20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Amazing Safari with Shadows of Africa!
After comparing quotes and accommodation offers from a number of safari operators, we decided to book a 6-day safari with Shadows of Africa to visit the Tarangire, Serengeti and Ngorongoro Crater parks. The sixth day was actually not a safari day but was spent at the remote but amazing Maasai Amini Life Lodge (north-east of Arusha), which we can highly recommend.
Apart from a short trip to Kruger Park, this was our first real African safari experience and it did not disappoint us for a single second. We only have positive feedback on both Shadows of Africa. Everything was perfectly organised from the very beginning, and Marjeta in the European office who prepared our itinerary is very helpful and responsive. The company was upfront about the fact that it might be difficult to see the migration of Wildebeest in Northern Serengeti as most of the animals were in Kenya already, so we were offered the option to change from the Ang'ata North to the Ang'ata Central camp, which we could decide upon once we are in Serengeti.
Our guide Bashiru really made the difference to our safari. He is extremely knowledgeable about wildlife, and more importantly, he knows where to spot them and has eagle eyes to see small animals from miles away. In addition, Bashiru has a great sense of humour and we really enjoyed discussing everything with him. In terms of organisation, Bashiru was really focused on our needs. He always discussed plans and timings with us and was open to all of our requests. Following the discussion with Bashiru, we decided to exercise the option to change our day 3 camp from Ang'ata North to Ang'ata Central in order to focus on game drive rather than covering large distances within the Serengeti.
Despite the driving distances to cover to visit all three parks, we do not regret our choice of visiting three parks in five days. Each of the three parks has totally different landscapes and sceneries on offer and cannot really be compared with each other.
All accommodations we selected from Shadows' offering were amazing in their own right. We enjoyed the wonderful and luxurious Acacia Farm Lodge in Karatu on the way from Tarangire to the Serengeti, but also loved the glamorous camping in Mbuzi Mawe and the Ang'ata camps where we could even have a hot shower upon request. All the camps have extremely friendly staff and provide delicious food. The thrill of sleeping in a tent while the animals are roaming around the campsite added an extra dimension to our safari.
All in all, Shadows of Africa made our safari in Tanzania an unforgettable experience which really exceeded our expectation. We would definitely go with them again if we come back to see more wild life.
DE
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Never again ! Very disappointing service !
We booked a 7 day safari trip with shika tours. The correspondance prior to our arrival via e mail was very good - always received a quick answer. Upon arrival at the airport, we were picked up by the manager and were brought to a hotel - which differed from our initial iternary (no provided dinner, no pool, no info about the change). First day and night were fine, but things started to get complicated next morning, when the manager told us that we have to change the safari car due to a security issue. First we waited about 1 hour at the lodge. To kill some time, they to us to a tourist shop where we waited another 6 hours without getting any information. When the "new" car arrived we only had time to do a small game drive at a different park. Once again our iternary changed all over. We talked to the manager about the mishappening and he offered us a refund of 200$ for lost half day. It turned out that the "new" car had an engine/ignition problem which bothered us the next 5 days (the didnt start several times or broke down during game drive). On our last day, problems with the car got worse and we had a complete breakdown on the way to the airport.
During all the time the manager told us he understands our situation and worships our money. At the airport we finally met the manager again and guess what, he didnt arrive with the promised refund. Again, he asked us to trust him as he will bring the money to our next hotel on sansibar (never happened!!). After contacting ygain, he told us he will transfer the refund money to our german bank account (never happened!!).
By now, we are back for 10 weeks and he doesnt even answer our e mails anymore.
Wonderful & Memorable
I found all my dealings with African Ubuntu amazing. The process of asking questions before hand prior to even committing to one of their tours was friendly and informative. Upon booking and paying all information was provided as required, additional questions answered all our requests were considered and a tour around what we wanted to see and do was organised professionally yet friendly we had no doubt our tour would be wonderful and it was. The animals we were able to see were just what we wanted whilst we appreciate nature is nature and African Ubuntu Safaris can't control that they chose the parks we went to in order to maximise the chances of seeing the animals we wanted to - lucky for us we saw them. Gorillas particularly special and memorable, however we did know that would be the case. The accommodation booked with all meals included sensational. As for our tour guides Ronald and Milton we could not have asked for better. Both friendly, helpful, willing and more than able to answer all questions we had and excellent at sharing their extensive knowledge with us (many laughs too). Milton in particular, as it was him who took us for the actual game drives knew where to try and find the animals and it is largely thanks to him we saw what we saw. I would have no hesitation in suggesting others use African Ubuntu Safaris they pay great attention to detail on all levels. Thank you.
