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 Rebecca B. | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Couldn't have asked for more!
If I could give Lion King Adventures six stars, I would. My husband and I started planning our honeymoon in late 2020, working closely with Pendo to bring our dream trip to life during the uncertainties of COVID. Pendo was a pleasure to work with, quickly and thoroughly replying to our never ending questions throughout the planning process. When a medical issue required us to delay our trip two months prior to our planned departure, Pendo was empathetic and patient as we revised all of our travel plans, ensuring that everything stayed within our budget without sacrificing quality.
We never would have anticipated how far the Lion King Adventure team's hospitality and helpfulness would extend once we were on the ground in Tanzania. When I lost my passport in the middle of the Serengeti, Pendo calmly stepped in and worked her magic to not only track down its location, but going above and beyond to ensure it was delivered to me in Zanzibar in less than 24 hours. How she accomplished this is still a mystery to me.
And we couldn't end our review without mentioning our incredible safari guide, Gilbert. Gilbert not only ensured we were comfortable, hydrated and fed throughout many long days on the road, but also worked his magic to ensure we saw multiple leopards (a rarity!), a black rhino, and all of the other "Big 5" and "Ugly 5". We were able to experience some magical moments up close with these majestic animals thanks to his expertise and intuition. Our safari "lunch boxes" were also delicious hot meals with our choice of beer and wine, which were the envy of other travelers. We can't thank him enough for being such a wonderful travel companion.
In summary, if you are having any doubts about which tour operator to trust with your trip, do not think twice about booking with Lion King Adventures. We cannot recommend them highly enough to anyone traveling to Tanzania!!!
IN
Email Anonymous | under20 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Amazing
Travelling with Lion King was very smooth- all the transfers back and forth from the airport, the lodgings were luxurious and comfortable and they were very organised. Our guide Saleh was absolutely brilliant- he was so passionate about each safari, so learned about the animals (answering our incessant questions), he was patient with our timings and very very easygoing. Had so much fun on each safari only thanks to him. He really did go out of his way to help our family.
US
Email Alyssa Marie | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amazing, Safe & Unforgettable Luxury Safari. Thank You to my Incredible Guide, Abu Shabani!!
Hands down, Lion King Adventures is an incredible local safari company. Stop researching all the safari companies and book with Lion King Adventures - you will not regret it, I promise you! If you are from the USA, they deliver that “Chick Fil A/Disney World” highest level of customer service. From booking, pre-trip communications, airport pickup, hotel check ins, lunch accommodations, evening chats and storytelling, safari adventures all the way to airport drop off - everything was perfect!
If you are ready to book your once in a lifetime safari adventure, 100% definitely request Abu Shabani as your tour guide. Abu is literally the best safari guide my dad and I could have asked for. I cannot say enough how amazing, kind, friendly, funny and incredibly knowledgeable he is. Abu has the utmost professionalism and knows how to make 7 days of safari the best experience ever. He also made me feel extremely safe even when we had close up animal encounters. I completely trusted his guidance. He has extensive knowledge about all the animals, terrain, parks and plants. His customer service was top notch, ensuring he excellently delivered on all of our requests. He definitely made it feel like a VIP high end experience and personalized it to us. This was my first trip to Tanzania and Abu taught me a lot more than I expected to learn, not just all the fantastic facts about all of the animals we encountered, but he taught me the history of Tanzania, gave me Swahili lessons so I could better interact with local people, introduced me to local music and artists, shared some local cuisines, shared a lot about the Tanzania culture & traditions. He also taught me the “Jambo Song” - a traditional “Welcome Guest” song in Swahili which all tourists seemed to know, love and sing! He was also very kind enough to snap a lot of photos of me throughout the adventure. Thank you so much, Abu!!! You are the best!!!
There were too many extraordinary experience to capture here but some highlights from my experience:
Day 1 - Arusha (Accommodation: Arusha Plant Lodge) Amazing night out in Arusha with guide, Nelson! We were able to have a local Arusha experience by eating local food in the town, shopping at the supermarket and getting a tour of the city.
Day 2 - Tarangire National Park (Accommodation: Manyaras Secret). We saw at least 35 elephants, 100 zebras + 100 wildebeests all drinking at the same watering hole which was awesome!
