Adventure Africa Expedition

Very good safari, but had problems at start and end of trip

I went on a trip with Adventure Africa Expedition in November 2019 in Tanzania (through the Serengeti and Ngorongoro). Whilst we had a fantastic trip, and I would recommend booking with the company, we did have a few problems on occasions throughout the trip.

Whilst booking, Dickson from Adventure Africa was very communicative, explaining exactly what we were booking. He was very accommodating and willing to change our tour based on what we wanted to experience. Whilst this changed slightly whilst on the trip (only the order of areas visited), we still visited all the places we wanted to.

On departing day, the tour owner was very late (nearly two hours). After he finally arrived, after trying to contact Adventure Africa many times, it was evident that the company that would be taking us on the tour, was different. This company was called Martial Eagle Safaris. This wasn't communicated during booking that.

We still had a small balance to pay upon the tour owners arrival, which we all had the money for (in cash) and had been communicated to us, at the time of booking. However, when paying, the owner of Martial Eagle Safaris was adamant that we had been quoted the incorrect amount and demanded that we paid another $100 USD each to start the tour. Upon managing to speak with Adventure Africa, Dickson told us that they had miscalculated and given us the wrong exchange rate. This meant that we had to fork out. I'm not sure if this was a scam or a genuine mistake, but I was extremely annoyed by this as we spent the morning trying to sort this out and it meant that our trip started badly.

After this, we stated our tour with our safari guide named China and our cook name Wiz. Both of these guys were fantastic and I couldn't fault either of them. China went out of his way throughout the trip to keep us happy and to find animals in the bush. He was an expert and we saw everything with his guidance. Wiz cooked up some brilliant food given the very basic facilities he was using to cook. If I was going on another safari, I'd want these guys to take me.

We had some fantastic days, seeing great wildlife. We camped in some great locations - including two locations that wildlife came through the came. These places were basic (and the bathrooms we not for the faint-hearted) but this is what we were expecting. All of our tents were also made for us upon arrival which was an added bonus.

Unfortunately, despite the amazing time we had on the trip, it ended on a low. On our final day, upon exiting the Serengeti, we were stopped from leaving as the owner of Martial Eagle had failed to pay the park fees. This meant we were stuck at the airport for over 5 hours. After China spent a lot of time negotiating, we managed to get out. This delay meant we arrived back in Arusha at about 10pm (and we were not able to see the town at all). This meant we ended our tour on a low.

Overall we had an amazing time on our trip, as the bulk of it whilst on safari, exceeded expectations. But the problems at start and end had a negative impact and were extremely annoying, putting a downer on our trip. Anyone booking with either of these companies should be aware of this.

Also, if you are planning on visiting the Serengeti area in late November, it's a really good time to go. It wasn't particularly busy and we saw everything!