50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Review about Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Game Reserve by Alan Crawford
Hluhluwe iMfolozi Game Reserve is based in KwaZulu Natal and is the third biggest South African game reserve. The reserve is well known for bringing the rhino population back from possible extinction. The big five can be spotted at this reserve. The reserve is also close to the Isimangaliso Wetland Park a world heritage sight.
50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Review about Golden Gate Highlands National Park by Alan Crawford
Golden Gate National Park is based in the northern reaches of the Drakensberg mountain range and the Maluti mountains and is a great destination for hiking amongst high sandstone rock formations. The park contains wildlife found in the mountains of South Africa. A visit from here to the Drakensberg mountain resorts is also possible.
50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Review about Augrabies Falls National Park by Alan Crawford
Augrabies Falls National Park contains the Augrabies falls where the Orange (Gariep) River carves it path through scenic gorges. The falls are spectacular after periods of high rainfall. A number of animals including Black Rhino can be seen in this arid park.
Very professional, kind and helpful
Our good experience with African Adventure Safaris has started at the very first mail to the company with our intention to do the Uganda safari. Nicholas was extremely efficient in these e-mail communications. He replied promptly and effectively and helped us to plan according to our wishes, and was very flexible in any changes we wished to make. Upon arrival we met Rogers, our driver and guide for the week. Rogers also was very kind, professional and tried to follow our needs and requests as possible. Except from one location, we asked for a budget tour, and we had quite good accommodations with excellent food in all of them. The car was very comfortable and Rogers tried hard that we will get the most from our safari tours. The safaris were excellent – once in a lifetime experience.
US
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Very good game drive with Right Choice
When I was looking around for a good tour, I have contacted several tours as their prices all fell within my consideration. I did not consider the tours for which the prices were too high.
I like the Right Choice Tour because the manager George was always provided very quick responses. Based on many researches that I did and experiences from other people that I gathered, I proposed my own route and requirements. George always helped and supported. For example, I really wanted to see is flamingos; I asked if I couldn’t see them at Lake Nakuru, I would want to go to Lake Bogoria. I also asked to add one hour boat ride at Lake Naivasha, etc. In terms of the price, George was very fair. So that’s why I decided to pick this tour group.
My trip was seven days plus the first day of arrival. We were three families going together. We arrived at Nairobi with 3 different times. George picked us one family by another to our hotel without charging us very much. We made a mistake booking the hotel in the center of the city and this was paid for the first night ourselves. We thought that we had some time to sightsee in the city so it would be more convenient to book the hotel there. But we didn’t expect such big traffic from the airport to the city center. It took us two to three hours to get to the hotel from the airport, which got us really exhausted. The hotel also really sucked. It’s 75$/per night and we’ve never lived in such a bad hotel before. It really hit us hard on the head. We didn’t even dare to go out to eat since there were so many homeless beggars on the street so the street looked really unsafe. Not only that, the second day we had to get out of the city center, and encountered the same bad traffic. If we had lived near the airport we would’ve avoided the traffic both times. It would’ve been nice if George could’ve made some suggestions beforehand.
Our game drive ride was a minivan. The vehicle is resilient although it was not as good-looking as the jeeps. We thought that there would be Wi-Fi on the van also the van has a sticker saying Wi-Fi on boat, but there was no Wi-Fi. So we were a bit disappointed about that. Due to the fact that going to every single route took a long time, approximately 4 hours, it would’ve been nice if we had Wi-Fi. Because then we could contact our family and friends about how we were at the moment.
Tom was our driver and he was professional, drove fast but also safely. Every single time we arrived earlier than I expected. He also constantly consoling us that the destination was near and that there were no more bump road ahead. That made us feel more comfortable.
We stayed in Masai Mara National Reserve for three nights. The arranged lodging that George made for us was the Masai Mara Sopa Lodge. It was a very comfortable stay, food was good also. We also had a formal dinner which made us really happy. Everybody said that the lodge and its service were out of their expectations. There was also WiFi in lobby.
During the two-days game drive in Masai Mara. Tom was very fast in finding the animals and was very diligent in helping us finding everything that we wanted to see. Under his guidance, we saw a lot of animals, especially lions. We actually saw lions mating twice and saw male lions many times. We also had a really rare encounter with cheetahs in pre-breakfast game drive. Tom also negotiated with us regarding changes. For example, if we go to see Masai Mara river he suggested us to bring our lunch, so that we save time going back and forth. He also took us to another lodge for resting and eating lunch. The surrounding environment was really nice. He cared about if we were not happy about something by constantly asking us if everything was okay. He was also humorous at times and made us laugh. We really liked him and thought he was an honest person. We were very satisfied with our Game Drive at Masai Mara.
