US
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Safari and Gorilla Trekking with Saso Tours
A friend and I wanted to go on a safari after completing a service trip in Uganda. We had to rely on the internet for information and reviews. Saso Tours had been highly rated so we opted to travel with them. Are we ever glad we did! Everything from beginning to end was super - Wilson at Saso made all our arrangements - he was professional and helpful with all our questions (We were two middle aged women traveling alone in an unfamiliar country). Our tour guide, Michael, was excellent - knowledgeable, friendly, fun and took great care to make sure we made the most of our safari. Our accommodations and food were top notch - we could not have asked for a better experience. Do not miss out on the Gorilla trekking - it is worth every penny!
CA
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Dream honeymoon in northern Tanzania and Zanzibar
My wife and I had a two week honeymoon in Tanzania immediately after our wedding and, in short, it was spectacular. East Africa did a great job all around with the planning and execution of the trip, making it very smooth and successful.
Alym (owner) was enormously useful in helping us decide on an itinerary that was right for us. He has deep first hand knowledge of the region and provides thoughtful and honest recommendations about what we should and shouldn't include in our trip taking into account our personal preferences and budget constraints. After deciding on the itinerary, Alym made sure we had all the information we would need before our departure (e.g. Packing lists, advice on travel medicine, etc). Alym took care of everything after that and we didn't need to lift a finger in dealing with all the many individual vendors on the ground.
Once we arrived, we were taken care of from the time we stepped off the plane to the time we arrived back at the airport to depart. All the logistics were executed flawlessly and the hotel and safari experiences constantly exceeded expectations. East Africa has a select group of guides and ours (Selemani) was terrific, which was an important contributor to the overall experience because you spend A LOT of time with your guide. Selemani had ~15 years of experience so he knew everything about the wildlife and was very cognizant of our needs, and furthermore was a very fun and interesting guy.
Tanzania is a fantastic option for a dream safari vacation and East Africa Wild Adventures is a great choice to make it happen for you. Thanks Alym and team!
US
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
This was an amazing trip of a Lifetime!
The safari we went on with Tanzania Choice Safaris was absolutely amazing! From the first email contact with Brenda to waving goodbye to Kakasii at the airport, everything was really excellent. Our guide (and owner) Kakasii is passionate about giving his passengers the best experience possible, and it really shows. He knows so much about the animals; he knows so many people; he sincerely cares about the comfort of his passengers; he loves his country. Brenda was very responsive to our repeated email contacts about the itinerary, the hotels, the dates of travel, etc. I would recommend Tanzania Choice Safaris to anyone wanting an amazing trip of a lifetime!
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Excellent Our Driver Fadhili was True Proffessional in His Approach and we will return back
I am thankful to Leopard Tours for making my birthday and the serengeti national park trip to be a memorable and life time experience which I will not forget. The person who deserves most credit is our driver Fadhili. He was very professional in his approach and made every effort to show us all the animals and Birds. He was knowledgeable with all his explanation regarding all the questions we had.I am very grateful and thankful to leopard tours for employing such a nice person like Fadhili. I will return to Tanzania in the very near future.
Very big thank you to Fadhili and leopard tours. Karibu Sana
US
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Tanzania
We had a wonderful time! In all honesty, I was unsure that Furahia Tanzania was going to meet our expectations especially when my deposit and final payment were going to a Postal Box. I did some due diligence , but mostly trusted that there would be no issues. There were absolutely none.
We were immediately met upon our arrival by Safe, our guide and driver for the next ten days and a friend for life. Safe proved remarkable capable and cooperative. His knowledge of Tanzanian floral and fauna was both entertaining and enlightening. His knowledge of English was extensive and thorough. He was always punctual, patient and professional. Safe also ensured that we were always safe from both animals and street vendors. He taught us some basic Swahili words and the names of the animals we saw. Safe was also very flexible. He encouraged us to have him stop if there was something that we wanted to take a closer look at or for a photo opportunity. He was also flexible when it came to skipping things or stops that didn’t interest us or spend extra time at places that did. Safe put life and energy into the tour and without someone like him, our safari would have not been as wonderful as it was. He was perfect.
