US
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Magnificent service with an incredibly thoughtful, intelligent and well informed local staff.
While on temporary assignment in Zambia with my employer, I took the opportunity to visit Livingstone. My company highly recommended Luciano Tours & Travel for all local activities, saying it was the only service provider they used in Livingstone. The reasons for the high praise were immediately evident. Their service was prompt and courteous with extraordinary attention to detail, but even more impressive to me was that the Luciano Tours & Travel associates were all local with an impressive wealth of knowledge and an apparent pride for their home. They made my experience worry free and unforgettable. Many thanks!
NL
35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
A day that didn’t start as planned but turned out to be a great day
In my two weeks of vacation in South Africa, I’ve done a tour with Outlook twice to the Kruger Park (couldn’t get enough of the park). As it happend to be, I was on the same tour as the previouse lady who wrote a review (Sossi). And I must say that in my perspective things were not so bad as her’s. I just asked our driver about the delay in the pick up time. Turned out that there were people who were suppose to be at the reception of there hotel (next to the airport) for the pick up but somehow had decided to go to the airport and wait there. So the driver had to go look for them and that takes time.
Yes it’s a long drive to the Kruger Park form Johannesburg, about 6 hours (not 8 or 9). And we did stop twice during the transfer. To make up a bit for the lost time, on the first stop it was decided that it would be only a short stop to buy some food and use the toilet. Reason for this was that if we didn’t do that, everybody would miss the night game drive in the Kruger park. But somebody didn’t listen to the driver and went to sit in the restaurant and ordered fresh baked waffels. Nobody knew this so it took us 20 minuts to find this lady and continue our ride. Thanks to our driver we all made it in time to go on that wonderfull evening game drive.
After that we had a lovely dinner made by the chef at the camp and had a wonderful end of a day that didn’t start as planned but turned out to be a great day.
The first stay as well as the second stay was wonderful. Just love the Kruger Park, the food of the chefs and the great guides. Thanks for everything FJ, Jarryd, Johannes, Moss, Thami, Senzeni and Bright.
DE
50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Very caring tourarrangement
Hi, it was great to have this tour with encounter africa for 3 days to the mountain gorillas .
Already during booking correspondence and also along the actual trip they cared excellently and very considerate with much flexibility. Great !!
Their consideration includes also the animals we are visiting and the sourroundig, the local people. I enjoyed it thouroughly.
Well trained staff. Thanks a lot !
AE
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
They are outstanding tour operators committed to turn each of their customers moments into memories.
Lejon safaris have a qualified team able to communicate with any kind of nationalities , not forgetting their excellent customer care and service.
Their taste for safari choice and location is indesputably incredible which makes the whole experience unforgettable. Their services goes beyond expectations and obviously its a far beyond value for money.
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Wonderful Safari Experience in Southern Tanzania.
We had Davis as our driver/guide for our safaris to Mikumi, Selous and Ruaha in 2009 and 2012. He is an exceptionally good guide and driver, and is willing to go just that bit further to make the safari a wonderful experience. He is Wahehe, so southern Tanzania is his homeland. His long experience guiding in the parks of the southern circuit gives him an intimate knowledge of the area and the animals. He is friendly and very accommodating which is essential when you are spending a couple of weeks together in the bush. Above all, I feel confident and secure with him and I look forward to our next safari.
US
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Good experience and value
We did 4 days/3 nights in the Serengeti and the Crater. Richard's business is operationally excellent. He is quick to communicate with customers before and during the visit. The company does what it says it will do, sticking to a tight schedule to pack in as much as possible in 4 days. I never worried he would run away with our money or that we would be unsafe while on the safari. I know for many other folks with other tour groups we overheard or talked with in camps at night, this is not always the case. We got what we expected with Richard and that isn't always the case. Our guide Frank didn't detract from the experience, but he didn't add much either. He didn't share a lot about the animals with us - I think because he didn't speak English that well more than not knowing anything. We also had some long drives without a ton of expectations-setting in terms of time in the car and broader plan. That said, Frank knew what he was looking for once in the crater and Serengeti and we often found ourselves watching animals at the right time and place. That stuff doesn't happen entirely accidentally. The food is really good and there is plenty. Sokafour (I'm sure I'm spelling his name incorrectly) was kind and both he and Frank extremely hard working in terms of keeping us fed, setting up camp and driving us around. The trucks are a little old and don't have plugs for camera batteries, an important thing to note. Overall a really good experience that met expectations, but fell a little short in terms of being great. For the cost though, it was an excellent value. You might be best to read up on some of the animals before you head out on the safari.
US
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
An amazing adventure in Kenya!
With such a short amount of time in the country, I was worried we wouldn’t be able to get the full breath of Kenya’s natural attractions. But East Africa Wild planned a flawless itinerary, allowing us to see every blockbuster animal and a variety of landscapes in just 5 days. Each camp we stayed at had its own personality and boutique feel. Our safari guide was competent and very knowledgeable. Overall it was an amazing adventure!
CA
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Very good
We did a 9 days Safari tour with World Tours and Safaris Tanzania and the experience has been very good.
Richard and his staff were very friendly and welcoming.
Our driver and guide Frank has been excellent at spotting animals and really knew the routes very well. We saw many animals and the scenery was excellent.
The food was plentiful and the taste was okay. It did take some time getting used to but it was not bad at all.
Overall, the experience has been very good and we would not hesitate to work with Richard again on future visits.
SE
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Wildlife at it's best!
Richard was fast with responding to emails. We were a little nervous about paying from Sweden but it worked out perfectly. Nice guide, great chef, wildlife was amazing and the tent kept us dry. The only thing we would do differently if going again would be to bring our own sleeping bags.
US
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Efficient, Comprehensive, Honest. Excellent follow through
Mawajabu was a superb tour agent. She was completely on-top of details and our personal requests. She was amazingly responsive with timely answers to our questions in planning the trip. She followed through on every email between us (nearly 70 over a few days) in planning the details of the trip and showed a great amount of flexibility in adapting to our evolving requests as we understood the varying details of safari. I would strongly recommend anyone to work with her.
Our 4 night/5 day safari and 1 night/2 day stay in Zanzibar was arranged by Mawajabu. She found a way to get us to all four parks in the north that we wanted to visit. We were met in Arusha as she planned by a guide and on each transition (airports, hotels) were met immediately by someone with whom she works. It was flawless. She even made sure we had a hotel room nearby the Dar airport for several hours on our layover between Zanzibar-Dar and the trip back to the USA. We did not need to call her at all during the trip to deal with any problems.
A few suggestions for travelers:
-Know where you want to go. This should be determined by your price range (Mawajabu did a really good job of staying within our target price) and the time of year.
-There is a big difference in price between many of the lodges (all were above-average) and the tented camp (an absolute luxury you must experience if possible. We stayed one night at Mapito which was like heaven on earth in every respect). Do your own due diligence on these places so you tailor the place to your desires and remember that the time of year you travel impacts to some extent what you are likely to see on safari because of migration patterns and weather.
-Ask about your guide. We had a wonderful guide (Gifte) who took very good care of us and was absolutely reliable. The ability to speak your language well will impact how much talk you receive about things.
Based on this one experience I would definitely recommend Hello Tanzania and Mawajabu when planning your visit to Tanzania. Be sure to combine their expertise with your own research so that they can help tailor the adventure to meet your desires as there are many ways to arrange this trip.