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
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.
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 :)
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!).
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!
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.
We name it, and Lights on Africa and Destinations makes it happen, Highly recommended.
My Family and i had wonderful Safari's experiences with Lights on safari destinations and safaris. This time we visited Tarangire national park, the Serengeti and ngorongoro crater. Peniel Laizer the Managing Director organized our Safari pefectly, he replied prompt to all our E-mails , i must say, i wrote a lot of E-mails. Peniel answered very professionel to all our questions. He is very kind and so helpfulness in any situation i can't explain, and he is so friendly. Very professional, he knows exactly what and when to do. For us it was like coming home, lights on Africa Destinationand safaris make this possible. This is something you must experience yourself.
The day of our Safari, Peniel surprised all eleven of us with some gifts "masaai handmade craft" Asante.
Huruma was our tour guide for the second time, thank you so much, "you are the best". Huruma is very knowledgeable a tour guide with lot of exeperiences. He explained us the trees, the vegetation,the birds the animals etc, he answered to all our questions. Huruma know the parks like his own hometown. He also has heart for the nature and for the animals , he is very cheerfully, awesame.
I remember the Situation at the crater, more than 60 cars on one spot, all cars wanted to get as closer as possible to the rhino, our tour guide Huruma was the only one who didn't go closer, he blocked the load with his car so that no more cars could pass, by doing this the rhino could finally escape, this was so fantastic. This Safari was not our last safari with the Lights on Africa Destinations. These incredible experiences and much more with this Company and his Team always stay unforgettable for us, thats the reason why we highly recommend Lights on Africa Destinations and Safaris. Thanks you to the whole team, we will be back.