KILIHOLIDAYS TEAM LEADER
Tours by Locals (aka Kiliholidays)
- Located In:
- Size:
- 10-20 employees (Founded in 2004)
- Member Of:
- TATO, TTB, KINAPA, MNRT & TPO
- Tour Types:
- Customizable private tours and fixed group tours
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $50 to $500 per person per day (USD, excl. int'l flights)
Reviews
Email Molly Davies | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amazing experience! Totally recommend
I booked to climb Kilimanjaro and then do a safari with Kiliholidays (Mack, who was great at organising it all). I booked the 7 day machame route, which is most scenic and every day had incredible views, recommend this route! I have to say it was the best experience of my life, summiting is unexplainable you HAVE to do it yourself to totally understand the amazing, for me emotional, breathtaking (literally lol) moment and due to one guy, my guide Rufano Masi this was made possible, not only was he a guide, he was a friend. He made sure himself and his brilliant team went beyond everything they could do to make it a brilliant experience, I can defiantly say they exceeded in performance and expectation, I cannot thank them enough. Their smiles and support filled the camp every second of the day making even the tough times a lot easier. Every day was its own challenge and unique experience building up to the final summit day, Rufano was professional in every way and totally trustworthy and as a young (20 year old) single girl from England travelling for the first time on my own I felt totally safe and comfortable the entire trip. Rufano was encouraging making us all laugh everyday, he made sure we all had what we needed (and if I was missing something he made it available on hire) and from the very first time I met him at our briefing he was full of passion and determination that I would achieved what I wanted too, this passion was constant throughout the trip and myself and my amazing group submitted! His experience showed through his great knowledge and communication was easy, his English is nearly as good as mine! I learnt a lot from him, if I was in Arusha for longer I would have also loved to have gone on a coffee tour and visited the hot springs which I know he takes clients too, I will have to come back again! I don’t want to give to much away from Kilimanjaro because it’s an individual experience, am amazing sense of achievement which effects everyone differently I would love to encourage anyone thinking about it to just go for it and from my experience Rufano is a perfect guide! Oh and not to mention he is a great photographer capturing many special moment throughout the trip!
We summited in 6 days instead of 7 due to Rufanos suggestion due to his experience and knowledge of the weather conditions not being the best if we had that extra day, myself and group trusted his opinion (he gave us the option totally up to us what we did as we paid for 7 days) but he knew best, and it was the best decision we made! It did mean squeezing 2 days into 1 but It showed it was a great decision because we made it to the top and I’m greatful and so so glad we did it! This is just one example of Rufano thinking about what is best for this clients in order to achieve that end goal. This meant we had an extra day of rest before safari which I was also grateful for!
The safari was amazing During this 4-day camping safari you will visit the Lake Manyara National Park, the Ngorongoro Conservation Area and the Serengeti National Park. We saw lots and also saw rare things such as a leopard and also 10 lions catching a buffalo! Our driver was knowledgable of the animals and parks! Totally recommend this! Amazing experience! Thank you Kiliholidays, everything was organised from my airport pick up until last day of safari where I had my own accommodation sorted in Arusha (they dropped you off and were more than happy to stop by a shop on way back). Overall the best experience which I will treasure for the rest of my life no problem was too big/too small I couldn’t have asked for more!
Email Julia Harrington | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amazing experience with very knowledgeable guides and a chief who made delicious meals.
An amazing experience I will never forget. Great staff, excellent facilities.
US
Email Jim | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great Safari, accomodating guide
The guide was very accomodating and flexible. He worked with our schedule and modified his plan and route to facilitate the things we wanted to see. He was very nice. I recommend this group for anyone.
Email Julitha | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Excellent 7 day Machame route with kiliholidays.
We completed the 7 day machame route with Kiliholidays Tours. Well organized and professional services. Our guides and porters were knowledgeable, helpful, and wonderful to hike with for 7 days. The food was delicious and the tent camps were very comfortable. We were led by guide, Barnabas and assistant guide Fred.
The whole team was great to work with from booking and answering questions and last minute requests. All of the wonderful porters who were part of Barnabas team. They did their absolute best to make it wonderful and unforgettable experience.
A couple of things in particular that I would like to highlight. The cook for our trip (frank) was amazing. He made meals that kept us going and were as good as almost anything I had in the one prior week I had been in Africa- Tanzania. His soups in particular were great and kept us warm.
I really appreciated the approach to tipping employed by Kiliholidays as well. We were told up front that at the end of our trek we would be able to give our tips directly via sealed envelopes given to each member of the team, which we did. It was nice to be able to hand each man their tip directly as I had heard that sometimes the porters don't receive all of their tips when they are given to the company directly. These guys worked incredibly hard and deserve every penny.
