NZ
65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
Terrific Tanzanian Safari!
Our safari experience with Awaken to Africa was truly excellent. Very good communication, itinerary, and accommodation organized by Grace. Our guide David, a most genial and likable man, took such good care of us. He is a hugely experienced naturalist, with encyclopedic knowledge of the Tanzanian fauna and flora and was selfless in going the extra mile to ensure our safari was the simply the best. Our experience with Awaken to Africa was 5 Star and I have no hesitation in wholeheartedly recommending this company to future safari travelers.
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Another amazing adventure!
Rose certainly came up trumps again with another exciting itinerary in South Africa. This was our second trip organised by The Luxury Safari Company Ltd and won't be the last.
We returned to to the Sabi Sand Private Reserve and stayed at Chitwa Chitwa, where we loved being so close to the resident snorting hippos on the lake. The elephants came to have a splash around in the lake one afternoon and they put on a great show. Buffalo and water buck also frequented the banks of the lake, as well as a crocodile and a variety of birds. We had some excellent viewings, including two leopard brothers, one up a tree crunching on an impala, whilst his sibling waited patiently below for his turn. Then we explored a different part of the country, Kwa Zulu Natal. What a beautiful and diverse area! We had a stay at the Oyster Box in Durban, a charming old colonial style hotel. Then we headed to off to the Drakensberg mountains to stay in the Midlands at the very scenic Cleopatra Mountain Farmhouse. The food there is excellent, but you will pile on the pounds. There are plenty of walking opportunities on your doorstep though to walk off those calories. If you are interested in the Anglo Zulu war, then Fugitive's Drift is the place to stay. We had no real interest, but took part in the organised trips to Isandlwana and Rorke's Drift. You could not fail to be touched by the expertly related stories, although it was a little too detailed and lengthy for us! Then we drove to an idyllic beach retreat in a very remote area. Thonga Beach Lodge was very civilised, but so far away from civilisation. Total relaxation, a pristine beach you can walk along for miles and miles, and extremely warm and friendly staff from the local village. We were invited to church in the village and we spent an unforgettable afternoon with the Mabibi people who really touched our hearts and brought us to tears with their melodic singing harmonies. We left Thonga with a tear in our eye. Then finally, we enjoyed a second safari at Phinda Forest Lodge. As well as the big five, we saw lots of cheetahs and fluffy young cubs - such beautiful creatures. We also watched the lions and their cubs eating a variety of kills, which we have never seen before, and although a bit gory, it was strangely excellent viewing! We even saw the elusive aardvark one evening which is a real privilege!
We returned home feeling like we had really seen a slice of the real Africa. We drove through varied landscapes, met some lovely Zulu people and lots of other interesting people along the way. Thanks Rose for organising another brilliant and unforgettable trip!
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Ubuntu run a seamless operation from day one to last day . We would definately use them again.
Everything from initial communications inquiring about safari's to Kenya and Tanzania to actually commencing and finishing the safari tour was handled with courtesy and 100% professionalism. The safari tour lived up to our expectations and more. We would definitely use Ubuntu again for Travel in Africa.
US
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Perfect crew for an amazing honeymoon
We can't recommend Kilimanjaro Brothers enough. We had planned to have our honeymoon in Tanzania with a safari, climbing Kilimanjaro and ending in Zanzibar. Organizing our trip with George was efficient and simple. More than that, when we arrived at the airport, George was happily waiting for us with our safari guide and even a camera person to document our arrival. Everything was exactly as described. After the safari, we started the trek to Kilimanjaro. Our guides Peter and Priscus were so professional and unbelievably supportive and helpful. They were truly top-notch. I had hiked in Nepal before and was anticipating a similar trekking experience - but hands down, Kilimanjaro Brothers had such a professional and caring air to them - truly exceptional. After the trek, which was fantastic (food, tents, staff and all) - when we were dropped at the hotel, we didn't realize that George and his crew had set up a little party for us. Even giving us embroidered sheets with our names on them - wanting our experience to be special because it was our honeymoon. It truly felt like a small African wedding.
We really appreciated the Kilimanjaro Brothers because it is a small, local company - and you can feel how much they care about making your experience worthwhile and special. We are happy to call George, Peter, Priscus and our whole crew friends. Thanks for an incredible time.
Amazing trip
This safari tour in Tanzania really exceeded my expectation. My friend an I enjoyed 6 days safari with kilislope, Nova our driver and guide is very knowledgeable with charming and calm character, safe driving but always sure on time, we got see all what we wanted and actually even more.
Serengeti is a dream place and I would come back one day.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
missold package
We have missold a Safari Package, we took the Kenya and Tanzania package as advertised on their website and we paid $1700 per person for 10 nights.
First of all Karibu Safari is not licensed to operate in Kenya, so basically they took us to the border, put us on a transfer and gave us to a different agency... very different from what we had paid for and we were expecting
Karibu Safari and Robert demonstrated their incompetence from the information stage until the organization stage of our trip.
More specifically we experienced the following issues:
1) they sold us a package with max 6 people in the van and for 4 days there were 7 people in the car
2) WIFI at lodges and hotels, Robert told us that there was WIFI at the lodges and hotel in Kenya but there was not WIFI in any of the lodges in Kenya & Tanzania, the quality of the lodges and the services offered was ridiculous, we spoke with other travelers and our lodges were the cheapest and the worst ones that you can find...
