SMILE WITH US TOURS IN AFRICA 2024
Smile With Us Tours In Africa
- Office In:
- Size:
- 5-10 employees (Founded in 2017)
- Tour Types:
- Custom budget & mid-range tours that can start every day
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $200 to $490 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 Andy | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Absolutely amazing safari
From start to end the experience with Jacob and Smile With Us was brilliant. We'd never been on safari before but Jacob made it simple, suggesting a fantastic 6-day trip from Dar es Salaam to Selous and Mikumi national parks. Nothing was too much trouble.
On the day we started the wonderful driver and guide Omari showed up with a rugged Land Cruiser, which is just as well as there had been a lot of rain and the vehicle's 4-wheel drive was needed at times as we sloshed through deep mud and water. Throughout Omari was incredible. Really knowledgeable and nothing was too much trouble. He also has a deep respect and love for animals and wildlife, even to the extent of waiting for a column of soldier ants to cross the road in front of us. We saw elephants, lions, hippos, giraffe, buffalo, wildebeest, impala, warthogs, hyaena, zebra and loads of birds and other animals. Perhaps one of the highlights was seeing a huge crocodile eating a zebra on land right next to our vehicle while hordes of vultures waited to come in for their turn.
Omari always seemed to have a six sense when it came to finding interesting things to see. He was also one of the most friendly and sociable people I've met, always stopping to chat and exchange info with other drivers and park rangers, or helping change a tyre on another car.
The accommodation was good, and we never had to worry about food or water. There were long distances covered, especially driving between Selous and Mikumi, but for us that was part of the fun, and having the opportunity to see ordinary life across Tanzania.
The last night was our wedding anniversary and Jacob arranged for a group of Maasai warriors to sing and dance for us at dinner while delivering a cake. Truly special memories.
We can't recommend Smile With Us Tours enough. If you choose one company, choose this one.
SE
Email Miranda | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amazing!
Everything was as amazing! Our guide was really showing us the best of both parks (Tarangire & Ngorogoro) and gave us a lot of information. We saw 4/5 of "The big five", and a lot of other animals. He did his best to show us so many animals as possible. I can really recomend!
Email Saara | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Fantastic experience
We had an amazing 1 day safari with smile with us tours to Mikumi in December 2023. We were slightly unsure about the process but the team was great at communicating with us on WhatsApp and gave us all the tips and advice for the whole day. We had an early pick up by Mr Nurdin, who arrived on time to our villa. From there we caught a flight directly into Mikumi park where we were met with our guide Isaak who was absolutely fantastic. We had our own private open land rover, and Isaac knew exactly where to find the animals, what time to see them and we were also able to get really close to the majority of them. Even the lions who were walking right next to us in jeep. During the safari we were provided with fruit, juices and snacks and were well taken care of. We felt safe throughout the tour. Lunch was fantastic, lots of options and halal hot food. We made full use of our day there, seeing zebras, lions, lionesses, impala, water buffalo, hippos, crocodiles, many birds, giraffes and many other animals.
I would highly recommend this tour over the others as we had a much more personalised experience, flexibility in seeing the animals rather than following the other tour groups, and plenty of space in the car. The other tours appeared much busier and did not get as close to the animals.
Fantastic day, thank you to the whole team for creating such a great memory and experience for us!
ES
Email Mateja Olujic | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Overall great experience
We went to 2 days Mikumi and one day Udzungwa mountains and we really enjoyed it. Initially our itinerary was to do 1 day Mikumi and 2 days Neyrere but after the drive from Dar es Salaam to Mikumi took nearly 9 hours because of the traffic, we decided to change the plans and the operator was flexible. Communication was good, I guess the only area for improvement is to provide more precise communication a couple of days before the trip instead of the client reaching out with questions (for example, who will be our driver and their contact, where will they wait for us, how to pay for the rest, and other basics). In terms of value, it is definitely not cheap and the safari vehicle was somewhat old, but the accommodation and food during the trip was good. Smile with us tours actually offered the most competitive price in relation to others (I got nearly 10 quotes from different operators). Overall, it was a good experience and would definitely repeat doing safari again.
HU
Email Barna | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Canceled safari by operator
We booked our safari two months in advance. 4 days before the date we got a request from the tour operator to re-schedule the date due to organization issues. We managed, re-arranged our schedule. After that it was extremely difficult to communicate to the operator, we received no info, no replies to emails. Complete incommunicado. We only hope that we will receive back the deposit we paid - the safari never happened.
We could still give five star even after a canceled safari as we can understand if there are unforseen technical difficulties during organizing a tour - but at least, talk to your client! Not communicating, not answering emails for days just a few days before a scheduled and then re-scheduled safari, leaving the client in uncertainty deserves nothing but one star.
