Our Head Guide Nico and our Signature Hot Lunches
Unlimited Expeditions: The Soul of Tanzania
- Office In:
- Size:
- 10-20 employees (Founded in 2015)
- Tour Types:
- Custom mid-range & luxury tours that can start every day
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $150 to $400 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
Email Abdul Wahid | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Fantastic Safari. Fantastic company
Its very rare to find a company with only good reviews but S.O.T lives up to its 5* rating. From day one finding out about S.O.T to the end of our holiday, everything was perfect. I had never heard of S.O.T before I booked with them. I read reviews about them on the internet and decided to contact them. I sent an email asking about Safari packages and was contacted by Sandy (Journey Designer) in a couple hours. We sent several emails back and forth trying to plan the perfect Safari. My wife and I made several changes to our dates which wasn’t an issue with Sandy as she was always very happy to help and find use the best package. We finally decided on the dates and Sandy tailor made a 5 day Safari for us.
I have to admit I was a little nervous when i had to make a wire transfer for a large amount of money to a company I have never dealt with before or spoken to on the phone only via email, especially it being in Africa (no offence). But YOLO. Sent the payment and within a couple days Sandy emailed me to let me know my payment was received and our holiday was booked and everything was in place for our arrival.
And so our holiday began. What can I say. The Safari was perfect. From the second we landed to the last day getting dropped off back to the airport. Everything ran like clockwork. We needed not worry about a thing. Edward our safari guide picked us up from our hotel in Arusha the next morning and the Safari started. Edward is a fantastic guy, he was always happy to explain things to us while on game drives, made sure we had the perfect views of all the animal and explained things to us on the move. Always went out of his way to make sure we got the best Safari experience. It was a pleasure spending 5 days with Edward we enjoyed ourselves very much. We saw pretty much every animal we could see apart from the Rhino’s and Edward did try his best to find them but as it was the dry season and windy and dusty he explained they might be hiding due to the dusty mornings. Best thing we did see was a Cheetah eating its kill. Up close and personal was great (we could hear the bones of the Thompson cracking with every bite).
The lodges and camp we stayed in during our Safari was incredible. If you’re doing the Serengeti make sure you stay at the Chaka Camps!!! What an experience.
Thank you all at S.O.T especially Sandy and Edward. We will never forget our trip to Tanzania!!!!
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Email Karl | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
As Good As It Gets!
From start to finish, working with Soul of Tanzania was a pleasure. Once you contact them, you are assigned a personal operator that works with you to design your desired itinerary. I worked with Sandy and she was the best! Always friendly, polite, and responsive, Sandy helped me design a nine day itinerary through Kenya and Tanzania. Sandy offered good recommendations for how long we should stay at each location and provided a number of lodging options based on various budgets. We were also offered options like visiting a Masai tribe and the Olduvai Gorge. During the weeks leading up to our departure, Sandy politely answered a number of last minute questions. I felt comfortable and at ease starting my safari.
Soul of Tanzania gives you a questionnaire to fill out that asks about your likes and dislikes, you favorite and least favorite animals, and the type of traveler you are so they can better customize your safari and, more importantly, match you with the best guide/driver. Sandy recommended Ally (Ali) for us in Tanzania and he made all the difference! Ally was funny, knowledgeable, prompt, and flexible. If we wanted to stop, we stopped. But Ally would always stop so we had good light on the animals for photography. If we wanted to modify the itinerary, we did. But Ally would always talk about the pros and cons of doing so. If we wanted to start early or end late, no problem. Normally, there is a good deal of luck regarding what animals you see on our safari. But Ally maximized our luck by always communicating with the other drivers in the park and taking us to the rarest animal sightings. We saw The Big Five multiple times. We saw 2 rhinos, 4 leopards, 4 cheetahs, and about 42 lions. We saw a cheetah hunt a gazelle. We saw lion cubs play on a rock. We saw endless giraffes, hippos, hyenas, elephants, ostriches, water buffalo, crocodiles and wildebeests. However, the best thing we saw was The Great Migration cross the Mara river in the North Serengeti. And we saw it twice! We even saw crocodiles attack and kill a wildebeest - twice! We saw it because of Ally. As soon as he heard from a friend about the crossing he immediately got our vehicle moving and got us there quicker than everyone else. We had a front row seat! Later, as all the other vehicles searched different sections of the river for a crossing, Ally took us back to the first crossing spot on a hunch that the herd was separated and would cross again. We were the only vehicle there. And they crossed! And that's when the two wildebeests were attacked by crocs! So, there is certainly luck involved in seeing the animals, but there is also skill. And Ally provided that skill.
