Experience the magic of Africa with Safarihub
Safarihub
- Located In:
-
United Kingdom
United States
- Size:
- 20-50 employees (Founded in 1993)
- Member Of:
- ATOL, TATO, TTB, ABTA & KPAP
- Tour Types:
- Custom mid-range & luxury tours that can start every day
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $100 to $2,000 per person per day (USD, excl. int'l flights)
Reviews
good fun
Absolutely fantastic trip with our very experienced tour guide Mabu. He took care of us in a very friendly manner. He was very informative and professional, knowing very much about wildlife and nature. I would do another trip with him and can truly recommend him.
amazing trip
We spent two weeks in Tanzania, assisted by Safarihub for itinerary, booking lodge or tented camps, car and driver.
We have visited Tarangire, Lake Manyara, Lake Natron, Serengeti and Ngorongoro; the organization has been perfect, and everything has gone better than my expectation.
US
Email Justin | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
SafariHub Safari and Archaeology Expedition--Incredible!!
Whoever is reading this and researching a safari trip to Tanzania, I am going to make life very simple for you and give you the name of the best organization to tour with in Tanzania. Booking with them will be the safest, surest decision you make, and you will have a fantastic time. They are called SafariHub. SafariHub is without a doubt the finest tour organization I have ever had the privilege of vacationing with. I have travelled all of the world, to more than 50 countries, and have had tour operators and tour guides in many places; none compare to SafariHub. There outstanding service begins even before you book your trip. As you are probably doing now, I was scouring the internet in search of a good tour operator to take me and my family through Tanzania, which as the safari capital of Africa, we have always wanted to see. I reached out to multiple tour groups through SafariBookings.com to get information as well as price estimates for my family (there are 3 of us). SafariHub was the very first organization to respond. And not only were they the first organization to respond, the first email they sent me was well-written, well-articulated, and just very, very insightful for being just a single email. The individual at SafariHub who wrote that email was sales consultant Victoria. Victoria is a safari planning rock star! Hands down one of the most professional and diligent people I have ever spoken to. My family, unfortunately, has several complicating health factors which make traveling sometimes difficult. These factors were particularly daunting for a Trip to Tanzania. Without going into too much personal detail, I have an extremely serious tree nut allergy, to all types of nuts. Another family member suffers from vertigo, and is on blood thinners. Tanzania is known to use a fair amount of tree nuts in their cuisine (when I say fair, I mean less than Morocco, which uses almond oil in everything, but more than the likelihood of encountering nuts in a typical American restaurant). Tanzania is a beautiful country that I desperately wanted to see, but I am not in a position to take tremendous risks with food allergies when travelling, given the severity of my allergy. The member of our family who suffers from vertigo, had the potential to face difficulty in Tanzania because the roads are dirt and somewhat bouncy (not terribly bouncy, but definitely somewhat bouncy), enough to throw them into a vertigo attack. Simultaneously, and I’ll write more of this later in my review, malaria prophylaxis does not sit well with people on blood thinners, as was this member of our family. Finally, the other complicating factor to our trip was time constraints. We had 10 days to complete our itinerary. I am highly interested in archaeology. Tanzania is known as one of the most exquisite archaeological sites in the world. In addition to wanting to go on safari, I particularly wanted to go to Tanzania to visit the archaeology sites, all of which are still active digs. Visiting the archaeological sites, is fairly off the beaten path. Most people who visit Tanzania do not see these sites. I highly, highly recommend them, and will write more of them later in this review. To go on safari and see the archaeological sites in 10 days is almost impossible to do logistically. It was important to me though to get to do both safari and archaeology. Victoria, the sales consultant at SafariHub, made all of this happen. She assuaged 100% of my fears about my tree nut allergy. She mitigated 100% of the issues surrounding the possible vertigo for our family member. She organized an itinerary that would allow for both safari and archaeology. This is how she did it…and I’m sure I’m not going to be able to capture even half of all the details.
