50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Excellent on safari, not so good in the pre-trip organisation
We booked a three night Serengeti safari, through Golden Trips Tanzania. First thing to say, is that Dan, our guide and driver was fantastic. Freindly and knowledgable, he did everything he could to give us an amazing experience, and it was fantastic, and none of what I talk about below was his fault. He was brilliant.
However, the arrangements before we got to Tanzania is another story. At first the company was great. Very flexible when costing up different scenarios and happy to suggest lodges and areas to visit. Great. We ended up booking a three night trip, flying into the Serengeti on day one, and flying out of Arusha on day four. We paid a deposit early, then we had to pay 40% deposit three months before the trip, as they had to book the flights, so needed the cash - no problem.
The issues started about two weeks before the trip. I had to really press hard to get any update on the flight bookings, sending multiple messages asking for the fligth details and the tickets. But five days before we left for Africa, they 'suggested' a different flight on day four. At that point, it became clear that although they'd had my money for three months, no flight had been booked. I was able to look at the flight they originally told me we'd be on, on the airlines web-site, and it was fully booked. So I had to agree to a different flight. They told me it was because the airline had changed it's schedule, but the web-sie said otherwise. Nothing I could at that point, so we had to take the change.
The next issue came the day before we left for Africa, when they contacted me suggesting a change of accomodation on the second night, as it would be 'easier' for us and give us a better experiance. Again, I suspect the real reason behind the change was that they had failed to book the second night at all. I know that because that day I emailed the three accomodations we were due to stay at under the original plan, and received a confirmation from two of them, but not the third. There was no booking. As you might imagine, this caused a significant amount of stress, 24 hours before leaving for the trip.
During the correspondance on the flight and the accomodation, I kept getting apologies and promises that they would do everything to make the experience amazing when I arrived in Africa. Which brings me to the last issue. We arrived at the Serengeti airstrip at 8am on day one, along with lots of other people, who were all meeting their various guides from different tour operators. Over the course of an hour, every other group had been picked up, while myself and my family were still waiting. Even the airport staff started asking us why we were still there. I had to message the company numerous times during the wait and they kept promising the guide was 5, 10, 15 mins away. The guide eventually turned up 90 minutes late, and told us that there had been a mix up in the bookings and the company had originally sent him to a different airstrip to pick up a different group, before contacting him and turnign him around.
So in summary, fine on initial contact and organisation, total nightmare in the two weeks leading up to the trip, brilliant while on the ground in the Serengeti.
65+ years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Review about Ngorongoro Crater by David Evans
Too many vehicles no bush vibe
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Satisfactory transfer service
Miscommunication between booking agency and transfer service which resulted in the driver arriving half an hour early. Outward bound driver was attentive but took a scenic route and drove too quickly for the conditions. Only one comfort stop, instead of the two mentioned in the itinerary. Home bound driver was overly friendly and enthusiastic, and although a competent driver, had to be asked to refrain from using and looking at his mobile phone while driving. Service ran half an hour late.
Very little knowledge
Coffee and lunch experience were nice.
A thing to do with Addis and history was not informative, I was reading what was written in the museum. I understand it was Sunday but there are few things to see in Addis which are outdoors. I think very much depends on the tour guide you get.
I hope they will improve the service going forward.
65+ years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Review about Lake Manyara National Park by Kaye
Didn't see so many animals. Went on a walking safari and saw almost nothing - but it was good to get out of the vehicle and walk in the bush
DE
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
It's going ok
Very good tour guide and driver. Amazing scenery, very good food! We saw all the animals, from elephants, lions, zebras, hypos etc. Quite poor organisation by African Flower, problems with payments, last tour to Kilimanjaro was cancelled as there was no time to do it in the given time. Did not get the money back. Poor information about details, start times, end times. Unrealistic time planning.
