NL
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great journey
We had an excellent journey with great guids, amazing cooks and diners and joyful porters.
BH
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Great experience
My husband and a another friend from New Zealand had a great time in Uganda thanks to Cul tours , they came and picked us up from the airport took us to our hotel briefed us on the next day itinerary , Stephen is very professional and a great ambassador to his county . We travelled for 6 nights with Stephen he is a responsible driver and fantastic tour guide he was so informative through out the tour . It was one of best African trips I had as I have been to multiple African countries . I can highly recommend Cul tours .
SE
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
A Christmas safari exceeding all our expectations!
The communication with Madi at the office was always rapid and alert, flexible and nice in all contacts. Booking process went smoothly and effective.
Services were efficient and very high standard. Our guide, Simon, was more than service-minded, and he was also one step ahead when it came to planning. This made our trip very pleasant, we were treated in a calm and caring way and Simon always had a smile on his face. He also drew were safely and he even stopped several times making possibilities for everone to take their perfect photo.
The meals were also a treat, and this counts for breakfast, brunch and dinner. Christmas dinner was ever so nice with gifts, extra fine laying of the table and colored lights. Simon did always lay the table very neat and even though we were at a camp, the table with cloth looked just like in a restaurant. Another thing to mention is that he also cooked different course due to our demands without complaining.
As the title of our review implicates we were more than satisfied. A more knowledgeable guide is not to be found on this planet. Simon knew so much about nature and how the ecosystem works. His knowledge in animals seemed to be enormous and he shared this with us in perfect portions. Even though we looked at giraffes several times, he always had something new to tell us. He answered all our questions and tried to make us understand the way animals in the savannah live. We made many game-drives and ever time he showed and taught us something new. Sometimes we almost thought he had bribed the animals to come to the road and greet us.
The thing we appreciated the most, was however that it shows how much Simon loves the animals, the birds and the whole of Krugerparc. We were lucky to see an enormous amount of animals and birds, including the big five, many more than one could dream of, but the way Simon worked, with his expertise and his experience was what made this trip totally unforgettable.
NL
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great experience Serengeti budget camping with Big 5 and so much more!
Before the start of our trip I had good contact with Kanuth by e-mail regarding our itinerary, the down payment etc. which was very pleasant. Our driver Vumi picked us up at our hotel perfectly on time and even on our first day at Tarangire Park we were already amazed by the beauty of the park and all the animals we saw. Serengeti and the Crater were even more beautiful and Vumi showed us all the best spots and was very patient with us. He always made sure we had a good spot to take (amazing!) pictures. Our cook Eric made sure we were never hungry :) We saw the Big 5 but so much more! So many hippo's, zebra's, ostriches, all kind of gazelles, hyena's AND a lot of cheetah's! We really felt lucky, I can recommend this tour it was really one of the best things we ever did. Be aware that the camping is very basic but this didn't bothered us because we like to be in the outdoors and the nature and animals made it all so worth it. Thank you Vumi!
US
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Avoid at any cost!
While the web-site gives the impression of a real company with full stuff and an office, providing well-planned service to the tourists, this is very far from what we have experienced during our trip
Mr. George Nagol was very attentive during the initial stage when we interacted over E-mail, but once the money had been paid he essentially disappeared and did not answer any of the questions except saying that everything is ready for us.
In fact, when we have arrived to Arusha nothing was ready for us. Our first two days were completely ruined because the “Company” did not provide adequate transportations so one the first day we could not make a trip it to the Masai village (for which we paid $300) because ”the road was bad” and on the second day when we were supposed to do a short trek at 3000m ($600) the van provided by the company (which did not have a 4 wheel drive) got stuck in the mud and instead of trekking we had to push it uphill in the rain. We did not do our trek and got no apologies.
The things got only worse on Day 4 when we went for a hike about 200km from Arusha and were expected to be picked up be a vehicle assigned to us by Mr. Nagol at 1PM. The vehicle was supposed to drive us to the airport to take a flight to Lake Victoria (already paid) The vehicle did not show up on time – and we could not reach either Mr. Nagol nor the driver on the phone. Eventually we made it on foot to the camp where we waited until darkness descended (no light!) and still not being able to make contact with Mr. Nagol. We did contacted the driver and he gave us very elusive answers – first that the vehicle broke down then that he was driving someone else. As it turned out Mr. Nagol has sent the driver with other tourists to NgoroNgoro Park thus getting paid twice for the same service. The driver did show up at 7.30 PM with a vehicle full of passengers, drove like a madman and got us into the accident – only the side mirror was destroyed but a few inches to the right and it would have been a full head on collision at 900mph!
