CA
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Fantastic experience
We (family of 4 with 2 teenagers) recently did an 8-day safari with African Big Five Safaris, that combined all the main elements of the 7 Day Gorilla and Wilderness Safari and the 3 Day Murchison Falls tour. We also added on the 1 Day Ngamba Island Chimpanzee Tour in Kampala. We loved all parts of the trip and everything went extremely smoothly. Everyone we dealt with at African Big Five Safaris was very helpful, friendly and professional. Mary and Geoffrey were fantastic at organizing the trip exactly to our specifications and helping us decide on which lodges were best for us. They were also quick to respond to my many questions. We were on the move every day so stayed in many different lodges that they recommended (mostly mid-range) and all were very comfortable and enjoyable. The food was included everywhere and was very good and very plentiful (usually 3 courses for dinner and sometimes also for lunch). Our driver, David, was great and always very organized and on time. He was also very knowledgeable and friendly, and we were sad to say goodbye to him. At the end of the trip, Mary made a special trip to our hotel in Kampala just to meet us and thank us for our business, which was a very nice personal touch. I highly recommend booking any travel with this company; with such fantastic service and reasonable prices, you cannot do any better than this.
ES
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Wonderful experience
My husband and I did a 6D/5N camping safari to Lake Manyara, Serengueti and Ngorongoro last December. We booked it from home and Irene replied us answering all our questions.
I have no words to express how much we enjoyed. Our guide Abdul, great driver, worked in every moment to find all kinds of animals (we saw leopards, cheetahs, rhinos, hippos, a enormous python snake, lions,...) and he always managed to place our car in the best position to see them. Our cook, Vincent, was absolutely excellent, thoughtful and prepared us delicious meals, taking care of even the smallest details.
I highly recommend Sunny Safaris, Abdul and Vincent.
Asante sana!
US
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Surpassed my expectations
Thank you Iris and Jordan for a wonderful, custom safari that exceeded my expectations. We did the kilimanjaro climb and a wildlife safari for 5 days after the climb. The quality of the guides was fantastic on both segments of the trip. Our guides John and Frank got us to the top of Kili! And they were so incredibly nice and positive about our ability to get there. (it was HARD). Phil was are safari guide and he was so great at taking us to some of his favorite sites in the Crater and Serengeti conservation areas. The best thing we decided was to let him lead the way instead of giving a structured itinerary. This gave Phil the flexibility to show us areas that had few safari vehicles for a private, custom experience. We were happy with all accomodation and appreciate the work that went into setting up this wonderful adventure.
IT
The worst experience of our life
Hereby I signed Ludovico Canovai want to report a fraud suffered against me during my stay for the Christmas holidays.
The day on December 13 of 2015 to prepare for my trip to Tanzania I booked and paid a rent of 2 bikes for 4 days (24-27 December) in Zanzibar through Kiango Adventure Safaris from the Lord David in Dar Es Salaam.
When I landed at the Port of Zanzibar where I had the 'date for delivery of the bikes, unfortunately the' Agency did not show up.
After several attempts to contact them, we could speak with the head of the Society of hire who admitted he had not paid the 'intermediary and that in 3 days. Would reimburse payment 289 USD
Afther three days from the day of repayment we were still waiting for the refund.
Concerned about what happened, I went directly to 'address of the agency, which unfortunately did not exist. Even though David has answered the phone but did not want to meet us personally.
At January 17 I have not yet received payment
IT
20-35 years of age
The worst experience of our life
Re.: Report of fraud in Tanzania
Hereby I signed Ludovico Canovai want to report a fraud suffered against me during my stay for the Christmas holidays.
The day on December 13 of 2015 to prepare for my trip to Tanzania I booked and paid a rent of 2 bikes for 4 days (24-27 December) in Zanzibar through Kiango Adventure Safaris from the Lord David in Dar Es Salaam.
When I landed at the Port of Zanzibar where I had the 'date for delivery of the bikes, unfortunately the' Agency did not show up.
After several attempts to contact them, we could speak with the head of the Society of hire who admitted he had not paid the 'intermediary and that in 3 days. Would reimburse payment 289 USD
Afther three days from the day of repayment we were still waiting for the refund.
Concerned about what happened, I went directly to 'address of the agency, which unfortunately did not exist. Even though David has answered the phone but did not want to meet us personally.
At January 17 I have not yet received payment
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Jackson and his team are exceptional and their service has real attention to detail.
My wife and I had the most amazing wildlife safari adventure with MJ Safaris. We saw the big five, and so many other species and much more besides animals. Our trip was extremely well organised and Jackson went out of his way to ensure we had an unforgettable experience. We saw the Ngorongoro Crater, the Serengeti, and a number of other parks, including Amboseli on the Kenyan side which were all spellbinding. Our driver Frank was not only highly knowledgeable about everything we saw, but possessed the most remarkable eyesight, picking out well camouflaged animals from distance where my wife and I could see nothing yet! We have come away with lasting memories of such a wonderful time. Huge thanks to MJ Safaris. We recommend them highly.
