Team Shemeji Safari Tanzania
Shemeji Safari Tanzania
- Office In:
- Size:
- 10-20 employees (Founded in 2015)
- Tour Types:
- Customizable private tours and fixed group tours
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $180 to $800 per person per day (USD, excl. int'l flights)
for a custom tour
Your request will be sent directly to the operator
If preferred, you can contact the operator directly
Reviews
Email Julie | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Outstanding service and value for money.
From the first contact with Emma at Shemeji we received an unsurpassed customer service. I lost count of the number of emails forwards and backwards before our trip as I wanted to customise the itinerary, and Emma was very helpful with suggestions and recommendations. In the month before the trip actually happened we had quite a few flight changes & cancellations due to the Covid situation, and this meant a knock on effect for the holiday itself. Emma had to make various last minute changes to hotel bookings for us and this all happened smoothly with no fuss. Once there, our guide Adam was excellent, and the vehicle with pop up roof was better than expected. I've been going to various African countries for over 10 years and my dream photograph that I've never been able to achieve was of a leopard draped over a tree branch. Needless to say Adam found one for us and we had the sighting all to ourselves. The hotels were mostly very nice although the one in Arusha has seen better days and the swimming pool is a pile of rubble. All other hotels were perfectly good though. The day that we were due to fly on to Zanzibar happened to be the day of the general election in Tanzania and at the last minute Shemeji thought it wise to change our itinerary so that we did not stay in Stone Town as there was potential unrest there. Instead we went straight to the beach, and finished our trip in Stone Town when the situation had become calmer. We appreciated them taking our safety seriously even though it meant extra work in rearranging hotels and transfers for us. I cannot recommend Shemeji highly enough and if you are looking to arrange a reasonably priced safari then look no further. We also loved the option to add on Zanzibar at the end.
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Email Robbin | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Truly outstanding safari experience
We reviewed many different options for safari operators over the course of several months, and ultimately went with Shemeji Safaris. Our experience was outstanding, and we would absolutely recommend them: communication, logistics, meals, comfort, the vehicle, wildlife guiding, and more were all excellent.
I’ll include more detail below, but in our positive interactions with Julius and Godson, our guide and chef, as well as in our observation of other people on safari, it became incredibly clear that we made the right choice when selecting an operator. Experience, consideration, a welcoming spirit, and concern for us having a good time made Shemeji stand out from the pack.
For reference, we opted for a six-day private camping safari for two adults. Our itinerary included Tarangire NP, Lake Manyara NP, Serengeti NP, and Ngorongoro Conservation Area.
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More detail for those who are interested:
Booking and planning – Emma, the contact at Shemeji’s office, was professional, helpful, and courteous from our first communication through our follow-up after the safari. She responded efficiently to all of our requests, and even when the office limited hours because of COVID, we didn’t wait more than two business days for an email response to questions about everything from outlets in the vehicle to payment.
Guide – Our guide for this trip was Julius, who is an experienced safari guide whose years in these parks gave him an edge in making our safari successful. He considered both my priorities (close encounters, especially with elephants) and my husband’s (as much diversity of viewing as possible), and we were able to have special moments close to animals every day, and saw nearly every animal we hoped to, including a black rhino and three leopards. A little bit of this comes down to chance, but Julius’ experience is what really made all of this happen; he knew what to look for, he assessed what we were prepared to do (use the “bush toilet”, sit in the vehicle for long periods of time patiently in search of some elusive cheetahs), and he made it happen. Julius was informative and answered all of our questions, never rushed our watching or viewing, shared his knowledge with us, and generally made this a great experience. We were blown away by how many animals we saw.
Chef – Our personal chef for the trip was Godson, and he made our trip comfortable and full of delicious food. We are vegetarians, and weren’t sure what to expect, but every meal was different and full of local vegetables and fresh flavors. Dishes were somewhat familiar, but always had Godson’s flair (carrots on pizza are fabulous), and servings were always way more than we could finish. More than once I thought about ways that I could make his dishes at home. We also appreciated the welcoming details: a Masaai blanket tablecloth even at lunchtime, hot water for tea and coffee at all meals, and always a warm smile and “Karibu.” Godson made the savannah feel like home.
One final note on Camping – We opted for a 100% camping safari, and are both extremely happy we did so. Our first two nights “glamping” included real beds in a surprisingly large and comfortable tent at a site that Shemeji’s parent company owns. The next three nights were at public campsites in or next to parks (meaning wildlife interaction, like giraffes by the parking area or an elephant drinking from a water tank!), and Shemeji went out of their way to make those sites comfortable, adding cots, sleeping mats, sleeping bags, and real pillows to the tents for us. Ultimately, it was still camping (which was our choice), yet the most comfortable type of camping I’ve ever done!
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Email Stan | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great trip in challenging times
We initially booked our 5 day safari back in February and decided to go despite COVID-19 outbreak and flight cancellations.
We are grateful to Shemeji Safari for making this trip happen and highly recommend them to everyone.
Our special thanks go to Emma for her patience and flexibility with re-booking and our wonderful guide Adam for making
our visit to Tanzania so memorable.
