Reviews
AT
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great Safari adventure and life-time experience on Kilimanjaro
Me and a friend did get in touch with several companies for the Kilimanjaro trek and OT offered the best value for money. Another reason for going with them was the effort and patience they had with us. Sarah, our main contact at OT, was very helpful and always very fast with her responses.
I ended up booking a Safari (4 days - 3 nights) with them since I had more than one week of free time before the trek started. I did Serengeti and Ngorogoro Crater and ended up with an amazing experience. The driver, Issack, did a great job and we saw the big five and millions of other animals. I could not ask for a better adventure. The equipment was great, even during rainy days and our car did not break down compared to many others which we saw along the way. Issack and Ngosi were great company and tried to help wherever and whenever possible.
Since I requested about volunteering as well, yet did not have time to spend more than a couple of days volunteering, Sarah had the brilliant idea to put me in a hostel which normally hosts only volunteers. I ended up with long conversations with the responsible of the projects/organizations and the volunteers and were able to visit an orphanage for one afternoon. And, as cliché as it might sound, it was most likely the most fun afternoon I had in Arusha.
The Kilimanjaro hike was also well organized with great experienced guides and porters. We had a great time the whole week and successfully reached the top of Africa! The food and tent was perfect and the guides were able to help us in any situation. Even my friend who had troubles coping with the altitude from the 3rd day on was able to reach the top and this is very much due to the experience of the guides - Ally and Rama. Thank you so much again!!
So if you are planning on going to Tanzania for Safari or any other activity, Original Tanzania will definitely provide you a great experience all along the way.
Email Nicola | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Mind blowing Safari & Beach adventures with Original Tanzania
We booked our safari adventure with Original Tanzania as a once in a lifetime holiday experience to celebrate a 40yr milestone birthday. This was a lifelong ambition of mine, my husband had visited Kenya many years ago and my 13yr old stepson was a perfect age to have his mind completely blown...
The three of us had detailed communication with Sarah and Elias about our best options, must see places, preferred modes of transport and accommodation and they came up with a stunning itinerary to maximise our time in the North of Tanzania before flying to Zanzibar for a relaxing luxury week on the tropical sands.
Original Tanzania were recommended to us by friends who had experienced their Kilimanjaro treks and backpacker safaris so to hear Elias' first hand experiences of various lodge accommodation and National Parks got us really excited and looking forward to our trip. All of our questions were answered in detail and we were given plenty of useful hints and tips prior to departure.
We were met at Kilimanjaro airport by our guide Deo at an ungodly hour & taken to our hotel in Arusha. After a lazy morning acclimatising Deo met us again and took us into Arusha for a look around and for some haggling at the local Masai market.
Early next morning we were on our way! Our private vehicle was fully kitted out with plenty of room, a fridge, a ton of bottled water and USB phone/camera charging points, and so we set off on our adventure.
Deo was a fantastic guide, he and our son hit it off straight away. He was very knowledgeable and patient which paid off for us getting the best views and photos of all the wildlife. We also had a good giggle along the way!
We visited Lake Maynara, the Serengeti, Ngorongoro Crater and Tarangire National Park. All of the accommodation chosen for us was spot on with each being very different from the last but still providing us with exactly what we wanted at the end of each day. The food and service were great. My son has a nut allergy and each lodge was pre-warned, very accommodating and each morning he had his own specially prepared lunchbox to take out with us. My personal favourite of all the accommodation being Kati Kati tented camp where we experienced lions and elephants and god knows what wandering through camp at night - amazing!!! We were all completely blown away by the variety of landscapes, the number of animals we saw and how close we got to them. Only missed out on the elusive Mr Rhino..
At the end of our safari we were due to fly from Arusha to Zanzibar. Our flight was overbooked, however Deo had stayed with us until check in and the internal flight operator had arranged for a group of us to be transported to Kilimanjaro airport for a later flight. All we needed to do was ask Deo to contact Original Tanzania to let our pickup in Zanzibar know we would be late. Despite this hiccup, it was easily and painlessly resolved and as soon as we were in wi-fi reach Elias contacted us directly to make sure we were OK.
On arrival in Zanzibar we were met by our driver and a guide who gave us lots of information about tours and sights and activities in Zanzibar along with his number should we wish to organise anything. Our beachfront hotel was rustic yet charming and we thoroughly enjoyed the beautiful scenery and took a well earned rest after the full on, non-stop week in a truck.
We loved Tanzania and its people and would not have changed a single thing about our trip. We would like to thank Elias, Sarah and Deo for providing us with such a memorable and amazing experience and also for their little personal touches which made it an extra special holiday.
