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 Maureen Chao | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Outstanding customer service and planning
Just returned from a 12 day trip to Kenya, three adults and three kids. The trip was all paid for and set up for April, and then two days before we were supposed to go Kenya suddenly changed their travel restrictions and the whole trip fell apart. We had internal flights and reservations at four different lodges and hotels. I was sick thinking about all the money we would lose given the various cancellation policies for the flights and hotels. We could have been totally out of luck but Ben and his team at E-Trip immediately went to work for us. They ended up negotiating a later trip for us in June, and lobbied with each provider on our behalf. In the end we got to take the whole trip and didn't end up losing any money at all. And there was outstanding communication the entire time, from the planning process and through all the changes we had to make as flights continued to get cancelled and changed, even when we were on the trip. First class customer service, with the customer put first, which was really refreshing.
The tour was well set up, the drivers and guides were super, we had lots of connections with internal flights, etc and every one of them was seamless. I had total confidence in the arrangements, and also knew we would be taken care of if something were to go wrong. I would definitely book a trip again with E-Trip Africa.
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Email Justin Selb | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Very knowledegable and very friendly
This was a once in a lifetime trip with my father who is 70 (I am 39) to visit mountain gorillas in volcano national park of Rwanda for two days, and then to do a big game drive safari through the serengeti reserve for 3 days in Tanazania. Ben with e-trip Safari was a consummate professional from the beginning, sensitive to our needs of my father's health considerations, and our desire for a higher-end experience. He can accommodate nearly any budget, and provides the best people on the ground you can hope for. We had a once in a lifetime adventure among the silverbacks in the mountains of rwanda, and the big game in the serengeti including big 5 and a million + migration of wildebeest. Ben put us in the most amazing and comfortable lodges and camps you can imagine, the kardashians would have been impressed. Highly recommend e-trip africa for your African adventure needs!
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Email Keely | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Absolutely wonderful!
Can not say enough positive things about E-trip Africa, we had a wonderful time, the service was great. I felt that if I needed anything I could reach out at any time, response time was quick. Co-vid tests were arranged seamlessly. Properties were beautiful. We saw the big 5 and tons more. Trip of a lifetime!
Email Peter Bacon | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
A great safari, from start to end.
My wife and I travelled to Tanzania in early January 2021, pre UK lockdown, to continue our long standing educational project work there. We also allowed ourselves time for a safari before returning home, but had made no arrangements prior to arrival in Tanzania. We sent out email enquiries with an outline itinerary of collection from Bunda, 3 nights in Central Serengeti, 4 nights in Ndutu and 2 nights in Tarangire to 7 Tanzanian safari operators, and received 5 responses, including a very quick response from Ben at ETrip Africa.
Due to the pandemic tourism in Tanzania has significantly declined and not all camps are open so many of the operators offered similar camps to one another, but ETrip did offer us some different, and slightly more up-market, camps at a reasonably comparable cost. We followed up on several of the itineraries proposed and during this process ETrip offered us further savings based on additional discounts offered from the camps which made them one of the cheaper options. We also asked Ben to look at a better alternative in Tarangire which he did with little price difference. At all times ETrip were open about the pricing and discounts that were being applied.
We were very happy with all our communications throughout this planning stage and chose to take our safari with ETrip, at which point we were sent a comprehensive itinerary with advice about the safari and full and clear breakdown of costs, with payment details. We were able to pay by bank transfer to an American bank account via internet banking.
We had indicated we had an interest in birds and Ben had proposed that Alladin should be our guide. Alladin came and met us at our hotel in Bunda the night before our safari started to make arrangements to pick us up the next day.
The safari car was a relatively new Land Cruiser with pop up top as used by most safari companies and was in the best condition of any vehicle we have used on the 10 or so safaris we have enjoyed. It was well fitted out with convenient drinks holders, and large seat pouches and a cool box and charging points. We had no mechanical issues with the car all trip. ETrip also provided two pairs of good quality binoculars for our use in the car.
Our guide Alladin was excellent, he was a very good driver, a good game and bird spotter, and good company throughout. We enjoyed every day of the trip with him and had some great game viewing, and with the small number of visitors we were often the only car at a sighting.
The camps proposed by ETrip were all very good, we suspect in non COVID times they would have been outside our usual budget, but it made for a very nice to experience for us. On several nights we were the only guests at some of the camps.
