50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Tanzania is so vast…beautiful
Enjoyed the vastness, peacefulness and diverse landscapes home to so many precious animals. The experience was enjoyable. The trip was efficiently put together within a couple of days and the advice on game parks to visit and overnight stops was helpful.
SE
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Safari 2 days Mikumi national park
Me and my three kids had a great tour to Mikumi from Dar es Salaam. We started 8am and entered the park 2pm. Our guideguide Henry was awesome and very professional. He had great knowledge about the wild life there and we spotted a lot of interesting animals except for the rhinoceros that not exists there. But we were lucky to see lions from only 2 meters distance. We spent the night in a very nice place called Tan Swiss Lodge. Felt really luxuary compared to the hotel we had in dar.
I will highly recommend Hello Tanzania, very professional and helpful. We had some problem with the payment because of me but everything worked out because of them :)
US
65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
Happiness in Tanganyika
Having as many people taking care of us and all of them very polite helpful and respectful was an outstanding experience.
It was very much appreciated.
Never been so close to so many wild elephants or seen so many animals in the natural habitat on the safari quite a site, just great
BE
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
An unforgettable experience in Uganda thanks to the professional team of Matoke Tours
Hello
During July 2014 we have done the 15-days Uganda Tour with Matoke Tours and we are deeply impressed about this well organized and interesting trip.
First of all the accommodation was 'on every place' excellent.
We had indeed a pleasant group, fantastic safe drivers (Alex and Mike) and Bella as our wonderful guide. Because of this wonderful team everyone of the group remained till the last day so excited and enthusiastic about Uganda.
The full tour with some great safaris had a lot to offer and we had at the Bwindi National Park an incredible trekking to the mountain gorillas. Not only the trip in the Kibale Forest, but also the trekking in the Kyambura Gorge was an unforgettable experience - we saw a large group of chimpanzees by Nelson our guide. From Mutanda Lake Resort we did also the Batwa Trail with our guide Bella and we can surely recommend you to consider this as an optional excursion.
Meanwhile I have published some movie parts (Ziwa Rhinos Sanctuary and Murchisson Falls NP) about our tremendous Uganda trip.
In below and attached you can find some of the YouTube-links (trailer from the movie and impressions of the Gorilla trekking)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YNNZ4kbtW8&index=20&list=UUJxLH3VVhq3kikoql3j7OBg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdJwO1f4BiY&index=18&list=UUJxLH3VVhq3kikoql3j7OBg
If you are interested in the remaining parts (from the other fantastic destinations), it can be published later on.
For the moment, we have already a planned coming trip to South America (Boliva, Chili, Easter Island), but thinking at our next travel destination, definitely we will choose again for Matoke Tours (the providing tours to Tanzania and Madagascar).
Thanks again for the splendid services and we hope to meet again the Matoke team in the nearby future
Kind regards
Patrick and Ann Cerpentier-Weemaes - Belgium
CN
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
The best driver, the best guide, the best cook, and the best animals
The trip last for 7 days. We went to Maasai Mara, Lake Nakuru, Lake Naivasha and Amboseli. Anthony's wife kindly picked us up and sent us to a place to change for Kenyan shilling. The safari van is comfortable, and it even has wifi! The food is delicious, healthy and enough. Our guide and driver Anthony was very professional and easy-going. He could name every animal we met during the trip, and he could find those rare ones. It's joyful to talk with him. The safari is wonderful. It's a memorable experience for me.
Our expectations exceeded
My wife researched many of the safari operators before selecting Gosheni. Boy, did she get it right! This company is exceptional. Peter, the Managing Director, responded immediately to her email enquiries and tailored a tour to our expectations and needs.