First things first, Victoria helped us decide if we wanted to go on a pre-packaged group tour or an individual (private) tour. Given our health, itinerary, and time constraints it was decided in a very insightful conversation from Victoria, that a private tour probably made most sense. The group tours I’m sure are terrifically well-done by SafariHub, but given our constraints, private was the right option. A private tour is also not as expensive as you might think. I truly felt, that given all the safari companies I spoke with from SafariBookings.com and elsewhere, Safarihub was the one that offered the most customization, the most detail-attentive staff, and the fairest price (while still maintain a comfortable luxury standard in room and board and food). All in all, SafariHub could not have done better in any way. The benefit of a private tour is that every aspect of the Tanzania experience can become customized (i.e. lodging, food, itinerary, rest stops from driving in the safari van, pace of driving in the safari van, routes taken while being driven in the safari van, and more one-on-one attentiveness from the tour guide/driver). Once we settled on a private tour, Victoria helped us decide the itinerary. Knowing the itinerary would allow SafariHub to find hotels that could accommodate my allergies, as well as plan driving routes that would be less bouncy (to prevent vertigo) and establish an efficient driving path to and from the archaeology sites, which were way off the beaten path away from the game reserves.
We knew we wanted to see Lake Manyara National Park, Ngorongoro Crater National Park, Tarangire National Park, Serengeti National Park, Oldupai Gorge (Olduvai Gorge), Laetoli, and Lake Natron (basically the Northern-Circuit reserves). It was concluded that Lake Natron, which is known for its red alkaline lakes and flamingos, would not be possible to attend and see everything else within the 10-day time constraint. Additionally, Lake Natron would have very bouncy driving to get there, which would have been tough on the vertigo. From there Victoria, working with another great sales consultant, named Vummy, and drivers Aaron (who would later be our guide), and Jonas collaborated to determining our drive route. I am trying to emphasize, SafariHub has a reliable team approach that is very apparent. Victoria called lots of hotels and spoke with kitchen staff personally at each of them to hear that food safety conditions could be met, before booking the hotel. There were some hotels Victoria passed-up on because they couldn’t guarantee food safety. She was very diligent, even utilizing a Swahili speaking-individual to translate on some occasions to the kitchen staff the requirements needed. She and SafariHub did a marvelous job, and upon completing the trip, I can say wholeheartedly, that the dining experiences at each hotel (as well as the packed lunches) were absolutely perfect.
Setting-up the archaeology tours were not easy either. As I understand it, my family and I are among some of the few people ever in the history of SafariHub’s lengthy existence, to ask to see Laetoli. Laetoli is an awesome archaeology site, and a must see for anyone with an interest in archaeology. Laetoli is the site where Mary Leaky in 1976 discovered fossilized Austrolopithecus afarensis footprints. The footprints are covered with stone for preservation purposes today. But, you can stand in front-of them, and know to a complete certainty that you are standing in the same place our ancestors from 3.7 million years ago stood. I would describe the sensation I felt there as awing as what I felt seeing The Colosseum, The Eifel Tower, and The Grand Canyon for the first time, combined! It’s super cool. But I’m fascinated by archaeology, so maybe I’m biased. The downside about Laetoli is it is really far off the beaten path. I mean you’re in the middle of nowhere’s nowhere. However, there is a very interesting museum on the hill above the footprints, that you visit after seeing them. Also we had an armed guard with us, in case of lions, for protection, and a terrific on-site anthropologist whose name I don’t recall. He was really informative, and showed us active archeological sites surrounding the footprints, including new footprint discoveries of other species, various fossilized flora and fauna from the time period, and famous dig sites. The fossils are so abundant there, they are literally sticking out of the ground. You don’t even feel bad picking them up and disturbing them because there are so many. Funny enough, we would run into the archaeologist guide again as a complete coincidence a few days later at Oldupai Gorge. Anyways, it was not easy for SafariHub to arrange a guided anthropologic tour through Laetoli, but they did it, and it was incredible. Oldupai Gorge, also spelled, Olduvai Gorge, was just about as equally awing and amazing. More people, not everyone, but more do see Oldupai, so there can be a small crowd. The reason it is more frequently visited is because it is near a resting point on the road to Serengeti National Park from Ngorongoro National Park. Oldupai Gorge is colloquially called “The Birthplace of Man”. You should Google it, if you’ve read this far ;) So many species, our ancestors, have been discovered there. It’s a places outside of time, that’s the only way to describe it. There’s a small museum above it (overlooking it) that is pretty informative. We were also given a lecture by the managing Tanzanian archaeologist John. He did marvelously, and was actually Francis’s teacher. We were the only group of tourists that Joseph actually walked down into the gorge. The reason he did it was because Victoria arranged it. SafariHub went above and beyond in every regard. Walking through the gorge, like walking through Laetoli, was like walking through history. So many amazing fossil finds in that small area. It’s miraculous.
