Lion King Safari Guides
Lion King Adventures
- Offices In:
-
Canada
United States
Switzerland
- Size:
- 20-50 employees (Founded in 2010)
- Member Of:
- TATO & TTB
- Tour Types:
- Custom mid-range & luxury tours that can start every day
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $200 to $1,115 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
US
Email Pei | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Lives up to lofty expectations.
The prospecting of booking a safari is seriously daunting. Who can you trust to spend a large sum of money with, and for something that you probably have incredibly high expectations? You're probably opening this page in a tab with 10 others.
Well, you can stop now. Lion King turned out to be just the right choice for us. Zero regrets or untended-to desires. I'll let you in on a little secret - the Serengeti and the gorge are the same for everyone, the food is the same, the jeeps are the same, the animals are the same, and the lodges/camps/tents are the same.
So what's different? The people you interact with. From beginning to end, first with James and coordinating, then our great safari guide Saleh (highly recommended as he knew all the animals, spotted them like an eagle, didn't rush us, was super nice, and gave us exactly the type of safari we wanted), to our great driver David, it was awesome. We also had the pleasure of taking a coffee tour near Arusha, and our guide there Clemency was amazingly kind as well. Ask them about this!
Basically, Lion King held my hands through the entire process, from planning/scheduling all the way to exiting Tanzania. Regarding a safari, I found that's what I valued the most. It made my experience worry and anxiety free, letting me focus on having a good time.
IN
Email Aditya | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Amazing experience of the Serengeti
We had a great time in the Serengeti thanks to Lion King Adventures and particularly, our guide Saleh. He was extremely knowledgeable and ensured we spotted the Big 5 and many more animals. He kept talking to us and giving us insights into the way of the Massai people living there and about the animals. Six days in the central Serengeti, Ndutu, Tarangire, Ngorongoro and Manyara just flew by and we were kept highly engaged throughout.
CA
Email Ariane | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Perfect safari with amazing people
Truly a great company with fantastic people. We did a 5 day / 4 nights camping safari in Tarangire, Serengeti and Ngorongoro. Our guide, Saleh, was nice, caring and knowledgeable about all the animals and their behaviour. He understood our expectations very quickly and made sure we had the kind of experience we wanted. Our chef, Yusuph, was amazing and so creative! He cooked a variety of delicious meals (the best food we had in the entire country!!!). He is also such a funny and kind person. Finally, it was reasuring to get detailed information and quick replies from Anna while we were planning the safari (which we booked ourselves without a travel agency). We warmly recommend this company!
FR
Email Kadiatou | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
wonderfull Safari Tour with salimou the best guide ever
My friends and I had a wonderful time with Lion King Adventures. they perfectly made our expectations. the safari tour was more than perfect. We were accompagnied by the best guide Salimou who was perfect from the beginning to the end. his punctuality, his calm, his foolproof smile and his enthusiasm delighted us. he was exemplary and made us share his love of nature more than he spoke superbly French "Que demande le peuple ?!" we highly recommend Lion King Advendure! Thank you for everything , Merci, Ahsante Sana
US
Email Simone | 65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
from beginning (booking) to end (after the safari) I have nothing but positive reviews about LKA.
Communication: I have been most impressed by Anna, the person in charge of bookings, she was most efficient and helpful, very patient when I needed to change many things on our itinerary as we were 4 people traveling from different locations. She was prompt in replying to my emails and cannot commend her highly enough. She came to greet us the day of our arrival in Arusha and again on our last day, she was most gracious.
Lastly I have to add that everything went according to schedule without hiccups, not that we would have objected to some things going wrong, but they didn't and we were left with a wonderful memory of Tanzania.
Expectations: the trip far exceeded our expectations, I went with my family and we found the experience magical and memorable. My kids said it's the most memorable holiday ever!!
Safari tour: First I would like to thank our tour guide and Driver Swalehe, a very exceptional driver, very unassuming and pleasant. Extremely competent and knowledgeable. Very attentive without being overbearing, my family appreciated him a great deal and have wonderful memories of our safari, we did actually see all the animals described in the books plus more events on the way. He was always very patient and willing to do whatever it takes to give us a wonderful experience.