Day 3 & 4 - Serengeti National Park (Accomodations: Four Seasons & Lahia Tented Lodge). Literally saw thousands of all kinds of animals. Had close up encounters (and selfies) with a pride of lions, giraffes, elephants, wildebeests, 20+ hyenas and so much more. In our accommodations we were also able to hear lions roaring and hyenas laughing throughout the night. On top of that, we had a leopard pass by our tent which was a really immersive experience. Luckily our guide, Abu gave us all of the knowledge we needed to feel safe during these close up, immersive experiences. Also, we had the most incredible experience meeting the local Maasai people, visiting their village, dancing with them, chatting with them in their homes and learning about their traditions.
Day 5 & 6 - Ngorongoro Crater (Accommodation: Ngorongoro Serena Hotel). Literally had 250+ elephants cross the road in front of us (which was selfie heaven). And literally watched a clan of 8 hyenas and 1 lioness hunt a group of zebras and Buffalo.
Day 7: Lake Manyara National Park (Accomodation: Manyara Kilamamoja). Saw 100+ cute monkeys and got amazing views of the lake.
Next time I’ll be sure to book an extra day to explore Arusha and include Zanzibar as part of my trip. The 7 days of safari was a great amount of time to see everything we wanted to see. There was so much to see so I never got bored. There was an appropriate number of breaks to walk around, stretch and use the restroom. I’d definitely recommend breaking up the safari with some cultural experiences like the Masai Village experience, a night on the town, bush walk, etc. Also, the Tanzania people are soooo friendly, you’ll see many people smiling and waving to you on the streets as you pass by. I felt completely safe throughout the trip and did not encounter any problems whatsoever.
The team at Lion King Adventures definitely provided a sense of community and family. I was lucky enough to meet and interact with many Lion King Staff during my journey - which made my experience even that much better. It was so nice to connect/chat with Pendo, Nelson, Mwita, Emmanuel, Ozzy and Petro. Across all of my new Lion King Adventure friends I could get all of my hundreds of questions answered and learn more about Tanzania culture. You can tell the Lion King Adventures staff really enjoy their work and most importantly putting a smile on their customers’ faces. Thank you to the whole team for making my experience incredible! I hope to see you again soon! I had so much fun with Abu and my new Lion King Adventures friends I didn’t even want to leave!!!! I’ll definitely be coming back and will be sure to bring all my friends on another safari adventure with Abu!
BE
Email Kristof | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Great, personal service - Wonderful Safari
More than 2 years ago I first contacted Lion King Adventures to plan a trip to Tanzania. I found them by researching on the internet and I must confirm all the good reviews I read.
Our trip got cancelled several times, obviously due to the Corona-situation. In all that time I stayed in close contact with Lion King and they were always understanding, helpful and very flexible. Many, many e-mails were sent, and I always kept the feeling problems would be solved and we would be very welcome once we could finally make the trip. Many thanks to Pendo for this!!
This July we finally made our trip to Tanzania and all the good things I expected from Lion King were confirmed. They really care about their customers and you feel welcome, at home and they take care of you. We made a beautiful trip to Tarangire, Serengeti, Ngorongoro and Lake Manyara. All that time we were joined by our driver Khalifa. He was always very friendly, helpful, with good knowledge of the parks, animals, country,.. He became good friends with our two children! Nothing was too much for him: getting up early to drive to a nice spot for sunrise, bringing me to the location for the night safari, taking care of the pick-nicks every day… We would like to thank him for a great week, and can only recommend him as a driver for future safaris.
Don’t hesitate to book with Lion King if you are considering this organisation, you won’t regret it. Also a special thanks to make our trip extra memorable with the attentions they organised for birthdays, anniversary,… You get the feeling you are more than just the next customer for them.
Maybe some small advice: we did two excursions on top of the ‘regular’ program (Empakai crater and night safari at Lake Manyara). I would not recommend these activities very much, so maybe it is something to reconsider. Also a bit more communication regarding the ongoing migration in the Serengeti and the possibilities to visit/see there could be an improvement.
But as mentioned before, we couldn’t be happier to have chosen Lion King Adventures for our amazing holiday!
Email Yannick | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Highly Recommend
Our safari experience amazing. It was well organised from the start, Carolyn and Pendo made sure all our questions were answered. The lodges are top-notch. If you can, request for GoodLuck to be your guide. He has extensive knowledge of the Tanzanian wildlife and people and he went above and beyond to make sure we saw as many animals as possible including the leopard and the cheetah. You won’t regret booking with Lion King and GoodLuck!
US
Email GD | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Reliable, punctual, fulfilling promises
My husband and my two adult kids signed up for a nine day Serengeti budget trip with Lion King Adventures.
A few notable mentions before getting into the details:
- Lion King Adventures worked really hard to make this a good trip, and they were very trustworthy and well organized.
