Safari Infinity
- Located In:
- Size:
- 10-20 employees (Founded in 2011)
- Member Of:
- Tanzania Association of Tour Operators
- Tour Types:
- Custom mid-range & luxury tours that can start every day
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $500 to $1,400 per person per day (USD, excl. int'l flights)
Reviews
CN
Email Monica | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Good service, Experienced guide, Great tour, Nice arrangement
we total 6 people had wonderful time with this tour operator. 1) very knowledgeable in tour planning and itinerary arrangement. Lucia knows pretty well where to visit at when. I would suggest client listen to her suggestions on itinerary planning and lodge recommendation. 2) this operator take care of client very well. i wasnt aware that i overpaid lodge bill until we left almost 30 minutes. Lucia help me to get refund at next lodge - Perfect !! 3) She kept eye on my flight status, help me out when Precision Airway cancelled flight to Nairobi. 4) the guide, named Eric is very very good, magic eye in searching animals. He is also very good to provide suggestion. we all love him. 5) this tour operator quotes reasonable rate. i compared at least 10 vendors, this is not the lowest, but the best in performance - price ratio!
CA
Email soda_jo | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Unforgettable honeymoon!!
My husband and I went on a 10-day semi-luxury safari with Safari Infinity for our honeymoon over Christmastime in 2013. From the start of planning to the day we returned home, our experience with Lucia and Simon at Safari Infinity was amazing. Everything reached far beyond our expectations!!!
We got married in September 2013 and of course had no time to plan our honeymoon until after our wedding. We knew we wanted to do something really unique and experience something that was "once in a lifetime." Tanzania was one of the top places on our list. We went to a local travel agent to do our initial research and had conversations with an agent there that was connected to many other safari operators. He offered some options and prices. Honestly, we weren't fully satisfied with the information, only because we couldn't sense the safari experience through glossy brochures. Then I remembered that a friend of mine travelled on a safari just a few months before. I learned of Lucia and her team and there began our real planning.
We really loved the direct contact that we had with Lucia. She operates directly out of Arusha and we knew she had contact and details about all her drivers and all the lodges. We loved how there was no "middle man" or agent between us and the safari operator throughout our planning. Lucia was ALWAYS so prompt with her replies with all our questions regarding pricing and accommodations, down to the smaller details like the shape of the truck in which we would be travelling. Whenever we emailed her, we would literally wake up to an informative email from Lucia the next morning. Not only was this important in easing any worries, but also because we only had three and a half months to book and plan our safari. The matter of time was crucial for us.
We began to be impressed with their service even before we departed Toronto. Lucia had offered to help us plan the Zanzibar portion of our trip for us, which was a lifesaver during our busy schedules. She knows tons of lodges in all price ranges on the island. We let her know our budget and she suggested several that were available in the very busy Christmas high season. During this planning, she hit a snafu with the final lodge that we had to book. After a delay in their response, they had informed her know that we couldn't stay with them because there was a minimum 6-night stay during this high season. Of course, because of their delayed response, we had lost some chances to book with other lodges. Lucia amazingly took the initiative to contact the hotel management and complained about their inconsiderate services. The result, we were able to book for our two-night stay and our honeymoon planning was complete!
Regarding our flights, Lucia connected us to a Canadian travel agent who specialized in trips to Africa. Their services were also top-notch and they were very dedicated to finding the BEST price for us. Be sure to ask Lucia for her preferred travel agent. Payment was the only thing that made us hesitant in the planning process. We were to wire money to Africa and this would be our first time having to do that. Lucia made sure to let us know when she had received the money. There was absolutely no glitches with the multiple payments we had to make and Lucia made sure to send us professional payment receipts after each one.
Our trip began with a shaky start but not to any fault of Safari Infinity. Departing in the middle of December in Toronto of course becomes risky business in terms of snowstorms. Of course, to our bad luck, we departed during the evening of the first big snowfall of the season. We were delayed for four hours on the tarmac. This caused us to miss our connecting flight in Amsterdam, which then resulted in a detour to Nairobi before landing in Arusha. Instead of landing in the evening before Day 1 of our safari, we landed the morning of Day 1 and began our safari right after arriving! We were on very little sleep after being enroute for 26 hours. But once we landed, we were full of adrenalin and were ready to go see some wildlife! Oh, also add into the mix of the shaky start - our luggage was delayed in Europe. We were out of clean clothes for an indefinite time.
Lucia was always in contact with us while we were enroute to Arusha. We let her know through email that our flights were delayed and she made sure to revise our schedule to suit. Our driver, Fazal was met us at the airport at the revised time. Fazal was so patient with us while we were getting the paperwork done for our delayed luggage.
