NO
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Fantastic experience with Usambara i Ruaha National Park
We decided on Ruaha National Park for a short safari 3 days/2 nights, and after contacting a few agents/companies we decided to go for Usambara Expedition. Decision was based both on a reasonable price and because i had previously spoken with Alex(agent) in person and gotten a good impression.
We were met at Iringa by the guide the afternoon we arrived by bus and he shoved us to a reasonable hotel for the night. In the morning we set out with him and a cook for a couple of hours drive to the Park. We had 3 fantastic days, the cabins/new goverment bandas were really nice and I highly recommend our guide Serafino who put all in to give us the best experience! Lots of wildlife (we saw atleast 15 lions) and we hardly met any other cars/parties. I had heard about Ruaha before and wanted to go there and it turned out to be even better than expected. Especially if you prefer to not be crowded by other parties, and the wildlife is astonishing. Wholeheartedly give my recommendation to both Ruaha, Usambara Expeditions and in particular our guide Serafino!
SA
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Our memorable trip to Murchison Falls with East African Jungle Safaris.
We chose East African Jungle Safaris based on Safari Booking reviews and price. We chose the three day safari to Murchison Falls which included both chimpanzee and rhino trekking. I highly recommend this trip! we were very pleased. Our guide, Joe was very friendly, knowledgeable, and helpful. He bought us water and bananas along the way. The accommodations at Paraa Lodge were excellent. We reviewed them also. The safari itself was amazing and Joe went the extra mile to make sure we saw as much as possible. We would definitely use EAJS again.
NZ
65+ years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Authentic, well planned, efficiently organised and warmly welcoming with amazing meals!
After many birding and wildlife safaris throughout Africa I recently spent 23 days with three friends on Ulinda Safari Trails 23 day Botswana Safari. This was, without doubt, the most exciting, comfortable, well planned and efficiently run safari and I cannot recommend Jane Bettenay and her team highly enough to those travellers who want to experience a real wildlife adventure visiting Botswana's great national parks. A special feature is Jane's specially designed four wheel drive Toyota Landcruisers with "pop tops" that allow passengers to keep warm in the morning/evening when it can be extremely cold in "open" vehicles and still have unobstructed views when game viewing/photographing. Anyone wanting a taste of the real Africa camping safari should definitely get in touch with Ulinda Safari Trails!!
US
Phinda combined the best of nature with the best accommodations, service and food!
We have been on many safaris and Phinda was one of, if not the best. We felt completely connected with nature , while still having Five Star amenities--accommodations, food, and service. This was one of the few lodges where I felt this way. The animals, the landscape, the design of the individual lodges at Vleit were just spectacular. I would recommend Phinda Vleit for anyone interested in having a phenomenal wildlife experience.
US
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Just Awful
We booked a 7-day Kenya+Tanzania safari with a Kenyan operator and the 3-day Serengeti-Ngorongro portion was subcontracted to Migada. Unlike the Kenya portion, Tanzania was terrible in every way and our vacation was half-ruined.
The car had multiple problems and was absolutely unsafe. Breaks were bad and locked the tires on gravel roads so downshifting was the way to slow down. Parking break didn't work so it was always exciting to see the car run away until driver used rocks to stop it. Engine didn't start if turned off when it's warm, so engine ran the whole day even when parked next to the animals. We had to ask other drivers for a bump when driver stalled the engine. The car didn't have radio so game viewing was random. A policeman warned us about the wheels being not fit to drive. But more on the car later.
The driver got lost multiple times, starting day 1 from Isebania to the lodge in Serengeti. When it was getting dark he panicked and started driving movie stunt style on horrible roads, doing a pretty high jump where tires detached from the ground for about 4 seconds that felt like hours. No empathy with passengers' comfort for restroom or lunch breaks, we had lunch inside the car in dust while driving. The company's card was out of money while exiting Serengeti so we had to wait about an hr just to exit a park. Nothing happened smoothly..
The car broke down a few minutes after our descent into Ngorongro, and we found out the radiator had a leak that the driver knew about. His calls to the office were unanswered but another safari driver was kind enough to stop and take us into his car, and tow the broken car until the nearest water hole. We helped fill the radiator with muddy water and plugged the hole with elephant dung and the car surprisingly made it to Arusha the next morning on mud, dung and prayers. They gave us a new car from Arusha to Kenya border and then came our best moment in Tanzania: getting exit stamps and seeing our Kenyan driver on the other side.
