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 $400 per person per day (USD, excl. int'l flights)
Reviews
UA
Email Semen Plakhotin | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Good experience
Safari is really bright and unforgettable experience. We chosen Kili by reviews. Now I can say that I agree with all positive reviews! We were satisfied with the selection of the company that organized the safari for us. Everything was professionally. It was comfortable to travel. The food was delicious and the portions was huge!
We were met by the ferry in Dar es Salaam, and we immediately went to Selous by 4WD car.
Road took about 6 hours with lunch-stop. In the same day was a river safari by boat.
Next day was game drive in the Selous. One-day game drive safari may seem insufficient. Take 2-full-days game drive. Last morning - 2 hours walking safari with local guy.
Read carefully the conditions of the accomodation. We decided that a accomodation in the hippo camp will be in lodge, but it turned out to be spending the night in a tent on the territory of the camping. As an exception, one night we were placed in the lodge (thanks to Mack and manager).
So, enjoy your safari holidays with Kiliholidays Tours & Safaris Africa.
Reply from Tours by Locals (aka Kiliholidays)
Posted on Oct 22, 2015Thanks Semen! it was real pleasure to hear that you had a great time during your visit here. Well! we appreciate you comment too, we have changed accommodation from the camping ground to the room at Selous hippo camp as can be seen on the given Itinerary. So No more camping ground.
Thank you so much and hopeful to host you again soon
Mack Kornelio
Kiliholidays Team Leader
IT
Email Maria Camilla | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amazing 3-day safari in Selous Reserve, perfect organization: definitely to recommend!
PERFECT! That’s how I can describe the safari we made with Kiliholidays in August. I was travelling with my 19 year old daughter and my 14 year old boy and we were 100% satisfied under all respects. Having limited time and budget, we chose Selous Reserve in the South, because it is only 5 hours by car from Dar-es-Salaam and offers an amazing experience of African wildlife during the dry season. Despite the short notice (few days) Mack, owner and manager of Kili, was quick and efficient in replying (overnight, both by e-mail and Whatsapp) and arranged perfectly our trip, advising us to the best to make the most out of the few days we had at disposal. His price was inclusive of everything and competitive compared to similar proposals found in the web. Our driver and guide Joachim was knowledgeable and always ready to answer our questions about Tanzania and wildlife, definitely an enjoyable company. Food was prepared nicely by cook Daniel, who took our preferences well into account.
On the first day we were picked up at the ferry dock from Zanzibar short before 9am, the travel to Selous was itself a worthwhile experience through Tanzanian inland, in particular the last 100 hundred chilometers of dirt road through small villages. Our comfortable 4-wheel private vehicle showed absolutely no problem during the three days and went successfully through several routine police controls. We had a quick lunch in a local restaurant on the way and arrived at Selous Hippo Campsite – a small suggestive campsite outside Selous reserve - right in time for a wonderful sunset boat safari along Rufiji River: two hours among hippos, crocodiles and an amazing birdlife, definitely a plus of this trip.
The following day Joachim drove us the full day through Selous Reserve, where we were overwhelmed with an incredibly abundant wildlife: dozens of giraffes, impalas, zebras, gnus, hippos, crocodiles, a few buffalos, lions, etc. They were often very close to our vehicle, which had a pop-up roof allowing us to enjoy all this at the best. Only elephants were difficult to spot on that day, but Joachim and our local guide Amir did not give up searching until we met a nice family including a baby elephant.
Accomodation was in a comfortable tent for three persons, Daniel served us breakfast and dinner under a pleasant veranda facing the river. For our day in Selous and the travel back to Dar he prepared tasty lunchboxes.
The 2-hour walking safari we had on the last day, accompanied by a local guide and an armed ranger, was really interesting and instructive tour and completed nicely our Selous experience. We left the campsite at around 10 am, as planned.
Back in Dar es Salaam, Joachim helped us get our tickets for the ferry back to Zanzibar on the following day and then drove us to a budget lodge he had booked for us as per our request: definitely an attentive complete assistance from the first minute to the very last one!
Should we get the chance to come back to Tanzania to visit the parks in the North (we are already dreaming of it), we will surely choose Kiliholidays again.
