"Benson Safaris: Thrilling Adventures Await!"
Benson Safaris Tanzania
- Located In:
- Size:
- 10-20 employees (Founded in 2006)
- Member Of:
- TATO, TTB & IGS
- Tour Types:
- Custom mid-range & luxury tours that can start every day
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $300 to $1,200 per person per day (USD, excl. int'l flights)
Reviews
Email Jurjees | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Exceptional
Fabulous experience. Ben and team were excellent and attentive. Our guide Sudy was absolutely magnificent. Thank you all.
US
Email Kevin | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
We whole heartedly recommend Benson Safaris! I encourage you to give them a serious look.
I don’t very often feel compelled to write a review except for when I encounter extremely exceptional or extremely horrific experiences. I don’t even take the time to write a review for businesses that mildly exceed my expectations or are a mild disappointment. I am speaking on behalf of the four of us in my family (Husband, Wife and 2 Children) when I say that Benson Safaris was beyond exceptional throughout the entire process from advising and customizing our itinerary, follow up along the way and the actual Safari experiences. I vetted about a dozen safari companies in Tanzania and took a leap of faith and booked our family of 4’s first safari with Benson because he was the most upfront with costs and provided pros and cons of each location we were thinking about experiencing with a bonus of being wildlife conservation minded. We ended up visiting the Central and North Serengeti for a few days, Tarangire NP, Lake Manyara NP, Ngorongoro Crater and Lake Eyasi to interact and experience the culture of a few tribes. Each day exceeded the previous in terms of the care and effort demonstrated by our driver and guide, and the wonderful people and sights to which we were introduced.
Part of the safari experience is sitting around a camp fire in the evening where the guests often discuss their days safari adventure. When comparing our safari experience with Benson Safaris to what others had from other companies it was clear that Benson and his team delivered a more successful safari experience. Our guide was not only extremely knowledgeable about the wildlife we encountered but more importantly he had the experience and the communication network to locate the specific animals and always found the perfect vantage point to view them. The thing we lucked out on that turned out to be the key safari ingredient, was having an experienced guide with a newer truck, which Benson Safaris delivered both. In our few days of Safari we saw the entire big 5 bucket list including Black Rhinos on two different occasions as well as having a front row seat to observe the Great Wildebeest Migration crossing the Mara River. We were the only ones around the camp fire that had experienced everything up close where many of the other guests merely attempted to witness these things and came back empty handed. I truly attribute the success of our safari to Benson’s guidance on creating our itinerary and his ability to hire experienced and exceptional guides.
One last thing to mention is that we traveled with younger children at the ages of 10 and 12 years old. If you have children, you know this can be a challenge. This was both of their first time traveling outside of the US and Benson and Amani (our guide) went above and beyond to make sure they were happy, engaged and comfortable. Amani, understood what animals our kids were most excited about seeing and made an effort to find them and get them close to them. Amani treated them with respect and spent time to educating them on the specific plants and animals that we were observing. Benson and Amani even remembered they had birthdays that month and made them feel special by singing happy birthday and sharing a slice of cake with them. Many companies will “accept” or “allow” kids but from my experience, very few will go out of their way to make kids feel special and treat them with the same respect as they would treat adults.
This was our first trip to Tanzania and our first safari which started out being an intimidating vacation planning experience. Benson earned our trust and made this experience pleasurable. On behalf of my entire family, we can whole heartedly recommend Benson Safaris and I encourage you to give them a serious look when you are planning a trip to Tanzania.
Thank You Benson Safaris! We will be back!
US
Email Madonna and Thomas | 65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
Benson Safari’s provided us a wonderful experience from arrival to departure.
We are delighted that we chose Benson’s Safaris to guide our Tanzania safari experience. We thoroughly enjoyed our safari through Tanangire, Serengeti, Ngorogoro Crater, and Lake Manyara, as well as our cultural experiences with the Maasai, Hadzabe, Datoga, tribes and the Gidangooga blacksmith. We liked the local Mama lunch and agricultural visits in Mto wa Mbu.
Benson was wise and flexible as we fashioned our itinerary. The accommodations he recommended all suited us well and were staffed by friendly and helpful people. We especially enjoyed our stays in the tented camps.
Our driver-guide Paul was fabulous! He knew so much about the animals and skillfully got us to them, often positioning the land cruiser to optimize our camera angle. Paul took great care of us, for examples facilitating our gluten-free eating and helping us get avocado after I injured my knee (as recommended for healing by Tanzanians). He also taught us some Kiswahili, which enriched our connections with the people we met. We enjoyed our conversations with Paul as we journeyed on safari. We also enjoyed conversations with our airport driver Zablon.