Email Alex | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Amazing family adventure
Great attention to detail. Julius, our driver and guide, made the experience extra-special. He was patient and flexible - invaluable when traveling with four young children. The teams at each camp were amazing hosts and demonstrated genuine commitment to making our family’s experience as pleasant as possible. Julius organized a tour of a Masai village for us which resulted in one of our favorite moments of the entire trip.
Email Nora | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
everything was exceptionally great
Booking was straightforward thanks to you always getting back to us very quickly with all the info we needed, it made coordinating booking flights/hotels easy. Our guide, Julius was fantastic, he is is very knowledgable about nature, animals and local culture, and did his very best to make sure we get the most out of the safari. He is also a very safe driver, which was important. Accommodations were great, the places were clean and we received a very warm welcome at every place. All staff were super helpful. We will definitely recommend your company to friends.
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Email Zach | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
A great experience with great guides.
Our guide and cook were knowledgable, friendly, and very accommodating. We had high expectations going in, and the experience still managed to beat our expectations. We saw every animal we could think or hope to see (including Cheetahs and a Rhino, and lions beyond count), while accompanied by a fantastic guide. I would certainly book with Shemeji again.
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Email Andrew | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Hard to sum up in a sentence but it was everything we hoped our first safari experience would like.
Searching through a sea of safari companies on-line not knowing anything about booking a safari was daunting. Somehow I came across Shemeji and decided to reach out. The response was immediate and we had a good feeling. Doing more research it seemed that we could get everything from Shemeji that we could from other companies and go to all the same places, but they better fit our mid-range budget. Next thing you know we had booked a 5-day safari, nearly 6-months in advance. It would fall in the middle of an around-the-world trip we were taking so we didn't do all the planning we normally would, just crossed our fingers and hope we made a good choice. Next thing you know we are in Tanzania and getting picked up by Adam our guide. We drove, ate, and hung out with him for the next 5-days. He was a true G and made our experience memorable. Giving us great insight into both the nature and humans of Tanzania and Africa. We saw every animal imaginable. Ate amazing food. Every place we stayed was beyond expectations, but our favorite was the camping in the Serengeti. What an unreal experience! The tents were so cool, the water was hot, the people so hospitable, and even the wifi was good, not that you need that but it was a surprise. We capped our last day off by seeing 11 rhino's, the last of the Big 5, thanks to Adam's eagle eyes. The safari ended up being one of our most memorable experiences from our 5-months of traveling. Can't recommend enough.
Email Kim | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amazing, unforgettable Safari !
No words can describe what was undoubtedly the most amazing experience. From the helpful guidance we received from Emma & the team who helped us plan our Safari (we only had 3 days to fit in our Safari between visiting our daughter working out in Dar es Salaam) & travelling onto Zanzibar, everything was organised perfectly. Our lovely knowledgable guide Omary was there to greet us at Arusha airport & from thereon worked incredibly hard to ensure we encountered so many gorgeous animals including leopards, lions including tree climbing ones, elephants and black rhinos. The camp we stayed at was beautiful in an equally beautiful setting overlooking Lake Manyara; as were all the staff who looked after us so well and our tented lodge really comfortable and welcoming. Go book & enjoy. A huge Thank you to everyone at Shemeji. Incredible !
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Email Goran | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great camping safari experience
As a family adventure, this was a perfect trip. The whole booking procedure and all the arrangements with first night hotel, transfers and the additional walking safari worked perfectly. Our adult daughters happily stepped up at half past five in the morning ready for morning safaris. We visited 4 national parks in 6 days and camped in public campsites. Ben, our guide knew a lot about the landscape animals and animals behavior. He was also great at finding the animals and also getting along even though it was very flooded in both Serengetti and Ngorongoro which was unusual for the time. Isaak our chef was also very good and attentive and so we got good food throughout the trip, breakfast, lunch and dinner. If you like campinglife then this is a perfect way to make a safari trip.
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Email Eeva | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Wonderful safari experience in Tanzania with Shemeji
We had a wonderful safari experience with Shemeji in Tanzania. We booked the 5-day safari (Tarangine, Lake Manyara, Serengeti & Ngorongoro) and everything went really well. Our guide Sele was super laid back, fun, safe driver and had really good knowledge of the animals. He wanted us to have the best experience and was flexible with our wishes. Overall everything went as planned with Shemeji, our emails were replied quickly, the drivers from the airport were on time and we have absolute nothing bad to say about Shemeji as the organizer.
If you're thinking whether 5 days is too much, for me it wasn't but if you're thinking a shorter stay, then either skip Tarangine or Lake Manyara (or both if you want to do only 3 days). Serengeti and Ngorongoro are must as they have the most animals and best views in my opinion. The best & most unique night stay was at Serengeti (Africa Safari Serengeti Central) and I highly recommend in staying in that tent camp. The lunch boxes are not the best (usually they include white bread, chicken, egg, 1 fruit, cookies etc.) but that is a common lunch package for all safari organizers. So have a big breakfast and don't expect too much of the lunch box. Lunch views on the other hand were nice in the national parks!
Overall great experience and highly recommend a safari in tanzania if you've been dreaming about that!