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Hekima Safaris
- Located In:
- Size:
- 5-10 employees (Founded in 2006)
- Tour Types:
- Custom mid-range & luxury tours that can start every day
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $210 to $1,200 per person per day (USD, excl. int'l flights)
Reviews
BE
Email Wim | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Nice safari experience, with an organisation that has room for improvement.
My partner and I thoroughly enjoyed this safari experience. We had a fun group (us and 4 others we did not know beforehand), and each national park visit was breathtaking in its own way. The organisation was adequate in some regards, but did fall short in some others.
- Our guide knew his way around the parks, and managed to make sure we saw a ton of different animals. He answered our questions but did not take a lot of initiative to give us explanations about the animals/areas we saw. He was enthousiastic and playful at times, but overall did not seem very interested in getting 'connected' with the group, with an attitude that can be best described as nonchalant: not to a problematic extent, but not very involved. Adequate, but not great.
- The camping experience was quite adventurous. The tents were ok, but it was not possible to really secure them into the ground. During a storm at night, this lead to some panic with someone's tent flying around the campsite (that had a large number of jackal and hyena visitors). Nobody got hurt in the end, but several people of the group were (understandably) scared out of their minds throughout this all, yet our guide did not seem to care very much and did not give an impression of being committed to helping out, and to keeping the group safe and at ease. "Just keep sleeping" is not an appropriate response if a scared person asks what to do incase a hyena manages to enter your tent at night.
- The food tasted good, but the way it was stored was often quite unhygienic. Of course, while on a safari adventure in Africa you need to have realistic expectations about this, but there's a minimum of effort you would expect a cook to make regarding hygiene and ours didn't always do that. The best example: the fruit and vegetables that we were to eat later on were lying on the ground in the camping site kitchen, with rats and birds running rampant through them. We suggested to the cook to put this food in a box (the least you can do to keep it protected a little better) and helped him do it, just to find the food lying around on the dirty ground again the next day for no apparent reason (once again between the rats and birds).
- On the fourth day of the trip, we were told the plan was to visit the Ngorongoro crater for just +-3 hours and then leave by noon, even though our park entry pass allowed us to stay in the park until much later. The group needed to do some negotiating with the guide to keep us in the park for the maximum amount of time. In the end we had a great day there (and after talking about all this, our guide did put in a much better overall effort in Ngorongoro), but that does not change the fact that that day would have been cut inexplicably short had it not been for the group intervening.
- The Hekima House, were we stayed our last night of the trip, was ok overall but our room was quite unclean. The food, bathroom and staff were nice though.
In the end we got the impression that the organisation was receptive to our feedback and willing to improve, which is definitely a positive aspect worth mentioning. We believe Hekima is a young organisation capable of giving many people great safari experiences in the future, but also that they need to improve in the aspects mentioned above. Even though these things did not ruin the entire experience for us, they very well might for other travelers.
About the parks:
- Tarangire: various types of vegetation, many hilly parts so beautiful viewpoints, lots of animals.
- Serengeti: more flat open spaces, less vegetation, many animals yet more spread out from each other, lots and lots of lions.
- Ngorongoro: unbelievable setting, many different animals close together in a breathtaking volcanic creater, no doubt the highlight of our trip.
- Lake Duluti: definitely not a 'safari' day, more of a relaxing experience on the last day, enjoying some peace and quiet (and birds). A nice day but not comparable to the true safari experiences in Tarangire, Serengeti & Ngorongoro.
Reply from Hekima Safaris
Posted on Dec 18, 2018Dear Wim,
thank you for your review. We would like to take this chance to apologize for all the inconvenience and we are sorry to hear that you were less than fully satisfied with the service. We used the chance to talk to you in person directly after safaris as the owner of the company found you at Hekima House and tried to clarify some details.
We pride ourselves on our customer care so it came as a surprise, and we would like to explain as follows!
We make sure that our guides are competent and knowledgeable. As far as we understand some people love fully enjoying the nature. The guide makes his best to find his way to find animals for you and provide you some information. Than, without questions, he can stay quiet in order you can enjoy yourself watching the nature. It is his part of the job to replay questions as they appear and we do hope you found it satisfactory when you had some questions.
We do understand that camping experience can be quiet an adventure for some people. We make our best to prepare tents and all the equipment in order you can enjoy it. We always explain the difference between camping programs and luxury lodge programs. Yes, there are some animals around the national parks. Some people find it exciting, some a bit scaring. Yes, some unexpected situation may happen during the camping eg becose of weather conditions. Yet we always do explain to you the real situation and try to react on time. Please take our apologies if you didn't have an impression of your guide being committed enough to comfort you when you get scared during the night time. As our team get used to with animals around, maybe the guide didn't understand how big impression this situation made on you and was not sensitive as he suppose to.
Thank you for bringing the issue about food to our attention. The safety and security of our guests is always our top priority! As we do receive people from all over the world the quality of food and water provided is very important issue. Our team do everything possible to keep people safe which sometimes is hard due to diffrent bacterial flora in Tanzania. We are sorry if you had diffrent impression. First of all, the food kept for guests is store in diffrent conditions than food kept for the team (guide and cookers themself). Secondly, on campsite there are some places especially prepared for storing food - it is the governmental requirement and foreigner guests are not allowed inside those places. Maybe you didn't understand well the situation and due to some language differences didn't understand each other well with the cooker. At the end, we are really happy that the food itself was tasty.
