NO
65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
Personal service and follow up, both before and during the trip.
Good communication and service. Our expectations was fulfilled.
Some misunderstanding when entering Mikumi National Park lead to a unexpected double payment of entrance fee, but this was solved by the operator, after we returned home.
CA
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Fabulous Vacation!
We booked an 11 day Luxury vacation with Uhuru Travel & Tours which included a safari to Lake Manyara, Serengeti and NgoroNgoro Crater. Let me start off by saying that the country is absolutely GORGEOUS! The people were friendly and the animals we saw on safari were so beautiful. I was shocked at how many animals we got to see. It was beyond what I had imagined! What a once in a lifetime experience it was!
We stayed in some really fabulous luxury accommodations, and some more mid range as well. We did run into some trouble with payment issues for getting into the parks that gave us some setbacks. We also had our car break down twice, which is understandable once you consider the bumpy dirt roads they are driving on all day long, but did take away from some of our time spent in the parks on Safari, and also made us really close to missing a flight. My one complaint would be that although we booked a "luxury" safari, the car we received for our safari was more in line with "budget" level. It was quite old and obviously also needed some work. Although the car was older, our driver/safari guide John was absolutely wonderful. He was helpful and informative and we really enjoyed his company.
After Safari, we flew to Zanzibar where we spent some time in Stone Town, and then Karafuu beach resort. Uhuru arranged all of our tours, flights within the country, and transfers between places, and delivered on all aspects. We always had someone pick us up/meet us whenever needed and all accommodations and arrangements were taken care of with no issues.
Although, I was concerned on our first night when we arrived, as well as the next morning. Our itinerary simply said early morning game drive after breakfast, but there was no indication of timing. The person that had picked us up at the airport and driven us to our hotel had no information for us as he was just the driver Uhuru had arranged. We did not know what time to be ready the next morning or if anyone would be showing up. Because of this we got up super early and then just waited to see what would happen. We finally heard from someone at 8am saying they'd be there at 9 to pick us up. I did not like being left hanging and wondering what was going on. It would have been better if they'd left some information for us at the hotel or called us the night we arrived. Or at least given us a specific time on our itinierary so we'd know when to be ready to go.
So that lack of communication from Uhuru upon arrival in Tanzania was a little bit dissappointing, but the communication we had before the trip with the planning process was great. We spoke with Abdhalla while booking and he was great at answering all of our questions and was very quick with his replies.
So all in all, there were a few small concerns, but in the end everything worked out well and we really did have an amazing trip booked through Uhuru.
QA
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
great knowledge of the parks and great services
We had a great time doing the safari with Nyange, as our driver was nice and knowledgeable. the lodges were very nice and even though the plan was changed without us knowing, it was always at our advantage with better lodges.
I definitely recommend going with Nyange for safari tous as well as trek to Kili which we also did with Nyange.
Communication before the trip was excellent and Praise answered all our questions quickly.
US
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
It was an interesting experience.
The safari trip was really interesting. The bus driver was very nice, he picked up us on time and brought us coffee and snacks. The tour guide who took us to safari was nice too. He tried his best to take us to see as many animals as he could on that day. The only thing I would suggest the company to do was, I wish the company could allow us to pay by a credit card; it was troublesome to find a bank/ ATM if you don't stay in a hotel in downtown. Generally, it was a good experience. I recommend you to travel with Tanzania Mwangaze safari.
DK
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
A truly great experience with amazing guides!
We did a 4-day tour of the parks Tarangire, Ngorongoro and Serengeti. Started with Tarangire and spent a night there (with a swimming pool!). The second day was mostly driving through Ngorongoro Reserve to get to Serengeti where we were for the rest of the day and one day more. The final day we slept with an amazing view over Ngorongoro Crater where we spend the day before driving back to Arusha. We slept in tents (to out of three had a broken zipper), we had an amazing dinner every night with wine and soup, coffee and tea in the afternoon.
They matched our requests perfectly in the terms of budget and game watching and our driver was so nice and kept answering all our questions about the animals we saw. And we saw a lot!
They could have been more informative, though. It was hard to keep track of what we were doing and we had to ask a lot of questions to keep track of the program.
US
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amazing experience.
The trip was well organized. Our guide in Tanzania was truly world class. Our family felt safe and well cared for the entire trip. Overall the accommodations were excellent but we did have a couple of nights that were not up to expectations. In particular, the Nairobi hotel on the night of our arrival.
NO
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Motorbike tour with 10 friends.
We had an amazing tour around Arusha area. 1600km drived in 7 days.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
5-Day-Gorilla-and-Chimpanzee-Safari
Compared to other tour operators Ababa offered us the best price in total. Although there were some communication problems at the beginning we enjoyed the 5-Day-Safari filled with great experiences. The accommodations lived up to our expectations with good service and delicious food. Sadly our guide wasn‘t able to join us before the third day of safari. Until then we were accompanied by our driver who did his best but couldn’t really explain a lot. From then on our guide took good care of us. We even extended the safari by adding another day visiting the Lake Bunyonyi. The safari tour has a timetable rich in variety including the Chimpanzee Trekking as well as a Gorilla Trekking, a Boat Cruise which is a great safari experience itself and some game drives trough Queen Elizabeth and Bwindi National Park.