US
Email Tony | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Amazing, affordable,friendly,knowledgable team, and easy to work with.
I really was not expecting such wonderful service we received from the time they picked us up from the airport, the drive to the hotel was amazing as the transit driver was very friendly and full of information. It was a sightseeing transfer in itself. We were excited about our safari, we left early morning in a 4x4 truck, the driver guide spoke good English, very friendly and informative. We really enjoyed our safari package, we did not expect it to be so well planned and everyday was an exciting day. Ohh! the wildlife we saw was worth
AE
Email Zaid | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
5 Day Safari (Tarangire, Ngorongoro and Serengeti)
We had a amazing experience on the Safari organised by Kiliholiday Tours.
The owner (Mack) was very professional and was very attentive to all of our requests and changes in the plan prior to our arrival. He was easy to deal with and you can even communicate with him on Whatsapp.
The Driver/Guide (Jo Jo) was a really nice guy and he was very knowledgeable of what he's doing and provided us with a great insight about all the wildlife and information about each national park. We had a lot of fun hanging out with him.
The food was great but there should be some improvement in the lunch boxes provided during the Safaris.
We were lucky to see The Big Five along with almost every type of animal you can find in those parks. (Thanks to Jo Jo of course).
Another area of improvement would be (has nothing to do with Kiliholidays, but more about the facilities in the parks), the bathrooms need to be renovated and cleaned properly in Serengeti and Ngorongoro.
Overall, We would highly recommend booking your Safari with Kiliholidays and ask for Jo Jo directly as he will ensure you have a memorable experience.
Thank you Kiliholiday Team for an awesome experience.
DE
Email Oliver & Tina | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Respectable Southern Circuit Safari
Day 1
• trip to Selous (lunch enroute)
• 2 hour boat ride outside the Selous GR
• sunset, crocodiles, hippos, birds, life along the river
• Accommodation in Hippo-Camp: basic, staff is friendly and endeavour, not everything perfect, nice view to Rufiji River
Day 2
• 2 h Morning-Walk outside the Selous GR
• animal tracks, birds and flora
• Game Drive in Selous GR from Mtemere gate with 24-hour permit (to Day 3 at 10:00)
• Guide is endeavor and with the necessary local knowledge
• lions, elephants, buffalos, zebras, giraffes, antelopes ....
Day 3
• drive in Selous GR by Mtemere gate to Matambwe gate with 24-hour permit to 10:00
• only short stops for Game Viewing
• from Matambwe Gate it comes a scenic drive through the Uluguru Mountains to Morogoro (stop for lunch), fantastic views and insights into the normal country life
• continue through the Mikumi NP for Tan Swiss Lodge
(Swiss owner, well-managed mid-range lodge, comfortable air-conditioned room, good food)
Day 4
• drive to the Udzungwa Mountains (90 min.)
• hike with local guide
• waterfall, great views, natural swimming pool
Day 5
• safari in Mikumi NP, full day, only north of the Highway possible
• guide with the required local knowledge
• leopard, lion, elephant, buffalo, zebras, giraffes, antelopes ....
Day 6
• return to Dar
• Option: Snake Park
Conclusion
• solid / respectable tour in the field Budget / Mid Range
• no obvious organizational weaknesses, professional consultation with the Management
• driver / guide safely, vehicle in order
• Note: Tour 6 days including 3 days GR / NP (Permit)
• price-performance okay
US
I would advise you not to book this company. Seriously, you'll thank me later.
We booked a 4 night budget safari to see the Serengeti, Ngorogoro Crater, and Lake Manyara. While the wildlife did not disappoint (thanks to our freelance drivers, who were excellent guides), the rest of the experience was pretty awful.
We got quotes from a bunch of different safari operators and Kiliholidays came in the cheapest. This should have been a red flag, but we are broke grad students so we decided to hire them. Unfortunately, we got what we paid for.
The vehicles were in a sorry state of disrepair and one of them lost a wheel - twice. The bolts were rusted and after hitting a big bump, the wheel would tear loose and bounce off into the bush. Instead of getting new bolts to fix the wheel, the drivers simply borrowed bolts from other wheels. We saw a couple vehicles from other tour operators get flat tires, but no one else on the road had a wheel come flying off.