We had an amazing safari. It was fun from start to finish. More importantly, we didn't need to worry about anything because we knew we were in good hands. If you want a great custom safari experience, Soul of Tanzania is the way to go.
ES
Email casto | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Awesome
Absolutely perfect
Memorable Experience. Soul of Tanzania showed a total professionalism from the first email we exchanged with Louis (journey designer), replaying to emails quickly, sometimes in minutes. Adapting the trip to our needs, finding solutions to any request. The guide (Vincent) fantastic, attentive to everything we needed, always smiling, friendly, speaking a very good Spanish and able to take us to the right place just at the perfect time. We saw the big 5, with lions walking very close to us, elephants, hippos, cheetah, leopard, crocodile, giraffes, buffalo, vultures, baboons, zebras ..... Unforgettable and 100% recommendable experience
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Email Renata | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
The absolute best safari experience!
My husband and I used Soul of Tanzania four a seven-day safari in June. We couldn't imagine it going any better than it did! During our time, we saw all of the must-see animals, including the rare black rhino, and even saw a lion hunt a gazelle!
There were several parts of the safari and our entire experience with the staff that really stood out:
--Communication: When we were still researching which safari operator to choose, Sandy was thorough and timely in all correspondence. It can be a bit scary when booking a safari from afar, especially when you don't have the chance to meet in person, but Sandy put our mind at ease. It was also helpful to get periodic updates from the company. For example, we received an email when the new plastic bag ban went into effect, which allowed us to properly prepare for our trip. We may not have known about it otherwise. Then upon arrival but before we began our safari, we met with another staff member who reviewed our entire itinerary and confirmed its accuracy.
--Our guide: Huruma, our guide, was THE BEST. We cannot say enough great things about him. He could spot animals that were extremely far away and seemed to have an answer for all of our questions. On top of that, he was incredibly kind and respectful of the parks and the animals within them.
--The flexibility: We loved that Soul of Tanzania offers private safaris, which gave us the flexibility to go wherever and whenever we wanted and allowed us to customize our itinerary. We also appreciated that, although the company suggested accommodations, we had the ability to choose other lodging options.
--The food: To be honest, we had reasonable expectations going into the safari, as we knew the remote locations would likely make it difficult to get good food. But we were proven absolutely wrong! Every single meal that we had with Soul of Tanzania was amazing. We didn't know this going into the trip, but the company has a partnership with a local chef, so we had home-cooked lunches that included a meat dish, rice, fruit and/or a vegetable side, chocolate or biscuits or dessert and wine/juice/water. When we stopped at the picnic areas, we noticed that the mast majority of other guests only had boxed lunches. When you're on a safari that lasts this long, a good meal goes a really long way!
--The vehicle: Our Land Cruiser was new and quite comfortable. For each drive, we had ample water, a set of really great binoculars (super important), blankets to use during the chilly morning drives, outlets to charge our phones and guide books to read more about the animals and plant life.
We wholeheartedly recommend Soul of Tanzania. Thank you to Huruma, Sandy and the rest of the staff for an amazing and unforgettable experience!
AR
Email Analia | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
An unforgettable trip
The safari has been an unforgettable experience. We had a great time. Every day we were part of the beauty of nature. Each park surprised us day by day.
Wildebeest migration in the Serengeti is perhaps the most shocking and exciting.
Our guide, Erasto, had a very important role in the safari, who with his knowledge and joy made us spend very beautiful moments. He taught us a lot about animals, about life in Tanzania, about his language, etc. He is also a very funny and educated person. He was watching us every day.
