Tanzania Safari Supremacy topguide; Julius Nassari
Tanzania Safari Supremacy
- Located In:
- Size:
- 5-10 employees (Founded in 2010)
- Member Of:
- Tanzania Association of Tour Operators
- Tour Types:
- Custom mid-range & luxury tours that can start every day
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $180 to $1,800 per person per day (USD, excl. int'l flights)
Reviews
IE
Email kylie | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
not what was advertised
Tanzania Safari Supremacy is a complete rip off. Simply put, what they advertise and what they set out in their itineraries are not what they will provide. I travelled with them in July 2015 and was utterly disappointed at the service they provided.
Firstly, when we were picked up from our hotel in the morning the operators demanded that we pay the balance in cash. This was never mentioned to us in any correspondence beforehand, which it clearly ought to have been given the size of our group and the amount of cash we would therefore need to have on hand. We had expected to be able to pay by card, but instead lost an hour that morning travelling to the airport to access an ATM – a terrible start to the trip, a waste of our time, and no apology from the company. Unfortunately this was only the beginning of our problems.
We had opted to use this tour operator as they claim in all their materials that the drive to the park is 4-4.5 hours from Dar es Salaam (there are other parks in the region but they are a longer drive so we chose Mikumi as we had limited time available to us and wanted to maximise our time in the park). The drive took 6 hours. This wasn’t due to traffic as there wasn’t any significant traffic and the journey time was the same on the way back to Dar from the park. This delayed not only our arrival on the first day but also meant we would not have time to make use of our final morning on safari as we had to ensure we would make it back to Dar in time to catch the ferry.
The itinerary for the first day was to arrive by midday and immediately start on a game drive. Instead, when we arrived the driver told us that the plan was not to go out on a drive until 4:30pm! This was a loss of over half a day of driving for absolutely no reason.
At this stage we were very annoyed by the situation. We asked the driver to take us out at 3pm so as not to lose so much time and, reluctantly, he agreed. We also asked at that stage for the driver to get the manager, Elvice, who we had corresponded with by email beforehand, on the phone so that we could discuss the issues that had arisen. The driver did not get him on the phone.
On the first evening the driver (allegedly) checked what time breakfast would be served at, told us it would be 6:30am and initially suggested picking us up at 7:30am to go on a drive. As anyone who has been on safari before will know, it is best to go out as early as possible as the animals move around most in the mornings before it gets too hot in the middle of the day. Thankfully, we knew this so insisted that the driver pick us up at 7am and he, again reluctantly, agreed.
Later that evening the catering staff (who are entirely separate to the safari company and did a fantastic job and were most helpful) told us that breakfast is not served until 7am (a fact I have no doubt the driver was fully aware of). They tried to contact the driver for us to tell him that we would instead go on a drive earlier and return for breakfast later in the morning but they were unable to get through to him.
The following morning the driver did not turn up until 7:25am. When we were eventually able to speak to Elvice much later that day he claimed that the driver was delayed as he had had a flat tire. The driver never mentioned this so I fully believe this was just a story concocted later on to try and cover himself. He didn’t apologise at all when he did arrive late and when we made it clear that we were very unhappy with how we were being treated he again offered no apology.
As an aside, the driver showed very little in the way of knowledge about the animals. If we had not asked him questions about the animals I don’t think he would have said a word the whole time and when he did answer questions it didn’t seem like he knew very much about the animals. When we did come across animals it seemed very much like just a matter of chance rather than any skill exercised by the driver. Even if all the other issues had not arisen, I think we would have left the tour feeling quite disappointed by the drives because of this apparent lack of knowledge.
Returning to the main issues. When the driver arrived late that morning I insisted that he call Elvice as the group was so appalled at the service. He instead got another middle man, Philbert, on the phone who refused to listen to our complaints (which were expressed in a calm fashion) and began to scream down the phone at me, called me crazy a number of times, and then hung up the phone on.
We asked the driver again to get Elvice on the phone as he was, as far as we knew, the person in charge. The driver claimed that he did not know who Elvice was, he only knew Philbert. We told him that we were not happy to speak to Philbert and insisted he get Elvice on the phone and the driver said he would.
We eventually went out on our morning drive and by the time we returned for lunch we still had not received a call from Elvice (although we are quite confident that the driver was speaking on his phone to someone from the main office, he denied it when asked about it). At that point we again insisted on him calling Elvice. Again he claimed he did not know who that was and that he only knew Philbert so he put Philbert on the phone again, who claimed that Elvice could not be contacted as he was ‘in the bush’. When I said that that wasn’t acceptable and that we must speak to someone in charge he again started to shout at me and ultimately hung up the phone.
We again explained to the driver that we had to speak to someone in charge and that we wanted that phone call to happen now. 10-20minutes later we eventually got a call from Elvice. Unfortunately, all Elvice offered us were excuses, such as the phantom flat tire. He refused to acknowledge that the itinerary he had sent us was very different to what was proposed when we arrived and ultimately could offer us no solution. I asked that he consider the situation and call me back within an hour to offer some solution to the problem but, unsurprisingly at this stage, the call never came.