We also had some customer service issues with the company owner, Mack. You may have noticed that he has written responses to the other bad reviews from our group (there were 8 of us total).
Feel free to read his responses, but as you do, remember that this is how he would talk to you if you had an issue on safari with his company. It's a lot of blathering and blame shifting, which is really not what you want to deal with when you're totally dependent on your tour operator and just trying to have an enjoyable vacation with friends.
In summary - we felt unsafe in the vans and we felt that Mack took advantage of the fact that we were (stupid American) tourists, dependent on Kiliholidays for food, shelter, and transportation. Don't make the same mistake we did - book with someone else!
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
excellent customer service with great safari experience provided by the friendly staff
My boyfriend and I had a 5 day comfortable camping trip with kiliholidays. Since we started to contact them before arriving, the manager Mack responded all our questions and emails quickly. He is very hospital and friendly, one day before our flight, he event sent us a greeting email. It started our trip delightedly.
During the tour, he was always very caring and took into consideration of each of the customers'needs. The cook who was with us did a fantastic job too. He prepared food based on each person's preference, e.g a German girl who joined us was vegan, I can't eat bananas... The chef made specific dish for each of us during the tour. He really paid attention to it. I love all his soup, it was absolutely delicious. It is a great bonus to have delicious and nicely prepared food during a camping tour.
We also shared many good discussions with Mack, he is more like a friend sharing with us his stories running the safari business. He provided us a comfortable atmosphere to travel. We enjoyed it so much.
I would love to bring my parents here and experience safari with Kiliholidays.
US
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Kili tours provided excellent customer services to my daughter.
Kili tours has excellent customer services. My daughter visited Ngorongoro and Manyara and she really enjoyed Kili tour's customer services provided by the tour guide.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Good value budget safari with the excellent guide
We travelled with Kiliholidays over Christmas when we had two couples of friends visiting from Europe. We went on a 4 day trip including hiking Ol Doinyo Lengai and game drives in the Ngorongoro crater and Tarangire National Park. The program was quite hectic for such a short trip, but that was our request and Kiliholidays went out of their way to make this possible. Our guide and driver Walter was the perfect guide - experienced and very knowledgeable about everything from plants and animals, to culture and history. He is an excellent storyteller and kept us entertained through the 4 days. But he also knew when to give us space and leave us alone, which was nice as we were a group of friends traveling together. We also had a cook with us who made very nice food given the tight food budget it must have been. The lunch boxes were not the most exiting, but I believe similar to what other safari companies serve, but breakfast and dinner was very tasteful. I was worried beforehand that the low budget of the trip would sacrifice the quality of the guide and the experience of the trip, but we truly had a wonderful experience and would be happy to travel with Kiliholidays again at another occasion.
BE
65+ years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Private visit to Selous and Mikumi from Dar Es Salam in 6 days
We booked via Internet a 6 day private tour from Dar Es Salam to visit the parks of Selous and Mikumi in southern Tanzania and had a wonderful week. Our driver Samuel was extremely pleasant, a great driver, a competent guide to animals and good at mechanics. He fixed in one hour a major break down of our jeep (transmission failure) and drove us back in time in Dar. Every detail was taken care of and we really had a great time. Accomodation was simple but nicely located and with friendly management. It was a great value for the price. Two points that you should know if you want to make the same trip:
1) accommodation was near but not in the parks so that we never went for early morning drives in the parks before breakfast. We still saw a lot of animals (20 sp of mammals and 110 species of birds in 3.5 days) but it might be more rewarding to be in the park. Usually this means a much higher cost than what we paid (830 euros per person for 6 days in private car for 2) but in Mikumi this would be possible at low cost. Accommodation in the park is run by the park administration. It is clearly less sophisticated than what we had outside but this might be worth it. To be discussed with the organizers, depending on your personal taste (comfort vs. Proximity with animals at night).
2) you should know that although the parks of Selous and Mikumi are adjacent, they are separated by a large mountain range which means that you need an 8-10 hour drive on bad dirt roads to go from one to the other. Take that into account when planning.
Note however that these are NOT complaints, just information. We had a really wonderful time and warmly recommend Killiholidays for your Safari. A really great value for the money!