FR
Email Nicholas Jones | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Excellent organization. Great people, very friendly. Very punctual and safe drivers. 5 star!
The whole 2 weeks spent with our tour operator were simply brilliant. They gave us the holiday we were looking for and were ever so welcoming and hospitable. We found our driver peter to be a diamond and very informative on safari. We wished we could have spent longer with him. The tours of safari and all the accomodation that we stayed in were wonderfully operated and we had no real concerns with anything. Dinners and lunches were great and always different. Overall i would recommend this country and certainly this tour operator to any friend knowing full well they will have an incredible time and experience.
Email Joanne & Damian | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Fantastic family holiday with excellent company
We travelled to Tanzania & Zanzibar with Original Tanzania in July. We were a family of 5 with 3 sons aged 18, 16 and 8. Right from our initial enquiry Sarah was so pleasant and helpful in planing our trip. She organised a tailor made trip to accommodate our budget, time availability and preferences. We really felt that we got a very personalised service and one which represented better value for money than a trip organised via a U.K. Travel operator as we weren't paying a "middle man'. We did Safari first which included 4 national parks with a day in the middle spent on a village cultural tour. We stayed in a combination of tented & conventional lodges al of which had their own pros & cons. We particularly liked Tloma lodge & Ngorongoro farmhouse as well as Tarangire Lodge (amazing views - wished had stayed longer here). While the Kati Kati tented camp was basic accommodation the food here was fantastic. Our driver Bryson stayed with us during our entire time on Safari and was also excellent. We went to Zanzibar for our last 5 days & enjoyed a day sightseeing in Stonetown followed by 4 wonderful relaxing days in the beautiful and luxurious Breezes resort- which I think was necessary after an otherwise busy time on Safari.
I would thoroughly recommend Original Tanzania
US
Email Hiker1446 | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Ramarkable Experience
William & Original Tanzania were fantastic. William was personable and enjoyable to be with for 12hrs a day/5 days in a row. He knew the best places to look for each animal and was able to spot well-hidden animals that we would have overlooked. Our highlights include:
• Leopard w/ a baby giraffe in a tree
• Family of giraffes right outside our tented camp
• Pride of lions in a tree
• Following 3 juvenile cheetahs while they played and hunted
• Sunrise in the ngorongoro crater
It was a truly remarkable experience
US
Email Danielle | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amazing safari with Joshua
We worked with Original Tanzania to help organize a 7-day trip for our family, with 5-6 days on safari in the Serengeti, Ngorongoro Crater, and Tarangire. We began planning in earnest in early May for a late June safari. Sarah was our primary contact for the organizing stage, and then Joshua was our guide while we were in Tanzania. We had such an amazing experience with Original Tanzania and would wholeheartedly recommend them!!
Arranging the trip:
We had reached out to Sarah with basic guidelines on what we wanted (e.g., length of trip; possible dates; a vague sense of what we wanted to do), and she really helped drive the process from there. She is incredibly knowledgeable and responsive -- both over email and on WhatsApp, even hopping on the phone with us to help answer questions, reassure us, and organize the smallest of details. She not only helped us with the basic logistics (e.g., booking accommodations; figuring out what schedule would let us visit all the sites we wanted; etc.), but also advised us on all of the other travel minutiae that pop up (e.g., vaccines / medications we would need; tipping guidelines; packing lists; etc.) I cannot imagine how we would have organized this trip without her help.
While on safari / in Tanzania:
Once we got to Tanzania, Joshua picked us up from the airport and was our guide for all of safari. (William from Original Tanzania also met us at our hotel the first night to confirm that all was well - we definitely felt well taken care of!) It's hard to explain how great Joshua is!!
Joshua is clearly very knowledgeable and passionate about all of the different animals and sights you'll see on safari. We saw so many animals up close (cheetahs, baby elephants, lions, giraffes, crocodiles, a rhino, warthogs, hippos, lilac-breasted rollers, cranes, zebras, baboons, buffalo, eagles, gazelles, wildebeest, impalas, ostriches -- you name it!) due to Joshua's excellent eye and uncanny knack for positioning us right where the action was. He knows so much about all of the animals and the landscape and had such patience sharing that information with us, even as we kept asking the same questions over and over again!
He's also incredibly sensitive to what you're excited about and how you're feeling through all of safari. For example, he noticed that our family was particularly taken with baby elephants and warthogs, so took extra care to spend more time with those animals and consistently point them out. He always seems to know when you're ready to move on vs. when you want to just sit and enjoy watching a certain scene which was great to keep our day moving at just the right pace. He's incredibly friendly, upbeat, and personable, and we really had such a wonderful time due to all of his energy and effort. Thanks, Joshua!!
