Lights on Africa Destinations & Safaris
- Located In:
- Size:
- 1-5 employees (Founded in 2012)
- Member Of:
- Tanzania Tourist Board
- Tour Types:
- Custom budget & mid-range tours that can start every day
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $170 to $900 per person per day (USD, excl. int'l flights)
Reviews
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Email Judith Dumont | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
It was a fantastic experience!
Peniel met us at the airport and took care of us from there on! He is a perfect gentlemen and is such a good person! We loved him right away and he will always be a good friend of ours even if he lives across the world! He made a big impact on our life and he is so caring and pleasant to be around! We loved our experience and if we ever have the chance to go back it would definitely be through Peniel! Thank you my friend
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Email Devon | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amazing 2-day Ngorongoro/Tarangire safari
We emailed Lights on Africa to arrange a last-minute safari, and I'm so glad we did! Peniel arranged everything absolutely perfectly. He works with several different reputable tour operators (ours was SD Safaris, which was excellent), so he's able to easily arrange for budget travelers like ourselves to join an existing group. Peniel was incredibly prompt (responded within an hour!) and friendly in responding to emails, and he saw us off the morning of our safari and greeted us on our return to make sure everything had gone well.
Our safari itself was incredible. Our guide, Amani, was friendly and knowledgeable, and he helped us to spot tons of animals. On the first day alone (in Tarangire), we saw zebras, giraffes, antelope, baboons, many different birds, wildebeest, warthogs, a group of about 5 lions (they walked right past our car!), and dozens and dozens of elephants. In Ngorongoro Crater, we saw many of the same animals plus large herds of buffalo, hippos, flamingos, ostriches, and more that I'm sure I'm forgetting! We even saw an extremely rare caracal cat, which is even more difficult to spot than leopards. Amani also made sure to give us information about interesting animal behaviors we witnessed (like two female zebras wrestling next to our car).
Thanks to Amani and Peniel for an all-around wonderful experience, and I highly recommend Lights on Africa!
Email Marko | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
An amazing day in Tarangire National Park
Our safari was amazing and would recommend it to anyone looking for one-day trip from Arusha. We had a private car and driver knew exactly where to go so we can spot interesting animals. We'd definitely choose Lights on Africa Destinations & Safaris again.
DK
Email Luke | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Excellent safari company with professional service.
My wife and I had an unexpected opportunity to go on a safari for 5 days but our problem was that we only had a few weeks before we flew to Tanzania to research which company to go with and feel sure we were making a wise choice.
We decided to go with Lights On Africa Destinations and Safaris, finding their prices to be very fair and Peniel, the managing director, to be extremely flexible, creating a safari experience that matched our specific needs. He answered all of our questions clearly, quickly and in detail. I found his company to operate very professionally and we were happy to have a guide who was knowledgeable about the Serengeti, Ndutu and Ngorongoro areas we visited. He would sometimes stop to point out small details here and there that we would have no chance of seeing or knowing ourselves which were fun to learn about. He was also happy to do what we preferred and position the safari vehicle well to get good pictures.
We were able to meet Peniel in person at the end of the safari and found him to be just as his emails suggested - a very happy, enthusiastic and kind person. We feel very lucky to have experienced some of the beauty of the Serengeti with this company and would fully recommend it to friends.
Thank you Peniel and Mr Mody for helping to create memories that will last a lifetime!
PL
Email Tadeusz | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
All was better than we expect.
We were on bird watching safari. We made a lot of pictures- birds and other like lions, cheetah, leopard, elephant, buffalos and many more. Our guide and cook was perfect. We spend unforgettable days.
Email Salmaan | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Peniel and his team are fantastic - don't use anyone else.
My wife and I, both of whom are Kenyan citizens living in the UK, were keen to climb Mount Meru (as my wife tried Kilimanjaro a few years ago but suffered from severe altitude sickness). We emailed in excess of 60 different tour operators and their responses fell into one of two categories: either they simply ignored us and failed to reply, or they quoted us a truly astronomic price. Peniel was the sole exception in both regards. Not only did he get back to me (and respond to each of my subsequent emails) immediately, but he also offered the most economical quote, and even notified me of a discount we would be eligible to by virtue of our East African citizenship (reduced national park entry fees). Furthermore, despite problems paying in advance by bank transfer, Peniel made an exception for us and was happy to accept cash the night before we were due to set off!