Finally, Barnabas and Fred did a great job getting us to Uhuru peak. The night of our summit attempt it was snowing, quite cold, and there was already enough snow in places for me to sink up nearly to my waist. The group of 17 behind us only had 7 make the peak. But by carefully picking our departure time, route, and giving us clear instructions we made it just at sunrise and it was spectacular. Thanks to Mack for his great advice on route selection.
I would not only recommend Kiliholidays for the professionalism of the office staff and operations manager but also by the clearly passionate, caring, knowledgeable, and extremely helpful guides, cook and porters. We could tell they enjoyed working together and they were singing to keep up our spirits.
US
Email Bethany | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Flexible and fun!
The communication with Mack before the tour was excellent. They were able to add 2 people to the tour at the last minute.
Thomas our driver and your guide was professional, flexible and informative. Highly recommend this tour!
RO
Email George | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
perfect safari trip, perfect guide, best price
We had a wonderful time in 4 days safari trip in game reserve Tarangire, Ngorongoro and Serengeti, all organised by
Kiliholidays. We receive also airport transfer and accommodation before flying back home, that a perfect service also. Kili is a small company in Arusha, and this is one on the reason that I choose them. They pay attention for every client, because is very important for them to survive in a high competitive market of tanzanian safari. The communication with the manager, the knowledge and ability of the driver was very important and made for us a great trip and lifetime memories...Mack, Thomas, Daniel, thank you and good luck
FR
Email Anetta | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Everything we hoped it would be
Communications with Mack via email were swift and comprehensible.
We were picked up at the airport on arrival by our guide, Thomas, who would be with us for the whole week. We signed up for a budget camping safari, and we had a great time! The campsites were nicer than I thought they would be, and the Kiliholidays team did a great job of taking care of us the whole trip. Thomas was very accommodating, and our 'stomach engineer' did a fantastic job the whole trip. My partner and I were very impressed by the quality of the food. Thomas was an incredible driver; a few times we had to stop and help other drivers who were stuck! This was my second visit to East Africa, and I will definitely book with Kiliholidays for my third trip :)
A few tips for other travelers: The sleeping mattress was a bit thin for me (my partner had no trouble!), but I found that sleeping on my back instead of my side helped. If you have sensitive hips, I'd recommend bringing something to use as a cushion, or possibly arranging for an extra mattress. The tent was high-quality and the sleeping bags were warm. We stayed in Mto wa Mbu a few nights and it was quite hot there. We brought sleeping sacks (very thin) and used those instead. Bring LOTS of insect repellent and use it often (biting flies in the daytime, mosquitoes at night). Same with hand sanitizer (public campsite toilets don't usually have soap). Granola bars are a good idea, too, if you like to snack between meals. There's not a lot of access to ice, so if you like an evening adult-beverage, just ask your guide to stop before you leave Arusha to pick up some wine. We picked up a 5-liter box of South African wine for about 25euros and it was very convenient (bring your own cups!).
RU
Email Leyla | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
It was excellent tour.
We were in mikumi park. We saw all animals even lions and gepard. Our guide was English speaking and he know everything about mikumi park and animals who lives there. We had good open safari car and very comfortable loudge - Bastian. It was clean and beautiful and colorful chilling area. Transfers were all in time. Strongly recommend
US
Email Michael | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Best value for money and very accomodating!!!
Kiliholidays Tours & Safaris were always responsive to all my emails and questions, and got back to me very quickly. They provided a detailed itinerary of our safari and they come as advertised, as well as being flexible to meet our needs. I reached out to 10 different safari operators and Kiliholidays gave us a price in a 5-star luxury accommodation (the best hotel we've ever stayed at!!!) at a price that was cheaper than others in budget camping accommodation. I would highly recommend Kiliholidays and I will only use them when booking a Tanzanian safari in the future!
KR
Email Seunghee Oh | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amazing!
We booked 4days safari tour via Kiliholidays Tour.
The manager of travel agency was trying to satisfy all we wanted and we were satisfied, too. He came to us, when we had just arrived at our hotel after finishing safari tour, to hear review from us. These kinds of efforts can be upgraded quaility of tours from Kiliholiday Tour.
We were also happy with our guide(driver) and cook because they were enthusiastic about their duty. Guide had a lot of knowledge about animals, plants, etc. and foods made by cook were really delicious.
I already miss my days in Tanzania. Hope to visit again :)
