Sunny Safaris
- Located In:
- Size:
- 100-250 employees (Founded in 1982)
- Member Of:
- TATO & TTB
- Tour Types:
- Customizable private tours and fixed group tours
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $240 to $1,460 per person per day (USD, excl. int'l flights)
Reviews
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Email Swati | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Excellent communication and unforgettable experience for 16 family members ages 7 to 78!
We just returned from an amazing 8 day, 7 night private lodge safari with Sunny Safaris. I would highly recommend Sunny Safaris as your tour operator. When my parents visited Africa in 2011, it was their dream to return with all 7 of their grandchildren which finally came true this summer. We have been working closely with Jessica and her staff since last summer when our family decided to embark upon this journey. Besides price, her prompt and complete email responses was a major deciding factor when choosing a tour operator. We visited Lake Manyara (1), Serengeti (2), Ngorongoro (2), and Tarangire (1). We stayed in Serena lodges except in Tarangire where we stayed in a Sopa lodge. Our first night we stayed in Arusha at Lake Duluti Lodge which was a phenomenal experience. Due to our diverse age range (ages 7 to 78), we decided to include one day of recuperation after the long journey which turned out to be just what we all needed. The rooms and cuisine were beyond our expectation. Saeed was our dining room manager, and he catered to our dining requests. His staff delivered delicious meals beyond our expectation and pampered us with Tanzanian hospitality. All the Serena/Sopa lodges provided us with clean rooms and mosquito nets where needed. Much to our surprise, we didn't see many insects. The bathrooms had hot running water and facilities like home. The lodges were well maintained. All the dining rooms provided 3 to 5 course meals from buffet to off the menu dining with service beyond expectation. All the chefs were attentive to our dining needs, and the staff pampered us with their courteous service. We all enjoyed every meal which is difficult to achieve with a group our size. Our drivers, Abdul, BJ and Edward delivered a memorable safari experience and all the jeeps were well maintained. Our guides were very knowledgeable about the animals, plants, and culture, not only in identification, but also behavior and extra facts about the animals/plants. Because they knew the animals so well, we witnessed the Big 5! What a treat! When you are sifting through the many tour operators, seriously consider Sunny Safaris. They deliver beyond your expectation.
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Email Ashley | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amazing!
My husband and I did an eight-day safari with Sunny Safaris in June and had a wonderful time.
Our guide, Sammy, was excellent. His ability to spot animals was impressive. Where we saw acres of grass, he found lions. Where we saw tree branches, he found cheetahs. He could also answer every question we had about their habitats, lifestyles, hunting and mating habits, etc. We saw 59 lions, a few cheetahs, a servile cat, countless birds, and of course loads of elephants, giraffes, and zebras. We also saw two black rhinos - which is extremely rare - all because of Sammy.
We did a mix of camping and luxury lodges and both were fantastic. I was nervous about camping in the bush but it was actually really fun and quite exciting. We could hear lions roaring in the background and a buffalo even ran along the outskirts of our camp one night while trying to escape a predator. The stars we were able to see out in the bush were unlike any I've ever seen before. While camping we had a cook who made every meal for us and the food was delicious - it definitely exceeded my expectations.
All in all, I'd recommend Sunny Safaris to anybody considering working with them. They were incredibly responsive and helpful during the planning process, our guide came and introduced himself to us the day before we left and gave us a rundown of how the trip would go (a nice touch), and their prices were very reasonable.
We give them an unreserved, enthusiastic 5 stars.
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Email Kent Smith | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Awesome experience with large group!
I recently worked with Sunny Safaris on a 3-day safari for a group of 15 people, and my experience was excellent. This was my third time to go on safari and I have used a different operator each year. This year, I had a specific itinerary (which was pretty aggressive, trying to squeeze as much as we could into 3 days), and I got bids from Sunny Safaris plus the 2 other operators I had used in the past. I had heard about Sunny Safaris because they had approached the Director of the NGO we were working with to let him know of their services and he passed their information on to me. Jessica was always prompt and courteous in responding to my emails. Sunny Safaris was the low bid and was the most flexible in planning the trip. In fact, one of the other operators was a sister company to the camp we wanted to stay at in the Serengeti and they told me that there were not enough tents available with private toilets and showers for all of our group. Sunny Safaris guaranteed me that we would all have private toilets and showers, so that sealed the deal for me and it turned out when we got there that we indeed all had private toilets and showers. I read some online reviews and ended up requesting specific drivers and they agreed to make sure that we were assigned drivers from the list I requested. We had 3 vehicles and our drivers were Peter, James, and Abdul. All had fantastic attitudes, were willing to answer our multitudes of questions, and found all the animals we wanted to see. Peter, in particular, was the first to spot a leopard on 2 different occasions - not just the first in our group, the first person in the whole Serengeti. It was impressive. Abdul always seemed to have a knack for positioning his vehicle in just the right place where the animals would get closest to him or walk right in front or behind. Once, a lioness decided to rest in the shadow cast by his vehicle, just under the spare tire. I did not ever ride in James' vehicle, but those who did said he was a wealth of knowledge about all the animals and was especially good at knowing all the birds without having to look at a guide book. The only minor criticism I had was that we lost a little time on the first day. Our pick up location was off the beaten path and they were about a half hour late finding us. Then, we had to stop to buy water along the way, so we probably lost about an hour in that process. With our tight itinerary, it made us rush a bit for the rest of the day, but that was just a minor inconvenience. Overall, I was extremely pleased with our experience and I will use them again next year with another group.
