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Review about Lake Manyara National Park by Kate
Lake Manyara is a great place to start with safaris. The park is small enough so that most of it can be seen in a day or two, and the wildlife is plentiful. There is amazing birding available here as well.
JP
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
It’s worth visiting to see and enjoy wildlife.
It was a nice experience to visit and join the tour to safari. We really enjoy the all of the experience. However I was disappointed its weather in this season. We couldn’t see Mt.Kilimanjaro. It’s better for you to consider the best season.
ES
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Disneyland. Too much tourists
Very nice but crowded. The Maasai are oppressive and not at all authentic. They only want to sell trinkets.
(automatic translation from Spanish)
CH
20-35 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Great remote desert views and scenery
The Namib naukluft national park is a great spot to see and experience a rugged red rock sand and desert landscape. It is however rather poor for wildlife viewing, except a few Orzx Antelopes.
PT
65+ years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Amazing. To repeat later
Everything fine, EXCEPT, except de lodge in 2nd to 4 th day , in " Kon Tiki ". These 3 nights , very bad : No water to wash properly ; No properly Wi-Fi ; No simpaty of staff and very bad food ( i lost 3 Kg). Bad services. !! Beds ok. NO LODGE TO REPEAT , in next safari. The reason i didn`t use 5 stars in over rating.
The others place: Eileen`tree ; Ngorongoro Kuhama Camp ; Hhando lodge in ngorongoro Crater and Gold Crest hotel was fine, with everithing we need, Kind people. Places to repeat
The guide of the safari (Jackson), very very nice. He works a lot to show us everything, and very knowledge of fauna and good information about everything...
CZ
As wild as possible
When I was thinking about visiting Tanzania, it was primary because of marine reservation park in Mafia Island and whale sharks. But when you travel half the world you want to see as much as possible right? So visiting one of the inland national parks was obvious. And the I saw a BBC documentary about Ruaha, and it was clear as a sky where to go.
Ruaha was my second Africa national park (Kruger was the first one) and I have to say I was blown away by the nature and the wildness. Right the day when we get to accommodation we saw two lioness close to the watering hole and we where there alone. Just me and my wife, sitting silently in the car listening to the birds and the breathing of the two lioness. And then herd of elephants come to the same watering hole and drove the lions away. I guess that is what watching the wild means. During the whole week we saw around only 8 other cars cruising the park, rest of the time it was just us and plain nature. The best way how to enjoy the park is to pack some supplies, drove early morning to some place where the animals gather (watering holes, fords, pools, river) sit and watch the animals coming and going and you will be rewarded for sure. Of course you need your own car.
I have been there during dry season - November - and the temperature was enormous - 50C during the day and 35 during the night. So be aware of this while there is no air conditioning in the accommodation and zircon in the car is useless while you drive so slowly through the park that it is not working well. The accommodation is basic. We stayed in the cottages (run directly by the NP). Two rooms, toilet + shower. Price 50USD pp/pn. Yes, I know it is quite a price for basic accommodation. The cheaper type, bandas, 30USD pp/pn, don’t have toilet and shower and basically it is just a metal hut with bed. And metal hut in 50C degrees during the day quickly change in to an oven. So the accommodation and the services absolutely do not match the price, but you have to accept that you pay a lot because there is no other way. In the whole Ruaha there is no proper shop, just two dinning places, where you get mostly chicken and rice or potatoes. So if you can, bring a lot of your own supplies. The only thinks you can buy there is bier, water, coke, rum and gin. Hope they restock the rum and gin while they had only one bottles, which we bought out. And of course in the cottages there is no fridge, I never drunk so much warm bier as in Ruaha.
The great think about staying few nights in Ruaha is, that the accommodation is not fenced. So you sit a front of the cottage enjoying the view and suddenly there is a herd of kudus just five meters a front of you, or hyena. Regular guest every evening, looking for some leftovers.
You wanna stay in the wild and under proper roof at the same time? You have enough money to spent? You have your own car (our 4x4 Toyota Rav 4 was OK)? Than Ruaha is perfect place to spent few days and watch and listen.
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Fantastic safari destination which should be more welcoming at the airport and SGR train station
Taita Hills Conservancy is exceptionally well maintained and has a low density of safari vehicles. Travelling by train in 1st Class was very comfortable but I wish we had been informed in advance of the extensive list of prohibited items, which includes Duty Free, and the corrupt security guards that look for bribes. Nairobi is great for shopping, but Kenya does not offer VAT Refund for tourists; venturing outside the malls for a couple of specialty items was very stressful. The hotels we stayed in were excellent and had a large variety of food options.
65+ years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Review about Masai Mara National Reserve by Neil Fawson
Beautiful surroundings - we visited the park at the time of the wildebeest migration - an amazing experience. Guides and fellow tourists not particularly knowledgeable or interested regarding birds. However, what I saw/identified led me to believe that this would be a good birding destination. Visited a luxurious lodge in the middle of the Masai Mara - not much bush vibe there!
65+ years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
A plethora of wildlife at the end of the dry season
We arrived at Lake Nakuru National Park on our Intrepid Travel safari bus and headed straight to the lalk, which was very, very low because it was at the very end of the dry season. The skies were overcast but it was dry!
Around the lake there was plenty of birdlife including a pair of elegant crested crowned srane. There were a variety of wading birds around the lake's edges including, ruff, little stint, greenshank, redshank and black-winged stilt as well as the ubiquitous Egyptian geese. In the bush good sightings of Rupeell's long-tailed starling were to be had.
Gazelles were plentiful and impala, Grants and Thompson's gazelle were to be seen around the park, as were olive baboons, black-backed jackal, warthog, African buffalo, Burchell's zebra and lion.
The highlight of the visit came at dusk just before we were leaving. We were treated to brief views of two blac rhinoceros before coming across a crash of 10 white rhinoceros.
A great trip to the National Park with great views of a variety of wildlife.
PK
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
A well structured, professionally managed and decently priced holiday adventure in Zimbabwe
Falcon Safaris designed a trip to Zimbabwe as per our requirements. Their choice of tour operators / service providers was good, and their own guides/tour arrangements were par excellence. We were comfortable throughout our 5 days in Zimbabwe, and did not experience a single instance of late service or an event that was below expectation with the exception of the Boma dinner where we thought the food / food selection could have been better. Elephant Hills Hotel in Vic Falls was nice and the choice of Ivory Lodge at Hwange National Park was an inspired one. With respect to pre-tour service we found Falcon Safaris quite accommodating as they changed our dates at the last minute and we did not have to pay any penalties/fees, etc. Overall a very good experience and would recommend Falcon Safaris to anybody interested in holidays in that part of the world. Thanks to Aron and the staff at Falcon Safaris.