DE
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Great experiences und impressions of Uganda with the highlight visiting the gorillas.
First of all we would like to thank our guide Moses for the friendly assistance during our week in Uganda.
It was a pleasure meeting you. Nevertheless don't forget to be always in time :-).
The accomodations are all absolutely perfect for that that trip. The wunderful nature especially in QE Bush Lodge and
Arcadia Lodge Bunyonyi will be always in our mind. Also the support of all staff in the hotels were very impressive.
The safari tour itself (Ishasha and QE Nationalpark) was nice but not comparable with Tansania where we spent a holiday four years due to the amount of different animals.
Nevertheless we will keep the green Uganda always in our mind due to many great experiences, also outside the "normal" tour.
The most amazing experience was Bwindi Nationalpark with the gorilla family and also chimapnzee trekking in Kibale Forest National Park.
Thanks for giving us the chance to collect so many great impressions.
AE
20-35 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Mara-Naivasha-Nakuru- Amboseli 6 day trip in August 2018
We came across Axis Africa through Safaribookings.com while browsing through different tour operators and went with them based on the quality of interactions we had with Lennox. This was our first trip to Africa and wildlife viewing was the main purpose and view them we did and how!
Lennox was able to tend to all our queries before the trip and organised our pick up/drop off without any hassles and coordinated with us wherever needed. He was prompt in all his interactions.
We had asked for Kikitu or Issac as our guides since they both had great reviews from visitors who wrote here. Lennox mentioned that he will try to arrange for them or even otherwise, assign us a good one as they are all experienced. Although we didn't get our requested guides, we were very happy with James, the gentleman who was assigned to our group of 8.
We had James as our driver and guide for all the 6 days. He was cheerful, professional, knowledgeable, polite, patient and gracious. We had a great time with him and were so fortunate to have sighted all the Big 5 on Day 2 of our Safari in Masai Mara. He informed us about the species, their gestation period, the number of young ones born with each gestation, hunting skills, any distinctive identification for that particular mammal etc.
Our guide gets a 5-star rating for his demeanour and efforts.
All our accommodations were catered to according to what was described in the itinerary. Lenchada camp was a rustic and comfortable stay. We had asked for a vegetarian diet for our entire trip and we always had vegetarian options to meet our requirements. Although I would suggest that they mark all the vegetarian dishes with an identifying label so there is no miscommunication.
The crescent Island boat ride via Naivasha gave us an opportunity to view some beautiful birds. The guide who took us out on boating was not very forthcoming with information about the birds and we had to keep asking him questions for him to engage with us or be audible. He could have generated far more interest from us for the birding in the time frame available but perhaps his approach was too laid back for our needs/expectation.
The accommodation in Nakuru was a fairly decent one as well. We were only there for 1 night and the next day saw some beautiful white rhinos, flamingoes, bison and birds at the Nakuru national park.
Our trip to Amboseli was quite long due to narrow roads which are shared with heavy-duty vehicles and the traffic is unpredictable. We could not do the safari on the evening of reaching Amboseli as we reached quite late. So it was the Nakuru NP morning safari and the rest of the day was occupied with travel.
We were supposed to stay at Kimana budget camp as per our itinerary in Amboseli. Although we had checked their website to look at their facilities, we saw their TripAdvisor reviews only when we were en route to Amboseli. We were quite trepid about the reviews and spoke to Lennox and mentioned that we would like him to consider a decent budget accommodation in case this one turns out to be unappealing. We were happy to go with budget camps as long as they are hygienic/clean and have functioning basic utilities. The reviews we read sort of told us that this may be difficult to find at Kimana.
We reached the accommodation and the only room available had a broken toilet seat and a flush that was hard to use, shower which was leaking water which could be heard throughout the room and the room was quite rundown. We had to express our dissatisfaction that there was no due diligence done with regards to accommodation in Amboseli and we were informed by Lennox that the other options at the last minute would cost us extra as Kimana camp will not refund (the amount quoted for a room is ridiculous considering how rundown the place is) Axis Safaris even if we don't stay and even when they can't fix any of the obvious issues with the accommodation. We ended up pitching half of the amount for our new accommodation in AA lodges just so we could get a good nights rest and not let Axis/Lennox bear all the losses even though technically they should have done their diligence on the upkeep of Kimana or found a way to mitigate their losses based on the business relationship they share with the Hotels/camps.
This was the only hiccup we faced during our whole trip. We were able to sort it out but they would have earned a 5-star rating if not for this incident.
I would suggest that Axis personally visit each of the hotels/camps/rooms and see what is on offer and then properly communicate the same with their guests. The onus is not on the guest to get information about the type/upkeep of the accommodation. Websites always showcase glossy pictures but on-ground realities might vary to a great extent and tour operators should take cognisance of that. That is what we rely on the tour operator for in a foreign country. The guests won't know exactly which hotel they will be visiting as they mention the name of a particular hotel and mention 'or similar properties' in the itinerary in most cases.
I, however, do appreciate that Lennox sorted out an accommodation in the end and the fag end of the trip went smoothly in the company of huge elephant groups and a gorgeous sunrise at Amboseli. Mount Kilimanjaro refused to appear during our stay there but hey, I know we will be visiting Kenya and Africa again and am sure Axis would find a way to put together another fabulous trip for us.