US
Email Sam Girouard | 65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
No need to look any further! This should be your Safari company!
I will begin with my main takeaway first, as to not bury the lead. Lion King Adventures IS the safari company you want to book your next safari with. I am giving them 5 stars and would give them 6 if I could. We did the private budget safari (was around $1100/person – 4 in our group) that got us 5 days and 4 nights in Tanzania’s finest parks and conservation areas. We spent time at Tarangire, Serengetti, and Ngorongoro Crater. I would recommend this particular type of safari too if you are looking to not break the bank and are OK with sleeping in a tent for most of the trip.
I will break my review into the below categories for your reading pleasure.
Service – Service was top notch. Lion King had someone drive up to the Kilimanjaro airport to pick us up at 5AM when our flight landed and took us directly to our hostel. The airport is small and cabs were few and far between. Having this arranged as part of our package was extremely helpful and valuable to us. They also took us directly to our flight in Arusha after our safari with plenty of time to spare! Our tour guide Ozzi (who is incredible…James, hopefully Ozzi wins your prizes) met us at our hostel the day before our safari started just to greet us and welcome us to Africa! He then picked us up bright and early on Sunday morning (7:30) to get going. They were able to take all of our bags in the jeep and even packed us a cooler with water, soda, and beer! Phenomenal service from this group…not to mention all of the questions they answered for us via email in the months leading up to the safari.
Transportation – The safari vehicle was perfect for our group and we had plenty of room. It was fun to have the pop top so we could look out into the wild, but the car was not open on the sides like some other cars had (which would have scared me). We only had one hiccup where we broke down for a few hours because of a gear box issue. These breakdowns seems to happen frequently across all companies. Lion King did a fantastic job however of getting us a backup vehicle and guide while our previous car was getting fixed. Ozzi did his best to make up for this breakdown in several ways (took us out very early 2 mornings later, was very apologetic, and bought us a special drink for our last out there…Lay him down!). The roads are pretty bumpy out there…so just be aware of that if you get carsick easily.
Food – The food was incredible and we owe it all to Yousef! Yousef is an incredible chef and everything he made was delicious. He makes you breakfast, lunch, and dinner each day and there is always more than enough food to go around. We looked forward to each meal when Yousef was preparing it. He is also an amazing guy and is fun to talk to and will even teach you some Swahili if you ask!!
Accommodations – 3 out of the 4 nights were spent in a tent and one was spent in a small hut with actual beds and a bathroom. You will be camping in the middle of the Serengetti and right outside the crater and live animals will walk through your camp! I came in close contact with a Buffalo on an evening trip to the restroom, so be careful out there. The tents were always set up for us and there were places to shower at each campsite (I would recommend bringing a towel and some soap). At night it got pretty cold in the tent so I would also recommend warm clothes and possibly a small pillow if you’d rather not rest your head on a pile of t-shirts and shorts. The tents were pretty big and Lion King also provided mats, a sleeping bag, and a few Maasai blankets.
Expertise – Ozzi was extremely knowledgeable about all the wildlife in the parks. He spotted a rhino probably a quarter of a mile away for us! He knew the answer to almost any question and was well connected to the other drivers and found us a lot of action on the safari. Don’t be shy! Ask lots of questions!
Intangibles – Ozzi and Yousef (As well as James and Anna) and the whole Lion King crew made us feel very important, very welcome, and like Kings in our own right. We felt like a small family during our 5 days and we genuinely miss Ozzi and Yousef and were sad to say goodbye. We had a lot of good laughs on the safari with those two and the rapport was something special that I don’t think all safari goers (with other companies) experienced. Some of the people at the campground chose to hang out with us and our guides because we were having so much fun!
I can’t wait to do another Safari with Lion King Adventures and I can’t wait for you to get to do one either! Thank you Lion King!
FR
Email Jenny and Armelle | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Great experience for safaris and kilimanjaro trekking
We spent 5 days in northern Tanzania, my friend and me. Everything was organized by Lion King Avdentures.