When we left Masai Mara, we went to Lake Nakura and stayed there for one day. George arranged that we stay at Lake Nakuru Lodge. The place was also really good, only that there was an extra charge for WiFi so that was a big disappointing. At Lake Nakuru Park, we have seen black and white rhinocerose. This completed seeing the “Big Five” from our top wish-list for this trip. But I was disappointed that we didn’t get to see the flamingo at Lake Nakuru. Tom drove very far distances and tried to see them on the side of the lake with no luck.
After reading so many other people’s trip diaries, I learnt that apparently the chances nowadays for seeing them at Lake Nakuru is rare. That’s why from the beginning I asked to go to Lake Bogoria if we don’t see flamingo in Lake Nakuru. I thought I have I had a back-up plan that if I couldn’t see them at Lake Nakuru then I’ll try Lake Bogoria. That was what we agreed in the contract. But I wasn’t notified until that point that apparently we had to pay 50$/per person out of our pockets. But that wasn’t what was written in the contract so I hope in the future I would be made clear on this. We did not go Lake Bogoria. I felt upset that the fact that I did so much homework finding them was wasted, especially I have promised my friends we could see them either in lake Nakuru or Bogoria. Another thing is that the trip route that day was not reasonable and I didn’t find this out until we got there. If we came out of Masai Mala we had to go straight to Lake Bogoria to first see the flamingos and then come back to stay at Lake Nakuru, wouldn’t there be a lot more chances. Also from Masai Mala to Lake Nakuru, why did we have to pass Nairobi city center for lunch? Was it because we need settle the accounts? We met a lot of traffic passing through Nairobi again. If in this trip when we settled the contracts, George can be a bit meticulous in helping us fix these little things that would be good.
The last part of the trip we stayed at Amboseli National Park for two days. We wanted to go see Mt. Kilimanjaro. Staying two days was also a back-up plan for me because many people who stayed one day did not get to see Mt. Kilimanjaro. We finally saw Mt. Kilimanjaro on the second day evening and that is really existing and nice. The lodging there that George arranged for us was also really good. It was at Kibo Safari Lodge but too bad that it didn’t have Wi-Fi at all. Compare to Masai Mara, Amboseli National Park didn’t have a lot of exotic animals, mostly elephants so it wasn’t as exciting. But Tom still worked really hard helping us find animals that we’ve never seen before so we still saw a few animals that we haven’t seen at Masai Mara.
We finally successfully finished this entire itinerary. We rate the tour 80 points. Overall it’s pretty good. How many people wanted to go to Africa to see animals, it came true for us!
CA
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Outstanding safari
I visited Zambia for the first time on a MTT tour with my mother, and could not have been happier with our experience. Leslie from MTT organized a unique safari where we were able to incorporate two different National Parks (South Luangwa and Kafue) and visit some very special areas off the beaten track. The vehicle that was provided for the safari was lovely, and our driver for the duration of the trip was wonderful. Leslie was prompt in all of our correspondence and nothing was left out in the organization of the trip. She has such a wealth of information and experience, and provided us with a truly tailor-made experience. I would recommend MTT to anyone considering a safari, and I will certainly travel with MTT again in the (hopefully near) future.
CA
Review about Serengeti National Park by Terry Allen, allenfotowild
One of the great safari destinations with several locations that allow off-road access.
CA
Review about Arusha National Park by Terry Allen, allenfotowild
Small park, easy to get to with some wonderful mountain scenery. Limited selection of wildlife.
FR
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Just what I expected and more !
I discovered this young company totally out of random researches and consider myself lucky ! My trek to the Kili was fantastic (Rongai route). I was really well taken care of by Sylvia before and after Kili (she picked me up at the airport with Martin ; they drove me to my couchsurfing adress, picked me there the next day, took me back there after the trek...). As for the trip itself I couldn't dream of a better one especially thanks to my my guide, Ernest, whom I found absolutely delicious, nice, careful and professional. I really enjoyed my week in his company and since he speaks good English we had great discussions all the time.
Concerning the preparation, Joao (mail contact) was a delight and always ready to give all the informations you might need (and even more sometimes). I highly recommand this young company, and also to check out the homestay experiences they offer aswell (I stayed as a volunteer in Majoe village). Thanks guys !
HK
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
An Awesome Lifetime Experience in Tanzania
Me and my friends went on for Safari and trekked Kilimanjaro with the team from African Scenic Safaris. Amanda has assisted us a lot starting from our initial enquiry and planning very efficiently. We went trekking for 6 days and the guides were professional and we made to the top. The food, the tent, the people were all great and all these were important to make our trekking success. Our guides were Ami and Daudi, and they talked and shared a lot with us during our trip and made it much more fun! We went to Safari afterwards for 4 days. The team rearranged the schedule for us so we could catch our flight on the last day. Although our schedule was a bit tight, we were able to see the big 5 and migrations of the wildebeest.
This was my first time to Africa and it has just been awesome. The team of African Scenic Safaris definitely provided what you needed and served us the best. Not only treating the clients well, they also address the potters fairly well. I highly recommend people visiting Africa to join the Safari and Trekking with them! :)