Benson Safari’s provided us a wonderful experience from arrival to departure. When you’re planning a trip from 10,000 miles away, it’s important to have local expertise. We wanted to go with a Tanzanian-owned tour operator and we’re happy we chose Benson. We’d go with them again and are already recommending them to our family and friends.
SG
Email Bruce and Grace | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Wonderful Safari Experience with Benson and team
At first when planning for the Safari, I was at a loss as to which guide or tour agent to go to as there were so many. I emailed a few and Benson responded almost immediately. We spoke on the phone as I needed to explain our special needs on the tour, he was very professional and accommodating at the same time. So I decided to book my tour with Benson.
Zablon, our very polite and patient driver picked us up at the Kilimanjaro Airport.
Benson met us at the hotel before and after the tour. He is really a hands on tour operator.
Our private guide on the Safari was Paul. He was a fantastic driver who was always alert and skillful on the roads even after a long tiring day. We managed to see the wildebeest migration across the Mara River, thanks to Paul, who was driving relentlessly to all the different locations where the crossing might take place before we finally found the right spot. The migration was definitely an amazing sight and we were very lucky to have witnessed it because chances of river crossings were quite slim in July.
A big thank you to all at the Mbugani Tented Camp, the staff, other guides, Benson and Paul for putting together a surprise birthday party for me.
This has been a truly unforgettable experience and one I will cherish for a long, long time.
CH
Email Stephen Miller | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
The perfect 10-day safari with Benson
Safari Bookings linked us to Benson Safaris, and from the very first email exchange with them I had a good feeling about this Tanzanian-run operation. Each email was prompt, helpful, and we designed together our once-in-a-lifetime safari experience. Benson did not disappoint. From the moment we were picked up at the airport, our guide (named Good Luck, really) was very kind, and extremely knowledgable about any question raised by anyone in our family (ranging in age from 10-58). Everything was smooth, the accommodations were all excellent, with some much more excellent than we anticipated.
We were fortunate to witness the massive wildebeest migration across the Mara River (including croc attacks), up to 40 lions in various stages of activity, from sex to eating a fresh kill to just lounging around. We missed out on Cheetah/Leopard spotting, but all others species got a big check mark (including the illusive Rhino).
We had a 10-day safari that was indeed the safari of our dreams, and at a fair and reasonable price (especially when compared with European-based tour operators).
Thanks GoodLuck and Benson, it was awesome.
LU
Email Anja and Paula | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
very good organisation and exceptional experience
We booked a 5 day mid range tour for the Serengeti and Ngorongo crater. We had looked at a range of safari companies prior to booking and decided that it would be best to use a local company. Communication with Benson safaris was very good from the start and they adapted the schedule flexibly , including finding us accommodation for an extra night in Arusha when our plans changed. Accommodation and food were very good. We had a wonderful experience, saw many animals including cheetahs and lions hunting and a newborn giraffe and, of course, places of exceptional beauty like the ngorongo crater. Peter, our guide, was extremely accommodating, spotted animals we had not seen and generally a good source of information about animals, nature and culture. And most of all pleasant to be with! We had a fantastic experience and thoroughly recommend Benson Safaris!
Email Abigail | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Professional local tour operator
We booked a 8 night tour with Benson Safaris, including the Serengeti, Ngorongoro, Tarangire, Lake Manyara and a day hike in Kilimanjaro. Right from the outset, I found the company to be highly professional and responsive to all requests. I looked at a range of tour companies before booking and found Benson Safaris to be the one that was willing to personalise our tour, make suggestions for different options and provide advice to help us chose the best experience for our budget. I was keen to use a local tour company, but Benson's stood out above even some of the large international companies in terms of customer service and price. All of the people from Benson's that we dealt while in Tanzania were friendly, professional and willing to be flexible to meet our needs, even collecting us at 3am for our return flight, when our travel arrangements changed at the last minute. Our tour guide, Paul, was excellent - knowledgeable and good company. The accommodation was all top notch, very luxurious in wonderful locations. I would not hesitate to recommend Benson Safaris.
CA
Email John | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Absolutely Amazing Safari Experience
We had a trip of a lifetime with Benson Safaris in northern Tanzania.