- Our guide, Mwita, really made this trip magical. Without him, this trip would not have been the same. Ask for him, because he is dependable, organized, keeps the car clean, knows the roads like the back of his hand (and is a mechanic), is safe, friendly, and is always in touch with other guides to find the rare animals on the radio. We saw all the Big 5 and much thanks to Mwita. He is SO knowledgeable and knew the information about every single animal we saw, which isn’t surprising since the Serengeti is his homeland.
Traveling to Tanzania
Nick was very accommodating--we changed our mind several times due to family issues, yet he was able to rebook our itinerary. We were initially very hesitant to sign up with any online agency, but Lion King was referred to us by a casual acquaintance and it worked out well.
We travelled via KLM and read the reports of lost luggages, so we travelled with just carry-ons. We paid online for the Tanzania visa and it took about 7 to 10 days. It took a lot of finagling to reduce their photo size and passport images to fit the requirements. We also had to download code vaccination QR code as that was a requirement. We found an online QR code conversion and used it as proof of vaccination in Tanzania accept all WHO approved vaccinations.
We still requested that the guide be vaccinated and he was. We were not well-versed in photography and after several searches we decided to rent a canon camera from the company for $100 and brought our own SD cards, which worked out very well.
KLM requires that you buy seeds from them but thankfully the flight was not full and we were able to sit together.
On landing, of course, there was a mad rush in the long line at the visa process—it took us about an hour and a half to get out of there and Nelson from Lion King was waiting for us with our names.
Day 1
Nelson brought us to our first day accommodation at night at the Pazuri inn in Arusha. It was an hour drive from the airport. This lodge was tucked in from the main road and was tough to find but was a beautiful place with a swimming pool and very spacious rooms. The staff were very pleasant and we had a beautiful breakfast in the morning with a charming group of staff. This was an amazing place and I wish we could have stayed longer.
Day 2
We met our guide/driver at the Pazaree in on day two. Our guide, Mwita, was the best thing that happened to us. His father was a park ranger in central Serengeti where he grew up and he knew everything. Mwita is an extremely pleasant man and he was not tired of answering all of our questions.
We travelled to Tarangire national Park. It was an amazing side to see elephants only a few feet away from you, giraffes staring right out you, and the whole assortment of animals and birds around the car. Mwita took us to a watering hole where there was an amazing group of elephants zebras and Wildebeests as well as antelopes.
We stayed at the Tarangire Simba Lodge with an awesome dinner, but this wasn’t the best part. Right behind the lodge is a watering hole, and all the way past sunset we watched elephants, zebras, wildebeests, waterbuck, giraffes, warthogs, and jackals drink 30 feet from us. Later in the evening, waterbuck and a large elephant even came right in front of us to the pool to have a drink of water. This was truly a thrilling experience.
Day 3
After a beautiful breakfast at the Tarangire Simba Lodge, we did another game drive where we saw a cheetah eating a gazelle, and a lioness with a fresh catch of wildebeest. We saw tons of baby elephants and got beautiful views overlooking the park. We then drove to the sister Simba Lodge based in Karatu, where we were treated with a nice dinner. The chef was amazing and there was a nice buffet with a variety of meat and fish. In the morning we got to see a beautiful view of the whole valley, and we fell asleep to the sounds of different animals like hyenas.
Day 4
Central Serengeti: we drove from Karatu to Central Serengeti National Park, which took pretty much the entire day. Now I know the meaning of a “Tanzanian massage.” We had to go around the Ngorongoro Crater and the great Rift Valley, which separates continental plates. This yielded beautiful sights. On the way down from the crater, we stopped by a Maasai village, and were greeted by a Maasai elder’s son. We had a great time with songs and dances. We then had a pit stop and lunch overlooking the Olduvai Gorge and saw the museum there. This is truly a special place if you are interested in anthropology and paleontology, and is the perfect environment to understand the evolution of humankind. Mwita then drove us through his home village in the heart of central Serengeti. We saw tons of lions—cubs, male lions with manes, and females hunting and stretching in trees. We stayed at a place called “Into Wild Africa,” where we were serenaded to the sounds of lions and other animals at night. The people were very warm and friendly, and accommodated us with great breakfasts and dinner.