We were met on arrival at Kilimanjaro Airport by Jonas, our driver/guide, and taken to Arusha for lunch with Peter and then off we went. We immediately struck up an excellent relationship with Jonas who was full of fun. When we were out animal observing he really demonstrated his skill in finding and understanding the animals' behaviours. One example: as we drove around the rim of the Ngorongoro Crater we encountered another vehicle watching the long grass and bush alongside the road. We stopped and discovered that they were watching a leopard moving about in the scrub. After a time the leopard disappeared and the other vehicle moved off. Not Jonas though,who said that the animal will show itself again in a few minutes. And so we sat there for several minutes when the leopard suddenly moved out onto the road and walked along passing the vehicle within a meter while observing us. And so it went. He was able to find some exceptional sights and experiences for us - surrounded by elephants, a herd of 26 female lions and two young male brothers, a giraffe that had survived a lion attack, a pride of lions patiently waiting for a wounded cape buffalo to weaken, and so on. We were there in the middle of the annual great migration of the wildebeest which also was another amazing experience.
The company's vehicles were late models, beautifully maintained (we saw three other vehicles break down), and comfortable, the accommodation was excellent, the food first rate, We flew back to Arusha from the Serengeti airstrip and were again met on arrival and taken to lunch where we de-briefed with Peter before being taken to Kilimanjaro Airport for the return flight.
Our safari was flawless and the experience of a lifetime. We have no hesitation in recommending Gosheni.
IT
35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Me with my group, the Italian tourist, things were fantastic with Mazingira Safari company.
Our safari was very excellent, all services were excellent, the tour guides were excellent, we enjoyed to be in Tanzania than any safari we made in our life. All groups who came with me to Tanzania with Mazingira safaris, are now having the so called (Mal di Tanzania instead of Mal D'Africa in Italian language) that means a big ambitions to go back to Tanzania. I recommend anybody who wants to visit Tanzania to use Mazingira Safaris Company.
Outstanding service: friendly, honest, thorough, efficient and with plenty of initiative
In January 2015 I toured solo Rwanda and South Western Uganda on my bicycle. The opportunity to travel came unexpectedly so I was forced to quickly put together the trip’s itinerary over a few evenings. I knew little about the area and was worried about getting a gorilla permit with such short notice during the high season. Therefore, I drafted a mail with a long list of questions which I sent to over 25 local and international tour operators. I received lots of replies, with most limiting themselves to put pressure on me to book services without addressing my queries. Only one reply clearly stood out over all the others, including some prestigious American and European-run operations: Umbano Tours. The mail Herbet Gato sent me was perfect: it was concise, knowledgeable, accurate and friendly. There was no pressure to sell services; it just explained how they could help and brought to my attention issues related to my plan that I was overlooking due to my inexperience in the region. He also put himself at my disposal to discuss my plans over the phone/Skype, even if it meant for him working late in the evenings and over the weekend. What impressed me the most is that I was obviously a ‘bad customer’ for a tour operator because I was travelling self-sufficiently with my bicycle. Umbano did not make juicy commissions from fancy hotels nor enjoyed high margins from all-inclusive fancy tours out of me. I was treated like VIP even though I booked cheap budget hostels and only wanted a gorilla permit (without guide/tour/transportation). In summary, they were friendly, honest, thorough, efficient and displayed initiative. I ended up requesting tailor-made services like car collections for myself+bike from remote non-touristic locations which were carried out with Swiss-style precision and reliability. Herbet also arranged a custom tour to the Nyiragongo Crater in Congo which took care of visa, transportation and bicycle storage. This was also perfectly organised plus I could see my safety was taken very seriously. In Congo I met other travellers who had booked similar tours with other agencies at much higher prices, thus demonstrating that Umbano offers excellent value-for-money in addition to outstanding customer service. I cannot recommend enough Umbano tours and Herbert’s assistance. To make things even better, you will also have the satisfaction of dealing with a 100% African company and thus helping the local economy. Umbano: a no brainer win-win.
CL
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Best trip ever!!
Amazing!! The team was great!
Every animal that we wanted to see, we found it!
Our driver... so pro! We had very high expectation about the trip, and it really was far better than we expected.
Best trip ever! The team, the lodgdes, the wild expirence.... awasome!!
All the booking process was very easy.. the team ansewr me hundred of questions... many thanks!!
Great safari
I travelled to Tanzania early March... wanted to get to see the beautiful and breath taking Mount Kilimanjaro, The roof of Africa and I must say I enjoyed Chance's company while I was in Moshi, Tanzania. He tried his best to give me the information I required and I would definitely recommend his services!