I have only heard good things about Safari Infinity's drivers and I can only say very good things about our driver, Fazal. He speaks very good English, always had a smile on his face from Day 1, and he exudes passion for his job, Tanzania, and its wildlife. He even brought us a great surprise when we first met him at the airport! Because we were out of clean clothes for an indefinite time, the first place he brought us was in the middle of town in Arusha where we had our first local market experience! We were successful in finding some underwear and fresh shirts. This is where Simon Kombe, Lucia's life and business partner met us! He also had a smile on his face all the time. He asked us to give him the airline's paperwork for our luggage and told us that he would do his best in tracking it down for us. This was great news, as the language barrier that we experienced while trying to do this at the airport left us feeling very discouraged.
I am not going to do a day to day write-up on our entire safari experience. But I will highlight a couple of incidents that shows Fazal's and Safari Infinity's great organization, services, and genuine personalities involved. Fazal, for one, was amazing. Because of his passion for the land and the animals, he always knew where to go and how to have us enjoy it as he would. From the very beginning, he told us that he will take us off the beaten track whenever he could so that we could have our true private safari experience. He never let us down about this. More than once were we the only ones watching a pride of lions in the middle of the Serengeti, hours at a time. We spent two ours with a cheetah one afternoon. We were always a speck amongst 2 million migrating wildebeests and zebras. We saw a black rhino in the Ngorongoro Crater!! We went to visit some of his old friends at a Masai boma. We walked through a local market at the base of high mountains in the Great Rift Valley, where we met people whom have never seen tourists before. Fazal has eyes that are better than a hawk! He can spot a lion that looks like a rock from afar! He stopped the car one time and we thought it was for a large elephant or lion, but no. He had stopped it because he saw a tiny dung beetle rolling its eggs on the road! I have no idea how one could spot something like that in a large moving vehicle. He made sure to show us the big and the tiniest creatures of Africa. It was all amazing and intriguing. Fazal can tell you so much about the behaviour of elephants, lions, cheetahs, dung beetles, bees, rhinos, snakes. Everything. I was thinking that we should of brought a wildlife book for our trip but I'm glad I didn't bring the extra luggage. Learning from Fazal was much better than trying to find it in a book.
Another highlight during our trip related to our luggage. Simon was always in touch with Fazal during our trip. It is incredible how far cell phone reception reaches in the plains of Africa! On our third day Simon had great news! He had tracked down our luggage! Him and Fazal organized a pick-up spot. Had our bags arrived one day later, we would of have been too far along in our circuit that we would of had to pick up our bags at the very end of our safari. A Safari Infinity colleague had met us in a small village between Tarangire and Lake Manyara to hand us our bags. Seeing our bags waiting for us amongst the mud huts and dusty roadside stalls in the middle of Africa was one of the best feelings during the trip! I don't know what other safari operators would of done if this luggage debacle happened to one of their clients. We were so glad that our priorities were also Safari Infinity's. Never had a fresh t-shirt felt so good!
Leaving mainland Tanzania was actually one of the saddest moments of the trip. We had an emotional goodbye to Fazal, who dropped us off at the tiny local Arusha airport. He made sure our bags went through the right people and that everything was good to go before he drove away. We were sad to say goodbye but happy to have made a new friend! Fazal was not only a driver for us. Ten days in the bush with a person whom you first met in a foreign land can be intense. For us it was an opportunity to make a new friend, talk about life in Africa, life in Canada, compare our lifestyles, and just be educated in the most fun way possible.
Our trip to Zanzibar was blissful. It was a great way to end our trip. This was the time when we reminisced about what we saw on the safari and also enjoyed the real African heat (way hotter in Zanzibar than mainland). The food was great and scene was amazing. Service was always went a bit 'pole pole' ('slow and easy' in Swahili) but we were on vacation so what was the rush?? We slept so well and had no plans except to enjoy eating fruits while sitting on the white powder sand.
Safari Infinity's their business is transparent, and their operators are VERY organized and dedicated. I can't say enough great things about them. We would go back to Africa in a heartbeat. We miss it already and we would for sure book with Safari Infinity again if and when we have the chance! It was great to directly support a local business and we would have done it no other way. I highly recommend them! Thank you so much, Safari Infinity!
CA
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
A Dream Honeymoon
We had a wonderful time on safari with Safari Infinity. After months of research and countless emails between other tour operators, my husband and I decided to go on a Tanzanian 9 day safari with Safari Infinity because of their fantastic reviews and very personalized customer service.
