African Big Cats Safaris
- Offices In:
-
United States
Australia
Canada
- Size:
- 10-20 employees (Founded in 2013)
- Member Of:
- Tanzania Tourist Board
- Tour Types:
- Custom mid-range & luxury tours that can start every day
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $380 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
FR
Email Hawa | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amazing experience !
We had a 3 days safari with African big cats . The communication Was easy and pleasant during all the preparation of our trip. The service was very good with excellent choice regarding hotel. Don’t hesitate to give your recommendations because the agency can easily adapt to your requests which is much appreciated. We had the chance to see a lot of animals even the rare ones !! I truly recommend this agency to discover Tanzania .
IE
Email Gerard | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Excellent service from the beginning to the end including our tour guide Valence!
The entire team at African Big Cats Safaris provided an excellent integrated service from the booking process right through to the safari tour itself.
Their administration team, including Esuvat and Emmanuel, were accommodating, efficient, and responsive in organizing our safari tour at short notice as we considered several different itinerary options.
On arrival at Kilimanjaro Airport, our excellent tour guide Valence patiently waited for an hour as we processed our tourism visas (which we hadn’t done in advance). From there, everything went smoothly, and to plan, as Valence made it his priority to ensure that our 4-day safari trip was as enjoyable as possible for us as the customers. Valence was extremely knowledgeable about all things relating to the Safari and Tanzania and was happy to answer any questions/queries we raised. Although there was an itinerary in place, Valence was also flexible around our daily schedule to suit our own personal needs. This included bringing us to a local Masai village at short notice which wasn’t on the original itinerary.
In addition to our tour guide, the transport, accommodation, food, and drinks were also excellent. We saw all the animals that there were to see, and we left feeling that the trip went as well as we could have expected.
In summary, I would highly recommend African Big Cats Safaris and Valence to anyone considering a Safari Tour.
Best Safari Experience
We decided on the Serengeti years ago but due to covid, the idea was delayed. I finally came across African Big Cats as I did want options of a standard and luxury safari as far as the hotel accommodations were concerned. African Big Cats exceeded my expectations. We were on the 5 day 4 nights luxury Serengeti tour and it was magnificent. From the airport pick up and then drop off to the tour in between, they were all so kind. Justice, the safari booking agent with African Big Cats, was beyond helpful with booking and very thorough and assuring that all our questions were answered beforehand. Our personal guide, Lordlugard, was amazing and an excellent guide. He had so much valuable information that added to the history of the Serengiti and of course Tanzania. If you are hesitant on what company to choose as when present in Tanzania, we realized how plentiful the tour company options were, African Big Cats superseded our expectations.
Email Talha | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Lordlugard was excellent, very knowledgeable and passionate
Great service from arriving in Arusha to dropping us back; excellent from start to finish. Accommodation, meals, transport was all great and the safari was incredible.
Cannot recommend the 5 day comfort safari and this company enough!
KW
Email Dalal | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Hakuna Matata …it means no worries
Communication was easy. The whole trip was managed by big cats including tickets to Arusha and hotel.
Service is top notch
The only comment is related to the value of the money as it was too expensive around $ 2k for 2 nights 3 days trip
Email Kate Buys | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Excellent tour operator
Our family of four participated in an 8 night safari to Tarangire, Lake Manyara, Serengeti and Ngorongoro with African Big Cats. Of the tour operators we received quotes from African Big Cats were the most flexible with the itinerary and communication with Justice and Emmanuel was easy and efficient throughout. It was also good to know we were supporting a local company.
Our guide Venance was absolutely fantastic, a total gentleman, very friendly and good humoured, a safe and reliable driver and above all very knowledgeable and informative about both the wildlife and the people/history of Tanzania. Venance went to great lengths to ensure we saw as many species as possible and that we were able to view and photograph everything optimally. He was also very accommodating with my birdwatching.
Regarding accommodation we opted for a luxury option and went with the hotels originally quoted by African Big Cats which were Maramboi tented camp (near Tarangire), Kitela Lodge (near Lake Manyara), Kubu Kubu in Serengeti and Serena Lodge at Ngorongoro. We absolutely loved Kubu Kubu (the staff are delightful, the views amazing and the rooms and dining area perfectly designed). Serena at Ngorongoro was a bit dated and crowded but the views were fantastic. Kitela was lovely but it's far outside the national park and if I were to book again I would choose a Lodge inside the park. Likewise with Maramboi the Lodge was great but a lodge inside Tarangire would be preferable.
We absolutely loved our safari in Tanzania and being originally from South Africa where we have seen a lot of wildlife we were nevertheless blown away by the scale of these national parks and how prolific the wildlife is. We saw a group of cheetah kill a gazelle right next to our car within an hour of entering Serengeti and that was just the beginning. We saw lion feeding on an elephant, another lion pride with cubs relaxing after a kill, leopards mating, a leopard and her cub returning up a tree to a stashed kill, a pack of hyenas in a stand off with lions. I've never seen so many different groups of lions, so many different cheetahs and so many different leopard all at unbelievably close quarters. We also were lucky to see smaller creatures such as serval, genet, civet and porcupine and of course all the herbivores. On our last day in the Serengeti we witnessed the wildebeest gathering for their southern migration and the sight of wildebeest stretching to the horizon in every direction was truly spectacular.
