Visit Tanzania Tours & Safaris
- Located In:
-
United States
- Size:
- 1-5 employees (Founded in 2014)
- Tour Types:
- Customizable private tours and fixed group tours
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $250 to $647 per person per day (USD, excl. int'l flights)
Reviews
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Email Eric | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Bucket list trip
Having been in 2014 my second trip was even more special than the first. It lived up to all my expectations and more. Everyone needs to take the trip of a lifetime
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Email Daniel | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Tour package was great and safari/hotels were awesome - problem with air travel
Hotels and Safari tours were top - air travel was a problem with airline cancelling flight 10 days before departure
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Email Mark and Tina | 65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
Trip to Tanzania in Oct 2017 to see the animals, meet Masai and snorkel/swim off Zanzibar
Hi Thomas,
Tina and I both feel that our trip to Tanzania was outstanding. It far exceeded our expectations and combined viewing nature, with learning about the people, the culture and a final couple days lounging on the beaches of the Indian Ocean while on Zanzibar.
Visiting Lake Manyara, Ngorongoro Crater and Serengeti National Parks was amazing. We saw elephants, giraffes, water buffalo, zebras, hippos, lions, baboons, monkeys, hyenas, ostriches, a leopard, a cheetah, a crocodile, flamingos, 2 jackals, wart hogs, wildebeests, numerous beautiful and interesting birds, mongooses, impalas, Grants and Thompson's gazelles, topi's , dik dik deer, water bucks and assorted other animals. It seemed like every few minutes we were coming across a new animal. Our safari driver Sham was a wealth of information and did an excellent job spotting animals we might have otherwise missed. On top of just seeing the animals, we witnessed them living their lives and dealing with challenges of being wild. We saw a hawk catch a guinea fowl, a young lion who had just caught a young zebra, two bull elephants challenge each other, an elephant push over a large tree so the herd could eat the tree tops, a baby zebra nursing the mother zebra, a baby elephant nursing a mother elephant, two male impalas fighting by ramming each other, a mother lion with her 2 cubs, baboon mothers picking fleas or dirt off their young baboons, a hyena catching and eating a fish and more. Every day was a new adventure. The natural beauty of places like Ngorongoro crater and the Serengeti plains with billowing white clouds and blue skies was also spectacular. On top of that, the Ngorongoro Sopa Lodge and Serengeti Sopa Lodge were great hotels. After riding through the wilds on dirt roads for a day it was amazing to come upon such nice hotels, with fantastic rooms, good food and fabulous views of Ngorongoro Crater and the Serengeti plain. We watched water bucks, topis and zebras walk by our rooms while we enjoyed cocktails on our balcony.
As for the people, the folks we met were both charming and/or interesting. Our tour of the Masai village was like a trip to the past. These people are living much as they have for hundreds of years. When they asked me to dance with them, it was a surprise but it was lots of fun. Where else could I have that experience but Tanzania! Learning about some of the Masai's culture and traditions directly from them was also a treat. The folks we met in Arusha and Zanzibar were fun too. It gives an American a whole different perspective to be in a third world country. Here are people living with much less then we have in America but making it work. Granted some folks have it hard but for the most part everyone seems happy and is friendly. Also some of the art work we viewed was spectacular. The tour of the Cultural Center in Arusha was particularly impressive when it comes to art and crafts. The would carvings, tapestries and sculptures were gorgeous. Not to mention, we scored a great Tanzanite ring for Tina at that site.
Finally, the days we spent on the beach in Zanzibar, sailing and snorkeling in the Indian Ocean along with touring a spice operation were added benefits. This was totally different from our safaris to see the animals or our visit to the Masai. However, it was like dream to swim in a clear unspoiled lagoon with some of the bluest water I have ever seen. The white sand beaches were picturesque and not crowed like those in parts of Hawaii or Mexico. Also, the hotel was a spectacularly located right on the Indian Ocean. It was reeked with history and charm. My wife Tina kept joking that she expected to see Bob Hope, Bing Crosby and Dorothy Lamar come walking around the corner remembering their movie "The Road to Zanzibar" .