That evening when the driver dropped us off, we asked him to call Elvice again. At first he tried again to claim that he didn’t know who that was or how to contact him, but, obviously, this didn’t stand up and he eventually got him back on the phone. This time Elvice was much more hostile. He tried to claim that we had caused very issues and that we had tried to not pay for the safari (absolutely baseless claims), he offered the same nonsense excuses, and ultimately, when I insisted that there was no excuse for providing a service so different to what was advertised, he became completely frustrated and (judging by the sounds) hurled his phone against the wall.
Do not use Tanzania Safari Supremacy. There are so many companies offering safaris in this region, try any of them other than this one. They don’t provide what they promise, their driver showed no expertise, and their customer service is despicable.
Email HR | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Disappointing attitude
I wouldn't recommend TSS to anybody considering a safari in Tanzania - we didn't find them to be very professional at all and overall they handled our trip poorly. Firstly, their representative was late for our pre-safari briefing, and when we tried to call them their number was disconnected. As our hotel receptionist said she had never heard of them we found this a little worrying. When they did arrive we were told that due to reports back from Lake Manyara (where we were supposed to go on our first day) that there wasn't much wildlife being spotted, we would be going to Tarangire instead with a different group. This wasn't really a problem, but it would have been better to be told in advance rather than just before departure as we would have had more time to consider our options.
On the safari itself, our second day took us to Serengeti. As we were driving into the Serengeti the car had a fault, causing us to then be stuck at the gate there for 3 hours while it was looked at. This meant we missed a lot of game drive time, and arrived at camp having to set up our tents in the dark without any assistance after eventually being picked up by a different vehicle just before sunset. While we understand that faults like this happen, the way the situation dealt with was really not good enough - we repeatedly asked what was going on and were not given any information or any sense that there was a proper procedure to follow in incidents such as this.
After returning to Arusha at the end of our safari, two members of our group went to the operator's office in person to request a partial refund due to the time missed on safari, which they were given ($100 each). As we were leaving that day we didn't have chance to do so ourselves, so decided to email Elvice at TSS afterwards. The attitude we received when telling him what had happened and requesting the same refund as the others was appalling and completely unprofessional. He implied heavily that we were lying, and that the others had no such refund (they did, I maintained contact with them and checked this several times), then this changed to him telling us that the others had a refund because of problems in Kenya beforehand (they hadn't even been to Kenya).
The final straw was his attempt at emotional manipulation in telling us that they only offer group safaris to help people and they don't make a profit on them, so this refund would have to come out of his own pocket and would destroy years of hard work and that they'd have to consider stopping group safaris, that he'd have to beg to borrow it from a friend etc etc. At this point I gave up - I am not interesting in bankrupting anybody, and frankly found the whole thing ridiculously unprofessional.
There are plenty of other safari operators available and I would advise avoiding Tanzania Safari Supremacy if possible.
IN
Email Partha | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Tanzanian safari An Indian experience
I think Tanzania Safari Supremacy is one of the best tour operators in Tanzania for a family . Charles the proprietor is extremely professional. We travelled for 6 days from 13 to 20 Jul to Arusha, Manyara, Serengeti, Ngorongo and Tarangire. All accomodations were excellent and the safari guide Abdalla was outstanding. We saw the great migration, the big five and all the other carnivores including cheetah, leopards, hyenas and thousnads of zebras and around 40 giraffes in our 6 days sojourn. We also could get a nice experience of the Tanzanian culture. In all a wonderful experience and lifelong memories.
Email Charlotte | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Reliable, kind, knowledgeable and welcoming
It was an amazing experience ! I booked only 24 hours before, but nonetheless had an incredible experience and am truly grateful for the company's quick response! I booked a day trip into the Ngorongoro crater and the Olduvai gorge and Mary Leakey living museum and I truly got the most out of those few hours in the conservation area. It was very easy to book the tour and everyone, especially Charles, was very responsive to my messages. My guide Addy was so knowledgeable, so friendly and made it a truly special experience. I'm hoping to come back as soon as possible will definitely be booking with Tanzania Safari Supremacy again. I would recommend this company to anyone !
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Email Megan Marchase | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Our once I in a lifetime trip
We had such an amazing time. My boyfriend and I went to Tanzania in June of 2022. We had Abby as our tour guide and we couldn’t have been happier, he truly is like family to us now and even almost a year later we keep in contact with him. Everything about our trip was incredible and we definitely owe that to Elvice for hooking us up with Abby as our tour guide. During our 1 week safari we managed to see every animal you can think of; including 3 leopards as well as a mom and baby rhino.