Reply from Smile With Us Tours In Africa
Posted on Jan 8, 2024Thank you for your review and we are sorry that your flying safari didn't happen.
We got a challenge from our domestic flight that we always book with them, and we shared with you the reasons for not making your day trip safari. They informed us that their scheduled flight for the booked trip was got the technical problem, and they were not sure if it will be fixed and be ready for safari as the days was too near.
We as a tour company we really don't have any control over any flight company, we really depend on them, may be this the main problem to be addressed, so it wasn't our intention to see things falling apart! Very sorry again for disappointing you.
For communications, we always communicate with our customers about the issues of flight and await final confirmation from flight team for the best feedback to our clients. This was the only delay in hours for the reply of your email, but all emails were answered accordingly.
About the refund, we have already processed, and our customer confirm he/she received it for not providing the required service.
Sorry for what has happened, and we will continue to take care about the flying safari due to unpredicted errors that may happen.
DE
Email Anja & Michael | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great Job! Unforgettable Experience!
It was a very special experience! Henry is a super friendly, pleasant guide with whom we were able to learn and laugh a lot, the car was well maintained and in good condition, we will never forget these 6 days. The safari exceeded our expectations. Everything was organized smoothly, always enough to drink and eat, as well as the opportunity to coordinate the process individually.
Asante
Email James | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Wonderful tour guides, fantastic experience, trip of a lifetime
We were a family of 6 plus 2 single friends, we enjoyed a wonderful 5 night safari visiting Mikumi, Udzungwa and Nyerere. When we first looked into safaris we thought it was going to be way out of our budget but then we found Smile with Us, they were excellent value for money.
Mr Msese and Omari were our tour guides, they were wonderful friendly men, with a vast knowledge of flora and fauna. We have a good knowledge about plants and animals but we learned so much from these men. They were also excellent drivers and we always felt safe despite the rough roads and crazy traffic. We felt truly cared for and looked after by them.
From the moment we entered Mikumi we were astounded at the wildlife, it was so special to see elephants, giraffes, hippos and lions as well as many other animals. All the accommodation was good but we especially enjoyed Nyerere Tented Camp at the end, it was truly special to stay in these luxurious tents, our boys even saw a hippo walk behind their tent late at night.
We highly recommend Smile with Us.
DE
Email Katja | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Memories of a lifetime!
We are back from our incredible 17-days-tour and I would highly recommend booking with Smile with us Tours in Africa! The communication and planning of the tour, choosing accommodations and activities was a very good experience. Jacob has arranged all accommodations and activities for our exciting individual itinerary and everything was very well organized, whereever we arrived.
Our guide on our long safari was Erick: He is speaking very good English and is just an amazing person with so much knowledge about nature, wildlife and culture – it was really a pleasure to travel with him! Up from our arrival at the airport we have enjoyed every minute of our long safari. There is nothing, he can’t deal with or what is impossible for him. Asante sana – we left with memories of a lifetime!
For sure we will plan our next trip with Jacob and his team to explore more places of this beautiful country.
FR
Email Aurore | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Unforgettable experience!
Leaving in June 2023, we had an excellent time with your team, from start to finish!
First, with Omary, very friendly and a very good driver. It allowed us to meet children for the school supplies that we had brought, to enjoy the country thanks to the 5-hour car ride to go to the mainland, to observe the magnificent animals of the Nyerere park (zebras, leopard , elephant, impala, baboons, hyena, giraffe, crocodiles, hippos...), we saw very few tourists, it was great thank you very much! And he helped us a lot with the ferry!
Then, Mickaël, our French-speaking guide, perfect too! Very kind, attentive, he explained to us very well the life of animals and men in Tanzania, we met the villagers for supplies thanks to him, great time! There was also Abdul the driver of the safari boat, nice too! Then Didi the bushman gave us a great demonstration of jungle plants, he’s funny! The Selous is magnificent...
The accommodation was very good too, the restaurant staff chat easily and are always smiling and attentive, and the Maasai are good handymen to repair our broken sandal, and are also very friendly!
The organization was perfect, we thank you for everything, the memories are engraved forever, good luck to you!
(automatic translation from French)
Email Jenny | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Very accommodating and professional service
We did the southern circuit of Tanzania. From the very beginning Smile with Us were quick to respond to our queries, and were very accommodating when it came to tailoring our itinerary.
We had a fantastic journey around 4 national parks with a private guide/ driver Khalifa. We saw everything we hoped to see and lots more. Our guide went above and beyond to ensure we had the best experience. We would highly recommend.