Despite fast driving, we missed the flight and thus the whole trip to Lake Victoria for which we have paid in full. Once again – no apologies!
When we have changed the plans and just decided to drive to Serengeti our misadventures did not end. The car kept breaking down on the hourly basis. A lot of time had been wasted. But far worse than that – at the Serengeti park we had to pay the park fees ($240) on our own since according to the driver the company credit card had no money on it. We were promised a refund and of course did not get it. When we got back to Arusha Mr. Nagol avoided meeting us in a hotel and made up many stories about why he can notget money. In fact we are sure that Kilimanjaro Champion is a one man operation with no office or employees engaged in defrauding the tourists.
While with all our negative experiences we had returned home in one piece, it is only a matter of time before something infinitely more serious happens when unsuspecting tourists like us entrust their fate to Kilimanjaro Champion, especially if they decide to do some serious climbing.
TR
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Shame for Tanzania
I have never ever complaint about a travel agency until now, but in this era, people should know whom to trust and whom to not. Please do never use” jjtoursandsafaris”, JJ Tours”, “nzuri sana safaris, Nzurisana Safari” while you are travelling to Africa, Tanzania or any tours they are taking part at.
My husband and I visited Tanzania for a week in October for our honeymoon. We have booked Hilton Nungwi by ourselves, and asked Hilton to refer us an agency who would drive us to safari for two days. All our payments made by cash the day they have picked us from the airport. Our 4 days at Nungwi was perfect. Two days of our so called “safari”- there are no words to describe the awfulness and how we agitated our life safety.
1. JJ Tours and Safaris did not make the 4 night’s payment on behalf of us to the Hilton Nungwi even though we have paid all tour payment the first day we have arrived to Tanzania. Our agreement and booking was for 4 nights, but they only paid 3 nights to the hotel. Thus Hilton had charged extra 210 Dollars for us, and we needed to pay that money to check out from the hotel.
2. JJ Tours and Safari drove us to Mikumi National Park by the oldest car, which had no seat belt at the back seat, and which had stopped during our travel. Driver (Francisco Swebe- nzurisanasafaris) had bribed the police two times for breaking the speed limit, and once for not having the seat belt.
3. First Lie: On our way to “TanSwiss” he said he has talked to a friend and his friend mentioned him that the TanSwiss is full and they have no rooms for us- so he will take us to another hotel of his friend. (I have confirmed our booking with TanSwiss before our travel, so I have insisted that we have the confirmation and he should drive us to there. There was nothing left for him to do- so he drove us to TanSwiss. I swear to God, the hotel had maximum 15 guests, and it was like empty.
4. Second Lie: When we arrived the hotel- TanSwiss- we learned that this hotel is “bed and breakfast”, and although we have paid for full package for two days; our guide (Francisco Swebe ) tried to make us pay our dinner and lunch.
5. Third Lie: If I get the chance to upload pictures, I will upload the car that they have taken us to Safari. (We could not bear and asked driver to bring us back at the end of 2 hours). The car did not have a key and any protection. It was working hotwire(Putting cables together etc.…).
6. From October to December- we have been in touch with Kuya Mbogoma, to make him pay our 210 dollars back. Like a joke, he has sent us only 65 dollars!
7. Tours Company is “JJ Tours”, “JJTours and Safaris”. We have been defrauded by Kuya Mbogoma and his partner company “nzurisanasafaris” Francisco Swebe. The cars you see at their web pages are not the ones that they used while driving us. Do not believe in these two companies offerings. If this happened to us, it may happen to you too.
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Amazing South African Safari thanks to African Welcome Safaris
We recently returned from a 3 week safari in South Africa booked with the assistance of Kathi from African Welcome Safaris. I cannot praise Kathi highly enough - she designed a custom itinerary for us which included a complex array of transfers, flights and accommodation and everything went very smoothly. During the booking process, she gave excellent advice on itinerary choices and was incredibly prompt to get back to us with any information or bookings we requested.
This is our second time booking through African Welcome Safaris (fourth time travelling to Africa), and as an Australian I would encourage Aussies to consider booking through a local operator - we were able to save a very significant amount of money compared to when we have travelled with an Australian based agency, plus Kathi's local knowledge was far superior and made the transfers/itinerary far more efficient than we have experienced in the past with other agencies.