Elvice and Abby worked together with Brian (without me knowing which is shocking) to make my proposal so special. Yes, at the beginning of our trip he was just my boyfriend but flew home my fiancé! I had a once in a lifetime Safari proposal. I can’t thank the Safari Supremacy team enough for making that moment so special. Brian hired a photographer (who I thought was a photographer getting content for the companies website) that they helped him find, Abby secretly needed Brian’s “help” and that was to pick out champagne for us toast after the big moment, and Abby also found the perfect location in the Ngorongoro Crater for Brian to get on one knee and pop the question
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Email Afrodyta | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Very professional and good organize.
We did 5 days private safari with Gilli tour guide!!! The best experience ever! Gilli is very professional, patient and he was always on time; we saw Big 5! Great job guys!!!
RO
Email Alina | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amazing and unique experience!
My husband and I spent 6 days of our honeymoon in Tanzania. Our safari journey was planned by Tanzania Safari Supremacy, and we would not change one minute of it. It was definitely an amazing experience and everything went great! From the beginning, we contacted Tanzania Safari Supremacy via e-mail and Elvice planned a great itinerary for us - the accommodations were all great, with very friendly staff, lovely locations and perfect food. Moreover, Elvice arranged our flights from Zanzibar to Tanzania, as well as our shuttles to and from the airport. But above all these, we were the luckiest to have our guide, Gilliard, a wonderful person with great knowledge - he knows all the animals and a lot of details about them, you can easily tell he is very passionate about his job. Thanks to him, we spotted many more animals than we expected - all big five, African wild cat, the great migration, the river crossing and many, many more. A lot of guides were rushing together to chase the animals. However, Gilliard was always calm, with great respect and care for nature, and we got the best views, without disturbing nature, which is very important for a place like this.
This journey exceeded by far our most optimistic expectations and we totally recommend Tanzania Safari Supremacy and our guide Gilliard!
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Email Thomas B | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Expectations exceeded
Tremendous experience and life changing! Our guide, Abby, was a gem. It is obvious that he cares about his country and all it has to offer! Abby was born to be a guide. We enjoyed incredible meals out in the bush and learned some basic Swahili phrases. Abby has an eye for wildlife and we were the first people to see most hard to find animals that other vehicles had passed by. When you book your trip, be sure to ask for him as your guide. You will not be disappointed.
Our initial and constant contact throughout the booking and preparation process was Elvice. He was quick to reply and was very helpful in finding out our desires and made sure the trip we would experience would be successful. In fact, the trip he put together for us far exceeded our expectations.
It is scary booking a trip of a lifetime and making a deposit in advance to be able to get lodging booked. You send the money hoping this is really a legit company that will take care of you. Let me assure you, this company is top notch and will honor their word! We had initial plans for a 2020 safari and had made a deposit and a schedule was put together. Due to covid and scheduling issues, a 2 year pause was placed on the trip. We were personally welcomed to Tanzania by Elvice. He was there to greet us and welcome us to our long-planned safari. This is a company that we will recommend to everyone that has a desire to see this incredible country.
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Email Sabrina | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Best Safari Tour Operator! We got to see the big five and so much more!
We had the best time going on Safari with Tanzania Safari Supremacy.We went with my mom, husband, and two daughters 4 and 9. Everything was excellent. Elvice helped me put a personalized itinerary together and was quick to answer all the questions I had before our trip.
Everything went just as planned and was very professional, the transportation on time, the lodges were beautiful, and the food great.
Our guide Gilly was the best! He was very experienced and had an excellent knowledge of flora and fauna. We’re going to miss him for sure!
We went to Manyara national park, Ngorongoro Conservation Area, Serengeti, and Lake Eyasi to meet two different tribes.
We got to see so many different animals. We saw the Big 5 and everything else. Hundreds of elephants, thousands of zebras, lions, cheetah’s, austriches, giraffe’s, hippos, and soooo much more.
Our favourite lodge was Manyara’s Secrets at lake Manyara. It was a dream. All the other lodges where beautiful too.
After the Safari we spend about a week in Zanzibar. The island is beautiful and we had a lot of fun.
We’re so excited that we did this trip and very thankful for Safari Suprenamcy for making it such an easy, wonderful, and memorable experience.
Thank you, Elvice, Alex, Abraham, and Gilly!
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Email Michelle | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Trip of a lifetime
Elvice and the whole team with Tanzania Safari Supremacy exceeded all of our expectations for our family safari. We booked a 4-day Safari from Zanzibar to Ngorongoro Crater and Serengeti initially for January, but encountered a few COVID-related obstacles that had our original flights changing and then later having to postpone our trip to March. Throughout all of this, working with Elvice on this was a dream as he ensured my family and I would be well taken care of for our safari once we arrived. Between our guides Abraham (Zanzibar) and Melky (safari guide), we felt like we were traveling with a trusted family member. The accommodations booked were all very comfortable, and all of the inclusions made it really feel like we didn't have to think about anything but having a good time. The safari vehicle was well-equipped and comfortable - even on the bumpy roads (Melky called it our "African massage!"). I don't have a single negative to report on the whole experience. I would book with them again, and will recommend them to anyone searching for a safari company!