Although I was initially apprehensive to engage with the cheapest tour operator, fearing that this would also reflect in a lower quality of service, I can safely say not only that none of my fears were borne out, but that we received a far superior service than that offered by other tour operators (which I know from bumping into other trekkers on our hike, see below).
I couldn't possibly provide a review of our trip without also mentioning Aloyce Manyanga, the mountain guide working for Peniel, and his team. Aloyce was phenomenal and without him neither me nor my wife would have reached the summit. On the second day my knee gave way and Aloyce lent me his personal walking sticks and gave me some of his painkiller medication. The mountain ranger told Aloyce that I wouldn't be able to make it to the summit, and advised him not to take me, but Aloyce knew how much the trip meant to me and after assessing me (and massaging my knee with hot water and salt that night) said he was determined to get me to the top, as long as I was happy to continue.
On the night before we were due to set off for the summit, Aloyce checked our clothing and equipment to make sure it was suitable. As my wife was missing a suitable torch, he gave her his personal one and made do without. Owing to my impaired knee and my wife's altitude sickness, he insisted on carrying all of our food and water, and employed another member of his team to assist us. Needless to say, because of his assistance and generosity, we made it to the top.
On the climb itself we were with another couple who had engaged an expensive tour operator. Not only did their guide make anything other than a rare appearance, leaving the fellow trekkers with only the mountain ranger most of the time, but their guide also seemed woefully unaware of the path to follow up the mountain (which is not ideal considering the final stretch is the steepest and is undertaken in the darkness of night!). They later learned that in fact this was the first time their head guide was climbing the mountain! Luckily for them, they started on the same day as us - and Aloyce has a very big heart so made sure they reached the summit too.
The food we received each day was more than we could consume, and it's quality was comparable to a restaurant. Peniel has a background in hospitality and client service which clearly influences the way he conducts himself and his business. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend Peniel, and would definitely use him again in future (which, if all goes to plan, will be in the next 12 months!).
Both the manager, Peniel, & our driver /guide were extremely efficient, professional & friendly.
Peniel, the owner, always responded quickly to questions & suggestions, no matter what time of the day or night I emailed him. Anton, our driver / guide, could spot a leopard in a tree 50m away as its tail, resembling a branch hanging down, swished & curled!! He preferred to not follow other Safari vehicles, but to head in another direction where we were often the only vehicle enjoying a pride if Lions with cubs, or 2 male Lions chilling under a tree, or the 2 cheetah lying under a tree having their morning wash :). Alex, apply named our "stomach Dr" by Peniel, was amazing! 4 courses on the first night, but never too much (which I have heard happens on many safaris). We returned to camp one day for a late lunch & found pizza & chips as well as our tents packed up waiting next to all our luggage! Such a humble, hard working man :) Tarangarie & Serengeti are NPs with such an abundance of wildlife to be seen! Both NPs are a must in everyone's Safari planning. Asante Sana to the Lights On Africa team :)
CA
Email Brent | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Dream Hineymoon
My wife & I recently went on our dream honeymoon through Lights on Africa. We spent over a year & a half planning this trip. We started with several companies but chose to go ahead with Lights on Africa due to the strong attention to detail & extremely fast response times from Peniel, the owner/operator. Peniel was great to deal with, always answering our many questions promptly & in detail.
When we arrived in Tanzania, we were met at the airport by our driver & never had to worry about a thing from that moment on. Our accommodations throughout the trip were amazing & Peniel had clearly let everyone know about our honeymoon as each place we stayed had a special treat waiting for us. These varied from flowers on the bed to fruit trays to a song & torch ceremony! All accommodations were comfortable, clean, hot water & good food. Some were better than others, mainly Serengeti Acacia Tented Camps, which were beyond amazing!
