CA
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Review about Kruger National Park by Danny Horan
Our guide kept to the paved roads, no bush vibe per say, wildlife was everywhere that was a treat.
US
65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
Unbelievable Safari
We were lucky enough to see the big seven. The weather was great. The tent lodges were exceptional. Very clean and comfortable. Our guide David Mushi knew how to spot the wildlife from a great distance. He always put us into position to see the animals up close. The people of Tanzania are very happy and friendly. Overall a phenomenal experience.
CA
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Entertaining, eye opening.
Viva Safari did a fairly good job, I should qualify that my budget did not allow me to be to demanding , the guides were recent graduates, very friendly, but they never left the paved roads in the park, pretty much anyone could have rented a car and did what we did and saw what we saw.
AE
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
So good I have done my "once in a lifetime" trip THREE times now!
Kenya has such variety of places to visit that you need to prioritize if you don't have a long time or a budget that allows you to fly from park to park. Most of the lodging out in the parks has seen a lot of traffic, so they can look a bit worn out, but the staff is always wonderful! Two of my visits were over Christmas/New Year's week and though there were definitely people out, it wasn't disruptive to the trip. Of course you will get loads of vans clustered together if you are lucky enough to spot a leopard and even lions draw a handful of vans. But other times we felt like the only van around!!
Memorable safari experience
Every part of our trip was up to our expectations. Transportation was clean and comfortable and our driver Ali was the perfect companion
IE
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
A flawlessly organised trip for our group of 9
We used Etrip for our 6 day trip (9 adults total - extended family and significant others). We looked at a number of companies but ultimately chose Etrip due to their useful advice on tailoring our trip and the detailed price breakdown they provided which gave us a lot of comfort on the price we were paying.
We were coming from Zanzibar and wanted to squeeze as much as possible out of our time in Tanzania so on Aurelie's suggestion we flew to Seronora airstrip. While not cheap this proved an inspired decision as it avoided the need to retrace our steps and meant we saw something new every single day.
We were met at the airport by our guides David and Aladdin who were with us for the full six days from the Serengeti through ngorongoro, lake manyara and Tarangire. I'm not sure I could appropriately describe the quality of these two gentlemen. David was our guide (we had two jeeps) and was a wonderful companion on our trip. David had endless knowledge of the areas we visited and the behaviour of the animals. Time and again he found interesting experiences for us to enjoy and we never felt rushed. He is a very gentle soul who clearly is very popular with the other guides as he was met with smiles everywhere he went. Your guide is in my view the most important part of your trip (you'll ultimately spend almost every waking hour with them!) and Etrip have two very special ones here.
Vehicles were excellent. Given the hard life they live in the Tanzanian "roads" having new well maintained vehicles is essential and etrips stacked up extremely well (we saw the vehicles of almost every company and these were right at the top end).
Accommodation was solid throughout and we had no complaints. Although for anyone planning a safari I would say that in hindsight, I would rank accommodation as a lower priority. The high end camps are lovely but when you're out all the day you only get a very limited chance to enjoy them. Therefore if you want to manage your budget, I'd still recommend putting the money into a quality tour guide / operator like Etrip and maybe downgrade the accommodation.
We were flying out from Kilimanjaro airport at 2 o'clock on our final day. Helpfully Etrip offered us access to their hotel guesthouse in Arusha to shower, rest and eat before our flight. Our group found this to be a lifesaver (it's no fun getting on a 12 hour flight sweaty and hungry after a day's safari!). For anyone flying out of JRO airport, I'd rank this as a huge advantage.
One last thing I should comment on is the company's lack of presence on TripAdvisor. This originally caused us a lot of concern. Sending a large deposit is nerve wracking when the recipient isn't on the worlds standard (for better or worse) review site. While I wouldn't necessarily agree with their approach from a business point of view, their rationale is explained on the company's website. All I can say is that our experience with them was uniformly excellent. Guides, transport, logistics and accommodation were top notch and I would strongly recommend and will be travelling with them again.
US
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Very responsive and responsible tour operator
I had an excellent experience working with Alfred from Let's Go Travel to plan our trip to Uganda. I had already done quite a bit of research and had a good idea where I wanted to go, and Alfred's agency was recommended to me by one of the lodges I wanted to stay at during the trip. Alfred was very responsive to my email inquiries and put together a detailed itinerary for us, beginning in Entebbe and ending in Kigali, Rwanda. We were met at the airport for our very early morning arrival in Entebbe by both a representative of Let's Go Travel and our driver/guide for the next 13 days, Emmy. Our guide was excellent not only as a guide but also as a driver. The roads in Uganda are not in the best shape, and we always felt very safe with Emmy's driving on difficult roads. When I experienced stomach problems during the trip, our guide was very solicitous and helped us visit a pharmacy to get some medication. The Let's Go Vehicle was comfortable and had working air conditioning, which was very useful on some of the dirt roads when we needed to close the windows because the roads were very dusty. We had one incident of vandalism to the vehicle that took place during the night; this was not the fault of the tour company but they were able to obtain another vehicle for us to continue our trip with only a short delay, since the original vehicle was no longer usable due to a cracked windshield. I was impressed with how the company was able to handle this unexpected event in a timely and professional way. All of our trekking permits had been secured as promised, and the accommodations that were arranged during our trip were very pleasant. I would definitely recommend Let's Go Travel for anyone planning an adventure in Uganda.
NL
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amazing!!
From Zanzibar i booked a 2-day safari to Leuke Manze camp. What a great experience! Really a back to nature feeling. Spacious tent with an amazing view, very welcoming staff, incredible friendly service, great food and two wunderful days safari with the jeep and boat. With special thanks to Zungu and the guide (sorry, just forget your name) for a few unforgettable days. Next year again!!
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Botswana birding
We spent the first 4 days of our holiday at Royal Tree Lodge in Maun. This lodge has a private game park with antelope zebra and giraffe wandering freely in the estate, with no predators so we were able to walk out safely by ourselves and introduce ourselves to the delights of Botswana birding. This was a lovely restful and relaxing part of the holiday. We then joined a trip with Letaka- a company who specialise in birding tours. We did an 11 day fully serviced mobile safari to Moremi, Khwai, Savuti and Chobe. The vehicle was an open sided 4WD-it was perfect for the terrain and gave us easy open viewing. The vehicle had a refrigerated box for drinks which was much appreciated, as were the daily morning stops for coffee and evening sundowners-always with good bird and animal spotting opportunities. The camping was comfortable and well equipped. We were surprised to find we were the only travellers on this particular trip. Our guide was fantastic-he was knowledgeable, helpful, and friendly and the other 3 camp staff were also great-organised, efficient, cheerful and accommodating and we had a wonderful time. We had plenty of opportunities for photography as well as watching the animals and birds and observing behaviour. Overall our holiday was well organised and lived up to our expectations. We recommend this trip to keen birders and wildlife lovers who might be looking for a different sort of holiday to the usual lodges and hotels.
US
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Justin was amazing.
After trying to coordinate a safari on my own, I eventually sent multiple emails out to several travel companies that had good reviews. The customer service and rates that I received from Justin blew them all away. He was so responsive and helpful, and also super considerate in helping us plan our trip and giving us tips as well. I would absolutely recommend paperjet and Justin!