So to sum it up, Thomas and Visit Tanzania Tours and Safaris did a great job picking wonderful hotels, choosing a great safari company, choosing great places to visit, helping us while we were on the tour and striving to make everyone happy while managing to get it all done in a reasonable amount of time without burning us out. Not to mention, they did all this for a very reasonable price! THANK YOU!
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Email Lauren Youngblood | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Simply Amazing!
Our Tanzanian safari adventure-of-a-lifetime started last February when we met Thomas at the New York Travel Show. Everything he said was what we wanted to hear... that his firm had the expertise to provide a first class excursion…that Visit Tanzania Tours & Safari would assist us and insure that every arrangement was complete …he provided reasons why a personal tour was better than a group…and assured us that, upon landing in Arusha, our personal tour guide would meet us and handle our visit expertly. It was all beyond true. Julius was our guide and he excelled at describing what we were seeing. There’s a lot more to the trip than the hundreds of lions we saw…although they were always exciting. He educated us on local customs, tribes like the Maasai, plant life, seasonal changes affecting the animals, how animals protect themselves from predators, and even tossed in a few lessons in Swahili. We like to say our safari included everything from ants to zebras and we have the photos and videos to prove it. Hospitality abounded at every camp stay. Accommodations and food were above expectations. Julius (and later our Northern Serengeti guide Simon) made every day perfect from start to finish. We doubt there’s a species of animal in Tanzania that we did not see. Since returning in late January we have talked every day about our trip and looked over our photos and videos; and we thank Thomas, Julius, Simon and the staffs at the camps, and we couldn't have been more impressed with the service we received from the very start.
Email Tom | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Very suspicious
We did not travel in the end with Visit Tanzania Tours & Safaris but would like to share our experience of the booking process with them. We have been left very disappointed and frustrated after many weeks of correspondence with this operator but fortunately did not put down a deposit due to suspicions we had with regard to the way they did business.
*Having confirmed an itinerary and price with Visit Tanzania we were asked to pay a deposit. The operator confirmed reservations had been made and would be held for seven days.
*I called the accommodation and found out however there were no reservations for us.
*Visit Tanzania said that their agent in South Africa agent was working on this.
*I called the SA agent and they confirmed they had not yet made reservations!
*A week or so later Visit Tanzania confirmed the reservations had now been made and the total price.
*I questioned the total price on several occasions as it seemed too good to be true – Visit Tanzania simply said it was due to the discounts they can get with the suppliers. The price was included on several emails along with inclusions/exclusions so seemed very clear.
*Due to the previous "confusion" I confirmed with the agent in SA that reservations were in place and they told us they were.
*We returned to Visit Tanzania to pay the deposit (we were asked for 30% upfront which is not unusual). I asked what contract there was between us and for confirmation of their T&Cs as we only had email correspondence to confirm the price etc.
*Visit Tanzania sent me a very short booking form on my request (this asked for passenger details only).
*By this point, discomfort and suspicions had grown so I asked the agent in SA if we could deal directly with them.
*At this point the price Visit Tanzania had quoted was investigated - it transpired that Visit Tanzania had “forgotten” to include all items of the booking and the actual price was over double that quoted.
I do not see how an experienced operator could misquote so significantly and I find it vey negligent that the deposit was requested before reservations were in place. We are lucky we did not pay the deposit as who knows how difficult it would be to get this back (we are not proceeding with either Visit Tanzania or the agent in SA as have found a more competitive offer with a reputable operator in SA).