Furthermore, Victoria arranged all of our travel details. Technically, we booked the flights ourselves, but she had the record locators and had Justin, a SafariHub shuttle driver, pick us up at the airport when we arrived and drive us back at the end of the trip. Our trip was kind of last minute, which is also kind of funny since we had so many health and archaeology related details that needed attending to. One of our concerns was that as Americans we needed visas to get into the country. The Tanzanian Embassy in the US could not promise us we’d have our passports back in-time if we sent them there to receive visas. Victoria assured us, no matter what time our flight arrived in Kilimanjaro, the visa service would be open, and could give us a visa there. When we arrived, near midnight, the visa service was open, and all things went smoothly. Unfortunately though because we arrived late we couldn’t see Mt. Kilimanjaro, which we were right next to at the airport. On our way returning home, 10 days later we still couldn’t see Mt. Kilimanjaro because we had a late flight. If seeing the mountain is important to you, you must arrive/leave earlier in the day. Fair warning though, flights can get noticeably pricier arriving/leaving earlier in the day. Tanzania is known to not have safe driving at night, due to various reasons (I think mainly poor lighting), and drivers are known to zig zag around slow drivers. I’ll admit I was a little apprehensive beforehand about the drive between Kilimanjaro and Arusha. Our driver drove safely, did do a little zig zagging (significantly less than any other drivers on the road, which really goes with the territory), and got us to the hotel fine. He was clearly very familiar with the roads.
When we arrived in Arusha, which is about an hour drive from Kilimanjaro airport, we were taken to our hotel, The Arusha Hotel. It was about midnight. As I said, SafariHub had spoken with this hotel, and every other one about my food allergy. As a result, The Arusha Hotel kitchen staff, hotel manager, and many others stayed up to make us a special Tanzania welcome dinner in the event we were hungry. I have to admit, embarrassingly, we were too tired to eat then after a full day of travel and went to bed. But the consideration was astounding. The hotel, was very nice, with pretty grounds. There were nets covering the beds, as was to be expected, to prevent mosquitoes, while you sleep. The next morning, the kitchen staff served-up a literally amazing breakfast in the dining room, with Tanzanian style crepes, fresh squeezed juice (note* 100% of the hotels served fresh squeezed juice when checking in), and other items. From there, travel consultant Vummy introduced us to our driver, Aaron, and then did a review of the itinerary with us and reiterated the various health precautions that had been accounted for. Aaron then drove us to Lake Manyara National Park (about an hour and half drive). As we would see, throughout the next 10 days, Aaron was an absolutely fabulous tour guide with a great personality. It could be very easy for a tour guide to shuttle you around from place to place without much commentary. Aaron though was a total pro, and provided the perfect amount (not too little, not too much) of insight about everything we saw. He could not have done better. And he made all of the explanations about everything very interesting. He could identify every animal by name, as well as spot them from vast distances. He clued us into Tanzanian urban culture, as well as Maasai culture. He went out of his way to make sure we saw all the animals we wanted to see including the Big Five (leopard, black rhino, cape buffalo, elephant, and lion).
Lake Manyara is a good starting point for a safari. We saw zebras, giraffes, a lot of hippos, quite a few elephants, interesting looking pelicans, lots of flamingos, and a ton of baboons. Lake Manyara is teeming with animals, but the reason it is a good starting point for a safari is because it seems to have fewer animals than some of the other parks, namely Serengeti and Ngorongoro. Lake Manyara is kind of like an appetizer before the entre; you get a tasting, but the big stuff is coming. It’s also just a very naturally pretty lake and forest area. We had a box lunch above the lake (a chicken sandwich), and it was a beautiful view.
From there we drove to the edge of Karatu, an interesting village past the entrance to Ngorongoro Crater (the village isn’t actually in the crater though, but several miles before it). We stayed at The Acacia Farm Lodge that night. Definitely the best hotel experience on the trip, and that’s saying something! Given my food allergies, the entire hotel staff met with us when we arrived to tell us about the food safety preparations. The chef there, whose name I wish I remember, was just awesome. He made a special dinner for us, which was great. The hotel lobby has an amazing view of the hills surrounding it, and is spot to catch African Love Birds, which was cool. Anyways our dinner was especially prepared to sit out on this promenade. On top of that, the hotel provided us a butler service. I wish I remember his name also because he did terrficily. This was a nice hotel, but it wasn’t The Ritz, yet they went out of their way to make it feel like The Ritz. My family is not about luxury. We like nice things and seeing nice places, but excesses don’t do anything for us, which is why them going all out like they did was all the more appreciated. The staff didn’t have to be so over the top phenomenal to make us happy, but they did. And I highly recommend staying at this place. The following morning before we left, they prepared a special breakfast also, that I can honestly say was probably the nicest breakfast I’ve had in my life. It was just a great place because of great people.
