CA
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Incredible experice with the best guide on a private tour
I researched tours for weeks before we decided on CATS for our honeymoon. We stayed one night at Lake Nakuru Lion Hill Sarova (in a little cabin) and two nights at Mara Sarova (in a canvas tent). Sarova is a high-end hotel chain and CATS gives you a great price considering all you get for the trip. Huge buffet for every meal, outstanding accommodations. Swimming pools, darts, pool tables, mosquito protection, stunning and immaculate grounds, friendly staff, excellent cocktails. Both lodges have a spa.
I can’t say enough good things about our driver, Duncan (Ndegwa). He has been delivering these tours for 14 years, and is extremely knowledgeable about the parks and wildlife. We were on this trip specifically for animals and my husband is a biologist. We would ask one question about a giraffe and he would be able to share a full range of knowledge from the species throughout Kenya and Africa to how to tell them apart, to gestation and lifespans. Outstanding. He was an excellent driver despite chaotic Kenyan roads. He was respectful of the wildlife, maintaining a respectful distance from animals while getting us close enough to take amazing photos. Other drivers would pull up three feet from a lion’s sleeping face for their tourists to take their pics, and it was horrible. We even saw a bunch of safari vehicles herding a large group of wildebeest purposely at a croc-filled river for the photo opp and we appreciated that our driver didn’t participate. He also stuck to the trails as you’re supposed to. He was excellent at spotting wildlife, from distant rhinos to discreet leopards to snoozing camouflaged lion cubs. We appreciated this even more after we did a three-hour tour with a guide from another company in Nairobi National Park, and that guide couldn’t spot any animals and had little knowledge of species or park management. Duncan ensured we stopped at safe places and even took us on a sensible detour on the drive back to Nairobi to avoid a serious accident (and extensive wait) on a main highway. We have amazing photos! Note: your guide will stop to talk to other guides to discuss sightings.
On our next trip, we would skip Lake Nakuru and head straight to Maasai Mara, as it's a very long drive to both and between the two parks.
Note that the road from Nairobi to Maasai Mara is ~170 kms but takes 5 hours, and the 2 hours or so near the park aren’t paved. And because they are in the process of paving it, you can’t drive on the gravel road, you have to drive on a temporary side road which has large boulders instead of the small crushed gravel we’re used to at home and it’s a very slow, jarring drive, no matter what vehicle you’re in. Motion-sick people beware! Next time, we'll book the land cruiser instead of the van, as they have better suspension.
Overall we had a wonderful honeymoon adventure and are eternally grateful to Joyce for booking us exceptional accommodations and going the extra mile, and Duncan, for being the greatest guide and helping us stamp our Big-5 bingo card.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Truly amazing experience!
Aron communicated to use via whatsapp which made it so much easier - he was very efficient with his responses and happy to answer the countless questions we had before we even booked the trip! After booking, he laid out a clear itinerary and followed up to ensure we were aware of the process etc and also put us in touch with our driver, Martin beforehand.
Martin was very prompt with picking us up from our hotel. He drove us from Kigali to Bwindi National Park, helping with the border crossing. He was great company and knowledgeable about Kigali, Rwanda, Uganda etc and happy to share his wisdom.
The tour itself is once in a lifetime experience - we trekked for about 2 hours before finding the gorillas. The guide & porters, again, were extremely helpful and knowledgeable.
Thanks Safari 2 Gorillas Tours!
US
50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Silas was absolutely AMAZING!
Our first tour with Silas and Free Africa Tours & Safaris Ltd was in March 2018.
And we were so very impressed with Silas that we came back with other groups in August 2018, March 2019, August 2019 and again in October 2019. And we are going back again in March 2020.
Silas is the consummate professional. My entire group appreciated his knowledge of all aspects of the safari and trip.
Silas's knowledge of the animals, where and when to find each one, and his integrity and trustworthiness is superior.
We had previously taken safaris with other organizations. And whereas those other organizations did a decent job, they were far too big of a company to give the intimate level of experience that Silas and Free Africa Tours & Safaris Ltd is able to provide.
