East African Safari & Touring Company
- Located In:
- Size:
- 5-10 employees (Founded in 1992)
- Tour Types:
- Custom mid-range & luxury tours that can start every day
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $230 to $2,000 per person per day (USD, excl. int'l flights)
Reviews
35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
12 day safari to Serengeti, Ngorongoro & Tarangire
We wrote off to half a dozen companies, most of whom came back within a couple of days, however, Simon at EASTCO seemed to have a more professional approach and the accompanying explanatory documentation was extremely helpful and just what we were looking for. Although his was probably the most expensive, we preferred his suggestion of starting in Mwanza rather than Arusha. For the first week we stayed in ‘special’ campsites which means that you take in everything you need – water, food, dig your own loo and a much more basic way of living. A bit more expensive than staying in public campsites but so much nicer. We also stayed in a couple of beautiful lodges during the second week - Boundary Hill in Tarangire was one of the most stunning places I've ever stayed in. In terms of equipment, the tents could do with a bit of repair and the Landrover was old but serviceable but it wasn’t an issue for us. We stopped a few times to help the newer Landcruisers who had broken down but our Landrover drove through anything and, to be honest, in wet season you would need this type of vehicle to access some of the places we went to. Tanzanian people are the loveliest, friendliest ever. I felt incredibly safe and everybody we met was helpful and courteous. Our guide, Cosmos, was absolutely superb and I cannot speak highly enough of him – cheerful and hugely knowledgeable. EASTCO is a good organisation and I would certainly recommend them and use them again. All accommodation was well organised and any minor issues were sorted out very quickly.
Email Rob Bohmer | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Flexible East African safari
I have just spent 4 weeks travelling Uganda and Tanzania with the East African Safari and Touring company run by Simon who lives in Tanzania. 2 families travelled together and put together a unique itinerary including the mountain gorillas, Serengeti, Zanzibar and Mafia island. All accommodation, travel and food was included. The company provided excellent service overall and come highly recommended, the guides were easy to get on with, well informed and competent. Some of the accommodation was at company owned lodges adding to the unique feel to the trip. Flights were booked but what seems to be a Tanzanian trend, only fully paid for the day prior, creating a bit of uncertainty when the flights departed until the day of the flight! Despite this all flights happened! Contact details to use if plans have to change would have been useful on the itineraries, short failing for a great, well priced trip and highly recommended.
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
A really good guide and efficient pre-tour organisatiion enabled a fantastic trip.
Simon was extremely efficient with his email correspondence and help with our itinerary prior to departure. He really made organising things easy. Our guide, James, was a bonus to have and helped make our trip trouble free and very welcoming. Whilst we understand the vehicles do take a battering we felt that it was slightly under our expectations. Overcoming a hitch with an accommodation booking and an unexpected early departure on our final day didn't dampen our experiences. Very memorable trip.
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
My driver/guide was excellent. Many opportunities to see wildlife
Sometimes there were short delays in communication but Simon always returned emails
Christmas Safari
Our guide was wonderful! Ask for Melck! We had a perfect blend of sight seeing and culture. I would say the only weakness was they can be more careful with food allergies and intolerances, if you have a serious allergy or intolerance you might need to be very clear and precise about what you need. There are definitely language barriers. Overall the entire experience was life changing!
US
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Great safari to Ngorongoro, Serengeti & Tarangire
Overall we had a fantastic experience with just a few things that could have been improved upon. Our group of 8 people (ages 14 - 75) booked a 6-day / 5-night safari with EASTCO. First day/night to Ngorongoro, then to Serengeti (2 nights / 2-3 days) and 2 nights / 1 day at Tarangire. I know that numbering is a little confusing, but one blocked-road delay and the transiting between parks makes the "bookkeeping" difficult.
Itinerary: The itinerary was great in many ways, but in the end I wonder if we tried to cram in too much in the amount of time we had. There ended up being a lot of time driving. If I were going to do it again, I would try and stay in each lodging for 2 or more nights. We also had two walks scheduled into our safari. The one ended up being canceled because a stuck water truck blocked our way into the Crater on our first afternoon, so we went the following morning and skipped that hike, but putting in some walks is a really nice way to break up all the driving.
Accommodations: Mostly excellent. Ngorongoro Rhino Lodge - very cool with lovely rooms and an outstanding dining room / loungey area with fireplaces. Turner Camp in Serengeti - Nice tented camp, though apparently the camp had screwed up our reservation. When we arrived they told our guides that they could only host us for one night although we had been booked for two. The guides scrambled and found us a place for the following night in the Serengeti Savannah Camps, one of the Sera campsites. Since the Savannah Camp did not have much warning that we were coming, they were not very prepared for us and many of the staff had gone on holiday. (One of the tents we got was quite below-average compared to the others). But the few staff who were there worked really hard to accommodate us. Both tented camps had showers and flush toilets in the rooms, though limited water as would be expected out there. That seemed very luxurious given the location. The last two nights we were at Boundary Hill Lodge near Tarangire. This place is exceptional with beautiful and interesting rooms (all separate from one another with balconies overlooking the a valley). The staff were excellent. We were supposed to have been at Ol Tukai Manyara for one of the nights but after lots of heavy rain a part of the roof had collapsed and wasn't yet repaired. Though we don't know what we missed, we were very happy to spend two nights at Boundary Hill.
