50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
A great driving safari covering a cross-section of Kenya
We booked a complex safari with 4 different destinations only a week or so ahead of time in peak season. John was amazingly quick and efficient at setting things up, including changing one of the lodges for something more out-of-the-way. Our driver/guide, Richard, drove well and worked extremely hard each day to give us the best possible experience (including handling a breakdown by replacing parts rather than trying to patch things together until we got back to Nairobi). It did feel a bit rushed at times, but that was partly because the itinerary we chose covered a lot of ground and both Nakuru and the Mara were pretty crowded in peak season. Landscapes and game viewing were amazing – including all the big 5 and much more. I would definitely recommend if you’re looking to pack a lot into a short trip.
JP
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Saw many animals in the wild with great guide and driver
I took an overnight Mikumi Safari tour on Saturday and Sunday. I initially signed up for this tour alone because it said it was a group tour, but when I found out there were no other guests, I invited two other people to join me.
The transportation in and from Mikumi to Camp Bastian was a used Nissan Safari. It had been modified to have three tiers of chairs and the doors had been removed so we could see the animals with a large field of view. In Japan, safari vehicles are often enclosed in cages, but the safari here is not an artificial gathering of animals, so you don't get too close to them. We drove slowly, looking for animals as if we were hunting, and when we found an animal or bird, our guide gave us a detailed explanation in English. Our guide was LADISLAUS, who studied zoology in Dar es Salaam and received training in national parks. He is a young man with two years of mikumi experience, but he reads illustrated books and studies diligently on a daily basis, and he was very interested in the animals in Japan.
Although there was a miscommunication that the number of rooms at Camp Sebastian did not match the number we had reserved, the lodging was cleaner and more stylish than we had expected. It gets cold at night and the windows don't close, so if you are cold, you may want to bring a blanket. There are towels and a pool, but no soap.
On the second day, we were transferred to Dar es Salaam. Same Alphard as on the way there? (a larger, better cushioned car) and departed at 7:00 am. On the road through the mikumi, we saw giraffes, zebras, and monkeys. We returned to Dar es Salaam before 3 pm. We had a restroom break at a clean place on the road and a store. Our driver, Ezekiel, was friendly and used to be a driver for a Japanese tour company. He has been a driver for a long time, so you can rest assured.
Lunch and dinner on the first day and breakfast on the second day were buffet style, and lunch on the second day was a camp box lunch.
The car ride was long, but it was a comfortable drive and we saw a lot of animals, so we were satisfied. Thank you very much.
HK
65+ years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Exciting & wonderful
Good and comfortable arrangement for the tour moreover accommodation, transportation,activity and a good driver and tour guide.
US
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Memorable experience, wonderful guides!
Glory and Eric were wonderful guides on our 5 day tour through Ngorongoro, Tarangire, Lake Manyara, and the Serengeti. They are both kind, knowledgeable guides who prioritized our wellbeing and worked hard to ensure we had a great experience. The company was quick to respond and helped us to personalize our itinerary. John even jumped on a call to help talk us through the personalization options. Overall, we were satisfied with the excellent service of Sercer, and we will continue to keep in touch with dear Glory and Eric who were fantastic hosts.
We unfortunately had a few issues. None of these issues got in the way of us having a wonderful experience with a great tour operator, but they are worth mentioning... First, we had vehicle issues which unfortunately cut into how much time we were able to spend exploring the Serengeti. The roads are quite rough so we understood that the vehicle difficulties were hard to avoid. Second, our itinerary changed slightly from what we had agreed upon in advance when we paid for the tour. We were set to stay in a luxury tented area within Ngorongoro, but when that was unavailable, we ended up staying at a lodge that was over an hour away and was not in the nature preserve we had planned for. While the resort was lovely, this was disappointing as it added to driving after a long day and we did not get an updated itinerary was not what we had anticipated. Finally, John organized transportation for us at the end of our tour to return to Dar es Salaam, which was very helpful. However, the driver showed up an hour late, which was disappointing as we woke up early to be ready for the driver.
