Regional Tours & Safaris
- Located In:
- Size:
- 5-10 employees (Founded in 2008)
- Member Of:
- TATO, ATA & ZATO
- Tour Types:
- Custom mid-range & luxury tours that can start every day
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $100 to $300 per person per day (USD, excl. int'l flights)
Reviews
Email Christo | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Friendly local operator, excellent itineraries
Regional (Maturaf) is based in Zanzibar and they use a trusted selection of guides and lodges for the safaris. We only used them to put together a safari package for us but they can also arrange travel and accommodation in Zanzibar. The safari itself was excellent - our guide Emmanuel was knowledgeable, friendly, flexible and took good care of us. Regional uses lodges from the Tanganyika Wilderness Camps group which were all beautiful venues, highly recommended! Communication is generally good but at times they are slow in responding, best way to get in touch seems to be via Skype. Maturaf was very helpful when we had a problem with picking up our ferry tickets in Zanzibar and went out of his way to deliver them to us in person, plus giving us a few useful local tips! Overall, you can rely on Regional for a fantastic safari experience.
IT
Email Claudio | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Avarage quality honeymoon
The communication before departure was slow and sometimes not efficient, during the trip I had no response from them at all. Overall the trip was good, but not excellent as anyone expect for honeymoon. The company did not respect the itinerary we agreed upfront, the fridge in our jeep was out of service and the guide tried to took advantage of us more than once. I am sure there is better on the market.
US
Email Hussein | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great safari experience - highly recommended
This was my first safari experience, and it was amazing! We did the five day safari through Ngorongoro, Lake Manyara, and Serengeti. I'm really glad I went with these guys - Maturaf and Alex were incredibly responsive and easy to work with before and during the trip, and our driver, Amani, was great in spotting animals and giving us a perspective on the parks, Tanzanian culture/history, and sharing his knowledge of the animals with us! We had our own vehicle (that seats 6), even though it was only two of us, which gave us a ton of space in the vehicle and flexibility to stop and go within the parks as we pleased.
US
Email Julien | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amazing trip
Allen was our guide and he did a fantastic job. Everything was easy to plan, our guide always had great suggestions. we saw all the animal that we wanted to see. Allen knew all the different species behaviors and he was always at the right place for a great shot.
EG
Email belhadj | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
My safari of Dream
My safari with Regional Tours and Safaris in Tanzania was the best trip I have ever taken in my life, and I have traveled a lot. Maturaf and his team helped us every step of the way. We changed our itinerary some times and the team made that very easy for us to do, allowing us to customize the trip to our liking. Regional Tours & Safaris Tanzania was focused and professional from the moment we landed. They were waiting for us on time and made me feel extremely comfortable in an unfamiliar culture. Our safari was amazing. We saw everything we wanted to see and the driver guide emanuel allowed us to stay and watch certain groups of animals for however short or long of a time period we wanted. They made the long drives fun and taught us about the land, animals and language.Our accommodations far exceeded my expectations. We stayed in lodges that made us feel like we were part of the culture, rather than busy hotels.
Reply from Regional Tours & Safaris
Posted on Mar 18, 2017thank you Belli
Safari tour to manyara, Serengeti and ngorongoro
We had a very nice trip with Safari guide and driver Harun. We saw all the big animals and had the luck to stay in very nice accomodations with Kubu Kubu as best experience ever!
Email Hugo Cura | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Great Safari experience
Tanzania is an amazing country for a safari and ours did not disappoint. In the company of Emanuel, a very good and knowledgeable guide, we spent 8 days visiting the main National Parks in the northern part of the country.
Regional Tours offers a great value for mid-range safaris, picking top quality lodges and tented camps which are actually more on the luxury side. I was pleasantly surprised with all the aspects of the trip and definitely recommend Emanuel as a Safari guide.
I've given 5 stars because the service during the trip was excellent. Service pre-trip needs to improve as communication is difficult and I was more than once left with a response to simple questions. This didn't really affect the rest of the trip - a brilliant one!
Recommended.
AE
Email Amy | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Excellent Value on 2 person private tour
Regional did an excellent job, especially with the accommodations (they were all exceptional). We had a very knowledgeable driver and we saw the big 5. Their communication was good (not great)-- best to Skype them. They also should have given us better guidance about the timing of the Great Migration, as we would have timed our visit differently, but overall a wonderful trip, and would highly recommend them.
NZ
Email Brent | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
A few hiccups, but great overall.
Our Regional Tours organised safari was really good. Communication beforehand was not the greatest, with questions asked by email not being answered, and options not being offered, and we were very disappointed when a visit to the Olduvai Gorge that we had specifically asked to be included in the itinerary did not eventuate. Our driver and guide, Immanuel (of Mama Savannah), was not the most communicative, but he knew his stuff, and got us to where we needed to be to see some great stuff (except the aforementioned Olduvai Gorge). He definitely lied to us on a couple of occasions, which was very disappointing. There was a mix up at our second stop where some supposedly included activities were not included, so we had to pay an extra US$80, but this was reimbursed to us later. Our luggage was delayed, and Regional tours was very good about getting our bags for us. Overall the organisation of the trip was excellent, and the execution really good, with only the few small quibbles mentioned above stopping it from being superb. For an 8-day Safari and 11 day trip overall, in a 3rd-world country, it's almost surprising that everything else came together so well. Payment by Bank Transfer from our New Zealand Bank's online website was very straightforward for us.
US
Email John Q | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
A tour guide and Land Cruiser swap the first day impacted Safari in more ways than one.
We choose Regional Tours due to stellar reviews and the fact they are based in Tanzania, Our first tour guide was a very nice and a respectful soul. He went above and beyond to make sure to point out various animals and providing the species names. He spotted a large snake neither of us would of seen. He was very concerned about the Land Cruiser's performance and requested a different one. After getting a different safari vehicle we also changed tour guides (not our choice) . Our new guide spent a lot of time during the game drives talking on his cell phone and texting. Most of my video audio is of him talking instead of the sounds of nature. A couple of times in the Serengeti he stopped along the road to conduct business at locations where he got sell service while we waited. We realize he was not scheduled to be on this trip and was not prepared for the tour. He did not have the change of clothes needed for the 6 days so I gave him some clothing to help him out. Although the experience with natural part of the Safari was good and the hotel accommodations way above average our second guide was more of just a driver than a real guide.