"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
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Email Devon Rubin | 65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great time in Tanzania
For my first contact with Benson Safaris, we were met with a friendly, competent, responsive and organized company. Our driver/guide, Amini, was the best. He kept us on track I made sure we saw as many animals as possible, and we saw a huge amount. We always felt safe and taken care of and enjoyed his amiable personality and his knowledge about wildlife. Benson and Pendo in the office were also delightful. This company wants to make sure that you have the best possible time in Tanzania and I think they met that goal!
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Email Anna R | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Excellent service throughout the entire process ending with an amazing safari-experience.
Very informative quote and excellent service overall. Very nice administrativ staff with swift responses regarding questions.
Knowledgeable and nice guide with very good driving skills, never got stuck once but helped several who did.
Excellent accomodation in both Arusha and the tented camp in Serengeti. Very good boxed lunches, got treated to fresh pineapple in Ngorogoro-lunch from another Benson-driver and excellent dinners.
We got to see everything from a dung beetle to lions taking down a waterbuffalo in Ngorogoro. We got to see the big five!
Highly recommend going on safari with Benson Safaris!
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Email Rebecca | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
4.5 / 5 A fantastic experience, with a few minor - very minor - glitches
From the beginning, Pendo at Benson did an outstanding job communicating with us to arrange our trip just to our liking. This was not an easy task, as we had 2 families with different needs attempting to create an itinerary that would appeal to everyone. She took all of our changes to the itinerary in stride and arranged everything to our liking. Our guide, Kessy, was amazing - we could not have asked for better. When you spend as much time in a vehicle with someone as you do on safari, it's really important to have a good rapport. The first part of our trip was with my husband and me with his brother and family. Kessy was great with the kids, even when they weren't always the most fun to be around. Kessy was very knowledgeable and friendly, and was always open to our whims when it came to animal-watching and our questions about everything. The second part of our trip it was just my husband and me, and having Kessy all to ourselves was wonderful. He even put up with my obsession with watching dung beetles and my husband's need to get just one more really good picture of that giraffe... one more... (As a bonus, he was also very patient with my unending - and at times pathetic - attempts to learn Swahili.)
We did a side trip to Zanzibar, (midway through for my husband and me, at the end of the trip for my in-laws), which was unfortunately a little disappointing. The hotel we stayed in was great, but it was a very busy area and swimming and playing on the beach was not pleasant because we were constantly being approached by folks trying to sell us tours or boat trips. This is of course not the fault of Benson Safaris, but it would have been nicer to stay somewhere where there was a little less commerce happening at all times of day and night. There was some confusion with Benson when it came to the snorkel outing that had been planned. In our itinerary it stated that we were going to Chumbe Island, but when the guide came to pick us up he said that no, we were going across to Prison Island, a much shorter trip and by all accounts not nearly as interesting for snorkeling. After some back-and-forth telephoning with the tour representative in Zanzibar and with Pendo we figured out that the tour was incorrectly represented on our itinerary. It turned out to be too choppy for snorkeling in the Prison Island area unfortunately, so we missed out completely on that. Obviously the tour company has no control over the ocean conditions, but had we actually gone to Chumbe as we thought we were going to, it would have likely been better due to the location of the snorkel site there.
The other minor hiccup came with meals. My in-laws are vegan and we were assured that accommodating this would be no problem. Somehow, however, it was not communicated to the lodge we stayed in for safari, and lunches were not only not vegan, but there was only one lunch packed as vegetarian at all. Also, there were extremely limited options for vegan for the family at the lodge. Kessy did his best to try to fix this, but I think that communicating what vegan means was difficult. Again, a minor hiccup, but if you have very specific meal needs it would be a good idea to double and triple check on this.
Overall, though, an amazing experience! My recommendation overall is Benson Safaris for safari, and perhaps a different, local Zanzibar tour company for visiting the island.
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Email Toni Wheeler | 65+ years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
This Christmas trip for my entire family was the most unbelievable experience we could have ever!!
My husband and I went on a Tanzanian safari 15 years ago. I have wanted to take my family since then. This year over Christmas we finally did it! I started planning 13 months ahead and found Benson Safaris. The price for 8 days was reasonable for what we wanted to do and see. My 5 children,their spouses, my 10 grandchildren(ages 5-22) My husband,myself and my sister(23 in all) left on Dec 21st to head to Africa! Our main contact with Benson Safaris was Pendo. She is a beautiful, knowledgeable, kind, helpful, amazing woman!! During the planning year I had so many questions and she patiently responded as quickly as she could. When we arrived in Kilimanjaro our 4 drivers were waiting for us-Joshua,Freddy,Amini and Liberatos. They were all fun and very well informed about history,wildlife, traditions, and more. We were in Tarangire NP, the Serengeti,Ngorongoro Crater,Lake Manyara NP and much more! If you can believe that 23 people ranging from 5-75 could have a flawless 8 day trip to Africa you would be totally correct. Benson Safaris booked us in the most beautiful tent camps We could have ever imagined! All had infinity swimming pools, beautiful rooms-all with spectacular views, incredible dining. The Tanzanian people are so kind and friendly!!! This was such an awesome trip for all of us. The wildlife viewing was so amazing!!!!! I think between us we took 10,000 pictures-We saw every animal that we wanted to see and about 25 we had never heard off. I wish I were more eloquent in trying to describe our experiences but since I'm not you"ll just have to be content with AWESOME AWESOME AWESOME!!!!!!!!