The vehicle were used was fine. There was a problem with the radio. Drivers use their radios to inform others where there were opportunities to see the more elusive animals, but Safe did just fine without a working one. Due to his knowledge and experience, we were often the first or even only people watching a pride of lions or observing cheetahs and leopards. On our last day, the observation roof’s strut broke. This was disappointing, but understandable given the road conditions experienced. Safe washed the vehicle at least three times including cleaning the interior. There were no mechanical issues even though we saw numerous other vehicles at the side of the road including those operated by the larger safari companies.
The itinerary and lodgings organized by Angel were varied and very different. The scheduled overnights may not be for everyone as they ranged from a basic room and no frills breakfasts to luxury accommodations and gourmet meals (Villa Luna). I would recommend Villa Luna for your arrival night and the night prior to your departure as you are pampered by Viki and Alex. Regardless, they were all clean, safe- even with elephants walking past our “tent” in the middle of the night, food plentiful and each unique in its atmosphere, staff and accommodations. As a word of caution, make sure that the lodgings you stay at are suited to your expectations. Ours were not rough or unpleasant, but if you go just make sure you will be comfortable. We were. While nature and Safe provided the daylight experiences, Angel organized the evenings. Well done Angel.
The one negative, but completely understandable element of our trip was the last day’s activities of a tour of a local town. This tour included a walk through banana growing plantations, local lunch at a Women’s project and the town, but also had stops at wood carving and picture painting sites, where items were offered for sale. I didn’t particularly like the retail aspect. The tour of the school and the demonstrations of the 3-6 year olds were very special especially for my wife who is an elementary school educator. I said it was understandable and this is because the company is active in the community with regard to AIDS prevention, youth activities and donates a portion of the profits back to the Mto wa Mbu community.
All in all, there are bigger and better known safari providers, but I would rather go with Furahia Tanzania because of our experiences and our very positive memories of Tanzania, Safe, the parks we visited and the places we stayed.
BE
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Great service, very nice crew, wonderful safari and memories to last a lifetime
We had a great time with Tony, the driver/guide en Enock the cook. Tony had excellent knowledge of the animals (including birds), about Tanzania, about the Masaai people, and was very correct and respectful of nature and wildlife (which we found very important). Enock was a very sweet man, who made us breakfast, lunch and diner. We have two vegetarians in our family, and he took very good care of all of us. Joseph was very helpful with the planning, very fast en easy communication and very flexible. It was a great experience. We recommend camping, because it made the experience very intense!
NL
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Our expectations exceeded
Afroriginal Tours and Safaris organised our first 8-day safari-trip to Tarangire, Serengeti and Ngorongoro-crater.
We (family of 4) got a very spacious 6-p landcruiser with a very good, kind and safe driver/guide (thank you Moses!). Accomodation varied between tented camp and more luxurious permanent lodges. But all were better than we could hope for. Even at the remotest place, staff will do their utmost to make your stay as comfortable as possible. We saw hundreds of elephants, lions, zebras and wildebeast and many, many other animals including leopards, cheetas, black cobra and serval. What an experience!
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Avoid avoid avoid
This tour was equally upsetting and angering. Unfortunately I booked with another agent, and was pooled with other bookings, all from different agents. We should have been suspicious that ours was the only vehicle without any branding...it took 4 days to establish which tour company was actually running our trip.
From the outset, it was a shambles. We wasted the entire first morning waiting for various other bookings, essentially until the vehicle was full. I then also had my paid for itinerary changed immediately. To cap it off, the driver / guide was extremely rude, and offered no insight into either the schedule or the wildlife.
During my 5 day trip, the irritation continued. Our vehicle was clearly the slowest on the road, costing us hours of game driving every day. In addition, every time we reached camp, we were the last to leave, and last to eat. And even more, the game driving was not at all in line with the promised schedule. We spent a mere 3 hours in Ngorongoro crater...
Overall the entire trip was awful. It was hard to enjoy the wildlife beauty, as we were all so constantly harassed by the awful experience.
Please do not use this company, and help others to avoid such disappointment too.
NL
65+ years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Driver frently, carring, allways on time and did show and told us everything. Well doen. Thanks.
More thans complete. Seen the BIG four.
Many thanks to the driver.
65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
Well organised mainly.
A few cliches with communication in Kenya, eg no welcome info at hotel , a couple on our tour not notified when we were due to depart on the day after our arrival so we were 3 hours late leaving , hence didn't arrive at our first lodge near Amboseli till 7.30 pm that day,. Issues with twin bed accomodation at some lodges for myself and friend. Tanzania excellent. Guides very good. Upgrades very good.