Additionally, Karatu and The Acacia Farm Lodge is one of the last places to have ready access to an American doctor on short notice, before continuing west. Our third family member, not the one with blood thinners, experienced an allergic reaction to the malaria medicine. Our tour guide Aaron knew just what to do. There is a medical clinic called FAME a few miles away. Aaron worked some magic and got us seen by the American doctor in less than an hour. The doctor fortunately recognized that the allergic reaction to the malaria medicine (Malarone) was not serious, and recommended that we could proceed with the tour. It was just terrific though that Aaron knew what to do in that situation. Nobody wants to travel to the other side of the world and have medical issues. This FAME clinic was really surprisingly nice, and the doctor that operates it does so truly out of the goodness of his heart to help the people of the country.
Ngorngoro Crater is phenomial. The view looking into it is one of the best views of natural beauty I have ever seen. It’s hard to believe that when you look down into the crater you are looking at 150,000+ animals because you’re so high up you can’t see them. But they are there! When we got down into the crater, Aaron spotted for us warthogs, thousands of wildebeests, a black rhino, jackals, lions, elephants, zebras, hippos, dozens of bird species, herds of cape buffalos. The ecosystems in the crater are so diverse and house so many different species, it’s just incredible. And something else…I’m someone who always thought ornithology (bird watching) was kind of dumb. Maybe in the US it’s not as interesting with fewer species. But there, in Tanzania, there are so many birds that none of us had ever seen before or heard, that I could now see myself really getting into bird watching. There are just so many exotic species with interesting colors and shapes, it’s really cool.
That night we stayed at the Ngorongoro Serena Safari Lodge high on the edge of the crater. The lodge was nice, not as nice as Acacia Farm Lodge (but I doubt any place could be), and was a very comfortable place. They entertained us there actually with a show, which was cool. And the best part was night. Deep in the crater it’s pitch black, and so the stars really shined. I’ve been in the abyss before in different parts of the world, but this was the best star gazing I had ever seen. Just so many, it was beautiful.
The next day we went to Laetoli. I’ve already written of that. After we were done with Laetoli, we had to drive all the way back to Ngorongoro to then head to Serengeti. If you want to see Laetoli, which I recommend, it is a long driving day to get there and back, but it’s the only way to go. When we pulled into Serengeti Park, the first thing we saw were 2 male lions eating a zebra. Then we saw 4 female lions resting all bloodied. Then we saw 16 lions sitting on a bunch of rock kopjes. So cool. We then headed to the Kubu Kubu Tented Camp. Basically, affordable lodging options in the Serengeti are semi-tented semi-concrete, which Kubu Kubu was. Expensive options are not-tented, and also not in as ideal locations in the park. The park is huge, so the location of your lodge matters for what areas you are going to be able to see in a day. Kubu Kubu was terrific. The food and staff were amazing. The view from Kubu Kubu, in the main building, was one of the highlights for me in the Serengeti. I will say, at night, the camp can get a little noisy with lions roaring outside, so sleeping was light those days. We were there 3 nights. The other thing is, when walking from the dining building to your tented camp room at night, you have to be escorted by a Maasai guide for protection from animals. The camp, as well as other camps I’m sure, have encountered animals at night before, so the Maasai guide is required. Other than that, I would say be prepared to see some (not many) bugs in your room. You will appreciate the bed nets when staying out in the Serengeti.
The Serengeti was phenomenal, as great every says it is. Crocodiles, cheetahs, leopards, ostriches, vultures, ibex and antelopes, lots of lions, and all of the other animals previously mentioned for the other parks, plus others. There is so much wild life in the park, you literally cannot go more than a couple minutes without seeing at least something. Aaron, our guide, was tremendous also at spotting animals. He spotted a cheetah den from probably half a mile away, and got us right there. He made the experience all the better with his narrative on the animals, and knowing exactly what parts of the park to take us to, to see certain species. It was just awesome, there’s not much else that can be said.