I had first contacted Benson early January based on the excellent reviews on this site and we were not disappointed. Benson designed a 9 day mid range safari of the major parks for our family. Working with criteria I had provided him, Benson created a custom itinerary and chose lodges that perfectly fit our needs, and exceeded our high expectations.
Our guide Amani was simply excellent, extremely knowledgeable on the animals and flora and fauna in the parks; gracious, patient and kind to our two children (aged 13); and very safety conscious. As a very experienced and trained professional, Amani knew exactly where to take us to ensure we viewed all of the major animals on our wish list (including all the big five), and used his strong contacts with other guides to ensure we had a number of unique viewing experiences, including a leopard, rhino, pride of 30 or so lions, a large family of elephants, and a lion feasting on a fresh kill, along with countless other animals.
Benson was easy to communicate with, payment was easy to arrange, and the logistics of the trip were perfect with Benson arranging for a very early morning pickup at the Mount Kilimanjaro airport upon our arrival and a drive to the airport on our departure. And it was a pleasure meeting Benson personally at the end of the safari.
I highly recommend Benson and his firm, the quality of the lodges, food, and experiences, and feel we received excellent service and value for money.
US
Email Julia | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Company did ok but guide was disappointing
I communicated via email with Benson on a 1-week itinerary for me and my 3 children and he presented a comprehensive mid-range safari package in a timely manner. Everything went well until we started out with our private guide. Logistics were smooth with one exception that was clarified with a quick call to Benson. Otherwise, the guide was obviously more interested in chatting with others on his 2 cell phones and car CB than in providing information to us, his clients. Some of the communication was between guides sharing animal sightings in the area and there was no shortage of those the guide pursued but there was more than one case of me seeing an animal in a place that required backing up and the guide disregarded my request. This was my 3rd time on a guided safari but my childrens’ first and they missed out on so much, even with my advocacy. I prompted the guide several times to provide information - differences in species, etc. - and answers were one or two sentences at best. It got to the point at one meal where, after loudly reminding my daughter that using electronics during dinner was rude and unacceptable, I had to ask him to put his cell phone away minutes later. He never asked what kind of animals we were interested in, never pulled out a field guide, and offered very little personal insight. I felt like my family was a load to be transferred between locations rather than a family who had crossed half the globe to appreciate his homeland. We met other Benson guides who showed far more interest in their jobs (and us) so I think we got the guy who’d grown tired/bored after 15 years of guiding. One other minor thing: Benson claimed he would come by to meet us which he never did. The week was good in the sense that the animals are everywhere in the parks, camps and food were good and we didn’t have any catastrophes but I know the trip would’ve been MUCH better with a different guide.
Reply from Benson Safaris Tanzania
Posted on Jul 9, 2018Hi Julia,
Thank you for your review and feedback. I am very disappointed to hear about your Guide behavior.
I have chosen all of our Guides myself so this is very bad feedback and will be investigated. All of our Guides are very experienced and familiar with international standard and we always get a great feedback from guest.
We welcome all feedback and I real appreciate you taking the time to tell me. I can tell you this will be dealt with right away.
Kind regards, Benson Benard (Owner)
Email Ros & Jeff | 65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
A first class tour operator who is very efficient and really cares about his clients.
We decided to choose a local company to go on a safari in Tanzania and selected BensonSafaris. From the start, Benson replied almost immediately to our questions, and was extremely helpful at every stage which gave us confidence in him and his company. Benson helped us to choose lodges and a tented camp for our accommodation and each place we stayed at worked well.
We arranged our own flights from UK to Kilimanjaro International and everything else was organized superbly by BensonSafaris. We were met at the airport by Zablon, and taken to our first lodge in Arusha. Benson came to meet us on our first day which was a really nice gesture and he introduced us to Peter who was our driver/guide.
The safari was superb! We had game drives in Tarangire National Park, the Serengeti (staying in a tented camp), Nogorongoro Conservation area and the Crater, and Lake Manyara National Park. Our guide, Peter, was excellent and he has the most incredible eyesight – he could spot animals that we could only see with binoculars! We saw the Big Five (lion, leopard, elephant. rhinoceros (including a black rhino with a baby), cape buffalo, plus lots of other animals – cheetah, zebra, wildebeest, hippo, giraffe, jackal, hyena etc, and the birds were really colourful.
On the last day we went on a city tour of Arusha with Zablon, and the local market was fascinating. We had lunch in a local hotel and Benson called in to say farewell before we were taken back to the airport for our flight home.
We have no hesitation at all in recommending BensonSafaris – it is a small company that really cares. We went as clients and came away as friends.
