Hilary and Martin - owners of Suricata Safaris
Suricata Safaris
- Office In:
- Size:
- 20-50 employees (Founded in 2016)
- Tour Types:
- Custom budget & mid-range tours that can start every day
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $190 to $600 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 Heather | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Very smooth and fantastic experience, once we got the kinks worked out
Suricata Safaris is a shining new company in a competitive field, and you should absolutely book them. I recently did a 6 day/5night camping safari with them, and they handled everything so nicely, from the itinerary to choosing the best campsites. They have (as of right now) three drivers—Frederick was our guide, but we also met Mandela, who was super charming and enthusiastic.
You could not ask for a smarter, more informed, funny, patient person to show you the wilderness than Frederick. He knows his field incredibly well, from who/what/how every predator hunts, to understanding where to find the action. (We saw a cheetah take down a zebra, and a lion miss one in the same day.) He’ll answer all your questions and include information you never knew to ask, all with a great sense of humor. He's patient, and it pays off in the best sightings.
Dioniz was our chef, and I guarantee you’ve never eaten better while camping. Breakfast, lunch and dinner were all multi-course affairs with a million choices. You’ll be spoiled by him for sure. He’s up at the crack of dawn to set a table with a tablecloth for your breakfast and the food is *chefkiss* He’s got skills.
We had some communication difficulties with Hilary, but all were sorted quickly. Most stemmed from him getting emails from two different people, so I recommend having one point person as the organizer. Be prepared to pay the receiving end Tanzanian bank fees for a wire transfer as well as your own bank’s. BUT, he personally drove us to the airport, which was lovely.
Suricata can’t guarantee a specific driver, although we were told we were confirmed with our request. It wasn't a big deal, just another communication issue. You won’t go wrong with any of the guides, though, so it’s ultimately nbd. We also requested separate accommodations but were in shared tents (just my friend and me together) the whole time. Again, re-confirm all the details of your trip a few days before to make sure Suricata is on the same page.
I would have preferred a more detailed itinerary, like an easy to print pdf including drive times between sites (some are 6 hours) and a recommended packing list, but that’s nitpicking (which, I learned from Frederick, is a term that comes from baboon grooming habits). You will need this for your visa, so be sure to ask Hilary for a list of each day.
Don’t go crazy with safari gear—you’ll rarely be out of the car, and then only at picnic sites/washrooms. Pack comfortable shoes you can take off quickly so you can hop up onto the seat fast enough to get that once-in-a-lifetime photo. Basically dress like you’re going on a road trip. I never even considered wearing the safari hat I brought, and hiking boots were definite overkill.
Don’t forget binoculars, a towel, bug spray, itch cream, soap/shampoo, tissues/tp, and a few warm layers. There is a charger for all your devices in the safari vehicle! I don't think I was below 80% charged the entire week.
Suricata did well by us. You can feel confident you’re getting an amazing trip with super smart people you’ll be happy to spend a week with. I had an unforgettable time and made some new friends along the way!
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Email Marco | under20 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amazing safari, great experience
Had a great experience overall, did the 4 day safari. The guide, the food, the camping was great, and the best is the scenery of course, just incredible. Met some pretty cool people too. No regrets, yolo!
FI
Email Tuomo | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
My sincere recommendations to anyone!
I found this company after going through hundreds of different ones. Still a relatively new company, but already had very good reviews on both safaribookings and tripadvisor. We also were on a very narrow schedule, as we booked our safari only about two weeks before and wanted to have our safari on particular dates. It also seemed to have very reasonable price compared to many others. After initial email, I found it convenient to chat with Hilary, the manager, in whatsapp. We had lots of conserns, such as my wife's restricted diet due to celiac disease, which ultimately was taken on to account unbelievably well. On every meal she could get her stomach beyond full, as could the rest of us, thanks to our brilliant young chef. Our crew was of good size, six tourists in one car. Our wonderful guide, Fred, felt more like a friend than a guide to have around in a good way. He would tell us anything we'd like to know, about Tanzania or related to safari. He sincerely seemed to enjoy his work. Also, when our car's spring once inevitably broke down, it could be fixed with a piece of wood in no time, and our itinerary would still hold. On our game drives in Ngorongoro and Serengeti, we were able to see every animal we could have imagined seeing (cheetah, leopard, rhino and heeps of lions, hyenas and so on). Only thing I would even consider changing is that due to my and my wifes busy schedule, we joined the group and went first to Serengeti and Ngorongoro, and after having seen all the animals in world class safaris, Tarangire NP felt a bit empty. This was also due to the season, as we went just after the rainy season, which is not the best to see big game. Luckily we could still get very close to a big pack of elephants. All in all, our safari exceeded our expectations, and I found it to have excellent price/quality ratio and brilliant for anyone looking for a five star experience on tight budget. Thank you Hilary and the crew!