The first day, we took a day walk on the Kilimanjaro lower hills, with our guide Saladimi. He told us thousands of stuff abour flora and fauna, and also about the famouse Kilimandjaro climb. We had a wonderfull time, in spite of the bad weather and the cold temperature. Great surprise during the drive back to Arusha to lie down the seats of the 4*4, to take a nap on the route.
The 4 following days, we discovered the parcs of Tanrangire, Serengeti and Ngorongoro crater, with Salim (our professional BIG FIVE spotter) and Youssouf (our magical cook, who prepared us queens meals and who wass full of attention, like welcoming us with fresh fruit after hours of safari. He teached us lot abour swahili as well). Thanks to Salim, we were able to see lots of animal and the whole BIG FIVE, in wonderful landscapes.
We were really happy about the logistics, too. The accomodations we got with our low-cost deal were really nice (great hotel in Arusha the 2 firsts nights, camping in parcs really nice with showers and WC). The camping material is good quality, especially the warmest sleeping bags ever who were usefull while sleeping in altitude. The 4*4 car has become our 2nd house, very comfy and cleaned every morning by Salim.
Inone word, we have been totally enthousiastic by this trip and we highly recommend Lion King Adventure.
Usefull tip : bring a little guide book about the eastern africa animals, who will give you good informations complements about the wonders you will observe there.
Email Kevin B.S. | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
“Unforgettable experience With Lion King Adventures”
It was a fabulous trip that we had with Salehe of Lion King Adventures. He showed up at my pick up point in time. I had planned to be at the pick-up point 30 minutes early, which I did, and found him already there in the jeep. He was also very friendly and yet professional in his driving and guiding. Esther and I really enjoyed the entire trip, thanks to you Anna, James, Salehe and the whole Lion King Adventures team that were involved in arranging the trip.
We actually saw a lot of wild animals and flora. From the time we officially entered and left the park we saw some Impala, Waterbuck, Crowned Cranes and Vervet Monkeys. Then we met the Tsetse Flies. After that we saw the Baobab trees, Masai Giraffes, Acacia trees, Palm trees, Sausage trees and breath-taking close views of the Tarangire Elephants. We also saw the Crowned Hornbill, Buffalo (from afar using binoculars), Elands, Warthogs, Common Ostriches and breathing-taking close views of about seven sleeping Lions that were sleeping under a tree. Only two of them though were whole-body visible. We saw the Lions at around noon. Salehe had been tipped by another guide who was from seeing them with his tourists. We also saw Superb starlings, an Eagle and the Egyptian Vulture. The Salehe showed and explained about all these animals in amazing detail. There may be some few fauna or flora that we may have seen and Salehe explained but I missed recording them because sometimes we were seeing several at a time and also because sometimes I was too much in awe to record everything. In my opinion, we saw a lot of animals for a one day trip for the hours we were in the park, and so it was a very wonderful safari experience.
We enjoyed the safari so much Anna. Thank you so much to you and James for the rare, precious and unforgettable experience.
CA
Email Shelley | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
The guide was fabulous!
Communication was good in emails. However I requested no beef and the first meals had beef. We were told we would have cots in the tents, and we did not. Toilet paper was hard to come by.
The cook was friendly and prepared good meals.
The guide - Saleh - made the trip phenomenal. His experience, his patience, and his willingness to search until we found what we were wanting to see made this a special trip. He knew where the animals would be and was able to predict accurately. We saw the big 5 plus plus plus. I would definitely want to have him as a guide again. I don't think there could be anyone better!
Email Greg | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Professional and personal service
Anna made all of the necessary arrangements for our 11 day safari in Tanzania. The communication was prompt, professional and informative.
Places visited - Tarangire, Lake Manyara, Lake Eyasi, Serengeti, Ngorongoro and Arusha National Park.
James was our safari guide for the 11 days. He was professional, friendly, knowledgable, polite and spoke very good English.
Every aspect of our trip was 1st class. The places, the sights, the sounds, the people, the service.....it was an unforgettable experience.
I would whole heartedly recommend Lion King Adventures to anyone considering a safari. From 1st communication through to our flight home, we were looked after......in fact, we didn't stop smiling.
Thank you to Anna and James for making our Tanzanian experience a trip we will never forget. It was perfect!