Guides: Our guides both had very sharp eyes and were very informative. Melk was very funny and chatty. Kessy was mostly quiet, though if we asked questions he was more than happy to answer them. Both spent a lot of time on their mobile phones, which, well, it detracted a bit from the experience. Kessy had a radio in his car, which he used a lot as well, though he turned it down when we asked. I realize the guides use the radios to help find game for the clients, but... I don't know, it's a mix. Both were good drivers, although we thought Melk drove way too fast at times (not while on game drives, but during transits between parks). I'm quite certain he could get a job as a stunt driver in the movies! It didn't even make sense since he would then have to stop and wait for Kessy. In any case, I finally requested he slow down, which he did.
Communications:
Pre-trip - Simon mostly responded to our pre-trip emails very promptly, though sometimes it would take a while. I had been on a trip with EASTCO in 2009 and I know there are often internet and phone problems, so I didn't worry too much when this happened. It never happened at any critical, time-sensitive moment. Simon is very friendly and also gave us a LOT of help organizing some pre- and post-safari travel for which he didn't request any compensation. He came out to our hotel to chat and never seemed to be in a hurry. I'm sure his schedule varies throughout the year, but we got a lot of his time and advice for nothing extra.
En route - At times the guides should have been more forthcoming with information. E.g. one day we stopped at a Maasai camp after leaving the Serengeti. Melk had arranged a hike for us to go on there because we had missed our Ngorongoro hike. We should have seen this coming, but after the hike (which was cool and interesting) the Maasai invited us to watch one of their traditional dances, visit the village, see their huts, etc. It was $50/car and we decided, "What the hell, we're here". So it was fun and we learned a lot and got the hard sell to buy some beaded products. We ended up with the Maasai for probably 3 hours. Fine. What we didn't know was that we were 5+ hours from our next lodge and it was already after 3pm. Had we known, we probably would have just skipped this or at least left directly after the hike. As it turned out, we were driving the last part of our day in the dark, we got lost for a while on the last stretch to the lodge and didn't arrive until late. They had been waiting to make dinner so it would be fresh, which was nice, but it meant we had to wait a while. It got to be a very long day.
In general: I have been on two EASTCO safaris now and I am impressed with what Simon delivers, especially at the cost. The park fees make up such a large part of a safari that it seems a really good value to get the fees plus the vehicle, guide/driver, unlimited miles, really nice accommodation, all your food and bottled water. And we saw so much cool stuff! All the "Big 5", including heaps of lions and a mother cheetah & 4 cubs. It was awesome. Good guides will know where to look for what you want to see, and we had that. No guarantees, of course, but we had a less experienced guide at a park in Kenya and it really showed.
People all want different things when they travel, but I would recommend thinking about how much time you want to spend driving and ask those questions when arranging a safari. The nice thing with EASTCO is that you are not on a pre-packaged tour. You can choose your own adventure. Simon will certainly help you choose a good itinerary, but you can weigh in with your preferences of what you'd like to see and do along the way. And then keep in mind that this is kind of the Wild West (or the Wild East). Things will happen along the way that are not really anyone's fault and your trip will likely have some glitches; if you can roll with it the misadventures sometimes make the best stories later on. If I decided to go on a third safari in East Africa, I would certainly go with EASTCO again!
Email Pat Whie | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
An adventure for sure but a financially unstable company
It gives me no pleasure to write this .My wife and I have recently finished 23 days though uganda and tanzania which was action packed ,saw stacks of animals and met heaps of brilliant folk ,both locals and tourists .James the driver /guide and costa the Cook were brilliant blokes.James especially made the trip memorable and without his resilience and mechanical prowess the trip would have been a disaster.The ageing land rover should have been pensioned off a long time ago .Out of 23 days james would have worked on it 18 or 19 .we pushed started it at least 15 times and spent a lot of down time in wired places while james worked his magic on the Landy (5 hours in a petrol station in Macindi)as one example.we are Aussies who rough it heaps when travelling and all the dramas and changes of itinery did not particularly stress us ,you know go with the flow this is Africa no worries.BUT when we had to cough up almost a thousand US just to keep moving was a bit rich and now three weeks later not even responding to our emails is not good enough .if we had a reasonable response this review would have a different tone because it was an adventure and I don't think Simon is a crook .ps I am Rosemary's husband
IL
Email Hezi | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
High quality service and facilities
The price was valuable.
The service and staff were exellent.
BE
Email Sanne and Jan | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Nature friendly and relaxing!
We had a very nice time on our safari. East African & Touring company offers a very friendly and trustfull service. They look what they can offer for every budget. Our guide took the time for visiting the park and let us look to the animals how long we wanted. They have very nice accomodation, nature friendly and relaxing! We had the best dinners ever! What a great time! :)
Once-in-a-lifetime trip.
African Safari for your Safari adventure. About the only thing I might reconsider is whether to go to all four national parks. They all had something different to offer but we saw almost all of the larger wild game (lions, leopards, cheetahs, elephants, cape buffalo, giraffes, wildebeast, zebras, etc.) in Serengeti--obviously Serengeti is a must see. The one major animal we did not see in Serengeti, the Rhino, we spotted in Ngorongoro--a thrilling volcanic crater created millions of years ago. I might conclude that Tanzania seemed to be a safe country. Despite being populated by Muslims, Christians, Catholics, etc., and having numerous tribes, there did not seem to be the religious and tribal strife you see in some other African countries.