3) Waiting time, on the way from masai mara to lake nakuru, we have to wait 3 hours in the middle of the road for an other car to change passengers and due to this inconvenient we lost our night game drive to lake nakuru
4) Lake nakuru to Amboseli trip: they told us that was 4 hours driving when it took more than 10 hours due to the fact that we have to go to Nairobi to pick an other tourist and got stuck in the traffic
5)Passing from Kenya to Tanzania, we had to wait 4 hours, the transfer that Karibu arranged for us did not have valid documents to pass the border, as a result of it a group of 14 people spent 4 hours with 40 degrees waiting.... a taxy would have costed $30 and would have avoided our group of 4 people waiting 4 hours.
The result of this 4 hours waiting time was the shift of lake manyara and the cancellation of our night at ngorongoro camp, again this is not what we have paid for and with a little bit of care and attention should have been avoided, we were not paying the price for a budget safari and there are not excuses for this lack of organization, an agency who arrange a crossborder transfer with a car who has not documents should be closed straight away....
6) We were in the group with Tanya (you can read the other 1 star review) and we agree with everything that she said, Karibu staff was just rude and careless promising things that they were not willing to do just looking how to get few more dollars...
I really cannot believe that the 5 stars review are genuine, personally we had a terrible experience and the worst element was the discussion with Robert and the other Karibu staff who wanted to be right and cannot accept the evidence, after several discussion they apologized and they refused to offer a compensation for all the inconvenience that we suffered.
Robert and his staff think that the fact that they have not left us in the middle of the road is a success, they have no idea of what it means customer service and they think that tourists are just chicken to get money out of it, they cannot understand customer need and if they only wanted to, they could have offered a much better service making customers happy and giving value for the money spent
US
50-65 years of age
Our amazing safari with Safari-Infinity
My two adult children ages , 28 and 26, and I recently returned from a dream safari in Zanzibar along with several days in Zanzibar. After careful research we made the decision to use Safari-Infinity as our tour company. It was the best decision we could have made! From the very first email I sent inquiring about booking a safari I received extraordinary customer service. As anyone planning a safari knows it can be a huge undertaking! The decision was made to use Safari-Infinity after the first email I received from Lucia Lee. She took care of the whole trip from beginning to end - the safari as well as our trip to Zanzibar. Lucia was willing to customize the trip to meet my families needs. We planned a ten day safari to Lake Manyara, Ngorongoro Crater, Taragire, the central and western Serengeti. We also spent one day near Mt. Kilimanjaro. We flew to Zanzibar and spent two days in Stone Town followed by five days in Nungwi. Lucia took care of all six of our accommodations for the safari and accommodations in Stone Town as well as an all-inclusive resort in Nungwi. We stayed in two lodges and four tented camps for our safari and every place we stayed was amazing!!! The whole trip was fantastic and every detail was handled by Safari-Infinity. I cannot say enough great things about Safari-Infinity. We also got to meet Lucia and her husband Simon which felt like meeting old friends after all the correspondence between us before we left on our trip! Another important part of a safari is your guide and our guide Rapheile was fantastic. He was very knowledgeable about wildlife. He went above and beyond to make sure that we saw as much wildlife as possible. He always did special things to make each day great and he was a great photographer to! I guarantee you will not be disappointed if you choose Safari-Infinity for your safari. It was a very personalized safari which made it fantastic.
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Exceptional Safari Experience
Asili is the Swahili word for nature, and it's not surprising Joe chose this for his business - he's love, respect, and wonder of nature is evident from the outset and an integral part of the Asili Safari experience.
After working as a guide for many years, Joe started his own safari business, and is as committed to growing it as he is to ensuring you have the best safari experience possible. His knowledge of the Serengeti and other game parks, the animals, their habits and habitats meant we saw an abundance of animals, and gained precious insights to their world.
I highly recommend choosing Asili explorer if you want a genuine, local experience by a highly driven, enthusiastic and knowledgable expert.
US
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Outstanding service and planning - amazing company and safari!
Wow! We can't recommend Safari Specailists enough. Nadine helped us plan and organize the most memorable trip of lives. Nadine was always super responsive to our many,many questions during the planning phase and we even skyped a bunch of times (we are in California) to discuss options and help us understand how to build a custom made safari that was perfect for us. Her knowledge of botswana and the camps was outstanding. The trip was perfect - from road transfers, flights and accomodation everything worked like clockwork. We fell in love with botswana and so please we got to work with such a wonderful local women run company. We can't wait to back and can't wait to work with Safari Specialists again.
Incredible, memorable vacation
My wife and I just finished an 8 day safari with Awaken to Africa and couldn’t be happier with our experience. We had never been on a safari before and had a lot of questions. Grace did an amazing job helping us pick out lodging, counseling us on what to expect, and providing a detailed packing list. Once on the ground in Tanzania, our guide David Mshana led us through the experience of a lifetime. We visited the four major northern parks (Tarangire, Lake Manyara, Ngorongoro Crater, Serengeti) and saw more wildlife than we could have hoped for. Highlights included 47 lions in one day (>70 overall), 5 rhinos in one day, leopards on 4 consecutive days, and the “Big 5”in a single day! It soon became evident that David’s spotting ability was second to none. In comparing our daily experiences with other tourists on safari, ours was always significantly better. In addition David’s easy-going and kind manner made the trip essentially perfect, and saying goodbye felt like leaving a good friend.
We would recommend Awaken to Africa without any hesitation and hope to experience Tanzania with this wonderful company again in the future.