I've listed below some of the most positive aspects of Safari Infinity:
-Lucia is fantastic to work with. She was always very quick at returning our emails and also gave us a call to discuss trip details. She made many alterations to our itinerary all without one complaint. She knows the parks well and knows how to plan the perfect itinerary to suit your needs. While we were in Arusha both Lucia and Simon came to meet us. They are both wonderful people and are so passionate about their jobs.
-Our guide Eric was also great. He was always on time and was very patient with us when we were running late. Eric was extremely knowledgeable about all of the wildlife and made an effort to show us all of the animals we wanted to see. You could tell that Eric has been a guide for many years as he knew his way around the parks well and knew how to maneuver the bumpy roads so our backs didn't hurt and our vehicle didn't break down or get stuck in mud.
-One tip we have would be to talk to your driver at the beginning of the trip, and even each day about the plan for the day. That way, if they were planning on taking you to see something that isn't as interesting, you'd have the opportunity to discuss. ie. If you're not as interested in birds as you are in mammals, it's good to mention that so you don't spend as much time with the various birds.
-We loved the safari vehicle. It had really good suspension which was great as we both have bad backs. We found that standing up with our heads out the pop up roof while on the bumpy roads helped keep our backs healthy.
-We left a few things at the lodges along the way and Lucia was kind enough to ensure that these things were flown to Zanzibar for us to pick up when we went back to the airport. Talk about going above and beyond!
There were a few hiccups in the trip, but they weren't major and didn't really affect our overall impression of the company:
-The seat belts of the passenger seats right behind the driver were not working. Eric is a very safe driver, but because we have to always wear seat belts in Canada, we just felt bare without them.
-We could not make calls with the cell phone we were provided with. This made it difficult to make last minute changes to plans with Eric.
Like I said, these were not major issues and did not affect our overall impression of this highly professional company. They went out of their way to ensure we were happy on our trip and I would definitely go back on safari with them.
US
Email Maureen Miller | 65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
A truly memorable experience for a family of five ranging in age from 14 to 70!
Starting with Lucia who patiently responded to all our questions and constructed a safari that exactly met the needs of grandparents and grandkids alike, and ending with an amazing excursion into the bush, this was certainly the trip of a lifetime. What I especially liked about working with Lucia is that she suggested accommodations that she thought would best meet our criteria and then offered some alternate choices. She made it easy to compare prices all while working with one tour operator.
Our guide Erik was so good with those kids and good with us old people too! He has eagle eyes for spotting game and knows where within the parks to find the best game viewing. Game movements are often unpredictable, but Eric drove us over 100KM to get us smack in the middle of the great migration which had moved farther east than normal. We tried not to gloat back at the lodge at the end of the day when other guests voiced their frustration at missing the migration and getting stuck in the mud instead.
We are not blessed with perfect children, so Simon got a chance to demonstrate his tour operator skills by locating and forwarding a lost camera charger and keeping us in "the chips" (memory chips). Erik cheerfully made two round trips to the airstrip to hand deliver the essential equipment back to camp.
Our much anticipated "local cultural experience" was the chart topping event for the younger crowd. Erik and a local guide arranged for us to visit the Hadzabe Tribe of hunter gatherers and participate in the morning hunt for small game. There are several good stories, some quite graphic!
We stayed 13 days/12 nights and think the time was just about right to really enjoy the top parks and attractions. We were busy, but not rushed. I could not recommend SI and our guide more highly.
SK
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
A perfect safari
Me and my best friend did safari with Safari Infinity last year....I have some beautiful pictures printed and clipped on my wall in the office….every time I look at them….I go back to Serengeti or Ngoro Ngoro and dream of going back.
Our 7 day safari was fantastic. We opted for an unlimited mileage safari and only the 2 of us (plus a fantastic guide Fasal).
The places we stayed, the food, people….everything was just fantastic. We have seen all the animals. And some of them from really close. What I really liked was a respect this agency has for animals.
Fasal was a professional guide, fluent in English and very well prepared, giving us information about the animals, nature and facts and sometimes explaining even some scientifical issues that we were not aware of. I had to say, we had a great fun.
A beautiful memory goes to our meeting with Maasai boys. Just a spontaneous meeting under the tree….and as Fasal knew we were keen on some pictures of Maasai….without being pushy or annoying…in form of a play….we took some fantastic pictures. We also showed to Maasai boys our pictures and explain few things from our lives.
The agency was very helpful. Lucia always kind and polite answering our never-ending questions….organizing for us every little step. We felt like 2 queens. Very well looked after and spoiled.