US
65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
Very knowledgeable
Tour operator communicated well with other operators for sightings. Was hoping to see Lions but was disappointed that did not see any. Most animals were in the bush difficult to see.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amazing and a shambles at the same time.
Our Safari was mid-range so some of our experience may not apply if you are booking Budget or Luxury. I will add that I did also make repeated attempts to reach out to Safari360 after our experience to pass on feedback but never heard back. I don't think they are interested in repeat business.
The Shambles:
On our first day we were told by our guide that we would be collected from our lodge in Arusha at 7am. However by 7.45am we had still heard nothing, and no guide had arrived. We had to ask the front desk at the hotel to call the office for us which they were helpful in doing. They told us someone would come for us soon but it was another half an hour later when another guide arrived who was also taking another group to Tarangire. The plan was for us to meet our guide Naiman inside Tarangire. When we met up with Naiman in Tarangire the first thing we noticed was that he was not in uniform like Wakari and wasn't in uniform for any of the days he was with us. This was a stark contrast to all of the guides we would see on the road at the rest stops, all of whom seemed to be in uniform. The second thing was that Naiman had not been provided with our itinerary and asked us where we were going. On the first night and also on another subsequent night I had to navigate Naiman via Google Maps to reach the accommodation because he had no idea where we were supposed to go. While I didn't mind doing this it was not the service we had paid for, we had assumed we would be able to relax while our guide navigated us to the accommodation points. Another frustrating point was that in the truck we were picked up in, the power point was at the front of the vehicle and easily accessible. However in our eventual truck it was right at the back and much harder to access. If we sat at the back while the phone charged we couldn't hear what useful information our guide was telling us about the animals. Our biggest issue with the truck however was the size of the windows which were much smaller than pretty much every single truck we observed at the rest stops. I've attached photos to demonstrate the struggle for someone to constantly be leaning forward to sight animals which was quite uncomfortable. My wife who is smaller than me had the very same issue and she is only 5 ft 4.
The food: The food at 2 of our lodges was fantastic, however very poor at the other 2 lodges. The packed lunches were dreadful.
The Amazing:
Naiman - Our guide Naiman was extremely skilled on the challenging roads and we're very grateful that we never got a flat tyre. He was also extremely knowledgeable about the animals and we really enjoyed his company. We saw the vast majority of animals that we wanted to see and have to give Naiman lots of credit for that.
Naiman is a nice person with a friendly manner and is clearly an extremely hard worker. He works very long hours and on one occasion at the end of a long day after dropping us off he had to go and get the truck fixed which would have made his day even longer.
There was another occasion when there was an issue with the breaks on the truck and we went to a mechanic and Naiman was also getting his hands dirty helping to fix the car. He has a very positive can do attitude that is a huge benefit to Safari360.
This was also evident when on our final day Air Tanzania moved our flight from Arusha to Kilimanjaro airport at very short notice. Even though this added 3 hours travel time to Naiman's day that was unplanned, he still took us to JRO airport which really was such a lifesaver for us! I also really want to thank Safari360 for accommodating this.
On the whole if you book with Safari360 these guys will do a solid job and you will have a great time. However I do believe that there will be better options out there. In some respects the service was lacklustre, in other respects they really went above and beyond for us, so this was a challenging review to write.
BO
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Review about Tarangire National Park by Marcelo Garcia
Didnt see all the animals
CN
65+ years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Disappointing arrangement
This is a very disappointing trip. The most important purpose of our visit to Tanzania is to see the animal migration of the Mara River. This wish has been explained to the travel agency more than two months in advance. Although we arranged to go to the Mara River for a day to watch the animal migration, it took eight hours to go back and forth from our residence more than 200 kilometers away from the Mara River, which we didn't know in advance. It was already ten o'clock in the morning at the Mara River. After waiting for three hours, the driver drove away and we didn't see anything. Later, we learned that wildebeest crossing the river usually ends before 9 o'clock.
This arrangement is frustrating.
Not recommended.