The safari met our expectations and more.
Thank you so much for everything
PT
Email Antonio Rosa | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Soul of Tanzania team are perfectly aware of their job : Dream Deliverers !
All our ideas get a solution or advice for better choice according to our expectations.
Awesome plan designed by Luis G for Safari in Tanzania, beach in Zanzibar and couple of days in Chumbe Island was executed according and without inconvenience, and all the recommended lodges are properly adequate to our indicated standards.
Emanuel - our Safari guide – is magnificent and we have the fortune to one day in Serengeti we got big five.
Thank you Soul of Tanzania
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Email Brett Johnson MD | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Tremendous
We wanted to thank Soul of Tanzania and our incredible guide Shaban for an unforgettable 8-day safari in Northern Tanzania! As a family with 2 children, we felt comfortable and well cared for the entire time. With Shaban’s knowledge and experience, we were able to go directly to the best locations at the best time of day for wildlife viewing. The big animals were numerous and spectacular, but Shaban took us beyond the Big 5 and was able to help us identify nearly 100 bird species as well! When our guide wasn’t expertly driving us around remote dirt roads in the Serengeti, he was serving us hot meals, entertaining the kids, or fixing our logistical problems. For example, I left my camera battery charger behind at the hotel in Arusha. Shaban had another company car pick it up and deliver it to us on safari the next day! Huge thanks to SOT and our elite guide for making out family trip 5 stars. I highly recommend this conservation-minded, locally operated tour agency.
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Email Chad | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
An amazing, personalized experience in the most beautiful place in the world!
I had a wonderful experience on my safari in Tanzania. I found the company though multiple online reviews and they were all pretty spot on. Helena and I communicated for months to set up the ideal trip. The personalized itinerary and choices in lodging were what set them apart. As for the tour, my guide Ally was absolutely amazing. He took an interest in what animals I most wanted to see and definitely did not let me down. I had so many close encounters with the big cats. His spotting was incredible as well as his teamwork with other guides to find them. Ally was a pleasure to spend time with for nine days. We got along great, which is important if you have a relatively long safari. The safari was exactly what you would have expected in the beautiful country. Food was great and could tell the other tourists were jealous of the great spreads he set up for us. Great job by Soul of Tanzania and especially Ally and Helena.
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Email Michele | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amazing and Flexible Safari Experience
Soul of Tanzania provides amazing value and flexibility. It's easy to become overwhelmed with all the choices and Soul of Tanzania provided great guidance, from the planning with Manel, to the day to day safari support we received from our amazing guide, Steve. I truly appreciated how my questions were answered clearly and quickly and also that I had a lot of choice in lodging. Unlike other companies, we could go budget one night and luxury another....it was all available and could be pieced together to match our budget and expectations. From the initial pick up, everything went smoothly and we saw so much more than we anticipated. Our guide was knowledgable and kind, and really talented at spotting animals and getting us to some amazing spots (see pics). We were out for 4 days to Tarangire, Manyara, the Crater, and Arusha National Park (which we found especially magical), and each day we had a hot lunch with wine and coffee that our guide pressed and poured. I'm not sure we could have had a better experience. Even beyond the safari, the company provided great customer service. When KLM lost my bag, the safari company stayed on top of it and had it delivered to our camp. Our guide even took me to buy some clothes to tide me over. I can't tell you how much I appreciated their help with this situation. I highly recommend this company!
AT
Email Markus | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Amazing 3-day Safari
We had a wonderful short safari in June with Soul of Tanzania. Thanks to our driver/guide Said who also did a great job making this trip funny, diverting and memorable for our child, all our expectations were met and exceeded - besides seeing all the "Big 5" we enjoyed so many fascinating animal encounters and wonderful scenery - the whole experience was informative and a lot of fun. We visited Tarangire, Lake Manyara and Ngorongoro Crater during our 3-days private tour.
Planning and booking supported by Helena was very easy, friendly and uncomplicated.
Highly recommended, professional and very customer-oriented company!