ES
Email Oliver Schultze | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
SuperSafari Trip
I made a 6 day safaritrip with Suritaca Safaris and It was an excellent trip. My guide was Ezequier and also a cook went with us. We visited the Serengeti, the caldera of ngorongoro, the national park of Tiangare and the national park of Lake Manjare. Our guide Ezequier could tell us many interesting stories and facts about the wildlife as he was studying the tanzanian wildlife at the university. I could learn a lot about nature and also about myself and what the sentence “survival of the strongest” really means.
Email Phililly | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
One of my greatest ever weeks.
This safari trip was amazing due to a number of different aspects. The wildlife was incredible, it seemed like you saw something new around every corner. The parks that you visit on this trip are well managed and each have different wildlife which adds variety to the trip. Ezekiel was our guide for the safari, he is a great person and was very knowledgeable about the animals and drove very well. Thank you Ezekiel. Everything on the trip was well organised and ran smoothly throughout. The food throughout the journey was also very tasty. I would recommend suricata safaris to anyone. Would love to return in the future.
Email Liliane | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
A fantastic experience with Suricata Safaris!
A fantastic experience with Suricata Safaris! It brings to real world what you see on tv, fpr all family. The reception was amazing, the drivers and the cooker was great. I had made friends.
Email Leanne | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Best guide. Best Chef. Best Vehicle. Best knowledge. Most unforgettable experience ever.
You know you have the best guide in the business when all the other guides keep asking your guide where the animals are!
I organised this Safari direct with Hilary via WhatsApp from Australia. He was able to accommodate my special requests with ease and was entirely professional with amazing communication. He was able to accommodate my request to visit a local orphanage which ended up being quite an adventure for all of us due to the wet, hilly and muddy terrain.
Our guide Zeiki was outstanding in his driving skill and knowledge. He certainly used great skill on our drive into the Rift Valley to the orphanage.
His English is perfect and I had no trouble understanding his very interesting commentary.
Our Chef was also “the best chef ever”. Such delicious wholesome meals and every time we felt hungry he was there with mouth watering goodness.
I recommend you use this company. They exceeded all others in honesty, professionalism and providing thorough enjoyment.
You won’t regret your decision to book with Suricata Safaris.
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Email Max | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
The trip of a lifetime!!
My friend and I did a 4 day safari to Serengeti, Ngorongoro and Tarangire and it was amazing!!! We were first time travelers to Africa and weren't quite sure what to expect, but from the moment we landed to the time we got dropped off, we felt so comfortable, safe, and had an incredible time!! We arrived at the Kilimanjaro airport and our guide Frederick was there to pick us up with a sign and take us to the hotel in Arusha, then we started the safari the next day. The scenery was just out of this world and we saw so many animals! The camping was comfortable and the food was pretty good. We've traveled to lots of places, but Africa is just unlike anything else. We were very happy we chose Suricata as our safari company, they made this the trip of a lifetime!
Amazing
They were very good guides. Specially Hilary and his friend Fredric
SE
Email Claire | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Breathtaking experience!
I chose too book my safari (4 days camping safari- Tarangire, Serengeti, Ngorongoro) with Suricata Safaris, after reading many good reviews about the company. It was definitely the right choice and I'm really grateful for this experience! Of course half of the experience is just being in the wonderful nature and seeing all these animals. But in order to really enjoy the safari it is crucial that the organisation and all logistics also are in place and this is the other half of the experience. With Suricata safaris everything was well taken care of both during and before & after the safari. We were 6 persons in the safari group, travelling in a jeep with our driver. I found that was a perfect number of participants.
Our driver Frederic was kind, fun and knowledgeable and gave us a great safari! Frederic was also a really good driver which made our journey feel very safe the whole time. Our chef, Dionys made great food with lots of fresh fruits and vegetables. Being a vegetarian I have sometimes had bad/boring food experiences when travelling in organised groups. But this was truly really good food, lots of different flavours and many dishes to choose from. And all this delicious food was made on a portable stove (since we were camping) - that is truly amazing! I chose to do a camping safari both to keep the costs down and because it feels more like the "true" safari experience. The different camping sites were of different standards, but camping in Serengeti and hearing animals at night was quite something. A tip for anyone doing a camping safari is to bring a personal sleeping bag liner, since camping equipment and sleeping bags are handed out but thus also used by other safari participants before you ;)
All in all I can definitely recommend Suricata safaris! Thank you guys!