Meet the Team - eTrip Africa
E-Trip Africa
- Located In:
-
United States
- Size:
- 20-50 employees (Founded in 2012)
- Member Of:
- ATA, IATAN, IGS, KPAP & CODE
- Tour Types:
- Custom mid-range & luxury tours that can start every day
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $200 to $1,500 per person per day (USD, excl. int'l flights)
Reviews
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Email John Snow | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Worry-free travel experience from beginning to end!
The trip was excellent! We didn't have to worry about a thing once we arrived in Nairobi. The only problems arose after eTrip Africa had delivered us to our final hotel, and the problems were with the hotel! eTrip Africa provided us with a congenial, knowledgeable, safe driver who was endlessly patient and accommodating. The member of our party who chose eTrip Africa as the tour organizer let eTrip Africa choose our accommodations, and although the second place was not exactly to our aesthetic taste, they were all actually very nice places to stay, very comfortable, with great staff, excellent food, and stunning settings.
As far as the "safari" parts of our trip, well we sure lucked out, seeing many animals that are exotic to North Americans. The two camps that eTrip Africa arranged for us had excellent sites for viewing African savanna wildlife, and we saw soooo many! However, one couldn't blame eTrip Africa if we hadn't have seen so many. We ran across another tour group that had gone four days in the Maasai Mara Reserve without seeing a wildebeest! Wildlife is wild, and they move around. A lot.
The person who arranged our trip had used eTrip Africa for a previous safari, and chose them again for this trip because it had worked out so well. He is planning to go to Kenya again, and is planning to use eTrip Africa again for the tour.
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Email Sarah | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great communication, amazing wildlife!
From the get-go, E-Trip Africa stood out with amazing communication. Every question was answered so quickly and thoroughly--Ben and Aurelie were very responsive to every email. This was our family's first trip to Africa and E-Trip Africa did not disappoint! Our goal was to see lots of wildlife and we sure did! We would recommend them to any friend wishing to travel to Tanzania.
E-Trip Africa Will Fulfill Your Dreams
My partner and I recently returned from an awesome safari in Kenya, planned for us by E-trip Africa. Our tour was a private one with a Kenyan guide/driver, Silas, who was with us the entire time. Silas was a wealth of information about the wild life and Kenyan culture, as well as the social, environmental, and political issues of concern to the country and the world. He was a skillful driver and knew the country well. Best of all, he cheerfully adapted to and accommodated our eccentricities. Many thanks to him for his huge contribution to a terrific vacation.
E-trip Africa is a young tour agency based in Tanzania and run by Aurelie Sivadier, Executive Director, and Ben Jennings, General Manager. They are your dream team for planning the trip you want to take to East Africa. We highly recommend them and their company. We told them the number of days we would be there and what our interests were, and Aurelie put together an incredible itinerary for us.
The first leg of our trip took us from Nairobi to the Sweetwaters Tented Camp in Ol Pejeta Conservancy where we stayed for three nights. Rhinos had been at the top of our must-see list. We had followed the sad saga of Sudan, the last northern white male rhino who passed away March 19 of this year at Ol Pejeta, and we were thrilled to find out that we would meet Sudan’s caretakers and the last two northern white females, Najin and Fatu. Our visit with them was surreal...what a privilege! Later, on a “bush walk” with Sudan’s caretakers, we learned about their challenges in protecting all of the rhinos in the conservancy from poachers.
Also while at Sweetwaters, we visited the Endangered Species Enclosure at the Morani Information Center and the sanctuary for abused and orphaned chimpanzees. Kudos to Kenya for their efforts to protect the world’s precious animal resources!
From Sweetwaters we went to Lake Nakuru National Park for three nights and then to Lake Naivasha for two. At Lake Naivasha the Sopa Lodge we stayed in was particularly amazing. The back lawn of our room was open to all manner of wildlife, so when we walked out on our patio we saw zebra, gazelles, giraffes and all manner of gentle animals, some within a few yards of where we sat. I love them all, but the baby giraffe was my favorite!
Also at Lake Naivasha we enjoyed a visit to the Elsamere Centre for Education in Sustainability located at the retirement estate of Joy and George Adamson. Elsamere was named for Elsa, the orphaned lion cub that Joy raised to adulthood and later set free. The book she wrote, Born Free, was very popular in the 1960s and later became a movie. The next day we took a boat ride on the lake, dodging hippos, and ending at Crescent Island where, according to our guide, parts of Born Free and Out of Africa (1980s) were filmed. The island is beautiful and teeming with wildlife, most likely the progeny of the many animals allegedly brought to the island for those films many years ago.
The last leg of our trip took us to the Masai Mara National Reserve, where we enjoyed three beautiful days of incredible sights on safari. The Tanzanian Serengeti becomes the Masai Mara when one crosses into Kenya from Tanzania. We were hoping to see part of the Great Migration of wildebeest and zebra from Tanzania to Kenya that eluded us on our trip to Tanzania in 2017, but because of the heavy rains in these countries this year the natural migration was delayed by several weeks. Missed it again.