If it cames to the itenary of safari, you are provided of it before the experience. Time spent in Ngorongoro depends on two circumstances - first, the permit is limitited of time becose of Conservation regulations and second, it depends on your itenary. Guide do not decide himself about the time spent in crater but is strictly instructed from the company. Please remember, doing gamedriving genarte costs eg like fuel for the car you use. We do our best to provide for you the best possible experience and sometimes we try to go an extra mile in order to create amazing memories for you.
We do appreactie your feedback about Hekima House and we take it in serious consideration to improve the facilities. We are on process of changes inside the property and you are welcome any time to be back and see how the positive improvements may suprise you!
Last but not least, we do hope that you will keep good memories only from your stay in Tanzania, thank you for traveling with us.
With kind regards,
Magdalene,
Hekima House
FR
Email Manon | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Couldn't expect a better experience than with Hekima Safaris!
Jackson and his team were perfect and amazing. They arranged the 4-day safari in tents for my friend and I. The organization was really good from the pick-up to the drop-off at the airport, including the safari itself, the food (very tasty), the accomodation and even the great night out (thanks again for the great fun!). Jackson even dropped my forgotten sunglasses to one of my friend in Dar. I recommand really much Hekima Safaris which is a reliable company. Thanks again for the great memories and hope to come back again!
PL
Email Malgorzata | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Lifetime adventure with very professional & passionate team!
Tour was perfectly organised, well scheduled, safe and fulfilling all expectations. Guides and staff are not only highly professional but also friendly and passionate. Everything starting from cars & accomodation going through food & experiences and getting to people & atmosphere - everything totally fulfilled my expectations.
IN
Email Ethelvina Susngi | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
An amazing experience
We did a 4 day Safari with Hekima and it was a really wonderful experience. The team is well organized and treat you more like friends rather than customers. Amaani was our guide and he always made sure we were the first team out of the camps. He was very experienced despite his young age and would often spot Cheetahs and lions despite them being really far away and well camouflaged. The food was great and everything was well taken care of. If you're looking to do a Safari, I'd suggest you stop looking and book with them as they're also the most reasonable in terms of cost that we could find on this website. Highly recommended!
FR
Email Florian | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Very friendly and professional!
I went on a one-day safari in august with Hekima, and everything was great! I was only interested in going to Tarangire (as I had other safaris planned later in Kenya), but they managed to find me a group to join and a private car to get me back to Arusha! The price was very reasonable comparedto the competition. Our driver was very knowlegable and taught us more about the Masai culture, the history of the region, and of course the animals in the park. Lunch was also very tasty!
Eli and Jackson are both incredibly friendly guys, and I would for sure trust them again if I come back to Tanzania! Don't hesitate to stay at their hostel when you're in Arusha.
Thanks again for the breathtaking experience!
Email Guida | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Fantastic safari experience
I had a fantastic 4-days safari with Hekima. Our tour guide and driver Sam is experienced and friendly. He took us to spot dozens of animals and also made our journey full of fun by storytelling his unforgettable experiences of safari. The chef never failed to fulfill our appetite. We went to tarangiere and seregenti national park, as well as ngorongoro, the views were diverse and breathtaking. The Hekima staff at Hekima house treated us as family when we were back from safari. Eliza is young passionate entrepreneur, I was really inspired by his story of setting up Hekima safari.
FR
Email Pallas | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
A top safari
We loved our 5 day safari! Rachid is a great guide, he adapted to our requests. We had too much to see! I recommend hekima, the team is great and the hostel has a great atmosphere!
RU
Email Sergey | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Excellent Game Drive
I had an amazing experience with Hekima Safaris. Very friendly and hospitable staff. We went to Tarangire, Serengeti and Ngorongoro. In the end was a relaxing boating on the lake Duluti. It was so wonderful to see everything that had seen in National Geographic and other channels in real. Like just in front of your eyes, sometimes very close. We saw baby cheetahs, hunting lions, rhinos, a funny honey badger and a lot more. We did not see a leopard, but it's a game drive, not a zoo, right? Next time! Good meal, nights in the tents under an awesome starry sky included.
Thanks to great driver Samir, chef Marcus, Elieza, Jackson and others!
Highly recommended!
ES
Email Paco | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great experience
We had a great experience with Hekima despite some initial difficulties that were sorted out perfectly. The company helped us to modify a tour to make it more suitable for us and they were always in direct contact with us in case we needed anything. I would recommend it.
DE
Email Anna | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Unique Safari Experience
We did a 4 day safari tour with Hekima, which was an amazing experience! We visited Tarangire, Ngorongoro, Lake Eyasi and discovered Arusha National Park at a walking safari.
We booked everything the day when we arrived in Hekima House, where the stuff is so friendly and welcoming that you don´´ t feel like being in a Hostel but at a friends place. Arranging the safari was really easygoing and they followed our wishes perfectly and gave good recommendation what suits best so that we had a really diversified tour with a lot of animals, haunting with the hadzabe and last but not least the walking tour, which is a great experience after sitting in the car for 3 days.
In the evening we always had a great dinner and our guide put much effort in us feeling comfortable. For example organizing a bonfire, show us the sundowner at the lake or just entertaining us;)
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