If I ever go back to Africa, I know who to contact to organize my perfect safari.
Monika
CA
Email Jen'n'Donna | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
A Fabulous Walking Safari
My mother and I visited Tanzania intending to climb Kilimanjaro, but had to change our plans at the last minute. With only a couple of weeks to spare, we went hunting for a less strenuous, off-the-track type of walking safari. Safari Infinity came through and put together an absolutely perfect itinerary. Without another tourist in sight, we hiked down the Rift Valley Escarpment and along a dry riverbed. Another walk down the Empakai crater was equally excellent, accompanied by the most beautiful, lonely country we saw in our entire 3 weeks tour. A canoe trip rounded things out, with fantastic birdlife. Lucia executed our every request, and she and Simon met with us afterward to discuss our trip and any concerns we might have had. Our driver George was superior; he was a courteous, well-spoken bird encyclopedia! We couldn't have asked for better, and would recommend Safari Infinity to anybody. Five stars!
US
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amazing Honeymoon
A truly amazing honeymoon touring around Northern Tanzania. Safari Infinity was great at helping me plan the trip, Lucia was super quick to respond to questions and helped narrow down the best accommodation for our budget. Our guide was extremely professional and knowledgeable about wildlife and we managed to see the big five! I wish I could go on vacation with Safari Infinity right now!
JP
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
The absolute best
We had to plan our honeymoon less than a month in advance, due to issues with our work schedules, so we started to email several safari operators in Tanzania about 4 weeks before our planned departure. We were undecided about whether to visit both Kenya and Tanzania or only one of them, we had a bit more than 2 weeks in total for our trip and definitely wanted to see Zanzibar, so we asked for some options. We had never been to Africa before, so we were asking for advice on what we should not have missed, how to distribute the days between the safari and the time in Zanzibar, which parks would definitely be a must etc.
Out of all the replies we got, Lucia and Simon from Safari Infinity managed to beat their competitors by far, in terms of precision, extreme rapidity to reply to our emails (I forgot to mention that we live in Japan, there are 6 hours difference with Tanzania), kindness, willingness to help create a perfect plan for us, patience, professionalism and friendliness. We exchanged a lot of emails on a daily basis with them, asked tons of questions and always got precise answers, and eventually managed to create an itinerary that we thought would fit our needs perfectly. All of this during the peak season, so I guess it must have not been easy for them to book accommodations and internal flights with such a short notice. In about 2 weeks we decided our itinerary based on Lucia's suggestions, we got all our accommodations booked, all the internal flights booked as well, considering that these had to match the times of our flights to/from Japan. A few more emails to get some advice on vaccinations, visa, currency etc and we were all set to leave. And then our dream became true.
I do not have words to say how satisfied we are with this trip. It was the trip of our lifetime, it was our honeymoon, it was the most expensive trip we ever booked, it was ALL worth. For days after we came back I have been trying to find even one small tiny thing that went wrong during this trip, but I couldn't find any. I am not making this too big, the guys at Safari Infinity totally deserve it. I never heard about them before, I simply contacted them because of the excellent feedbacks they have on the internet. And now I am here to say it myself, they really are the best of the best. They genuinely care about making your trip a success, everything is cured in any detail, the guides they choose are excellent (more about this later), the accommodations are fantastic, and the entire organization is super. We have always been picked up and dropped off at the airports or other locations on time, we have even been given a local phone to make calls or send texts in case we needed it.
We arrived at Arusha airport where our guide, Kelly, picked us up. Not even 2 minutes after we landed we were given a great welcome with a very nice surprise. I do not want to spoil it here, go and find it yourself :) Kelly is possibly the nicest guide/driver I have ever met in my life, if Lucia and Simon were responsible for a superb organization and planning Kelly was responsible for a perfect delivery of the package. We spent 8 days with him from early morning to late evening, I have never seen him unhappy or tired. Kelly really enjoys what he does, sometimes he was even more enthusiastic than us when we spotted animals in the parks! He never ever ever loses his smile, he is calm, very knowledgeable, professional, customer-oriented, and a very fun person to be with. Kelly was definitely the person who made our safari an unforgettable experience, who made me take 43 GB of stunning pictures, who was always patient when I asked him to move the car to take a particular picture, or when we waited the entire day for the wildebeests to cross the river, the most beautiful picture I ever took in my life. Never did he lose his smile. He knows about every single thing that lives in the parks, he drives in the parks (god knows how he does that - in most areas there is absolutely nothing but bushes and trees) and is able to spots animals who are very far away and knows well the spots where it is more likely to spot animals. Also he knows the best places in the parks where to stop for a break with magnificent views and without other cars around. He is always calm, easy to deal with, but the best thing as I said is the fact that he really likes what he does. If you are on a safari with him you will immediately realize that.