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Email John | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Incredible Experience! They were so helpful and knowledgeable
The tour was amazing. Our guide, Goodluck, was able to help provide us so much information on the animals and the accommodations were fantastic.
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Email Steve Negen | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Spectacular! Our driver Peter and Benson made everything a complete family memory.
Pendo from Benson communicated with whenever we had questions. It was very professional and easy even with multiple changes.
The Safari was beyond expected and our expectations were very high.
Peter knew how far he could push our family each day and managed to score some amazing siting late in the day 3 times. We seemed to have booked an excellent time of year with lush greenery and 57 different animals spotted over our 9 days.
Safari is not a "vacation" but an adventure experience and I was glad our youngest of 3 was 18. We had 6 people in the Land Cruiser and that was a full vehicle.
We choose to mid - luxury level accomedations and were blown away by the places we stayed. Lovely to have a great room and food at the end of 8-10 hours on the road.
I would highly recommend Benson and especially Peter. In fact I'm sure I will be back.
Steve Negen - Age 58
Traveled with my wife, my 2 sons 25,22 and daughter 18 and a family friend 25 years old. Excellent ages.
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Email AMR | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Trip of a life time.
I can’t describe how great this trip was. Peter our tour guide was knowledgeable, patient and very helpful explaining many aspect of the culture in this part of the world.
Email Mark Underwood | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Excellent safari organised with smooth proficiency, meeting and exceeding our expectations
Benson Safaris Tanzania were excellent from the start, with good clear communication. We were able to amend the proposed itinerary to suite our requirements with ease.
The service provided was excellent with everything going to plan, with all transfers running smoothly. The vehicles and driver, guide were as described and a great way to explore for the two of us with lots of space for animal viewing, being able to move easily about the vehicle and with chargers for keeping batteries charged, and coolers for cold drinks. The game viewing was exceptional. We saw all we had hoped for and more.
A vehicle breakdown was dealt with with little disruption following a temporary repair, with a replacement vehicle arriving quickly to prevent any disruption to our tour.
As well as excellent safari viewing a surprising highlight was the cultural visit to the HadzabeBush People and Datoga Tribe at Lake Eyasi.
All of the hotels and tented lodges recommended and chosen were superb, in great locations and with excellent service
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Email Maggie | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Every part of the trip was excellent
Having recently completed a ten day holiday safari in Tanzania I can heartily endorse Benson Safaris. This local Tanzanian operator stands back for no-one! Their organization was excellent, with Pendo attending to all our group's queries and requests and together a most suitable itinerary was drawn up. We were in two vehicles and our guides, Amini and Peter, were outstanding: experienced, resourceful, patient and showing genuine interest in the animals and birds. As amateur birders we kept Amini busy identifying the many, many birds we saw. He has an amazing knowledge of birds and always had his bird book handy for more details. If birding is your thing, Amini is your man.
October was an excellent time to visit, with pleasant temperatures and no bugs. Being mostly open savanna, it is wonderfully easy to spot animals in the Serengeti and we were not disappointed. I was also impressed with how the guides from different outfits co-operate with each other to give everyone a viewing chance when there was a popular animal sighting.
The Maramboi and Kubu Kubu tented lodges we stayed in were a delight, with beautiful rooms and great atmosphere. The welcome on arriving at Maramboi was exceptionally warm and caring, and a shout-out to the staff at Kubu Kubu who were ceaselessly friendly whether early in the morning or late at night. At both lodges there are no fences and one can see animal tracks on the paths around the lodge when you step out in the morning – a wonderful experience for a city dweller.
My thanks to Benson Safaris, Benson, Pendo, Peter and Amini for a wonderful experience.
CA
Email Kathy Hall | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Well organized, dedicated, professional, and a most amazing experience.
Communications - prompt, clear, detailed
Service - above and beyond our expectations
Expectations - exceeded our expectations. Each location and lodging was much more comfortable than expected and the food was outstanding. All of the staff at every location were genuinely friendly and sincerely wanted you to have the best experience possible.
Tour - what made our tour so exceptional was our guide,Erasto. Every animal we wanted to see , we did. Close up and multiple times. Often we were there first or in such a great location for viewing that we were able to see the animals and get the most amazing photos and videos. As well, Erasto was prompt, so friendly ,followed the itinerary but always catered to what we wanted to see or needed. He went above and beyond each day but asan example- we arrived at one of the mobile camps for the evening. Just as we were settling in Erasto ran up and offered us a chance to see lions mating. He would take us if we wanted to go (even though he had already put in a long day). We took his offer be were very fortunate to be able to see the two lions close up. A chance of a lifetime. If we were ever so lucky to return to Africa, we would book with Benson again but even more importantly, have Erasto as our guide. Thank you for the opportunity of a lifetime to see such an amazing and beautiful place as the Serengeti, Arusha National Park, and the Ngorongo crater.