CH
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
tracking mountain gorillas - lifetime experience
In July 2015 my kids (15 & 16) realized a dream of me: We visited Ruanda and tracked mountain gorillas. We were recommended hiking to Susa group. When the different groups were arranged at the visitor center, we were the only ones who visited Susa group on this day. After climbing Mount Karisimbi for about 2 hours we could enjoy this beautiful group of mountain gorillas with babies, silverback, twins - total of about 20 gorillas - for one hour. Everything was perfectly organized by Pinnacle Africa Safaris. Our driver was very helpful and friendly.
US
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
It Started in Africa is a really customer friendly company.
It Started in Africa built a safari trip just to my specifications for a safari in Sept/Oct 2015. This company was a pleasure to work with from beginning to end. On an 8 day Safari I visited Tarangire NP, Lake Manyara NP, Ngorongoro Caldera, and the Serengeti, both the central area and the far north.
As I was travelling alone I had different needs from the normal but ISIA tailored the trip just for me and my needs.
From day one I sent many questions to ISIA by email and Joao Oliveira replied to all of them very promptly answering all my questions in a detailed and very clear way. ISIA provided very transparent information on how they price a safari. They gave a detailed breakdown on the cost of each individual component of the safari. This made it very easy to decide what to select in terms of accommodations, activities etc.
I had a vehicle and guide all to myself although there was room for 6 in the vehicle. The vehicle was a good Toyota Land cruiser with a pop up roof perfect for negotiating the tough terrain of the Serengeti. There were charging facilities in the vehicle for phones, cameras etc. Binoculars were provided.....although if you have your own ones that you really like then I would advise bring them also.
My guide and driver, Deogratis, was extremely pleasant to be with and very friendly. He was happy to take me wherever I wanted to go and stay at any particular viewing as long as I wished. He also helped with photography. And he was very knowledgeable about where to find good sightings. He started early and kept going all day or as long as I wished and was also very nice company at dinner times. I saw the full range of animals (all you could possibly wish for) over the course of the safari and we were also lucky enough to observe many of them engaging in a variety of behaviors such as eating, fighting, migrating, hunting, rearing young, family moments etc and even a couple of wildebeest river crossings.
I also experienced a really good range of accommodations. I chose to stay in public campsites for 6 nights at a really reasonable cost. I didn't care about the level of accommodation as a solo traveler. The public campsites were very satisfactory and the food provided by ISIA each day, both meals and packed lunches, were very good. Plenty of water was provided as well. It was a wonderful experience to sleep in a tent in unfenced campsites in the Serengeti.
To view the wildebeest crossings in the far north I had to stay two nights in the Ang'ata Migration Camp suggested by Joao. It was a luxurious tented camp set up specifically in a remote location near to potential crossings at that time of year. We saw two river crossings thanks to Deogratis finding them and the good luck that they happened while we were there. It was well worth it to travel to the far north to see this spectacle.
Aside from all of this ISIA met me at KJO airport and returned me to KJO airport after the safari. They also arranged a guesthouse for me near Arusha on the day before the safari started and the day the after the safari ended . My luggage was lost by the airline on the flight to Arusha. ISIA managed to take care of chasing down my missing bag and brought it to me the next day after we had already started the safari. What a wonderful service!
On the way to the Serengeti I spent 2 nights at Haven Nature Campsite. This campsite was very pleasant and significantly better than the public ones in the Serengeti while similar in price range. Staying there allowed me to visit both Tarangire National Park and Lake Manyara National Park. I would highly recommend both when visiting the Serengeti as they are very different experiences in terms of landscape and vegetation. On the way back I stayed at a campsite near Ngorongoro for visiting the Caldera the next morning.
I would strongly advise anyone visiting the Serengeti to break the trip from Arusha. It is an extremely long drive and there is lots to see both going and coming. All the parks I visited were great experiences but the Serengeti was my favorite. It easily lived up to its reputation.
Thank you to Deogratis, my guide. Also to Joao Oliveira for arranging a wonderful trip for me over the internet. And to all the other staff at ISIA who I communicated with and/or met.
I highly recommend ISIA to anyone planning a safari or any other trip in Tanaznia.
John Hopkins
BE
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Excellent service and reliability
- Service was excellent
- Guide was always on time, gave good advice and was good in spotting the animals
- Payment/reservation everything was done like it should be.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Good plan, average delivery
Communication was generally quite good as we arranged everything by email and had quick and informative responses to our questions.
The overall safari route is a little different to the typical routes as it includes a few additional parks, which we found to be enjoyable but not essential. The route we thought could have been planned a little better as we had several days where we "doubled-up" on driving instead of viewing each game park in a more logical order.
We had several tour guides over our 12 day safari which ranged in quality from excellent to poor.
The only major issue we had with the whole safari was with accommodation whereby they showed us an example of the accommodation "or similar" for each night and found that when they changed to a "similar" place it was significantly worse than the example we had been showed. We had one night very early on in the trip where instead of staying in a nice guest house we were put in what I can only describe as a half-star motel inside a loud and bright garage. We had paid to upgrade from the basic accommodations to "mid-range" options based on what we saw on Tripadvisor which made this point very upsetting.
Overall we saw a lot of animals and went to a lot of locations which we were very happy with so my only word of advice would be to strongly critique the specific details of the accommodation.