Tanzania Safari Specialists
Bobby Tours Tanzania Safaris
- Located In:
- Size:
- 20-50 employees (Founded in 1976)
- Member Of:
- TATO & TTB
- Tour Types:
- Custom budget & mid-range tours that can start every day
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $150 to $400 per person per day (USD, excl. int'l flights)
Reviews
Email Rocco | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
When you research from online reviews and they all just go flying out the window! Must read
Like all modern travels, TripAdvisor, forums and peer reviews become the essentials when researching and planning for a trip to make sure you have everything planned to precise details. Upon going through all the online tips and advices from the so called "travel experts" and those who have been to Tanzania, it is often mentioned that one should stay away from budget tour operators and those below $1800 for a kilimanjaro trek would be highly risky and one should simply not risk his/her life for. Alongside with mixed reviews we have seen for pretty much every single tour major tour operators in Tanzania (including bobby tours), we were skeptical but decided to take upon the "risk" of using bobby tours as their price offerings were simply unrivaled, at times costing less than half of other tour operators for the same services. We exchanged many emails with the supportive assistance of Kassim and proceeded with the booking just a few weeks before our trip. There we are, three of us lads touching down at Tanzania and we were greeted with a driver from bobby tours to take us from the airport to bobby tours' office in Arusha and finalised our payment for the trip (6 days machame kilimanjaro climb + 4 days safari camping). Out with the old cliches of having a trip of the lifetime and how the hospitality was great etc etc like all other reviews (which it certainly was)... The whole mountain experience and services by all the tour operators we have come across with were very similar and does not warrant the premium prices charged by many other tour operators (we talked to a lot of other people using diff tour operators at each campsite, because you would finish the day by evening everyday and have nothing to do after dinner). Our tour guides Honest and Tila made us felt welcome at all times (very very banterful all the way through, possibly the most vocal and engaging guides we have seen on kili as other guides and porters would always come over and banter with them in Swahili, at times teaching us the essential one liners that would put a smile on everyone’s face) and they were very aware of potential signs of altitude sickness, helping us to adjust our pace to ensure we were all able to reach the summit on the fifth day. In hindsight, we chose bobby tours due to its attractive pricing offer at first but if we were to come back to tazania again and had to pay for a premium/ luxury trip we would happily do so with Bobby tours. It was the immense hospitality and friendliness of the guides and porters that made this trip so special. When facilities (camping equipment, food) are all similar on the mountains, services are what you would value most. We would see other tour guides rarely interacting with their clients and some are very limited in their English fluency, inevitably taking some of the joy and positive vibes away along the journey. At the end of the trip, our guide invited us to have a home cooked dinner with his family in Arusha prior taking us to a local club which we have been talking about day in day out during the climb. As for the Safari trip, our guide Shafiq was professional and drove us to some hidden places to see swamps of hippos, groups of lions chilling under a tree and we were able to catch all the big five within 24 hours at the Serengeti. A lot of online reviews mentioned vehicle break downs and petrol shortage for the trip which we did not encounter, everything was smooth whilst we witnessed multiple breakdowns from other vehicles which were simply unfortunate and would happen to anyone in the safari. Overall, having first-hand experience with bobby tours, it is a struggle to understand and come to consensus with some of the lesser positive reviews given that common problems such as vehicle break downs, dirty campsite toilets, limited food range and quality which are all part and parcel of the experience on the mountains and in the safari. Taking into account of all the controllable factors, bobby tours have more than exceeded our expectations and even bettered than many of the so called premium/ luxury tour operators. Highly recommend for all!
DE
Email Samwel Yule | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Our Guide Victor - best guide ever from Bobby tours!
My husband and me were in January on a 3-days fly in Safari in Serengeti plus one night in Arusha after arrival. The entire trip exceeded our expectations.
From the first contact with Hussein in the office everything was perfectly organized incl. Hotel in Arusha (Arusha Planet Lodge), transfer from/to airports, flights (Arusha-Seronera and Seronera-Kigali), and the accomodations while on Safari: Kubukubu Tented Camp - extraordinary fantastic staff and great location and Arcacia Camp - also very great Camp!
When our Safari guide Victor picked us up from the Seronera airport, the Welcome couldn´t have been nicer - he did prepare in the shade a table with chairs, plenty of drinks and little snacks and we did sit down and talked about our expectations for the Safari. The three days we then did spent with Victor were an unforgettable adventure - he became a friend to us - he puts all his heart in what he is doing.
