Fanuel Mateja (President) & Kathy Phinney (CEO)
Breakdown Safaris
- Located In:
- Size:
- 1-5 employees (Founded in 2013)
- Tour Types:
- Custom budget & mid-range tours that can start every day
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $25 to $375 per person per day (USD, excl. int'l flights)
Reviews
Email Kova | under20 years of age | Experience level: first safari
I had fun.
My name is Kova and I am 5½ years old. My Grandma is helping me type this about Tanzania and Breakdown Safaris because I had such a great time on Safari with Kathy ad Fan.
The very best thing that I liked was when I saw the two male lions. One was lying beside the Alpha truck when we were looking for animals on a riverbank and we didn’t know he was there in the first place. It was only when we were about to leave that we saw him lying there. He was very tired and he stayed asleep the whole time we were watching him. The next male lion we saw was lying with his head up, under a tree right beside the track. He was big and had a big mane.
Another good thing that I did one time when we stopped to have breakfast that came in a box, was climb big slippery rocks with Fan. It was fun. We saw lots of baboons climbing and jumping all over rocks and the young baboons were tumbling on top of each other. It was very funny to watch. The other thing that made me laugh was the hippos making a noise like they were laughing, and their ears would go round and round and splash water everywhere. We saw some baby hippos with their mothers.
One time in the Alpha truck some elephants came right up close to us. We had to be very quiet so that we didn’t scare them away. There was a baby one. Other animals that we saw were hundreds of zebras, hundreds and hundreds of impala, they are the ones with the MacDonalds M on their bottoms, and giraffes. My uncle says you have to see a giraffe drinking and to see one running, because they look so funny. And we did.
When we got home, I took some photos to school for “Show and Tell” for my friends to see.
Email Cascel | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Brilliant - I'd love to turn around and do it all again!
Breakdown Safaris arranged a private tour of three different National Parks and game reserves in Tanzania, plus a relaxing chill out on Zanzibar, over a three week period. The private tour was for my husband, five year old daughter, my parents who are in there early 70's and myself. Breakdown Safaris ticked everything off our 'to do and see' list, including personalized dietary requirements. They arranged everything from transfers, internal flights, accommodation, meals, ferries an activities. We saw all the wild animals (and more) that we hoped to see, in a safe (for us and the animals) manner. We were exposed to various cultural and charitable experiences, history and wildlife information because of our wonderful guide Fan. Our daughter has experienced a lifetime of memories because of Kathy and Fan's attention to detail and personalized service. Our expectations of adventure have now been given a whole new level.
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Email Duane Duggan | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Bucket List, African Safari. Check.
It had been on my bucket list to go on Safari! Thanks to Kathy Phinney, one of the owners, that desire to check it off my bucket list, came to reality. Kathy and her husband Fan have a Safari company and I had a group of 8 people that have traveled together in various places on cycling adventures. This wasn't a cycling trip, but it was done with 4 couples that travel together very well. Kathy and Fan customized a trip for a group of 8. Breakdown Safaris coordinated all the details. A task that i could not imagine doing my self.
The variety of activities was incredible. We had beach time, safari vehicle game drives, a walking safari, boat safari, chimp tracking and even snorkeling in Zanzabar. While not like staying at the Regency hotel in an American city, the lodging was an incredible experience. In the Selous Game Reserve we stayed in a mud hut, romantically lit with paraffin lamps, and a four poster bed. The water was kept hot for us "westerners" via a wood fire underneath a water tank. Meanwhile, on the deck, you could hear the hippos in the river below. In Selous game reserve, we also did a boat safari. seeing a huge variety of animals you don't see on land. In Ruaha, we stayed in a stone cottage. During the night a lion and an elephant were having a little"tiff" just a few hundred yards away. Not quite like any experience we have ever had!
Breakdown Safaris did some amazing coordination to get us across the country and over to Gombe Stream National Park where Jane Goodall did her research on the chimps. We stayed in "tents" there, with bathrooms, hot showers, lights, and again a beautiful 4 poster bed. Through the work of the awesome guides we hung out with about 30 chimps for about an hour. It was a pretty strenuous hike to get to were the chimps were that day.
Overall, we saw a huge collection of animals, largely due to the knowledge of our guides, Fan, Rashid, and Kathy. They work hard to understand where the animals might be that day for an incredible viewing experience.
After several days of on land Safari, we ventured over to Zanzabar and Stonetown. The Safari continued with "Safari Blue" where we got to snorkel and see a different variety of animal life and sample a wide variety of foods.
The food through out the trip was amazing. Sometimes, like in Selous Game Reserve, it was all prepared with wood fire. We never had a had a "bad" meal through out the trip.
I would sincerely recommend Breakdown Safaris to coordinate your Safari trip
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Email Debbie | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
A Wonderful Adventure without the Planning Hassles!
Breakdown Safaris did an Amazing job of creating a customized trip for our group of 8 friends, a task that I could not imagine doing ourselves! Breakdown Safaris coordinated all the details of transportation, pickups, lodging, etc. In addition, they provided a wealth of information to help us plan what we needed to bring or not bring and what to expect during our trip. The variety of locations we went to – including Selous Game Reserve, Ruaha National Park, Gombe National Park, Iringa, Zanzibar and more was just what we wanted. We enjoyed multiple safari vehicle game drives, river safaris, walking safaris, chimpanzee tracking and even snorkeling . During all of these activities our guides, Fanuel and Kathy and Rashid, were always a Wealth of knowledge and understanding about the flora and fauna, as well as about the culture and traditions of the Tanzanian people. We always seemed to find the animals up close and the most exciting adventures! I would Highly recommend Breakdown Safaris and hope to do another adventure with them in the future. Thank you Fanuel and Kathy,
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Email Denise | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Tanzanian trip and more!