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Email Carine | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Magic & more than expected
For sure we recommend Sunny Safaris as a safari tour operator! Before the Safari, booking and communication were very simple and clear, no problem with 50% payment. The D-Day, the guide was on time. We spent 3 days/2nights with no problem; Daniel our guide was so cool and professional. There were a lot of laughs and we saw all the animals we wanted to see. The life in the camp was good thanks to Damien our cook and the campsite was very safe just next to Lake Manyara Park. Excellent service and friendly team! More than expected like I said, we will come back!
Excellent lodge safari to Lake Manyara, Serengeti & Ngorogoro Crater
We booked our safari directly through the website (from Australia) 3 months prior and transferred a 50% deposit. We paid the balance (on credit card) on arrival in Arusha. This all went smoothly. The safari goes regardless of numbers and in our case it was just us 2 plus Abdul.
Cannot recommend Sunny Safaris and Abdul (our guide/driver) enough. Seeing 2 cheetahs close up has to be one of the experiences of our lives! Abdul is brilliant at spotting animals, an excellent safe driver, lovely guy & very knows everything!
Email Leigh | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Expectional staff made this trip outstanding
I was in email contact with Sunny Safaris for over 12 months arranging our trip. Each time our tour consultant Jessica replied promptly with answers to my questions and making suggestions. It was a pleasure to communicate through the reservation process. We chose a lodge accommodation and it was obvious Sunny Safaris has long established relationships with their accommodation providers. Our driver and tour escort Joseph was exceptional. He is a very experienced driver and we would often be in areas well away from most other vehicles. Joseph would discuss with us each day options for the following day and would do his best to meet any of our requests. He has an a great knowledge of the wildlife as well as the people and the land. A very special 6 day experience.
A unique vacation experience
Great overall tour done per itinerary planned with our agent, Jessica, who was very helpful and prompt in email
response to any and all questions we had. Our driver and guide, Abbas, was very informative about the wildlife and went out of his way to find the wildlife we all enjoyed. The safari vehicle took a lot of road abuse and we urge the Tanzanian government to improve the Serengeti park roads.
CH
Email Sarah&Karen | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Good organisation, welcoming attitude and attention to special needs
Answers to all question before the trip. Lodging
fulfilled expectations (we especially liked the Simba camp and Serengeti Bush camp), good food everywhere
CA
Email Pei | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Incredible eight day trip with Sunny Safaris
Our tour operator Jessica was professional and patient. She replied promptly to all of our emails, with detailed advice on how to optimize our time in Tanzania. Without her suggestions, we would have wasted many hours on the road and missed out on seeing the beautiful Lake Manyara.
Abdul, our guide, was punctual, fun and always accommodating throughout our trip. He is a steady driver, and is absolutely brilliant at finding animals. We heard of his reputation for having an eagle eye; it’s truly no joke. We were often the first to see the big cats. Abdul spotted lions under a dense bush, snakes in the grass, hyenas strolling two hundred meters away. He has been a safari guide for fifteen years; and his experience shows. He knows where to position the car to photograph an animal, how to circle animals in order to stalk them and when to wait patiently to see animal action. Most impressive was when we saw a male cheetah in the shades of a tree, Abdul immediately pointed out a mother cheetah with cubs far away walking towards us. As other cars moved on, Abdul urged us to wait patiently because he could tell the female cheetah was contemplating a kill. We watched the cheetah inch closer to a gazelle, and an hour later we witnessed her chase after, kill and eat the gazelle with her three cubs. We were able to enjoy this once in a lifetime moment thanks to Abdul’s keen eye and his shrewd call to wait with the cheetah. The previous day, he also directed three other drivers to stall a female leopard so we could all stalk and observe her for an hour while she walked by two meters from our car, carrying her baby in her mouth. My family had an unforgettable trip with Sunny Safaris; Abdul’s knowledge and intuition about animals were invaluable to our fulfilling and exciting game viewing experience.
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Email Sofia P | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Tre greatest budget-Safari!
we wanted a great safari-experience without spending a fortune and this was the perfect alternative. Our guide, Baltazary John, was very competent and talkative and we truley recommend him and Sunny sAFARIS. We had a 2 Days Safari in Tarangire and the Ngorongoro crater and we are very pleased. The lodge was nice and food was great.