After Serengeti, we headed for Tarangire National Park. On the way exiting the Serengeti we stopped at Oldupai Gorge, as I previously mentioned. The drive to Tarangire was long, but driving through the beautiful terrain made it go by fast. Part of the reason the drive was long was because of the consideration we had to give the family member with vertigo. The main lodge at Tarangire, which was at least an hour less of driving to get to, had very bumpy roads. To avoid this, we planned to stay at Tarangire Simba Lodge which had less bumpy roads, but was farther away. This family member did not have any issue with the bumpy roads on this trip because of the accommodations by SafariHub, but we all felt the road to Tarangire (even the less bumpy road) was pretty bumpy. Aaron did a great job of navigating the bumps to accommodate our family member, but when roads are bumpy there is only so much that can be done. So if you have a family member that has vertigo and you want to see Tarangire, I will say, it probably doesn’t matter which Tarangire Lodge you stay at. That’s just something to note.
The Tarangire Simba Lodge is a completely tented lodge camp. It was a nice set-up, also with a guard for walking at night. The food accommodations were terrific. Tarangire National Park is known for having lots of baobab trees, elephants, giraffes, and really tall termite hills. The park was great for all of those, as well as offering great scenery with nice streams. Tarangire is not the same as Serengeti, so if that is an expectation that will be, you should know going in that it is not. Serengeti and Ngorongoro really spoiled us. With that being said, it was still a great park to see as it offered unique elements, and was a very nice way to end off the trip.
From there we drove back to Arusha, and met Victoria in person. We thanked her and Aaron tremendously for the perfect job they did. The two of them made our safari/archaeology experience what it was. And it is a testament to SafariHub for employing two people who are absolutely so great at their jobs. Our family, felt connected to these people after they did so well for us, and we usually don’t feel that way after just a vacation. But the work they put in, and how they did it; they couldn’t have done better.
After that, Justin drove us back to the airport, and we flew home. A couple other things to note. It’s important to look into malaria medicine before you plan a trip. Many types of medication do not sit well with malaria prophylaxis, and malaria medicine can stay in your system for quite some time after discontinuing it. Make sure to research this little studied detail because it is important. Additionally, we were recommended by our travel clinic to spray out clothes with permethrin before travelling (*note undried permethrin is toxic to dogs and cats). Maybe it did more than I thought, but I felt that the permethrin did nothing to keep bugs away. I would say the same thing about the Ultra Deet we were recommend. It wasn’t like there were a ton of bugs, but malaria is no joke, so take my advice with a grain of salt. With that being said, Tanzania is a very doable trip. You do not have to be an adrenaline junky to want to go. It’s a great family trip, and I highly recommend it.
In conclusion, book your trip with SafariHub. They offer tours all over the continent. I am sure each one of them is done extremely well. If I do another safari tour in the future, or go on a gorilla viewing expedition, SafariHub will be my first call.
Special thanks again to Aaron and Victoria.
Sf hub is the best
I was in my hollyday with my Fiancee Laura , to Tanzania and it was simply awesome , Our guide Mabu showed us the most beautiful thing ever :), thank you so much
awesome
I recently climbed Kilimanjaro with some friends. We had an absolutely amazing experience. The guides and porters really made our summit experience possible. Sfhub management through to their staff were excellent. We also experienced a Safari with them and had a wonderful experience there too.
thanks guys
Everything was perfect. We have been for eight days to Arusha park, Manyara, Tanrangire, Serengetti, Ngorogoro en two days to Zanzibar. We have seen the big five: Leopard 3x, Rhino 2x, Elephant 60x, Lions 50x, Buffel 50x. Special thanks to our driver, guide en friend Hamdani Mohammed: he was great!
Email Ken | 65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
...impecable service that impressed from start to finish
We were looking for a guided bus tour of South Africa to fit in with the timing of other travel in eastern Africa. Your agent in Arusha found exactly what we were looking for, provided all the information, made the bookings and followed up with confirmation of arrangements. The service was always fast, accurate and friendly and gave us confidence to book over the internet. In fact it was a pleasure to interact with someone who was so switched on, helpful and informative. She even researched items that we didn't end up booking. If I had known more about Safarihub I might have booked more of our trip with them. We have just finished the trip and it was excellent. All of the arrangements ran like clockwork and it was great value for money. I cannot speak more highly of Safarihub and the Arusha office.
thanks guys
Excellent experience all around, went to Tanzania and stayed for 7 days, went together with my girlfriend ,Safarihub took care of everything & our guide Mabu was simply awesome!
thank you safarihub
im really greateful to my driver and guide Onu for everything , we spend an amazing 7 days to Tanzania because of him
simply amazing
We had a marvellous experience on our 3 day-safari trip in Tarangire, Lake Manyuru and Ngorongoro. Our guide and driver Godfrey was very skillful in Tanzanias wild life as well as history and politics. We learned so much. He was also a very good driver and extremey nice person of course ! Thanks for everything !