We are extremely happy that we chose ETrip Africa, everything from their initial communication to the follow up when we finished the trip was spot on, and we will definitely be contacting them again the next time we are lucky enough to think about a safari in Tanzania.
FR
Email Olivier | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Very Good Tour and Travel Agency
We booked a 10 days Safari in Tanzania with E-Trip Africa and everything went well. They arranged everything for us prior to departure and made sure all was ok for my Mom who's in a wheelchair. It was really easy to communicate with them and they respond really fast to any questions you might have. Everything went as planned. Our driver Alladine was very kind and professional, driving safely and pointing us to all the different animals and places to see. The accommodations booked via E-Trip Africa were always of high standards, with people taking great care of us. Do not hesitate to book a trip with E-Trip Africa. I greatly recommend it to all of you.
MA
Email Tara Fraiture | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Our family safari with E-Trip was an epic, life-changing adventure!
My family and I would like to recommend E-Trip Africa wholeheartedly! We just returned from an incredible 12-day adventure in Tanzania and Zanzibar. Ben and his amazing team arranged every detail, and we were delighted with the results. Our guide, David Mushi, became an honorary member of our family-my daughters, ages 11, 14 and 16 loved him! He was incredibly professional, warm, efficient and knowledgeable. He was 100% available for any of our concerns at any time. We all felt like we learned so much about nature, geography, geology, conservation, and science in our time with him. We started out our adventure at the lovely Researcher's Rest in Arusha and I was happily reminded of my early childhood days with my parents, who lived in East Africa for many years in the 60's and 70's. A beautiful, tranquil escape right off the busy neighborhood road in Arusha, we thoroughly enjoyed our overnight there. The setting, the dinner, the quaint and cosy lodge, we loved it all. It was also apparent that this unique, lovely lodge has suffered from a lack of tourists due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We happily donated to help keep this little oasis in business.
Our trip was perfectly planned and carefully thought out, down to where we stayed every night. We appreciated staying at three very different Lamala Lodges, where ecotourism is a must-solar electricity and no plastics. Lalama is truly a gem in Tanzania-we could really tell that the staff cares about its people and the beautiful country of Tanzania.
My girls were anxious to see all of the Big Five animals, and we certainly did! On our first full day in Tarangire National Park, we were in the MIDST of a herd of about 200 elephants, it was truly amazing! The Serengeti was also incredible; we must have seen a total of about 30 lions in our three days. We came across a pride of lions eating a massive cape buffalo; astonishing!
The most incredible moment, however, was about 30 minutes from our Lemala camp on the rim of Ngorongoro Crater, where we were amazed to see a huge male leopard saunter our right in front of our vehicle, pause and stay for a few moments and then slowly walk back into the bush. We caught it all on film and it's astonishing.
We also thoroughly enjoyed the wildebeest and zebra migration-it is truly a sight to see when you look out onto the Seregenti and see wildebeest and zebra in the thousands, as far as the eye can see!
Zanzibar for three days at the end of our trip was so much fun. The Blue Bay Resort is a lovely place; also eco-friendly with solar paneling and moving towards no plastics. Our Christmas day at the resort was fabulous. Thoroughly enjoyed our arranged tour of Stone Town as well; what a colorful, buzzing town with a fascinating history.
Many, many thanks for the trip of a lifetime, Ben, for the Fraiture Family!!!! We are so grateful for your careful, compassionate planning. Please send hugs to David from all of us.
One more IMPORTANT thing to note-we were nervous, evidently, about traveling from Morocco to TZ and on to Zanzibar during the pandemic. Qatar Airways did a great job of keeping us safe and secure and E-Trip Africa was amazing in regards to our health concerns. They went above and beyond what was expected to reassure us and to keep us safe. We had one vehicle and one (amazing!) guide during our 8-day safari. He wore a mask in the safari vehicle at all times. He asked us that each time we entered the car, that we sanitize our hands (the sanitizer was provided, even though we also had our own). Each of our lodges were VERY careful about social distancing. We always ate outside and the entire staff were masked and careful. I would 100% recommend E-Trip, even during this difficult time. Cases in TZ are relatively low and we also easily and efficiently got tested in Arusha before returning to Morocco. Again, this made SUCH a difference in our comfort level. Many thanks again, Ben!
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Email James | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Once in a lifetime trip courtesy of an exceptional E-Trip Africa team!
This was the most amazing trip of our lives. We kept our honeymoon plans in 2020 and the 10-night Tanzania safari (and 5-night Zanzibar beach time) was incredible. We unfortunately had to cancel the gorilla trekking portion in light of Uganda’s COVID restrictions but can’t wait to try and do that in the future.