On our final day we headed back to Nairobi, up the side of the Great Rift Valley, a huge geological trench that starts in Lebanon, Asia and ends 3700 miles later in Mozambique, Africa. The view across the valley was breath-taking and a fitting culmination to an incredible trip. Thank you E-trip Africa for a unforgettable vacation.
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Email Larry | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Vacation of a LIFETIME!!!
I don't like to keep repeating verbiage from other reviewers, but it has to be done. Ben and Aurélie communicated with us better than I could have expected, especially in an area of traveling that my wife and I were both out of our realm. We have travelled abroad many times but generally handle everything ourselves with transportation, sightseeing and we usually skip the guides, because we like to do our own homework (it makes the trip planning even funner). The safari was a different story, even though we did a lot of research, we pretty much talked with Ben and let him know a little about us and what we expected in Africa. Ben and Aurélie taylor made a 10 day safari that allowed us the entire "buffet". We got to do as much of Kenya in 10 days as anyone could possibly do. I love meeting people and one whole day in Nairobi was great. We stayed in tent camps, cabins and lodges...pretty much traveling all over central and southern Kenya, finishing in the AMAZING Maasai Mara. I really believe eTrip Africa gave us the best 10 days for the price that we could have expected. We have ZERO complaints about any of the places we stayed at. The people of Kenya are gracious and have it "figured out". When I say it that way, I mean they really appreciate the patrons of their services. We are not "royalty" and don't expect to be treated as such, but it seemed everyone along the way treated us like we were the most important guest of the day....maybe Kenya or maybe eTrip Africa just picks the right places. Whatever the answer, you will benefit. Our guide, John, although took some time to warm up, was exceptional in his knowledge of Kenya. You can really tell he loves his country and that is what you want in a guide. His knowledge of everything Kenya was amazing (agriculture, tribal, geography, people, economy and of course wildlife). I have to be honest that I was marginally skeptical in seeing the "Big 5" in such a short trip, especially as the leopard is usually so shy...and my wife and I have had bad luck in other areas of wildlife. This was not true with John. We easily saw the "Easy 4", as I have coined that phrase and travelled an hour to see a leopard that had recently stowed a freshly killed Thompson in a tree...John asked us if we minded being late for lunch, as we were almost guaranteed to see this leopard (John and a small group of friends keep in close contact via cell phone). We chose to drive more than an hour to see a leopard that had hidden himself in a dense tree more than 200 meters from his kill that he had lodged in an acacia tree. There were a number of tour vehicles that chose to drive off rode closer to the tree (in essence harassing an animal that didn't want to be see)...and violating park rules. John and I agreed this was unfair and we saw a tail and a few spots...as John said, you see the tail that counts. We waited 2-3 hours and she just stayed in that tree. Well karma came through...the next day and last full day of Maasai, we found a lone male leopard in tall grass....we photographed this leopard and he even chose to walk towards our vehicle closer than 10 meters. It was amazing and my trip was OVER...I could have boarded the plane that day. John was also quite persistently patient during a cheetah spotting, as many guides chose to leave, we waited 2-3 hours, realizing this cheetah was hungry. John came through...we witnessed this cheetah attack a small group of Thompsons killing the youngest in the group. I have amazing photos of this. As I am a huge animal lover, I chose not to post this photo, as it broke my heart, but I do understand nature and EVERYONE has to eat. I've gone on long enough...BOTTOM line, we have checked with camps and lodges, looking at prices, park fees, guides and it really is hard to beat what eTrip Africa offers....we will definitely be doing business with them on our next trip to Africa
Thank you Ben, Aurélie and John for the trip of a lifetime.
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Email Bizzy | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Ben and his team were organized, trustworthy, prompt and extremely helpful!
From the outside, Ben and Aurlie were helpful resources and ever responsive to what we were looking to experience. They were honest in their feedback, helping to guide a Safari experience that maximized wildlife viewing and side-stepped potential "tourist traps." We enjoy birding and wanted to ensure our tailored trip around that, rather than using the Big 5 as our focal point. Ben worked to create an incredible itinerary that met that goal. He also worked to balance pricing on accommodations during our trip.
Our guide, Joachim, was more than we could have imagined! He was a font of knowledge when it came to animal behavior and social structure. He worked to take us to areas of the parks that were farther apart from other Safari viewers- this provided an isolated experience in which to view the Circle of Life! He was also very into birding- a pairing that helped create viewing opportunities I'm guessing we may not have otherwise had. We successfully saw the Big 5, but our bird list grew well beyond 130 species by the end of our 7 day Safari.
I highly recommend E Trip to anyone who is sorting through the overwhelming number of options for Safari.
CA
Email Ken and Shirley | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Very well organized, quick to respond, excellent guide, great trip!