Thanks to Kelly we had a lot of "private" safari shows (without other cars around), such as lionesses at a very close distance feeding their cubs, mom and baby rhino, leopards, cheetas and more. We saw all that we could possibly see, lots of close distance action and lots of excitement. We could not have asked for more. And sleeping in the parks with all those animals around.. it was such an amazing experience.. All the tented accommodations were fantastic, very comfortable and always with great food.
The second part of our trip was in Zanzibar, 1 full day in Stonetown (highly recommended) and 4 days in Nungwi, on the northern part of the island. In Stonetown we booked the city tour and the spice tour. Again, Safari Infinity put us in the hands of an excellent guide, Hamis, who made our short stay in this magic town very enjoyable. Hamis is a very friendly person, he smiles a lot (!) and knows everything in Stonetown and Zanzibar. I wish we had stayed a little longer in Stonetown, I loved the colors, the atmosphere and the crazy market. The spice tour was also a lot of fun, they are both half day tours. The Coffee House hotel in Stonetown was great, I loved the atmosphere so much. Finally we headed to Nungwi, always under the directions of Safari Infinity and their perfectly planned drivers and guides. We stayed at Hideaway Nungwi with an all-inclusive plan. White beach, new resort with beautiful rooms, a lot of relax and.. excellent food. The buffet was really excellent, plenty of choice and lots of variety. Great pool to relax and we loved the shisha bar after dinner. Relaxing on the beach was really the perfect thing to do after the safari experience.
I would recommend Safari Infinity to everyone, I am sure they are able to create the perfect itinerary for your needs. We appreciated their extreme flexibility to adjust things to our crazy last-minute schedules, their rapidity in responding to our emails (this is critical when you have such a short time to arrange everything), their precision and attention to the details (nothing, not even the smallest thing was left unclear), and, last but not least, their friendliness. Lucia and Simon are a beautiful couple, we met them when we arrived in Arusha and were so happy to see how friendly and pure-hearted they are. They made our honeymoon perfect, there were so many things that could have gone wrong or just "not perfect", but they did all they could to make our dream come true. And they did it. Thank you Lucia, Simon, Kelly and everyone at Safari Infinity, we will never forget this.
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
An Amazing Trip....A Safari Company
Hi, we are an Australian family (mum, dad, boys aged 15,13 & 11 and 2 grand parents) that have just completed a 10 day safari with Safari Infinity. We visited Tarangire, Lake Maynara, central and western Serengeti and Ngorongoro national parks. First, I would like to say that the Safari was everything we expected and more. The Tanzanian people proved to be most hospitable. We saw the Big 5 and much more. The geography amazed us on how different it was between all the national parks.
We are so grateful we chose Safari Infinity. Lucia promptly responded to my many emails over the organisational stage, far better than any of the other companies I contacted. This was one of the main reasons we went with them.
Once the safari started we were in a 8 seater jeep. Our driver was Eric who basically became part of the family. He had great temperament in dealing with people, always smiling. His ability to position the jeep for prime location happened time and time again. His ability to find the animals and read their direction was incredible. We witnessed one live kill by a leopard, 2 failed attempts by lions, and found 3 other all ready completed kills. He was patient with our 1million photo shoots.
We stayed at the following accommodations (mix lodges and camps) and were very happy with them all, Lake Duluti, Oliver's Camp (Tarangire), Escarpment Lodge, Lemala Explorer Western Serengeti, Mbalageti Safari Lodge, Lemala Ewanjan, Ngorongoro Serena Safari Lodge, and Mount Meru Arusha.
Thanks again Safari Infinity for the trip of a life time!
A true safari experience!
We picked Safari Infinity because they were giving us better lodges and Lucia was quick with her responses and very helpful in planning the trip as per our preferences. The experience was great, be it animal viewing, food, lodging or the guide. Lucia gets an extra star because she emailed my mom everyday about my well being as I was out of network for 5 days!
Our guide, Fazal was also great, he had so much knowledge about animals and predicted their behavior accurately and spotted so many of them for us.
We told our guide before we started what all were top of our priority list: Big Five and more cheetahs. He made sure we saw all that. We didn't mention we were keen on seeing a hunt, and I really regret that. We were stalking a cheetah as it was about to hunt, but had to leave as it was getting dark and we had to report to our camp.