Our trip consisted of a hike up Kilimanjaro(just 1 day...not the whole thing), Tarangire National Park, Lake Manyara National Park, Serengeti National Park & Ngorongoro Conservation Area. We followed up the safari portion with some relaxing time in Zanzibar. The tour was spectacular! We spent the perfect amount of time in each area, saw an incredible amount of wild life & our guide was Amazing! I would consider Lawerence, our guide & new friend to be the King of all guides. He was outstanding! Full of knowledge, passion for his profession & great company to be with. We learned so much during our trip about each & every creature & plant that we came upon. Lawerence had a sense of what the animals would do before they did it, he always knew where to go, when to be ready with the camera for a great shot. Lawerence does not follow the pack of other guides who use a radio to notify each other of the whereabouts of animals, he trusts his instincts, which were spot on 100% of the time.
Now back to Peniel, the owner/operator of Lights on Africa. He met us on our first night to lay out the details of our trip & answer any of our last questions, he also met us on our last night of Safari to recap & make sure that we were happy with his services. Peniel told us the story of how Lights on Africa came to be. I highly recommend that you ask him to recount this story & I dare you not to shed a tear of joy knowing that you made the right choice in going with Lights on Africa.
CA
Email Brittany | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Most amazing and incredible experience & people!!!
Not really sure how to begin this lengthy review as words can hardly describe how truly amazing our trip was and I could go on about it for days but I will do my best!
This was my husband and I’s dream honeymoon and about a year and a half in the making. I did a lot of research prior to contacting any tour company and finally decided on 3 different companies to get in touch with to find out how to begin planning our trip. Right away we knew that Peniel Lazier (the owner and operator of Lights On Africa) was our guy… His professionalism was easy to see as he responded back super fast to all emails sent. He answered every one of our questions clearly and was more than happy to tailor our dream trip exactly as we wanted. Several changes made including timing of the trip didn’t make Peniel skip a beat.
Our trip Peniel helped planned for us was from June 22-July 7 and included a hike up the Marangu route on Kilimanjaro followed by 7 days of safari and then on to Zanzibar to rest and relax.
We arrived at Kilimanjaro airport and were greeted by our driver. My luggage had been lost during the flight so we let our driver know and immediately he was on the phone with Peniel to help sort our situation out. Peniel made sure to stay on top of this and by the third day my luggage came and he made sure to get it to us ASAP that which was greatly appreciated!
Our first day we hiked up the Marangu Route through stunning jungle of the equatorial and montane forests. The climb was tiring after travelling and no sleep for a day and a half but we were rewarded at the Mandara encampment by seeing a stunning family of about 12 black & white colobus monkeys! Here we had a picnic lunch – be warned the size of the lunches (and all meals) are huge, you definitely will not go hungry! Our guide later told us we should have expanded our stomachs before coming!
That night back in Arusha we met with Peniel for the first time. He was so friendly & genuine and made sure to give us a thorough breakdown of our next 7 days of safari and made to sure to answer any questions we still had. After a brief meeting he introduced us to Lawrence Elia our guide for the rest of safari and soon to be friend.
We were picked up promptly by Lawrence the next day to begin the adventure of a lifetime not knowing that our expectations were about to be blown out of the water!
Over the next week we travelled through Tarangire, Lake Manyara, Serengeti, and ended with Ngorongoro. Each park was so special, diverse, and beautiful in it’s own way – none of them disappointed. The amount of time spent at each park was perfect allowing us to see an incredibly wide variety of all the animals Tanzania has to offer. I could list everything we saw but it we be far easier to say what we didn’t (which wasn’t much!) Each of the tented camps or lodges we stayed at was quite wonderful. Peniel had gone above and beyond making sure that all camps knew it was our honeymoon. Each place either welcomed us with flowers on the bed, or fresh fruit & drinks, to a song with a large group and torches to wish us well. We didn’t expect any of it but were so thankful and blessed by it all. Our absolute favourite place we stayed at was the Acacia Tented Camps in the Serengeti (review on them as well), we highly recommend!