After emailing numerous tour operators with questions and requests for price quotes for a 10 day safari, we went with eTrip Africa due to their clear breakdown of costs and Ben’s and Aurelie’s speedy responses to many inquiries. We also liked the honest opinions we received of various camps/lodges and their suitability for our budget and itinerary.
Our guide David was wonderful. He had a great depth of knowledge of both the animals and the surrounding environment, and seemed to be able to answer any question we had! He was fun and shared lots of interesting stories about the people and culture of Tanzania. David went out of his way to make sure we saw the wildlife we had come for. He had eagle eyes and could spot animals that we never would have noticed otherwise. Our vehicle was clean and in excellent condition.
After our safari, Ben went the extra mile to help us out with a couple of additional things as well. Thanks to everyone at eTrip for helping to make our dreams of an African safari into reality! We were thrilled with our trip.
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Email David | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Excellent.
Great service, equipments and team. Medical checks and great communication between the team.
PT
Email Paula Figueiredo | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Thanks for such an amazing experience!
We planned our safari 8 months in advance, parents + 2 teenage kids. Ben was great in providing all the details and clear costs of all possible options. He knows the camps and hotels very well, so he helped us a lot to decide where to stay, for how long, etc.. all his recommendations turned out to be great, as he understood quickly what we wanted. He answered our (many many) questions and made the process quite easy, also made sure all our requests (e.g. dietary restrictions) were taken care of.
After a long wait we finally came to Africa, and it was amazing! David our guide made everything in his power to make sure it would be memorable: finding the best photo angles, making sure we see everything - we saw the big 5! - he was as excited as us to see them :-) In 7 days there was never a moment of boredom as he always had a story to tell us, he knows everything about the animals behaviour and made sure he explained us what to expect, etc.. he is a special person who really loves what he does, we couldn't have had a better guide.
At the end Ben came personally meet us at our airport hotel before we left to know how was our experience.
Thanks Ben and David for taking such good care of us, we had a great time and we leave Tanzania with two new friends!
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Email Simon | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
couldn't have been with a better team
returning from a 2 week stay in Tanzania, including an 8-day Lemosho Kilimanjaro Trek, and a 4-day safari (tarangire, serengeti, and ngorongoro ... still went ahead with that aggressive itinerary, though many comments about how much time would be spent traveling between the parks).
we went with E-Trip Africa, after sending out many queries, questions, and scouring tripadvisor for reviews and feedback on different operators. we solicited quotes and itineraries from 15+ operators, with the initial filter being affiliated with KPAP (though the prices between KPAP and non KPAP did not seem to differ by too much, i was asking for quotes for 7 people). It was a very tough choice when we narrowed it down, but was most impressed with the details and promptness from Aurelie (though it took a bit to initially get the conversation going). she listed out the costs, lodging locations, and was flexible in making suggestions when we wanted to cut costs.
we stayed at stella maris prior to our trek, the staff and driver there were extremely friendly and accommodating. we had a spare day to explore Moshi (we did have one very persistent local who followed, and kept trying to get us to go to his shop for souvenirs).
our kili trek team was led by Caspar, assistant guides Ema and Steven. we enjoyed the company and support of our team very much, including the food prepared by our chef Gudluck. Mweta was always there to greet us in the morning, ensuring our bottles and water bladders were always filled, and we were eating as much as we could. joseph, the tent director and lead porter, was always the cheery 'hype-man'. kagiya, daniel, and clearance were also great help on summit day. Aurelie gave us some comfort beforehand, emphasizing safety. on the mountain, we saw Caspar and team execute on this, we had daily medical checks assessing how we were generally feeling, oxygen saturation via pulse oximeter, blood pressure readings, and even checking for fluid in lungs with stethoscope (that one may have been extreme, but it turned out one person from the trek crew was feeling ill and they heard something like fluid in their lungs)
our safari guide was Aladdin, he was very patient with the packed itinerary and even asked his wife to drop off some bean bags for our cameras, before leaving arusha, since i had forgotten to fill mine up. Aladdin also seemed to be able to answer every question we had for him. we stayed at Eilene's Tree Inn, Nieleze Tented Cabin, and Rhino Lodge. he helped us spot lions, zebras, warthogs, wildebeest, water buffalo, cheetah, a really distant rhino, many elephants, birds, and the list goes on...
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Email Grace & Denise | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Easy communication, well organized, excellent/well informed guides, loved it!
Working with Ben and Aurelie was great. They helped me devise over 10 itineraries before selecting the perfect one. They were honest with reviews of different parks, lodges, timing, and activities and helped to create a safari that was tailored to our needs and budget. I really appreciated their input - you can tell that they have actually gone and visited the parks, stayed in or toured the lodges/tents, and know what they're talking about.
Our guide, Alladin, was phenomenal!! He was fun and knowledgeable. He also was generous with his opinions and knowledge - which allowed us to see as much as we could during our relatively short trip. I learned so much more about the individual animals and entire ecosystem than I thought I would have.
I would highly recommend E-Trip Africa to anyone looking to book a customized mid-upper range budget safari!!