Reply from Visit Tanzania Tours & Safaris
Posted on Apr 14, 2016We regret that you had a bad experience when you tried to book with us. On the other hand it was unusual to learn that you was emailing suppliers to check if the booking was there although there was no deposit paid. We found out that you had reservation with other 5 tour operators booking the same property. The hotel couldn't provide availability because there was other reservations in your name from other tour operators. You tried to contact our affiliate to verify if they made the reservation, kind of unusual. The whole process was chaos since you was trying to contact so many people on the same reservation. Once you accept the quote the next step is to pay for a deposit since your tour was to take place in a few month to go. There was nothing wrong asking for a deposit of 30% as each company has it's own policies. We have and had other clients who have traveled with us more than once and no issues. If there was an error in quoting your package that could be corrected. You kept changing your itinerary and activities so the changes lead to a lot of confusion. There was no intention of obtaining your funds by doing nothing. We are operate according to the laws and regulations, nothing was suspicious it was just a miscommunication issue. Unfortunately enough, you did not communicate with us about your concerns instead you said you were going for a trip and you will pay for a deposit after you return from your trip. The next thing we saw, was your complaint on SafariBookings. Since we did not either receive any deposit from you or booked with us, we thought it was unfair for you to try to warn other potential future travelers to stay away from us just because there was a miscommunication problem between you and our office. We felt relieved that you didn't book with us because we could forecast more trouble to come. We appreciate your consideration to travel with us, it didn't work this time but we are still inviting you to use our superb services in future. Good luck with your trip.
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Email Saleh M. | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
We had a trip of a life time with Visit Tanzania Tours & Safari to Tanzania and South Africa.
Happy New Year Thomas:
Wonderful trip! December 2015
We felt pampered and very privileged. Not one bad thing to say.
We now totally understand your passion for Africa.
Amazing ....how you kept our cost so low. The park fees were quite fair and the lodges top rate. Your gentleman guides were so much fun to be with. They were well educated, careful with details and very respectful. Can't tell who had more fun~our guides or our kids. Not easy to surprise kids these days. We held their attention from the moment we got off the plane. Again...not easy to get our kids excited about anything these days! So much laughter and even a spontaneous Jingle Bell song on Christmas Eve in the middle of Ngorongoro crater.
We got to see hundreds and hundreds of elephants ~ some teenagers came close enough to touch. Lots of zebras and giraffes and hippopotamus. We learned to identify numerous species of birds~amazing colors. We now know the differences between gazelles,impala and elands.
Of course ~ we got to see the Big 5. We saw a leopard on our first day~he had eaten half a mongoose and hung the left over half for later in a nearby branch (just like a pantry). Lots of wildebeests, lions and several rhinoceros.There were Elephants everywhere! We came across several cheetah moms with cubs. One mom kept a baby gazelle alive long enough to use as a learning tool for her baby in training.
Wow! So much wildlife!
Beautiful country! Beautiful people!
Everything you said - important. Everything you gave us - useful.
Everyone on your team - wonderful. Your guides Didmas, Chonjo , and Alex were absolutely THE BEST!
Thank you so much for giving our group of 19 the best time of our lives~
(I believe we have in total more than 4000 photos/videos.)
I would definitely recommend Visit Tanzania Tours & Safaris. Amazing trip to Tanzania and South Africa.
Saleh
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Email Kirk | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Fantastic family tour of Cape Town and Kruger Safari
Thomas and his team at Visit Tanzania Tours and Safaris were invaluable to us in developing a truly tailored 10-Day tour of Cape Town and Kruger safari. Every detail, from in-country air travel, and daily auto transportation, to local tours were well planned and worked perfectly. The company was able to accommodate our specific desires (an extra day on Safari, a day in the wine region near Cape Town, etc.) We also found the total package to be a good value for the experience. I would definitely recommend Visit Tanzania Tours.
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Email Dina M | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Excellent and Experienced Service
We booked our vacation with Thomas and were very very happy with all of the service and information he had given us. The actual experience was non other than spectacular. All the accommodations and tours went as planned and was even better than we expected. My favorite was the Serengeti what an epic adventure. Although Zanzibar was a close runner up. I would recommend Visittanzania Safaris to all my friends and family.
A once in a life time vacation!!!!
Completely out of this world. Amazing loved every bit of it.
Mr. Tom was easy to work wit and understood all our needs. Quite truthful and amazing communicator.
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35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
They put together the trip of a lifetime for us
From the moment we got in country our guides were gracious hosts. Godfrey and Moula were so knowledgeable about the culture and game we saw that it was a great vacation that I'll never forget. I have already started planning a trip back with family and friends so they can have the experience of a lifetime like I had , anyone planning to go needs to use VisiTanzania for there trip. They take care of all the details so the only detail you have to handle is having a great time