Thinking back about the whole thing, we should've rejected getting into that car after the first day.
DE
35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Perfectly organized
Perfectly organized round trip throughout. We went to Zimbabwe, Botswana and Zambia. Monika had very useful tips and excellent advice for any need. Great service, easy communication and absolutely reliable. Many thanks to Monika and her team for this very special and unforgettable trip. We recommend The Safari Source.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Excellent Experience
I found AAA on Safari Bookings and emailed them along with numerous other companies for a quotation on a 5 day safari. Jalala was the first to reply to my enquiry and his response to all my many emails with lots of questions was always extremely fast. I felt nervous booking a company through a website I was unfamiliar with so also telephoned Jalala to get more information, admittedly the line was not great but I felt confident enough to book. My Mother and I wanted to do a 5 day safari taking in Lake Manyara, the Serengeti and Ngorangora Crater, we specified that we were keen to see the wildebeest migration. Our driver/guide was Godson, he was a really kind, considerate and lovely guide with exceptional time keeping.
Lake Manyara was beautiful, we did not see the tree climbing lions but we did see a whole host of other wonderful animals. Angani Tented Lodge was lovely. We stayed at Angani Tented Camp for the next two nights in central Serengeti. AAA picked this camp as it was where the wildebeest migration was supposed to be. Due to an unusual season the migration was further North than expected but Godson spoke with other guides to find out their whereabouts and was able to take us to see the migration, this meant we had to leave an hour earlier than planned and we felt grateful for him to forgoes his rest for us. We are lucky enough that this was not our first safari, we are seasoned safari goers but Godson was able to consistently position his vehicle the right way round so that we could follow the action and also in places that at first seemed a bit odd but then turned out to be central to what was about to unravel. In the end we decided that the animals could smell him and were drawn to his vehicle! At one point we were watching leopard cubs in a tree and we could hear the grass rustling then a leopard cub popped out right nest to our car! We always seemed to arrive at just the right time, having never seen any kills before we saw 3 in two days. Godson wasn’t great at his birds but he was able to find them in his book and tell us which ones they were in a matter of seconds.
Rhino Lodge was really lovely and the Crater was spectacular, we saw the black rhinos!
Godson’s vehicle was extremely comfortable and was equipped with multi region plug sockets (very useful for charging cameras on the go) and a fridge. It had a strong pop up roof (some vehicles had no protection from the sun!). Godson kept it clean and tidy throughout and kindly cleaned his fridge for us (we did offer!) after one of our sundowner beers exploded in it! The roads are really rough on the vehicles and we noticed that Godson carried a toolkit and seemed to know how to fix most problems as he offered advice to other broken down vehicles and repaired two minor faults which happened to his vehicle. Having travelled on these roads for 5 days and seen the amount of stopped vehicles I think you should count yourself lucky if you do not need to stop for repairs!
Guides are given loaded cash cards to pay for the entry into the parks. There was a problem with our dollar cash card (it had expired) which meant we had to pay for the park fees at 2 places. We were really worried that it was some sort of scam but we needn’t have worried, Jalala refunded us the cash as soon as we got back to the office along with an extra $10 to cover card transaction fees.
The picnic lunches were large, tasty but could have been better, they were mostly wheat based products.
Overall our experience was excellent, the itinerary was exactly what we wanted and it was altered along the way to suit our needs and give us the best opportunity to see everything that we wanted to see. I would recommend this company.
FI
20-35 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Recommended to small and big people!
Relaxed and nice atmosphere! Our trip was very successfull - even the smallest in our company were very well taught off and well taken cared off. Can recommend to you all!!
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Memorable Family trip to Maasai Mara
East African Jungle safaris did a great job in organizing our trip to Masai Mara national park, they came up with a great itinerary, we enjoyed seeing a lot of animals like the Lions Zebras,
their choice of a guide Tom who was impressive with his knowledge and him being a bird watching specialist made it even better
given an opportunity I would definitely use them again, a big thank you goes to director Fred who organized all that above.
AE
50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
8 Days Samburu | Aberdares | Lake Nakuru | Lake Naivasha | Masai Mara
The 8-day safari with Africa Holiday Tours was simply everything I had expected it to be. The driver/guide was very knowledgeable and accommodating, and the experience was fantastic. It was exactly what I had negotiated with the company, a budget safari leading to upscale. I would highly recommend Africa Holiday Tours.