NL
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Good service, good planning, everything perfectly arranged.
Excellent communication with Jude. She kept us well informed and sent us information by mail. We where picked up for the safari tour (great).The northern safari was amazing, especially because this was the first encounter with the wildlife. The tents were fine and the food was good. The hotels were also amazing. A taxidriver picked us up. The Southwest safari was even better. The company was excellent. The driver and the tourguide had mach knowledge of thee area and the wildlife. The hotels al Zanzibar were also great. Good beds, good breakfast. Ik was a holiday to remember. Thans a lot.
US
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Best travel experience ever
Marianne Birrell Safaris put together the most fantastic trip for us, giving excellent guidance and advice from beginning to end. Our four-day stay at Ngala Safari Lodge was outstanding in every respect, and our five days in Cape Town were superb. This was our first safari experience, but--as former airline employees--my wife and I are experienced travelers, including destinations in the Far East, South America, the Caribbean (lots!), Russia, and Europe (30+).
Marianne gave us excellent advice with respect to when to travel, what to bring, where to stay, and what to see.
She advised us to travel to the Kruger Park area before the bush vegetation started to fill in, which makes game viewing more difficult, and then continue to Cape Town to get slightly longer days and warmer temperatures. The weather was indeed ideal at the game reserve and the game viewing experience at Ngala could not have been better--notably rhinos, hippos (in the water), leopards, and plenty of lions, elephants, and buffalo. The Cape Town weather was also nearly perfect--one gray day out of five and just an occasional need for a light jacket. Marianne certainly knows the South Africa weather patterns!
Marianne's recommendation of the accommodations was also superb. We started planning the trip in August, which narrowed the choices due to decreased availability. We were lucky that one of Marianne's favorites, Ngala Safari Lodge, opened up during our Sept-Oct travel window. At Ngala, the thatched huts were quite comfortable, every meal was excellent , and the service was highly attentive. Every game drive brought a new and exciting experience. It was as if the six of us in the vehicle, in addition to our ranger Andre and our tracker Joseph (both amazing at spotting the animals), had the 35,000 acre private reserve all to ourselves. I don't know how Marianne did it, but we had one of the most private locations at the lodge--no walkways to any other hut passing near us.
In Cape Town we stayed at the Mount Nelson. Marianne would have us stay nowhere else. We had a fabulous room with a beautiful view to Table Mountain. The hotel service is excellent, the grounds are gorgeous, and the area is quiet at night . The breakfast buffet rivals that of any hotel in the world, and the high tea is just amazing. Thanks to Marianne's advice, we were able to get the right tours to see the most important highlights in the short time we had--wineries, Kirstenbosch, the peninsula (not impressed with the penguin colony, however), the V&A Waterfront (including harbor cruise), and whale watching in Hermanus.
Marianne also has put together a most helpful list of what to bring. We try to travel only with carry-on (thank goodness Ngala does laundry!), and we had everything we needed (including binoculars and three cameras) and nothing that was surplus (except the mosquito spray--hardly any mosquitoes around anywhere).
Communications with Marianne Birrell Safaris were excellent. We exchanged probably fifty or more emails planning and confirming details of the trip, and the responses were always prompt. Marianne also kept in touch with us while we were traveling, either by email or text, which was quite comforting although we had no glitches (for the first time ever in all our travels) anywhere along the way. She made sure we had the contact information also for the taxi service she arranged for the airport transfers, but they were reliable and on time. Marianne prepared every aspect of our trip so that it could not have run smoother.
For our next trip to South Africa, we will definitely turn to Marianne Birrell Safaris!
AE
awesome lifetime experience wth Adventure Africa expedition
We are extremely satisfied wth all the services provided by adventure Africa Expedition in our safari tour of kenya for 13 days ..wish them a very good luck and looking forward for another safari tour wth them ..
DE
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Well organised
Jo was very helpful and efficient and the arrangements were perfect. The parks visited and standard of accommodation is exactly what we wanted and we are glad we went for the private option and had the luxury of the jeep and private guide Thomas who knew his flora and fauna and was an entertaining person to be around. My parents will be visiting next summer and will want to do the same trip with you.
Great day tour during a long layover in Harare!
Nyati Travel & Tours organized a lovely day tour for our family during a layover in Harare. Terence from Nyati proposed that we go to Chivero, which is a lake and small nature reserve close to Harare. Even though we had just come back from Mana Pools, we agree that Chivero was a good choice, as we saw loads of rhinos and quite a few other animals. Seeing the rhinos capped off a great safari in Zimbabwe. Our guide/driver for the day, John was fantastic and took good care of us. Everything was well planned and executed: from providing tour options over email at very short notice, to confirming with us by reaching out to the remote wilderness camp where we were staying in Mana Pools (we did not have access to phone signal there, but Nyati called the camp to confirm), and ultimately picking us up and dropping us back at the airport on time.
I highly recommend this company and will look forward to using their services when I am again in Zimbabwe.
US
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
My family of four had a tour to Masaai Mara and Lake Nakuru and the adventures was memorable.
We will definitely recommend it to our friends and family.
DE
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amazing tour operator, great value for money!
We did a 7 days safari with Safari Multiways, Patrick being our guide. During planning, I had contacted around 20 tour operators asking a quote for the same tentative itinerary and requirements. Romeo was the only one who immediately understood our needs and came up with an almost perfect itinerary and unbeatable price. Only a few minor updates later we were ready to go for an adventure of a lifetime.
The safari vehicle was in good condition, serviced the day before starting the safari. We had no break downs at all despite the bumpy and muddy roads. And we think this was a bit of luck but mainly due to hard work of Patrick the entire time. He was not only an excellent driver guide but also a mechanist, who checked the car every night despite driving 12 hours non-stop. He noticed and changed a flat tire in the evening while we were enjoying our drinks. He is really a tough guy who doesn't get tired and works approximately 18 hours a day during safari tour. We felt great respect for him and his endurance. He was also great in spotting the animals. We made a wish, and he made it come true beyond our expectations. We wished to see a male lion, he found 3 of them within a pride with cubs and all that, up close. We wished to see a leopard, he found one with 2 cubs. We wished to see a cheetah, he found 4 of them planning a hunt. And the list goes on...We were also lucky to see lions having a buffet on a rhino, a rare thing to spot according to Patrick. He is also very friendly, and funny. All in all we had an amazing week with Patrick with loads of precious moments of laughter that we will remember forever.
If you are considering a safari in Tanzania, look no further and go with Safari Multiways - and ask for Patrick as your guide.
Romeo booked also our domestic flights, he is an official Coastal Aviation agent at the same time. It was very convenient to have everything organized by him.
Thank you Romeo and Patrick for such a marvelous experience!
DK
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
We had an excellent experience. Highly recommended!!
We had a great experience with Taylor Safaris. It was recommended to us by a German girl that has been living in Tanzania for some years now. We decided how many days and which parks we wanted to visit also with some of their advice, we did 3 days-3 parks: Tarangire, Ngorongoro and Lake Manyara - very recommended since the scenery and animals vary from park to park. At the end of the day I guess it all goes down to which driver/tour guide you get, we had Timothy, only have good words about him, good person, great sense of humor and very skilled at spotting animals. It was my sister and me on the safari, we realised it could have been very different with some other tour guide..we got the best!
NL
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Very Unique
Tanzania is such a lovely country, good people, good food and not forgetting the best taste of kilimanjaro beer all these combined made my safari extraordinary. Thanks to African Insight Safaris for your kind arrangement.
ES
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Thank you
Thank you for this experience
Thank you for an amazing experience. Your team were very knowledgeable and made it a very enjoyable experience too.