The scenery in Tanzania is also extremely beautiful with the volcanoes and craters and lakes. This sets it apart from game reserves in South Africa.
I would highly recommend African Big Cats to show you the treasures of this beautiful country. We will certainly be booking with them again.
DE
Email Andreas | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Impressive Safari with incredible experiences
We did a 5 day comfort safari (Tarangire, Ngorogoro, Serengeti, Lake Manyara). The whole tour was excellently organised. The contact by e-mail in advance with the office (Justice and Naomi) was already very nice. From booking to payment, answering questions, everything very competent and fast. The trip itself, from the pick-up at the airport to the accommodation in the lodges, everything was to our complete satisfaction and exactly as previously described. Especially the night in the tent camp was a very special experience. Our guide Hubert was very friendly and accommodating. He reported a lot about the wildlife, nature, the country and the people. He made lunch every day. It was a great safari. We can highly recommend African BigCats.
Email Adam | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Fantastic safari experience!
We had an excellent experience with African Big Cats Safaris. My partner and I did a 5 day safari for our honeymoon and African Big Cats organized everything so we had an amazing time. Our guide, Obedi, was a joy to be with. He was incredibly knowledgable about all the animals and worked with other guides to make sure we saw as much as possible. The accommodation was great and every meal was taken care of--we ate very well throughout the trip. Our entire itinerary was meticulously planned and we were able to see so much--we went to Lake Manyara for the first day, the Ngorogoro crater the second day, two days in the Serengeti (including a magical evening at a glamping lodge), and a final day at Tarangire. If you are looking for a once in a lifetime trip, I couldn't recommend African Big Cats more. Safaris are expensive, so it's wise to pick an excellent company like this one.
ES
Email Ana Beatriz | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amazing experience
When we decided to make a safari, I explore the different possibilities we have and request several budgets, indicating clearly what we wanted to the 4 companies selected. African Big Cats was between them and the chosen as they offer good accomodations at a correct price.
From the beginning the communications with them, in my case Justice Justine, was easy and I found answers to my questions in a very short time, even I could send my doubts through Whatsapp.
Everything flows properly, we made the payment in the way requested and they confirmed the reception of the money as soon as they receive it.
The safari ran as it was programmed and it exceeded our expectations
US
Email Soumya | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Exceeds expectations
We were picked up from our resort by our guide- Khalid in a timely manner. He has a lot of knowledge about national parks, conservation areas, animal and bird species- which he willingly shared with us. Our first day included drop off to the forest hill resort. The resort was great and we had a good time there. Next day we started on our safari from Lake Manyara national Park. Here we saw many animals very close to our jeep- lions, elephants, zebra, impalas, giraffes, agama lizard, water buck, antelopes, wild buffalo, baboons, blue monkeys etc. Khalid was great and knew the spots where wildlife park would be most likely found. We stayed in the twiga campsite on this first day. The campsite was very safe and had access to shared toilets with hot water facility for a shower. The tents themselves were very spacious and comfortable. We also had a chef- vittoris who prepared tasty vegetarian/ vegan food for us! On the second day we went to the Ngorongoro crater. This is an amazing place with a diversity of animals and birds to be found- many many zebra, elephants, wildebeest, lions, vultures, ostrich, flamingos, etc. We also spotted the rare black rhino. We wished we could’ve spent some more time here. After lunch by the hippo pool, we left to go to Serengeti National park. There on the game drive, we saw a leopard at very close quarters. We saw it eat it’s prey, climb up and down the tree. We spent around 30-45 minutes close to the leopard. We also saw some more wildlife, and migration of wildebeest, and an amazing sunset before heading home for the day. We camped at a public campsite on this second day, glad to have seen the big 5 with only 2 days into the safari. The public campsite was a little scary compared to the one we had been at the previous day- because it was right inside the national park. It also attracted a lot of insects near light sources which was scary to me, though my friends were unfazed. The toilet facilities were also very very basic with no hot water and limited lighting. Though this is understandable because of it being inside the national park. Next day, we went for a game drive in the Serengeti. The highlight of the day was to see cheetahs- one of them right in front of our car. And we also saw a leopard with 2 cubs- though we weren’t able to capture their photos/ videos because they were very quick. We also saw a lot of other wildlife really close. We returned to the same campsite after the sunset. Next day we packed our tents for our last day at Serengeti. We saw leopards, prides of lions, lion cubs, and other wildlife. We then headed back to the twiga campsite which is a long drive from Serengeti. Throughout the whole trip, Khalid coordinated with other guides through his radio to find out where wildlife was spotted and drove us quickly to that location- which was why we were able to spot everything that we wanted to look at and more. On the last day, we went to Tarangire national park- which is known as elephant and bird paradise. We saw many many groups of elephants of all ages doing various activities. We also saw more than 25-30 varieties of birds and Khalid was very knowledgeable about all these birds as well. He also spotted birds before we could and showed it to us and stopped so we could picture it. Overall, this trip exceeded all expectations and I would really recommend this to anyone. I would specifically recommend asking for Khalid to be the guide as well because he has a lot of experience and is very accommodating. We also enjoyed listening to and discussing Bollywood songs/ movies with Khalid who is a Shah Rukh Khan fan!
