HK
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Excellent customer service by Erick
As students with very limited budget, safari trips in Kenya and Tanzania are very difficult to be arranged with the high costs in accommodation, game drives and park entries, especially during the migration period. I rarely write a review for my trips but I am writing this review to express my utmost gratitude to Erick of Ewamanns Safaris, who has tried his best over the past three months to make our safari trip work.
From the start, Erick has always been very responsive, caring and professional. He always tried his best to offer extra and more intimate services and tailor to all our requests. In particular, he answered all of our questions understanding that we have limited knowledge about Kenya and Tanzania. He demonstrated passion and enthusiasm to show the best of his country to us, and treated us as good friends rather than merely clients. His English may not be the best, so do we, but he always provided us with clarifications in case we did not understand anything. We are totally confident with the outstanding arrangements of Erick, from the very simple and safe booking procedures to promising us nice, passionate and knowledgeable drivers. We would also like to thank Erick for contacting and negotiating with KWS for us in order to obtain the student rates for the national reserves. While it has failed in the end, the tremendous effort which Erick has put in is highly appreciable.
Looking forward to our trip in Kenya and Tanzania in July and August, we are confident that we will have great adventures seeing the natural wonder of migration, understanding local cultures, enjoying Kenyan and Tanzanian cuisines, and more importantly, meeting Erick, a good friend who has helped us in all his capacity to bring our dreams come true.
US
Wow !
Beautiful earth, nice people, lots of elephants and hyppos, , everything just perfect !
GT
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amazing trip, Tanzania really surprised us
This is one of a lifetime trip and we wanted to make sure we had the best advise on what to do and visit. We were really impressed with the organization (all done via email), and the quick response to all our pre-travel inquiries. The guide was very friendly, and took good care of us, and the lodges were all very good. And the recommendation to visit Zanzibar after the safari was great. Tanzania is a beautiful country with very nice people, and the good service from It Started in Africa just enhanced our experience. Thanks!
CA
65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
we had a fantastic time because of all the arrangements being top notch.
Ute did a really good job with the back and forth emails. she responded very quickly. the safari itself was beyond words. it was awesome seeing all those wild animals up close. we will have wonderful memories to share with family and friends. it was beyond our expectations. the accommodations were very satisfactory. the transportation arranged was excellent except for one glitch, but Ute took care of it very quickly. we will recommend this operator to anyone we know who is going to south africa.
FR
Experience level: over 5 safaris
excellence and compétence
a big thank you to Safari destinations, , especially to Adeline, for their help in our journey. friendliness, reliability and efficiency are always on top when we come to Botswana.
we will come back for sure!
again thank you and congratulations!
20-35 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
A lifetime trip.
What an awesome trip it was,...i would say,'gametrackers lead,others follow'.
We had a wonderful time during the Lake Turkana Cultural Festival,everything was well executed,
wonderful and friendly staff,very professional too,the food was on point,we slept in tents all the way which was a great idea.I also met and made new friends during this trip,some who have become completely part of my life.
In short it was a great adventure with gametrackers,having been driven in an overland truck and so i would recommend them anytime to anyone
20-35 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Professional & Well Organised!
My experience with Encounter has been nothing but professional from the onset. We were a group of 2 travelling to Uganda for 3 days to Bwindi National Park. The communication on agreeing costs was timely and professional including all one would need to know to prepare for the trip. Online payment process does include a 5% surcharge but avoids you carrying loads of cash around.
Joseph Kalanzi, our driver and guide was superb. He was very informative and a safe driver in what was a long road trip from Entebbe to Bwindi. He was very accommodating and when my colleague broke her arm in a fall he couldn't do enough to get her to a local clinic. The lodge where were staying was very intimate and the owner was very passionate about wildlife conversation.
Overall cannot fault Encounter in the service they provided and would not hesitate to recommend anyone wishing to do a trip to Uganda with them.
35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Disappointing in some ways
I think it is true to say that South Luangwa National Park is magical. The wildlife there is brilliant but I was less than impressed by Kiboko. The staff in Zambia have good hearts and are well meaning but lack proper training. The staff in Malawi are only interested in the money. Five examples of this would be the ordinary food served despite a better variety available in the local market (training), cooks and drivers masquerading as wildlife guides (training and costs), drivers driving leaving no one to spot the wildlife (costs), the snake in my tent getting through a gap in the door (poor facilities) and the refusal by the management in Lilongwe to take me to my hotel at the end of my safari when it was less than 2km away (costs). The driver lied to me on a number of points with regard to this. This would have cost them less than $2 to do this. I had paid $975 for the six day safari. OK Kiboko is a budget safari company but they are more interested in money than good service.
NO
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
The heart of Africa
I went to work as a volunteer in South Africa for three weeks in the summer of 2013. During my trip, I had the fantastic opportunity to see the heart of African culture through the eyes of our amazing guide and friend, Neil De Jonge. The group explored the incredible wildlife that lives in Kruger National Park, we gazed at the spectacular view from God's Window, enjoyed local food and hidden and wonderful restaurants, but most of all, we experienced the kindness and calm of the African people. I will forever be grateful and astonished over the friendly and informative guide we had in Neil. He made us feel safe all the time and opened our eyes to a whole new world.
DE
50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
An excellent and professional safari company to work with
We highly recommend African Sermon Safaris. James our driver/guide picked us up in Nairobi timely and took us on a road with an amazing view of the great Rift Valley and on to Maasai Mara, fascinating game reserve. Everything was extremely well planned with a pleasing evening game viewing drive the day we got there, a whole day game drive the following and an early morning game drive the last day before heading back to Nairobi. We were there in late February and certainly missed great migration season, but we saw almost everything we wanted to see with the exemption of rhinos. Sincerely, we will most definitely try to catch the wildebeest migration next time we go, hopefully.