Day 5:
Northern Serengeti: we briefly did a game drive in Central Serengeti while passing through where saw some more wildlife (hippos and buffalo) before continuing North. We briefly exited the park to take a shortcut, and saw beautiful Tanzanian villages and people. We then arrived at the Kenzan Mara tented camp, and watched a beautiful sunset over the valley. In August, this valley is covered with wildebeest and zebra for the Great Migration. The next morning, we woke up at 4:30 to take a balloon ride over the Serengeti. Although this was expensive at $550 pp, it was definitely worth the 1.5 hr ride. We got fantastic shots of the Serengeti and Mara river, and saw hippos, gazelle and huge herds of wildebeest and zebra. Our pilot, Pradeep, was so engaging and cheerful, and we were treated to champagne and a beautiful breakfast after landing. Mwita immediately picked us up and took us to see the Mara River crossing of the Great Migration. Mwita knew exactly where to go and when to go. We parked and waited at River marker number 4, and watched as the wildebeest accumulated. Seconds before the crossing started, Mwita moved our car to get a closer look, and we were blown away as the wildebeest crossed right by us. This was the most spectacular event in my life, that brought us to tears—to see the sheer number and determination of these animals to risk their lives in crossing this river was unparalleled. There were other groups that never saw any crossing for two days in a row, but Mwita knew the animals and the land like the back of his hand.
Day 6:
Northern Serengeti: we once again woke up at Kenzan and immediately went to see migrations. This time we saw three river crossings in one day, all of which were an amazing experience. We saw cheetahs hunting, a leopard’s catch of a gazelle hanging on a tree, and left to Central Serengeti to reach the Embalakai Camp. Here the staff welcomed us with open arms, greeted us with fresh hibiscus drinks, and celebrated my birthday with song and dance. We again had a comfortable stay and listened to lions, hyenas, and buffalo around us through the night.
Day 7: We drove from Central Serengeti to the Escarpment and did a game drive through the Ngorongoro Crater. It was a long, hard day with a rough ride, but Mwita knew exactly where to find the elusive and rare black rhino when no one else did. We Caracals, jackals, hyenas, flamingoes, as well as mating lions. We then arrived at the Escarpment luxury lodge where we are writing this review from. Our chef, Michael, treated us to probably the most amazing dinner we had ever had—spicy Indian food and perfectly cooked prime steak.
Day 8: Yet to come, but we are planning to do a game drive through Lake Manyara and leave Arusha tomorrow night back to Amsterdam and the US.
Email Alex | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Fantastic Safari Tour thanks to top guide Mwita
The planning and organizing of the tour was very easy and flexible and the office was very quick in replying to our questions. We were able to adapt the tour to our exact needs (we are a group of two families with two daughters in the age of 12). Accomodations, the car and the food were perfect and the tented camp in the midst of central Serengeti was definitively a highlight!
What turned out to be our lucky straw was Mwita, our guide: he is reliable, attentive and a very good and careful driver. But on top of that he knows the Serengeti very well as he was born there and he is an excellent animal spotter. He lead us to remote places where we saw animals from very close. Often we where the first ones to see all sorts of cats including hunting lions and a walking Leopard just meters away from the car!! We even saw a black rhino which is very rare in this area and time of the year.
Also he was the perfect fit for our kids as he was funny and was caring for them. He kept them busy with quiz games, was very patient in explaining them everything and even played and ran around with them.
Mwita, thanks for this unforgettable experience!
US
Email Colin | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Wonderful Safari Honeymoon
My wife and I booked Lion King Adventures for our honeymoon and had a wonderful experience. The communication leading up to the trip was fantastic and our driver guide Oswald was wonderful. I would highly recommend them to anyone looking for the services they offer. We hope to be back in the Serengeti with Oswald and Lion King in the future!
AT
Email Thomas | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
3 Days Safari
We had booked a three day safari. It was perfectly organized from the pick up at Kilimanjaro airport to the national parks and lodges. Our guide Yusuph was very friendly personable and willing to show us many wild animals. He also explained a lot about the appearance and behavior of the animals, we were extremely happy with him. We were also able to have a say in planning the day during the safari and the day before. Lion King's car was comfortable and always very clean. The lodges we selected (Simba and Lake Manyara) were also very well organized and the latter was also a real eye-catcher, because most 5-star hotels in Europe cannot compete with the ambience of the Lake Manyara Lodge. I can only recommend Lion King and our guide Yusuph.
AT
Email Celine | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Incredible 3-day Safari
We were really lucky with the three days of safari experience, we will never forget! We have seen a lot of animals, but also different types of landscapes. We had the chance to visit a school, banana plantages and a Masai village. Our guide Yusuph was really great, he was very friendly, he told us a lot of interesting informations and he took care for our wishes - thankful for that! It was great to spend time together, we would do it again! Céline, Thomas and family from Austria