I highly recommend Silas and Free Africa Tours & Safaris Ltd for everyone that is looking to experience the best that Africa has to offer.
Craig E. Hacche - (Co Founder - AnswerAfrica.org)
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Quality safari tour at a budget price.
The safari always provided everything you needed and planned everything out. Accomadation and meals were satisfactory. The safari tour itself was near perfect. All on a very cheap price.
US
50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Excellent safari, and Ute Sonnenberg is a true professional
Our safari in Botswana and visit to Zimbabwe were outstanding experiences. What I want to write most about is how patiently and well Ute Sonnenberg guided us through our choices beforehand and how she was always there for us during the safari. This was our first time going with a custom safari, but I do have considerable knowledge of Africa, so I do have some perspective. Ute has DEEP knowledge of African safari planning and experience. She also was acutely attuned to us. She listened carefully to what we wanted and always followed our wishes, providing guidance and information and never pushing us in other directions. Everything she said in advance turned out to be completely correct. Ute answered every call and email promptly, and when the inevitable minor glitches occurred, she was quickly on the line to provide advice and help. We will go unhesitatingly with her when planning our next safari. As a word to others when planning your safaris, I would suggest doing what Ute helped us decide: go mostly to private reserves/concessions rather than national parks, splash out for at least one higher-end concession safari experience, and have a night or two's rest after arrival before going on safari. And don't always be on the hunt for the big five because that is just box-checking ... by all means choose one concession that has most of these wonderful iconic animals, but also vary your experience with water and desert camps. Lastly, but also firstly, thank you Ute! You will be hearing from us again!
NZ
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
We had a wonderful, interesting tour that gave us a great insight into this beautiful country
We thoroughly enjoyed our tour with Senait. We had a few requests of places we wanted to visit and they created a wonderful tour for us, it included a good range of interesting cultural experiences, we learnt about the fascinating history of Ethiopia as we as having time to adventure in nature. Senait was very professional in their organisation and communication with us. Our tour guide was very friendly and informative through out the trip, he really made us feel welcome in his country and explained a lot about the culture along the way. This trip exceeded our expectations and we wouldn't hesitate to recommend them for people wanting to explore Ethiopia.
US
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amazing Experience.
So I did a safari with Happy Moments this past September and can honestly say it was one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. The guides were incredible. They were not only friendly and accommodating, they were so knowledgeable and experienced. It was everything I could wish for and more. I highly recommend these guys. I saw so many of the large animals and was able to get up close and personal with them. From he moment I booked until they dropped me off for my flight home (such a sad moment), I felt like I was in expert hands. Their communication is impeccable and I have even remained in communication with one of my guides to this day. They are just great people who went out of their way to make sure the experience was first class. I will probably do this again in the near future and I have already recommended them to my friends back home. I miss you guys! Thanks for everything Happy Moments.
GR
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amazing safari experience
The safari experience(3day,2nights in Serengeti and Ngorongoro crater) we had was amazing. The communication with Paul was really good. He answered all my questions and he replied really quickly in all my messages. Our driver and guide(his name is Deo) and our chef(his name is Tuma) made their best for us to have the best safari experience. And we saw all the big 5 and many many other animals!
CA
Poor response from trip coordinator
The safari team and onsite crew were perfect and extremely friendly. All 3 Tanzania safari experiences were 5 star in service, sites, food etc.
In Zanzibar I had an issue with room. The staff were unresponsive. But to make matters worse the trip coordinator did not respond to three of my emails. I would recommend Asilia but probably use a different coordinator in case of emergencies or issues during trip. Feel free to contact me with detail.
SG
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
She planned everything keeping us in mind and ensuring everything was smooth and pleasurable.
Tanja was very easy to communicate to. She did not hard sell or pressure us to engage her services, which I appreciated much as I was planning this trip admist a very busy time at work. She worked within our budget and ensured that we got to do the activities we had in mind. Thank you Tanja for planning a memorable trip!