But overall, these issues were relatively small compared to the wonderful memories we made on the trip. Thank you to the Sercer team for curating an unforgettable experience for us!
US
65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
The experience was very efficient and imformative.
Our experience working with Jessica went very well. We had been referred to her by some friends who had used her the previous year and were also happy with their Safari. The only thing we were a little disappointed in was our two hard tented camps in Tanzania. The staff were wonderful and very accommodating, the food and condition of the properties were not quite what we had hoped for. We would upgrade to nicer facilities on our next trip. Both of our guides, Frank and Bosco, were first class in service, knowledge and personality.
MY
20-35 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Recommended
Brian was on time and it was easy to communicate with him. He was nice, humble and patient. Brian picked us up from our hotel in Victoria Falls and dropped us at the border of Botswana. Do note that it is not him who drives you to the activities in Botswana - it would be a different operator in Botswana.
While there were some delays on the Botswana side, we did end up having a nice day for a short game drive in the late morning (2 hours) and a boat safari/cruise in the afternoon.
HK
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Shadow of Africa is a good and responsible agency and their guides also give us an unforgettable exp
The Shadow of Africa provided us a great experience for the whole trip. Starting from the planning, their staff, Karen ,drafted our itinerary based on our needs and budget. She also provided many useful information, including the latest situation of Kenya and Masa Marai before trip which eased our concerns.
During the travel, we met two guides, Johnson and Edwin, in Kenya and Tanzania respectively. Both of them are professional and knowledgeable to share their fruitful information to us during the safari. They are very friendly to us. Under their guiding, we have collected all the big 5 and witness the crossing during our journey!
However, we wanted to express that the condition of the safari vehicles could be improved. The sockets in one of the car were found not working while the other safari car has a technical issue that it need to be repaired 3 times throughout our journey in Tanzania. One episode also costed our time of safari for 2-3hour. We provided our feedback to the staff of their company. Their representative conducted an evaluation with us to listen to our feedback at the end of the whole trip (which we really appreciated) and they also apologised for the car issue to us.
To conclude, Shadow of Africa is a good and responsible agency and their guides also give us an unforgettable experience for our first safari trip. Despite of some technical issues of the vehicle, it is still a really good choice for your safari trip.
US
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great tour leader
Our tour leader, Mr. Focus, was amazing. He was nice and knowledgable and shared alot of facts regarding different animals life style. He always tried to find different animals and provide a best angle for us to watch them. He respected our wishes to stay longer to watch migration in north.
food was good and hotels were clean. Unfortunately, alot of them didn’t have proper wifi.
There are few complains. The main one is, it seems the tour company paid for 48 hours Serengeti park entrance fee while we supposed to stay three days there. we supposed to stay in center serengeti for one day and two days in north serengeti. while it was not easy to do that by this limited time (48hrs). So after one day staying in center and one day at north, we had to change our plan from second day at north to center. Although our game drive on center also was short on third day which is a disappointed.
Also it was better if we had more detailed plan of day to day activities before starting the tour. It was not clear to us how many hours we are going to do game drives per day when we booked the tour. Eventhough they mentioned the hours of transfer per day, it was not even close to reality. We had much longer transfer time each day, almost double to what they mentioned. So the game drive per day was max 2-3 hours. It seems the person who arrange and plan the tour, he never went actually on the tour or not talk to their tour leaders to share a more realistic safari plan.
Besides, planning, everything else was good, especially our tour leader, Mr. Focus.
DE
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Good driver, nice hotels, wonderful nature, car could have been better
Our driver Moses was very good and really managed to get us to the best spots to see the animals. Also, driving in the highway with traffic requires good skills and Moses did fantastic. Regarding hotels, they were really comfortable and the food was good. The only thing that could have been better is the car. We were told we were getting a 4x4 and that was not the case. After I complained we changed car, but had a detour of 2 hours to get the 4x4. The 4x4 we got was a very worn out toyota bus converted into a "safari car". I would strongly suggest to get a decent Toyota Landcruiser for your safaris (as 95% of people do).
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Reliable and a real gentleman
No binocular provided upon arrival. The other part is perfect👍🏼