Because we had specific animals in mind on this trip, we went to Phinda Forest and Mountain Lodge in Kwa Zulu Natal, and Ngala Safari Lodge, Kirkman's Kamp, and Arathusa in the Kruger area. The lodges and staff in all locations were absolutely fantastic and I can highly recommend them all. There were pros and cons to the game viewing in South Africa- the density of game was very sparse compared to Kenya or Tanzania, however being private reserves, we were able to go off-road and get very close to the animals we particularly wanted to see (Leopard, Cheetah, Black Rhino and African Wild Dogs). So we were able to get great photos of these animals which we are very thankful for, but we did miss the sheer volume of the other animals (zebra, wildebeest, giraffe, elephants, various antelope etc) that we have seen on other safaris.
Overall we had a fantastic experience thanks to Kathi at African Welcome Safaris and highly recommend her, along with &Beyond lodges.
AE
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Incredible value, friendly service, and a vacation I'll remember forever!
I just came back from a three-day Masai Mara safari operated by Safe Ride. I had selected them mainly on price, and was originally a bit worried that it would not be a comfortable or "authentic" safari experience. These concerns were completely misplaced - it was wonderful!
From beginning to end the entire experience was completely professional. Every email was answered clearly and promptly. We were picked up at our hotel right on time. Paying was easy, our driver Joseph was extremely friendly, and knew all of the animals. Actually, Joseph was incredible - 20 years experience on safari... a real pro, with a friendly attitude and nice laugh!
The tent-style accommodations at the Manyata camp were rustic, but clean and totally adequate. Basically, it's a concrete floor with thick canvas walls, and a roof canopy that goes over the canvas tent roof and provides plenty of shade and protection. No water leakage in spite of torrential rains overnight. The in-tent showers were hot, the beds were comfortable. Actually, I would feel like kind of a phony to be in one of the luxury-type places on safari. (Come on... you're doing this whole thing to experience the wilderness, do you really need high thread-count sheets and a polished brass washbasin?) The food was simple but hot, filling and plentiful.
There were four in our group, and we were matched up with a group of three other travelers, and one solo. We really enjoyed the extra company, especially because some of the other travelers were native Kenyans who helped us to bargain hunt for souvenirs.
We were especially grateful that safe ride operated a four-wheel-drive vehicle, because several of the other companies did not, and they got stuck in mud that arose due to rainy conditions. The vehicle also provided excellent views of the wildlife -- it had a pop-up roof that seems to be the norm among the other vehicles we saw in the park.
In conclusion: our experience was worth every penny that we paid. The kids loved it, we were well looked after, and I highly recommend the experience.
NL
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Ecellent Best of Kenya Safari Eperience With apersonal touch!!
Want the best of safari experience that meets your desires and delivers to your expectations? Then superscript Africa safari and her team of excellent professionals is the company to walk you to the wild for an excellent wildlife safari experience.
We are a group of 42 students taking our research at edgerton university and then decided to have a taste of the African/kenya has to offer. We Gore to Simon milanbo through recommendation from my two great friends from Netherlands who had a safari experience with this mighty company.
Simon was very helpfully in array gong our 6days best of kenya luxury safari,vety swift in his mail responses giving detail by detail,flexible and most importantly the safari cost is very pocket friendly.
The massive Mara accommodation at the solar lodges was excellent and our guide phanuel and Derick were the best guides we could ever had for the entire trip. Very flexible, have great passion and love for their job. Very knowledgeable and explained everything into details leaving nothing untouchable from insects, birds,trees and animals. At some point we felt like we were taken back to the lecture room that was very much I.portant to us as it was online with our research topic.
We were the first to get to the animals,have best shots and then derick would communicate to the others to come have a shot too.
We saw almost all the big five just in one day and the rest of the day was just like a bonus. Each and every day we did get to learn something new.
Trip to lake nakuru/Naivasha was excellent,the accommodatio ns were excellent and located right at the heart of the park, we got so close to the Animals on foot in lake naivasha on a walking safari,bicycle ridind and more amazing part of it was the boat ride to the crescent island which is a paradise on its own.
The trip was amazing,excellent,very much accommodating team of staff full of great sence of humour.
Wildrace Africa exceeded our expectation and sure will always recommend this company for their kind and excellent work.
Keep it up Simon, when we get back home, we will send you our group in April 2016.
God bless you and your entire team till we meet again.
Cheers!
KW
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Professional and Fun
We just finished a 5 days-4 nights safari including Norongoro, Serengeti and Ndutu areas. We loved our experience. We were 5, including 2 children (9 and 14). Our guide-driver, Edgar, was absolutely outstanding. He was knowledgeable, friendly and caring. The owner, Richard, was also dedicated and strives for excellence in customer service. We strongly recommend this operator for taking care of your safari. We have lovely memories, because we could focus on the purpose of our stay. We were also impressed by he professionalism of this operator