He has so much knowledge about the wildlife and he did let one of our dreams become true - We travelled quiet some extra miles and got rewarded: We saw the GREAT MIGRATION - how great was that?! Without words!
That was definately our highlight, but also all the other wild animals were incredible.
Victor was also interested in photography, which was definately a bonus - we shared our best shots.
We definately will recommend Bobby Safari - and LVictor as a Guide!
Asante Sana ... we will be back ...
PL
Email Jacek | 65+ years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Professional, experiensed end friendly team.
Firs time I've traveled with Bobby Tours three years ago. This year I,ve been on safari again with same agency. We' ve choosed 5 days budget camping safari (Tarangire, Serengeti, Ngoro-ngoro N.P.). This codition required from travelers basic experiens with camping in the bush.
Our guide was a great with acquaintance of nature, animals, wildlive. With our cook made very friendly atmosphere. Both (Shophi & Salim)was very polite and helpful
Hakuna Matata !!!
I would like to recomended Bobby Tours for averyone
IN
Email BadriNarayanan | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Excellent tour at an amazingly affordable price
We had a great experience with Bobby tours. All the stays we're arranged as per itinerary and the hotel stay we're amazing. Our tour guide Moses was knowledgeable and helped us spot wildlife throughout the Safari.
NL
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Amazing tour, unforgettable experience, great price
I went on a four days / three nights safari with Bobby Tours. Me and my six friends spend two days in the Serengeti, one day in the Ngorongoro Crater and one day in Tarangeri.
To start off: our guide and driver Salim was amazing. He spotted all the animals from far away (leopards, cheetas, lions...and so on) and we were lucky to see a lot of them in action. Besides that he could tell us a lot about every parc and all the animals.
We had a cook with us, who prepared some delicious meals for us. I am a vegetarian and he came up with some very nice dishes.
We chose the budget camping option and spend two nights at the Seronera Campsite. It was an unforgettable experience to hear the hyena's, zebra's and buffalo's around your tent at night. The last nights we spend at Alsamo tented camps and lodges which is a brand new campsite, with a great atmosphere and very nice facilities.
All in all, we had the experience of a lifetime for a really affordable price! I would recommend Bobby Tours to everyone!
SE
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amazing tour and good prices
Very well arranged tour!
Excellent safari vehicles, we got a 4x4 safari land cruiser with a popup roof and the guide was knowledgable
Will return again
US
Email Claudia | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Reliable and Accomodating
My itinerary: Mt Kilimanjaro, Zanzibar and Dar es Salaam!
Bobby Tours made my experience a wonderful one and I will definitely use them again. They were very understanding and accomodating from booking till the end of my trip! Ali made booking very seamless, Eric the driver was very nice and was kind enough to go the extra mile by helping me with little errands and recommending places I could see and visit. Khalid & the team (Francis, Kevin etc) my Kilimanjaro guides were very helpful. I felt safe and well taken care off as they asked me about dietary preferences and made sure I had all i needed for the climb. Even though I never made it to the top due to Mountain Sickness, I had such a wonderful time and will use them again.
The only issue I had was after booking it would have been nice to know what the baggage policies were for the domestic flight/ferry and give the client the option to pay for extra luggage especially considering most people flying in internationally are used to carry 2 free pieces of luggages. It was an expense that was not scheduled for and I would have rather charged that to my card or taken out cash in anticipation.
All in all I was well taken care of and had no complaints as the value for money and the service of what I got was perfect!
Reply from Bobby Tours Tanzania Safaris
Posted on Nov 27, 2023Thank you Claudia for choosing Bobby Tours for your Mt Kilimanjaro, Zanzibar, and Dar es Salaam adventure! We appreciate your kind words and are thrilled to hear your experience was wonderful. We value your feedback on baggage policies and will strive to enhance our communication in the future. We look forward to welcoming you again for another memorable journey.
BR
Email Vini | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
6 amazing days
It was a really good safari. The cars is good, comfortable. We had and issue with our car broken and lost 5 hours waiting, this is really bad. But the guide and the lodges are incredible. And the guide found lots of animal, it was unbeliveble
Email Anaïs | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
good but beware of car breakdowns
The staff were perfect. John, the safari guide, couldn't do enough for us. He knows the flora and fauna very well and allowed us to see all the animals we wanted. And mohammed the chef made us some very good dishes (we had the right to enjoy a delicious lasagna cooked without an oven).
