Tours by Locals (aka Kiliholidays)

Average safari at Selous Reserve

We booked a 2 day, 3 night safari to Selous Reserve. Communication with Mack was good, our driver was punctual, and there were no surprises with payment. We were told that we had been upgraded to a better lodge at no extra cost, as Kiliholidays had received complaints about the lodge they typically book. This was appreciated and a good business decision. The lodge (African Safari Lodge) was beautiful and the rooms were great, but the food was average (we have had much better in Tanzania thus far).
Our driver and guide was friendly, but he did not seem to have much experience with the reserve itself. We were disappointed with the game drives, though to be fair, I know any safari is a gamble and our lack of sightings may not have had anything to do with our guide at all. Coming to Selous is a trade-off-you won't face traffic jams like you would in the Serengeti, but it is also harder to spot the big animals.

Finally, I was disappointed that the we didn't follow the schedule/description we had agreed upon prior to booking. I was told that we would have a chance to swim in a hot spring at sunset on day two, and was really looking forward to it. When we asked our driver/guide about this, he seemed surprised, and said there is a hot spring, very far away, and that the only time we could swim is in the late morning/early afternoon. We declined, as this would cut into our game drive time, and a hot spring at 14:00 in the heat isn't appealing. Very misleading.

I should add that we had come from Maasaii Mara in Kenya and had an AMAZING safari experience for a much LOWER cost! Our guides in Maasaii Mara were incredibly enthusiastic and knowledgable and we were on game drives from 06:00 until 18:30. We saw so much wildlife, mainly in the morning and evening. With this safari, we left one day at 07:30 and returned at 16:30, and the second day left at 09:00 and returned at 15:45.

To summarize, our experience was very average and not the best value.