E-Trip Africa was an amazing partner from day 1. During the planning process, Ben was incredibly helpful in customizing an itinerary according to our requests and very responsive to our feedback as we tried to nail things down. He was exceptionally knowledgeable about everything from the macro logistics (in-country flights versus drives; certain parks and regions versus others) to micro details (specific lodges, experiences [i.e., horseback riding in a coffee plantation], and safari drive plans).
After we finalized the plan for our September trip in January 2020, there was obviously a lot of uncertainty and unexpected changes that have needed to take place. Ben was always on top of the latest restrictions from different countries in Africa (for US travellers) and proactive in swapping out our camps / lodges as availability and which ones were open shifted around. At the end of the day, he was able to upgrade us in a number of locations but even with those shifts, we were often the only people at the camps which was a unique experience (though I would imagine the amazing service we received at each would have been the same even if all ~12 tents/villas would have been occupied).
A few weeks before our trip, one of our airlines (Emirates) put a negative PCR test requirement into effect for our return flight from Zanzibar/Tanzania. The combination of a 96 window negative test requirement and 72 response time on the test results meant we had a particularly challenging logistical last few days. Ben was in touch at all hours of the day setting up a special test at a private clinic and even coordinating for our negative certificate to meet us at the airport because it wasn’t ready to be delivered to our resort.
While this was a challenging time to travel, Ben’s work behind the scenes made it still feel effortless for us.
On the ground, our E-Trip Africa guide Aladdin was amazing. He was very knowledgeable about all the animals and plants we encountered. He knew the parks exceptionally well and was often looked at as a resource by other guides around where to find animals and how to navigate the parks! We had some unbelievable viewings with him (two mother lions with 6 cubs on a rock formation, three cheetah brothers hunting, multiple leopards [including with cubs], and a handful of river crossings) and almost every time we were the only truck around! On top of this extreme professional acumen, it is clear he enjoys his job and being in nature in a way that is contagious when you’re in the truck with him.
My wife and I both agree this was the best trip of our lives and can’t wait to book our next one with Ben, Aladdin, and the E-Trip Africa team!!
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Email J Rose | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Simply Amazing!!
Our 11 Day Safari to Kenya was the trip of a lifetime! I worked directly with Ben Jennings who built the perfect itinerary for us. He patiently answered all of my questions & concerns - which I had more than a few - especially traveling during the Covid 19 pandemic. He kept me updated on changes that occurred in the 10 months between booking and actual travel - even letting me know that the price had dropped at one of the properties that we were staying - which shows the integrity of the company. I would definitely recommend E-Trip Africa....
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Email Bill Gittemeier | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Everything I could have asked for, excellent service.
First of all, everything from our guide to our travel agent was perfect, communication was excellent and there was not a single thing to be disappointed about. We were mid Safari when the Covid-19 situation blew up and everything started getting crazy. Everyone with E Trip made sure we were able to enjoy as much of the trip as possible and kept us safe and helped us get out of country a little earlier than planned, which was not an easy task considering the madness of the situation. Could not be happier with E-Trip, will definitely work with them when we return to finish the trip.
TR
Email Dave | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
From start to finish our expectations were fully met and often times exceeded!
From start to finish we were fully satisfied with the entire trip. In particular we appreciated Ben and his team's support and assistance in personalizing our tour based on his recommendations and our request. At the end of our first taster trip to Kenya we were able to experience a wide variety of parks and accommodations which will set the stage for our next visit. The team on the ground in particular Antony who picked us up from the airport promptly and guided us around Nairobi our first day did an outstanding job. The real hero of our trip was Mr. Jinu, our guide and driver for the remainder of our trip. Top of mind for him was always our safety and comfort and ensuring each and every day was fulfilling and meeting our expectations up until we reach the hotel on our last day. His knowledge of the landscape in each park and the wildlife was astonishing, and his experience in working with amateur photographers such as myself made it an unforgettable trip. He was so generous in sharing his knowledge, and we learned so much from him in the way he positioned our rig allowing me to get the right light , background, and angle as well as the need to wait, watch and observe for sometimes 30 minutes or more at a single site. Each and every day was full and he was constantly focused in maximizing the time out we spend. Each day the rig was cleaned, organized and ready to go. Other than being a great guide he is truly an amazing person with a love for nature and the life he showed us. Kudos to the entire team!