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
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Email Carlos | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amazing Tour Company, GoodLuck is a high quality safari guide!
Our first time in Africa, the office staff (Anna and Pemba) from Lion King office responded quickly to all of our inquiries. They set up a brilliant itinerary and placed us in amazing luxury lodges. We followed the great migration over a 9 day Safari visiting several National Parks where we saw “The Big 5” and so many other amazing animals and birds. They also arranged a day hike to a base camp at Kilimanjaro National park. I was saving the most important review for last, and that is our Driver/Guide, “GoodLuck”.
He is very focused on customer safety as if you’re his family members. He obeys the traffic laws and speed limits. The roads in the National Parks are not very well maintained. We observed several major accidents and Safari Jeep breakdowns that happened to other tour companies along the way. Goodluck always stopped to ensure that everyone was ok, he cares about everyone, not just his own clients. And it was good fortune for three other Safari company guides that Goodluck’s 12 years of Safari Guide experience and willingness to help had him climbing under one stranded jeep to switch their fuel tank lines, repaired another Jeep’s badly damaged tire and loaned another guide his spanner wrench and helped them on their way. Mind you, many other Safari Jeeps would just drive by and never even slow down as they drove past the breakdowns. He shared his knowledge of the culture and history of the Maasai people, he showed concern for the animals and their safety, he knew how to scout the animals and his vision for spotting animals in the distance was amazing. His knowledge of the roads, knowing where and when to place our jeep for best viewing angles made for exciting game viewing. GoodLuck was funny, easy going and always made sure we were well taken care of. GoodLuck is just a special human being that we will never forget. Thank you, GoodLuck, and Thank you Lion King for arranging this amazing experience and choosing GoodLuck to be our guide.
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Email Christa Nickles & Family | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
One stop safari company who handles every detail and exceeds every expectation.
When we decided to take a once in a lifetime Safari trip to Africa, we were a bit hesitant with planning things on our own. We did not personally know anyone who had taken such a trip and so we were flying blind. However, when using the internet search tools I trust, Lion King Adventures came up time and time again with glowing reviews. I initially reached out to a couple of tour companies in Tanzania and Lion King was both prompt and thorough in their responses. We began our planning with them in November of 2021 and they assisted us every step of the way, allowing us to modify the length of our trip and add excursions as we went. I never felt pressured they were trying to upsell us, they truly allowed us to dictate what our vacation would look like and focused on our needs as a family. We ended up on an eight day safari which more than exceeded our expectations in every way. Every Lion King representative treated us so well, with such kindness and grace. The accommodations were all straight out of a travel magazines, allowing for both the tented glamping experience as well as secluded luxury hotels. As good as that all was, our guide Gilbert made the experience for us. He was professional, gracious, tolerant of our desire to sometimes change course midstream and he was THE best animal spotter. We saw more varieties of animals, more volume of each species, and more up close views than we ever anticipated. There were many times Gilbert would hear of a sighting of a rare animal like a leopard or cheetah and turn our Land Rover on a dime to get to the spot so we wouldn’t miss an opportunity. Gilbert’s knowledge of each park and where to find the animals allowed us to maximize our time. The crossing of the Wildebeest at the River Mara was a highlight and he positioned and waited and anticipated the migration so well we literally had a front row seat for thousands crossing.. Although we were in Tanzania during their busiest season we always felt well taken care of and were never forced to wait or waste time. Our guide took care of everything from checking us in to each hotel, to helping us negotiate with the locals for souvenirs . We cannot recommend Lion
King Adventures strongly enough….and Gilbert is the man if you are looking for a great experienced guide who can give you a once in a lifetime African Safari experience.
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Email Family Kluge | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Mwita, the guide, made the safari unforgettable Mwita, the guide, made the safari unforgettable
The organisation, the route selection, the safari vehicle and choice of hotels were fantastic. However, the real asset which made the safari outstanding was our guide Mwita.
We travelled in a group of 4 adults and two 12 year old children. Mwita adapted the program to our needs and was extremely attentive especially to our children.
Our daughters said, that he is very funny and appreciated the games he invented to keep their attention. They said they would recommend Mwita to all children making a safari.
Mwita found a vast selection of animals which we had the impression other groups did not see.
Our days were full and extremely well organized by our guide.
We found Mwita to be a very good and responsible driver. His experience of the locations in the parks from his childhood and outside as well as his knowledge of animals and how to spot them made the safari with him an unforgettable experience.
We saw lions, cheetahs, leopards and 15 Baby lions and many more but we only saw them because of Mwita who mostly was the first who found them. He always asked us wich animals we wanted to see and then we saw them very very close next to the car. Before the safari, the office was very reactive to design our safari to our needs and was quickly available to answer our questions.
The safari vehicle was very well suited for us 6. We could leave all our luggage not needed for the safari at the Arusha planet lodge leaving more space in the car.
The accommodations (in our case Arusha planet lodge, Eileen’s tree inn and Serengeti heritage tented camp) were very clean, large and well suited. The Serengeti heritage tented camp was for us a highlight; to stay in the nature with the luxury and safety of very comfortable rooms.
The food in the accommodation in the morning and evening was buffet style and of high quality. For lunch we were provided with warm meals to be eaten during the trip while on safari.
We can highly recommend lion king adventures and our guide Mwita.
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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
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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.
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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!
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!
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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 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!
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!