AE
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Safari in Kenya
Magical Retreats really helped make this dream come true. Pamela helped me patiently and politely to organize all aspects of our trip even though it was very last minute. Our safari driver/ guide, Charles, was always on time, very polite and we managed to see almost all the animals in the Masai Mara. I highly recommend this agency.
IE
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great Safari experience
The Safari tours went out each day early in the morning and returned in the afternoons at about 4 pm. We were very lucky to have an excellent driver/guide and to experience close quarters with giraffes, hyenas, wild dogs, lions, elephants, and unusually cheetahs. We also saw leopards, rhinos, hippos and crocodiles from a distance, so binoculars came in very useful. I would not hesitate in recommending our tour operator and in particular the guide we had. Though accommodation was not originally what was booked, the replacement was of a very high quality. A little more travelling was involved as we were outside the park, but this did not prevent us enjoying the Kruger National Park.
In summary after some delay in getting an itinerary and a change to where we would stay we finally had a full plan which went very smoothly and provided a great experience. Other details: - the Outlook lodge in Johannesburg was comfortable and provided a very good breakfast and evening meal. Transfers worked great and flying seemed worthwhile.
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
A wonderful African wildlife safari borne out of Walter's experience
Right from the start, Walter responded promptly to all our questions, giving clear advice based on his own experience.
He gave us exceptional service; everything was arranged well in advance, and the entire trip ran smoothly from start to finish.
Our "9 Day Incredible Experience" went well beyond our expectations - even on arrival at our lovely hotel in Jo'burg, to find a surprise package to welcome us on the trip. The African Rock hotel that Walter recommended for our one night in Jo'burg was perfect.
The Desert and Delta camps gave us close up experiences in the wet of the Okavango, guided island walks, and inland big cat experiences. The staff at all camps were amazing - competent, friendly and witty - and nothing was too much trouble.
The transfer between Botswana and Zambia was smooth and quick; better than we expected.
Our final destination, Tongabezi lodge, again recommended by Walter, was a lovely indulgent end to our visit.
SK
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
dream come true
For us- doing the safari was a dream come true. We saw pretty much everything we ever wanted. Of course- the communication, the car or the accommodation could have been better, but well- we chose the budget option. For those considering Karibu Safaris- go for it but choose the mid-range option, it is worth it.
DE
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
3 day Masai Mara
We got picked up at 6.30 am and went to the office of Big Time. But the thing they do is that all the companies try to fill up their buses and so we were driving for probably four more hours through Nairobi to pick up people from other companies. This caused us then to arrive at the camp so late that we couldn't go out for safari anymore. The plan was then to start the next day really early with breakfast at 5.30 to compensate the missed time and to see the sunrise. But this didn't work out because there was no breakfast until 6.15am so we also missed the sunrise. The rest of the day was really awesome, we saw a lot of animals and the Masai Mara national park is really worth a visit. When we asked in the evening for water they told us that there's only 1 liter each per day and in my opinion this is too less if they say that water is included!
On the third day we actually made it to see the sun rise and left to Nairobi at 8am and arrived at home around 4pm. Besides that we had a driver who wasn't speaking at all to our group and was racing all the time so that we were just shaking in the bus the whole time. It would have been nice if he would have explained sometimes things about Masai Mara but at least he knew the ways there very well.
So I definitely would recommend to go to Masai Mara National Park but in my opinion not with the Big time company. Probably spending more money would be worth it.
KW
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
US
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Amazing weekend with Flash
This is my second Flash Safaris trip and absolutely loved the experience. Magda is amazingly helpful with recommendations to fit your exact needs and caters the itinerary just to your group. Awesome! We had an amazing walking safari in Arusha National Park, a totally new of animals than the car. Our night at a Masaai lodge was absolutely magical. Amazing food, wonderful room and we even had a view of Mt. Kilimanjaro and Mt. Meru at sunset.