(automatic translation from French)
Reply from Bobby Tours Tanzania Safaris
Posted on Nov 27, 2023Thank you for Anaïs your positive feedback! We're thrilled to hear about your excellent experience with John and Mohammed. We appreciate your appreciation for their knowledge and culinary skills. Regarding car breakdowns, rest assured we take this seriously and continuously work to enhance our services. We value your feedback and hope to welcome you again for another memorable safari.
NL
Email Philippe | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great experience!
This summer we spend a four week holiday in Tanzania, visiting friends, safari and diving on Zanzibar.Before our holiday we did quite a lot of research on different safari companies and compared all prices and packages.
Quit soon we found out that de prices from Bobby were by far the cheapest. After reading some reviews we decided the book with Bobby Tours and start our adventure.
We started our holiday in Dar El Salaam visiting friends. Afterwards we took a flight to the west part of Tanzania (Mwanza). Since we had such a long holiday we decided to book 6 day/ 5 nights budget camping safari. Our driver from Bobby Tours (Gasper) picked us up at our hotel and took us to the western entrance of the Serengeti National Park. This was a 2 hour drive from Mwanza. The good thing starting from Mwanza is that the western corridor of the Serengeti is really quit, since most of the people start their safari in Arusha. Our package was 6 days/ 5 nights (3 days Serengeti, 1 day NgoroNgoro Crator, Lake Manyara en Tarangire and drop off in Arusha).
I recommend all people to go longer Safari (5 or 6 days), since it increases the possibilities of seeing more animals! We had a wonderful time! Our driver ‘Gasper’ was the best and a really sweet guy. He knew all the good spots and was always having fun with us, but also with the other drivers in the parks. We had a long safari (6 days) and saw a lot of animals! Taking a bit more time allows you to just enjoy a beautiful sight or landscape! So I would recommend everyone not hurrying finding ‘the Big5’ and really experience the Serengeti and it fabulous nature.
Our driver ‘Gasper’ was a really good wildlife spotter! After entering the Western gate and driving for maybe an hour we already saw: lions, hippos, crocodiles, giraffe’s and many herds of wild beasts, impala’s and Zebra’s.
We liked all parts of the Safari, but especially fell in love with Serengeti. It’s expansive plains and impressive nature are the best! You sometimes drive for hours and not see anybody since it’s so big. On the other hand, you sometimes see about 15 cars around a tree, because there’s leopard. It’s funny seeing so many cars in one place, everyone trying to take the perfect picture.
Especially these time you see how many cars from ‘Bobby Tours’ hang around. I think Bobby has about 25 cars, really new and good quality. The cars have 8 places, but only few were occupied. Me and my girlfriend, the driver, and a chef.
Having a lot of space was wonderful since you could move around in the car and pick the best place for spotting wildlife.
I liked all parks since their all special in their own way. Tarangire, by example since it has the most elephants and Lake Manyara for the lakes and birds.
Ngorongoro Crater, feels like a magical world entering the crater and driving around. We saw a lot of action in the crater. Lions and hyenas were hunting. This was also the location where we saw a Rhino! Our driver had the eyes of a ‘hawk’ and spotted it a mile away. Although it was far away it still was a truly magical moment.
We took a basic camp safari since we like to camp in the Netherland and it’s just much cheaper then staying in a lodge. The campsites were fine, showers, were not always hot. On some campsites there was electricity and warm water. Remember to bring some warm clothes for the Ngorongoro crater since it can get quit cold there during the night. The food was also good. Every night the chef sets up a table for diner and serves you some bread, soup, dinner and fruits for dessert. In the morning breakfast is served, with coffee or tea, fruits, pancakes and other food. During the day you will have a lunch break with sandwiches.
Advice, when taking budget safari there’s not always power to charge your devices on the campsites. Be sure to bring enough batteries en SD cards for your camera and other devices, you’ll need them. Also it might ben helpful to take a solar charger to power up some devices! Don’t bother about your cell phone! There’s not much coverage in the Serengeti and the sights are far too beautiful. So don’t waste time watching your cell phone.
Another advice don’t rush around! Hakuna Matata! Not only take a picture and move on, but wait some time to really look! There is more then meets the eye around, also small creatures and many birds par example. We asked our driver to show us the different type of birds. I think at the end of our safari we saw about 50 different bird species! So do not only go for the big animals!
We had a truly magical time and we would love to come back sometime! Wildlife is never boring. Many thanks to our driver and friend ‘Gasper’ for all the fun and spotting all wildlife.
With love!
Philippe and Lotte from The Netherlands