But back to our guide Lawrence because he deserves a review all on his own… By the time we had reached Tarangire on the first day we already knew we hit the jackpot with Lawrence. Aside from being super friendly this guy is filled with soo much knowledge it will blow your mind! Every time we would pass something new whether it be a plant, animal, insect, or Masai Lawrence would tell us everything about it. Literally any question we asked he had the answer to it and would describe in detail to make sure we understood and got the full feel of it.
We learned to trust Lawrence’s instinct early on; it was like he was one with the animals. We were always a step ahead of the animal as Lawrence knew what they would be doing next; from how they were hunting to something as simple as ‘have your camera ready this Lion is about to yawn’ (like I can’t stress enough how well he knows his animals) Lawrence never went with or followed the pack of safari jeeps as his intuition was far superior. At one point we witnessed a large pride of lioness, about 20 in total on a hunt towards a large herd of zebra, topi, Thompson gazelle, and warthogs. Instead of trying to cram the vehicle in with 50 others (all trying to get a look at the lions) he instead went way up river away from the group. We wondered what he was doing... he told us the lions would use the river to hide themselves and their scent as they moved closer, he told us that they would then come up out of the river and pass in front of us for the kill. We waited for about an hour and half watching the lioness track up river just as Lawrence predicted and then come up in front of us just like he said (by this time more vehicles had accumulated behind us) unfortunately do to sheer ignorance or driving force of tourists giving tips a bunch of other guides started to drive up and around us blocking the path of the lions to finish the hunt (hunt ended there). We were
So upset to have missed out on seeing such a spectacular event for us but also upset for the lions that had been working on that hunt for at least a couple hours only to miss out because of other guides. Although disappointed it only reaffirmed how lucky and blessed we were to get someone as knowledgeable as
Lawrence for our guide. He is incredibly passionate about his country, his work, the animals, and truly cares about their well-being.
It was such a pleasure also getting to know Lawrence personally between conversations in the jeep to having dinners with him at Acacia Camps. He openly shared his thoughts on life as a guide, his views on Tanzania, and many other points. We learned so much more than we thought we would! It was a sad day when we had to say goodbye to Lawrence as he had become our good friend but we hope to meet again!
We were so blessed to get up close to so many amazing animals. Our favourite moments would be: completely surrounded by a massive herd of elephants in Tarangire, an up close and what felt like a very personal encounter with an older male elephant in the Serengeti, finding 2 massive kings of the jungle and their lioness in the middle of nowhere and so close we could touch them and stare into their eyes, and last but not least being surrounded by a cheetah and her 3 older cubs and then having one of them come right up to our jeep and stare me and my husband deep into our eyes…. Many tears were shed on this trip out of sheer gratitude and awe of this incredible country and it’s animals. It was nothing short of magical!
We finished our safari and again met with Peniel. He wanted to make sure we enjoyed ourselves. My husband and I own and come from a family of small business owners. Knowing Peniel was born and raised in Tanzania and also the owner of this small business made things that much better. We ended up talking for a long time as he described how the company came to be which was truly an inspiring story of ambition and drive! Peniel’s humbleness and compassion for others is beyond touching. We found out most of his profits go towards helping orphans and kids getting education. After our touching conversation with Peniel it only concreted the fact that we couldn’t have made a better decision then to go with his company and again happy to have a new friend! He left us with beautiful hand beaded jewelry from the Masai as a thank you gift and we parted ways and headed to Zanzibar.
Tanzania now holds a deep and very special place in our hearts. My husband and I cannot express how profoundly grateful we are to have booked with Lights on Africa, have the experience that we did, and meet the most truly genuine, kind, and friendly people. We have so much love & gratitude for you Peniel & Lawrence, thank you for making our dreams come true!!!
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Email Ethan | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great Tour Group
My wife and I did a private day safari in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. It was a great trip since we only had one day to do a safari. The tour staff were very knowledgeable and friendly as well as professional. Also the price was very reasonable and a bit less than our tour operators with similar packages. Our guide did a great job of pointing out and naming all sorts of interesting animals. The food for lunch was plentiful and delicious. It was also interesting talking to our guide about the local tribes in the area and their customs. Overall it was a great day and we are very glad we booked with Lights on Africa. I would highly recommend this trip.