US
65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
Fabulous 2 wks in Tanzania
Our Safari Soles experience in Tanzania and Zanzibar was simply amazing, extraordinarily well organized with superb local guides. We designed a two-week trip combining the great migration with 5 days on Zanzibar. Magreth helped us design our own private tour and was extremely helpful and generous getting our trip organized before arriving and very responsive to our needs and questions once we were on safari. Our trip was a total immersion into Tanzania from seeing all the major birds and mammals you want to see in Tanzania, getting a personal perspective on life in Tanzania in conversations with the super Safari Soles guides, staying at some fabulous hotels and getting to see and interact with traditional tribal people from Masai villagers to hunter gatherer bushmen. Our local guides were truly special. Izaak, who was our main safari guide was just fabulous. Warm, kind, and a skilled and knowledgeable naturalist, he was a highlight of our trip. We also had an outstanding guide, Alex while visiting the tribal villages who was not only extremely well versed in the cultures we visited, but fluent in English, Swahili, and the unique tribal languages of the people we visited. We were generally disappointed with Zanzibar. We stayed two nights at the Cumbie Island Nature Preserve. It was a well-run carbon neutral island retreat, but the coral reefs were in bad shape and on their way out, so I wouldn't recommend it for snorkeling or diving. We had hoped to see a healthy Zanzibar reef, so were very disappointed. If we redesigned our trip, we would have stayed a single night on Cumbie and skipped the depressing reefs. We had a very enjoyable trip to a spice farm on Zanzibar that we would highly recommend. We also found Stonetown rather disappointing. It was rundown and overrun by tourist shops with little history or culture to compensate for the tourist shop exposure.
Overall, I would enthusiastically recommend Safari Soles for a Tanzanian private safari. It is a very well-run small company that emphasizes quality over quantity with attention to detail. The staff and guides are exceptional and will help you design a perfect trip for your needs, rather than just a generic Tanzanian Safari. My wife and I are experienced travelers and potentially hard to please professionals, I am a retired marine ecologist with decades of tropical experience and my wife is a lawyer with a keen eye for organization and detail. So, we are potentially tough customers, but can't say enough about the quality and people running Safari Soles tours. If we return to Tanzania we will rely again on their experience, knowledge, attention to detail and kindness. They are simply a great group.
CA
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Bucket List Trip
Travelling the Serengeti should be on everyone's bucket list. You will not find anything else like it in the world. There are multiple sleeping accommodations depending on how much you want to spend and how close to the animals you want to sleep. In general it is an expensive trip but I promise you it's worth every penny. Do it once in your life.
US
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amazing
Such a wonderful education and a desire to return such warm and friendly culture
US
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Tanzania is great, even in the rainy season
Tanzania is very friendly, not dangerous, and has amazing wildlife. We spent two nights in a camp in Tarangire, two nights in a camp in the Serengeti, and two nights in a lodge in Ngorongoro. Tarangire has lots of elephant and giraffe, Serengeti has everything, but spread across a vast plain, Ngornogoro has everything concentrated in a 30km diameter. We were there in mid March, just after the main rains. We had just one night of rain, which made for good mud the next day. In March we also had lines of wildebeest stretching beyond the horizon, and we did not have crowds of other trucks and the camps were pleasantly half full. So next time I will certainly go in the "off" season. In planning the trip I did not realize how long it would take to get from Tarangire to the Serengeti. It took ten hours with just a couple of stops. So be cognizant of the distances when you are planning the trip. On the main roads you may do 50mph. On the unpaved trails 30mph is rough. The other thing I would have done differently is that I would have planned one day to just sit in camp, with a book, and enjoy the bush. But it was fantastic.
Afterwards we had three days in Zanzibar. Stone Town is quite small, especially in the rain, but the beach was great, and we just got a half hour of rain. The trip was arrange by Orege, who were very efficient. Our guide was Deo, who was a good careful driver, a great guide, and full of energy. We stayed at Baobab Tented Camp, Mawe Tented Camp, Lion's Paw, Kijani Beach Villas, which were all good.
CA
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
US
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Review about Ngorongoro Crater by Chris
Ngorongoro is fantastically concentrated, but doesn't have the vast space of the Serengeti
US
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Super knowledgeable and enthusiastic, makes safaris so fun!
Every moment with Andrew as our safari driver was exciting, He always finds fun ways to incorporate everyone and keep everyone engaged, so you truly feel like you’re a part of the fun. It was such an amazing experience, where you truly learn and enjoy so much. Keep up the fun the fun and the smile Andrew.
US
under20 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Epic
Andrew made the trip very fun and entertaining, while giving us information about the animals and nature around us. He is an awesome professional safari guide and a great driver. We never got bored throughout the safari. I’m looking forward to the next safari with him.
CN
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Kenya beyond expectations, Sunshine adventure Africa service also beyond expectations
My husband and I planned a vacation to Kenya and were lucky enough to choose sunshine's services. When I was not feeling well, sunshine arranged medical treatment in time, so that I quickly recovered without delaying the journey. It is this conscientiousness that makes me recommend sunshine to my friends who are going to Kenya.
DE
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amazing experience!
Eight incredible days we spent in Uganda - the pearl of Africa. Every day was something special and that was thanks to the local travel agency Hail Tours Uganda, specifically Mrs. Doreen, with whom we communicated everything. She provided us with a great itinerary (especially Murchison Falls National Park and the gorilla trekking was fantastic) and two guides - Gerald and Angel who were also excellent. We can only recommend them!