20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
3 day gorilla tracking in Uganda
I would definitely recommend Encounter Safaris - myself and 2 friend used them for the 3 day gorilla tracking in Uganda and could not have been happier. We had great communication with Chris leading up to the safari and were picked up from our hotel at exactly when they said they would - which having spent 2 weeks in Africa previously, was pretty impressive! Our guide Hasan was kind, polite, knowledgable and a very good driver. The cabins we stayed at were great and the food was fantastic. The trek itself was amazing and very well organised, we were really lucky and found the gorillas in under 2 hours. Would really recommend a porter though! We had a great time with Encounter and found it great value for money,could definitely use again!
ES
Serengeti and Ngorongoro
The safari itself provides a great oportunity to see some of the most wonderful animals in Earth, unfortunately our experience wasn't perfect because of the schedule. We had dinner too early and waited too much until the dinner time had arrived, and our cook was extremely slow. A great experienced with some inconveniencies.
ES
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Adventure and fun!
The safari itself was a good experience, we lived the african experience deep and we enjoyed it. We would have liked another kind of timetable for meals, because we had lunch at 10 am and dinner and 20, so that means a lot of time without eating. Despite this detail, the safari was great, we saw many species and took awesome pictures. the volunteering program was the best of all, both medical and orphanage programs are a great , life-changing experience.
DE
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
it was the best experience we ever had with my wife as we were celebrating our anniversary in Kenya
Peter did all the guide to us with great assistance from Edwin in the office we really enjoyed.
SA
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Our memorable trip to Murchison Falls with East African Jungle Safaris.
We chose East African Jungle Safaris based on Safari Booking reviews and price. We chose the three day safari to Murchison Falls which included both chimpanzee and rhino trekking. I highly recommend this trip! we were very pleased. Our guide, Joe was very friendly, knowledgeable, and helpful. He bought us water and bananas along the way. The accommodations at Paraa Lodge were excellent. We reviewed them also. The safari itself was amazing and Joe went the extra mile to make sure we saw as much as possible. We would definitely use EAJS again.
Review about Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park by engeltoy
This park is the best park for seeing and spending time with the large cats of Africa. The entry is limited so is tends to be quieter. Seeing the animals surviving in the dessert environment is humbling.
US
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Just Awful
We booked a 7-day Kenya+Tanzania safari with a Kenyan operator and the 3-day Serengeti-Ngorongro portion was subcontracted to Migada. Unlike the Kenya portion, Tanzania was terrible in every way and our vacation was half-ruined.
The car had multiple problems and was absolutely unsafe. Breaks were bad and locked the tires on gravel roads so downshifting was the way to slow down. Parking break didn't work so it was always exciting to see the car run away until driver used rocks to stop it. Engine didn't start if turned off when it's warm, so engine ran the whole day even when parked next to the animals. We had to ask other drivers for a bump when driver stalled the engine. The car didn't have radio so game viewing was random. A policeman warned us about the wheels being not fit to drive. But more on the car later.
The driver got lost multiple times, starting day 1 from Isebania to the lodge in Serengeti. When it was getting dark he panicked and started driving movie stunt style on horrible roads, doing a pretty high jump where tires detached from the ground for about 4 seconds that felt like hours. No empathy with passengers' comfort for restroom or lunch breaks, we had lunch inside the car in dust while driving. The company's card was out of money while exiting Serengeti so we had to wait about an hr just to exit a park. Nothing happened smoothly..
The car broke down a few minutes after our descent into Ngorongro, and we found out the radiator had a leak that the driver knew about. His calls to the office were unanswered but another safari driver was kind enough to stop and take us into his car, and tow the broken car until the nearest water hole. We helped fill the radiator with muddy water and plugged the hole with elephant dung and the car surprisingly made it to Arusha the next morning on mud, dung and prayers. They gave us a new car from Arusha to Kenya border and then came our best moment in Tanzania: getting exit stamps and seeing our Kenyan driver on the other side.
Thinking back about the whole thing, we should've rejected getting into that car after the first day.
Review about Augrabies Falls National Park by engeltoy
This park has a beauty of its own with the rocky outcrops that look so prehistoric.
Review about |Ai-|Ais Richtersveld Transfrontier Park by engeltoy
Again the very natural beauty abounds. Man has not destroyed what nature has created.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Excellent Experience
I found AAA on Safari Bookings and emailed them along with numerous other companies for a quotation on a 5 day safari. Jalala was the first to reply to my enquiry and his response to all my many emails with lots of questions was always extremely fast. I felt nervous booking a company through a website I was unfamiliar with so also telephoned Jalala to get more information, admittedly the line was not great but I felt confident enough to book. My Mother and I wanted to do a 5 day safari taking in Lake Manyara, the Serengeti and Ngorangora Crater, we specified that we were keen to see the wildebeest migration. Our driver/guide was Godson, he was a really kind, considerate and lovely guide with exceptional time keeping.
Lake Manyara was beautiful, we did not see the tree climbing lions but we did see a whole host of other wonderful animals. Angani Tented Lodge was lovely. We stayed at Angani Tented Camp for the next two nights in central Serengeti. AAA picked this camp as it was where the wildebeest migration was supposed to be. Due to an unusual season the migration was further North than expected but Godson spoke with other guides to find out their whereabouts and was able to take us to see the migration, this meant we had to leave an hour earlier than planned and we felt grateful for him to forgoes his rest for us. We are lucky enough that this was not our first safari, we are seasoned safari goers but Godson was able to consistently position his vehicle the right way round so that we could follow the action and also in places that at first seemed a bit odd but then turned out to be central to what was about to unravel. In the end we decided that the animals could smell him and were drawn to his vehicle! At one point we were watching leopard cubs in a tree and we could hear the grass rustling then a leopard cub popped out right nest to our car! We always seemed to arrive at just the right time, having never seen any kills before we saw 3 in two days. Godson wasn’t great at his birds but he was able to find them in his book and tell us which ones they were in a matter of seconds.
Rhino Lodge was really lovely and the Crater was spectacular, we saw the black rhinos!
Godson’s vehicle was extremely comfortable and was equipped with multi region plug sockets (very useful for charging cameras on the go) and a fridge. It had a strong pop up roof (some vehicles had no protection from the sun!). Godson kept it clean and tidy throughout and kindly cleaned his fridge for us (we did offer!) after one of our sundowner beers exploded in it! The roads are really rough on the vehicles and we noticed that Godson carried a toolkit and seemed to know how to fix most problems as he offered advice to other broken down vehicles and repaired two minor faults which happened to his vehicle. Having travelled on these roads for 5 days and seen the amount of stopped vehicles I think you should count yourself lucky if you do not need to stop for repairs!
Guides are given loaded cash cards to pay for the entry into the parks. There was a problem with our dollar cash card (it had expired) which meant we had to pay for the park fees at 2 places. We were really worried that it was some sort of scam but we needn’t have worried, Jalala refunded us the cash as soon as we got back to the office along with an extra $10 to cover card transaction fees.
The picnic lunches were large, tasty but could have been better, they were mostly wheat based products.
Overall our experience was excellent, the itinerary was exactly what we wanted and it was altered along the way to suit our needs and give us the best opportunity to see everything that we wanted to see. I would recommend this company.