Kathy Phinney and Fanuel Mateja of Breakdown Safaris did a wonderful job of arranging our trip to Tanzania and providing us with the trip of a lifetime. Kathy got to know us ahead of time and set up a custom trip for our group of 8 including our international flights and all of the travel during the time spent in Tanzania. She made sure we knew what to expect including a detailed itinerary. They took care of all of the details and made sure that everything worked as planned. The trip was set up to experience a large variety of animals in parks without the crowds of some of the larger parks. We had a great experience at Selous Game Reserve and Ruaha National Park where Kathy, Fan and Rashid did a great job of finding the animals and sharing their extensive knowledge with us. We enjoyed a river safari, walking safari and many game drives. We traveled to Kigoma and took a boat to Gombe National Park where we tracked chimps where Jane Goodall studied them. This was an experience of a lifetime and one of the many highlights of our trip. We also spent time in Dar Es Salaam, Irringa and drove through many other villages and experienced what life is like in Tanzania before heading to Zanzibar where we went snorkeling, explored Stone Town and spent time at the beach. Kathy and Fan made sure every detail was covered, that we had great food and exceptional lodging and service at every place we stayed. Breakdown Safaris is a top notch safari company that I would highly recommend.
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Email Denise | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Completely amazed at the quality and professionalism of this experience
My experience with Breakdown Safaris went beyond my expectations to say the least. Communications, service, the tours and all the planning were phenomenal. The safari tours including game drives, river safari, walking safari, and chimpanzee tracking were amazing. The guides were professional, knowledgeable and fun. Our needs were attended to as well as anticipated at every phase of our trip. The shopping trip, snorkeling and sailing and all other tours were well planned and valuable.
BR
Email Marcelo Gasparotto | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Why do you think all reviews are 5 stars?
Why do you think all reviews are 5 stars?
Avaliação sobre Breakdown Safaris
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These guys will make your safari experience be the best one ever.
When my wife and I decided to go to Tanzania for a safari trip we searched about it. A lot.
And everywhere i searched the name "Fanuel" (breakdown safari's main guide) showed up. So we got in touch with him and started doing questions/requests etc.
This guy will legit make your trip the best experience ever. He studied Geography/History/Economics before becoming a guide so he'll be able to tell you ANYTHING about the country.
As for the safari he just knows it all. Where to go, where to be, where to take pics, anything.
After the safari he took us to the ferry to Zanzibar and we said goodbye. But as if it wasn't enough, when we came back from Zanzibar he picked us up at the ferry and took us to the airport!!
I 100% recommend having Fanuel as your guide. This guy will make your trip AWESOME.
DE
Email Chris | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Mikumi with family. Safaria beyond the popular
We arrived at airport Dar es Salaam. Started at morning half day at afternoon and full day next. Very lucky to see at start of half day safari lions with babies. Fanuels suggested Mikumi Safari Lodge was wonderful (only the way to the lodge is a little bit rough - we recommend to stay at this lodge very much).
Mikumi is not Serengeti or Ngorogoro, we knew this before, but not many cars in the park and animals that are still behaving naturell was for us more important and that is Mikumi!
CZ
Email Matt Heys | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Selous and Mikumi
Our trip with Fanuel/Breakdown Safaris was absolutely exceptional. We did a 6 day safari with Fanuel we went to Selous and Mikumi ending in Dar Es Salaam.
All the accommodation, food and activities through out our trip were so good and had something for everyone. During the booking process Fanuel gave us lots of options and worked with us to plan the trip out.
The safari drives were amazing, Fanuel has such a vast amount of knowledge of the areas and wild life and also a passion for what he does which makes every game drive a pleasure. He took in to account what animals we were most interested in and made sure we saw everything in the time we had.
Even driving between through the country is great fun on the crazy bumpy roads see all the villages and the countryside.
Our trip started out badly with our luggage not arriving, Fanu was a hero and spent the next 2 days getting our luggage sent out to us in the bush which was an experience in its self. Without Fanu this would have been a horrific experience but he took all the stress away.
He clearly loves what he does and it shows. We really had the best time and i couldn't rate Fanu and Breakdown Safari any higher our trip was truly exceptional and a once in a life time experience.
We really loved our time with breakdown and Fanu and can't thank him enough for the experience.
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Email Stacy, Rachal and Liz | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
13/10 Would always always (only) recommend!
The experience my two friends and I had on our safari weekend was more than we could have ever asked for! From our (very) last minute booking to the great food and accommodations that Fanuel arranged for us, (he even followed up to make sure we had a ride to the airport once out trip was over) everything was beyond amazing.
Fanuel helped us to arrange a trip that worked for us both financially and because we were (unfortunately) on a tight schedule. He was always on time (usually early) and was also patient when we weren’t very ‘on time’. We were picked up from our hotel in Dar Es Salaam and made the trip to out to Mikumi for a 3 day 2 night tour. He’s very knowledgeable and was able to answer just about every question I asked on the 6 hour trek to the bush and back which made for a very pleasant 6 hour trip!
I wouldn’t even have words to describe the actual safari and the joy (and happy tears) that it brought to my friends and me. He allowed us all the input in direction that we wanted and let us sit and enjoy the animals presence as long as we saw fit. Fanuel’s knowledge base on the animals was also impressive! His vehicle (Alfa) was reliable and safe for the journey and allowed us to fully experience any part of the park.
Fanuel even accompanied us to explore the local village some and helped us interact with locals to learn about dance and culture that we wouldn’t have otherwise due to language barriers. Even got to dance a little!
I want to thank Fanuel and all that are involved in the experience from the bottom of my heart. Thank you for making this baby giraffe’s dreams come true!
The only thing I wish I could have changed about the trip is that I wish we would have had time for a longer trip because it was so great!