7-Day Essential Safari (Simba)

Vincent was the most knowledgeable, helpful, engaging and entertaining guide in east Africa.

I am delighted to have this opportunity to provide a review for Natamani Safaris! My approach will be to provide an excerpt from one of my daily texts back home to give you a sense for a day with our amazing guide Vincent (owner) on Safari. For context I went on an 8 day trip (Safari in 3 parks Tarangire, Ngorongoro, and Serengeti, and a village tour) and it was myself and my teenage daughter.

Jambo (Swahili for hello) from the Serengeti!

Today included a drive past Ngorongoro Crater to the central Serengeti. I had it in my mind that this would really be a travel day so I prepared myself for watching empty plains and dust….by the end of the journey I hope I show some sign of a capacity to learn. Today was absolutely epic yet again.

We started out traveling through the heavy mist along the crater rim before dipping down and out onto the plains. En route to the plains we saw what have become staples: giraffes feeding on acacia trees, ostriches, zebras along with Masai out herding goats, sheep, and cows. Any thought that I might get tired of this has long been out the window.

Before we set out onto the plains we stopped at a junction near the Olduvai Gorge. There was some basic info there on the amazing anthropological finds that occurred nearby.

Along the plains we enjoyed viewing Thompson’s and Grants Gazelles, more giraffes, ostriches, secretary bird, Kory bustards, elephants, hippos, wharthogs etc. it’s surreal to see and enjoy these amazing animals during a causal drive through the plains. Things started to get really interesting on the lion front. They were everywhere. We saw several in trees (did everyone know they hang out in trees and didn’t tell me?). We saw several laying on their backs again. Some were less than 10 feet from our jeep and one tree dwelling individual was having an intense stare down with a giraffe.

On the new species front we added two new members of the bovinae family (ruminants that include antelope and buffalo - yes sciencey nerd here). We added the Hartebeest and Topi - two beautiful creatures larger than gazelles but smaller than a wildebeest. Of particular note were the amazing horns of the Hartebeest.

We saw the lesser seen long tailed mongoose and had two separate sitings of the serval cat. This is a solitary cat similar in size to the bobcat. It hunts at night using its sharp and larger ears to help it hear potential prey. It is stunning and while we were fortunate enough to have a couple really nice looks they quickly disappeared in the bush.

The pinnacle however was a leopard. He was appropriately up in a tree until he decided to do an incredibly satisfying looking stretch and head out. This completes our ‘big 5’. Still hoping for cheetah and croc (Vincent found both for us on the following day). Honestly though if I left today my trip has been made several times over. It is so far beyond checklists.

Our lodge consists of beautiful tented cabins. Talk about glamping!!! They even put hot water bottles in our beds at night - ignoring the fact that it is still like 70 degrees out. They also serenaded the guests in the dining room with a song called Jambo - welcoming us all to Tanzania. There was dancing after that which included all their staff, guests and the Masai.

Alright - I’m hoping that provides a good picture. Vincent grew up around the parks and knows all the best viewing spots and his incredible knowledge about the plants and animals along the way can’t be matched. He is connected throughout Tanzania and Kenya and even helped coordinate the second leg of our trip which was to Zanzibar. Going on safari with Vincent is the equivalent of hitting the easy button. You can customize anyway you want (we added a hot air balloon ride) and he handles all the details. Our trip couldn’t have been more amazing. Five stars!!!! Thank you Vincent.