Ngorongoro crater, serengeti and Marshlands so nothing ever felt repetitive and every day felt like a fresh experience. Going at Xmas we were in the middle of the wildebeast migration which made for a truly evocative experience, all of the staff whether lodges, or camps were very friendly, welcoming and we felt entirely safe and at ease through the whole trip.
Zanzibar was the perfect rest bite after long days in the safari truck and our resort, T'he pongwe beach hotel' was quite perfect for us, unpretentious with staggeringly friendly staff and immaculately maintained and not like some of the flashier more sterile resorts that were on offer. Zanzibar itself i felt has been sadly hit hard by tourism and would liken it to the more populus areas or Bali or Thailand but that didn't matter in the confines of our resort so if you accept that for what it is then all fine (though a crying shame)
Other things to note, tipping is a big thing, be prepared for that but TMA will give you guidance on that, if your not into Tanzanite set your stall out early with the guide, we dropped in on an orphange bringing some gifts of footballs and school stationary and cash donations which was really memorable and offset some of our western tourist guilt.
All in all it was everything i had hoped for and more and Tailor made Africa and Clyde were a huge part of that coming together. Look no further if planning a trip.

35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
They are absolutely professional and an amazing tour guide who understand your needs for comfort
Paws and Claws Safaris immediately understood my objective to have a fascinating travel and tour experience in view of what I was looking forward too.
They had a perfect and beautiful tour plan and a comfort that amazed me, considering the cost paid against the premium service delivered.
Even when I made ad hoc request to move around, I got the most cost-effective charges and pro bono services offered through the sacrifices of Paws and Claws.
They are indeed an amazing Team to have.

35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great service, suited safari for our needs and wonderful guide
I've started communicating with Winfrida several months before safari. Everything went smooth, received fair price and got adjustments for our stays. She kept in touch until last minute we've met our guide.
Our guide Eliya was great, sadly we clicked only in the end of our trip but nevertheless he was great. Stopped everywhere we needed, tried to get best spots near animals and speed up to our lodges. Highly recommended guide.
Safari was 4 days - 3 nights, right amount of time to enjoy safari and we saw big 5.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
perfect and he had chosen magnificent places to visit. The information he gave was reliable to me.
I took a 7day tour and it was fantastic. They have a polite way of communicating with the tourist in which i was impressed with. The cost of the tour was not overpriced according to the places we visited. The service was excellently done and i have no complains to that. The tour was fantastic and magnificent, i could not believe my eyes. I loved the nature. The information they gave of every place we visited was reliable and it was not difficult for me to identify everything as per the itinerary indicated.