NL
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Thank you Makasa for a really great Safari tour!!!
We as a family of four with children (12 and 10) wanted to do not only game drives and beach time in Zanzibar but also experience the culture and the people. Selma understood our wishes quickly, was great, very helpful and informative in her communication and customized the itinerary perfectly. With of course game drives to great Safari Parks but combined with visits to a Secondary School, Orphanage, Masai village and Local Family.
The tour was great! From arrival till departing everything was very well organized.
The accommodation was picked well with really nice food, even in the Masai village and the tented camp in the Serengeti (those were great experiences), the transport was timely and without any hick ups (the rooftop safari jeep had even charging possibilities!) and the guide was really outstanding. He was very knowledgeable, not only about the animals but he answered also a lot of questions about the customs and the culture of the Tanzanian people and Tribes. He managed to show us all the animals we wanted to see and we even were lucky enough to experience 2 big wildebeest river crossings. A really amazing sight!
THANK YOU VERY MUCH! Selma and Ngomi, we had an unforgettable trip and we recommend everybody who would like to do Tanzanian’s northern circuit to definitely go with Makasa Tanzanian Safaris!!!
IN
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amazing Safari - Lifetime Experience - Worries? Leave it to KWSS. They will take care.
My wife Hansa and I had unbelievable amazing Safari Holiday experience. I was very much worried about food, stay and vehicle but EVERYTHING was taken care by KWSS with complete perfection. We stayed at Nakuru one day - fantastic rainy game drive with Rhinos, Lions, Zebras..., 3 days at Masai Mara - THIS WAS OUR LIFE TIME MEMORABLE EVENT. We had seen total 39 Lions with every daily activities of their life... it was so close that we could stretch our hand & just touch, Cheetas - great.... Leopard - great, Tens of Hundreds of Zebras - Tens of thousands of Wilder Beasts ....No words to express the feelings - the food - the arrangement and the game drive - never match able. Naivasha - One day, Amboseli - one day - great Lioness hunting chase, One day Arusha + Ngorongoro - Fantastic View of crater and scenic panorama. I have no words to explain as seeing can only be expressing.
All the stays were perfect. Kilimanjaro from Kibo Safari Camp was magical view
KWSS - Director: Mr. Otieno is great friend, facilitator and supporter, he is always smiling and helping hand. He is in the center of EVERY COMFORT of every visitor. He managed excellently our (change of) one day program and returning to Nairobi. ALL THE BEST Otieno:). We are your friends in India you ever need us. Great Work Keep it up!!!!
Guide+Driver : Nguta is the best. He had excellent knowledge and very active in driving and reaching the place of animal presence. He has shown us Leopard driving (fastest) 20 kms after hearing the radio. Never tired and always ON TIME ON DOT. Nguta - All the best.
I recommend 'Kenya Walking Survivors Safari Ltd' to every one who would wish to visit Safari and read my review. I will ask any one of my personal contacts and all the visitors ......."LEAVE YOUR SAFARI WORRIES TO KWSS ....& YOU ONLY ENJOY"
IT
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Nice experience, but critical points (management of time, communication, food)
Nice experience, although with some critical points. Communication before departure (we booked the safari online, before arriving to Tanzania) was very good: Masha promptly replied to all our (several) questions, although during the safari we discovered that some points were not so accurate (e.g. I asked information about electricity in the camps, and I was told that it was available in all them; but in 2 places there was no way to charge batteries and mobile phones.. I think this information is important and should be mentioned before). We enjoyed our gamedrives, although we were quite disappointed by their duration.. by reading the program you cannot really perceive how much time you will spend in the camps, especially for breakfast/dinner breaks.. many times, we noticed that we were the last to leave in the morning and the firsts to come back to the camp (also, one morning we asked our guide to leave 30min before - NB. everyone else left at 6.30-7.. we were told that we had to be ready for breakfast at 7.30, so we could leave only more than an hour later, when the cook had finished recollecting all his things - in order to have more time to try to see the most difficult seen animals of the big 5 - in the end, we could see only 3 of them -, but we were told that the cook needed more time to prepare breakfast and our lunch boxes, so it was not possible.. another time, because of an error in the office, we had to wait for a person coming to the gate of the Ngorongoro crater and pay for the entrance fees, which caused a 30-60min delay (we didn't see the rhino, and I know you have to be lucky to see animals, but by loosing time in this way certainly doesn't help). On the other hand, both the guide and the cook were very kind. Finally, one very important thing should be mentioned: after the last dinner we had we got both sick, probably because of the meat or some other foods which had not been properly preserved during the 5 days of the safari. I know we opted for the budget option, but we still spent more than $1000 per person, so, honestly, we expected more.
CH
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Excellent 14-day safari service in the south of Tanzania!
In Dar Es Salaam we got in touch with Alex Shembago of Usambara Expeditions and asked for a two week wilderness safari in the south of Tansania with budget accomodation. The route was Dar-Selous-Mikumi-Ruaha-Iringa-Udzungwa-Ifakara-Dar including our preferences. Alex wanted to make sure that everything fits our expectations and offered us to get in touch with the driver and the car the day before departure. Driver guide Paul was a charming guy with very good driving skills either on road (calm, no risks, attention) or during game drives (animal spotting, elefant behaviour vs. car, offroad driving, car maintenance). As the journey started chef Said joined us and prepared delicious meals every day. He also adressed our wishes for traditional Tansanian foods. Paul and Said were always on time and very helpful. All accomodations were double rooms in bungalows or hotels with bathroom and were nice.
US
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Beware of Mathew Adams & Tropical Vacations
In my opinion you should NOT use tropical Vacations! Our money was wired in full almost a month prior to our safari. We paid the director, Matthew Adams, $1630 in total for our lodge accommodation, safari drives, and flight to the Masai Mara from Nairobi Wilson Airport.
We got to Wilson airport at 14:15 to check in with Air Kenya. When we checked in the lady informed me that there was a problem with our ticket, and she sent us to the reservations office. When we went to the reservation office, we were informed that our tickets had not been paid for. An agent, Mary Anne, helped us to attempt to communicate with Matthew.
Matthew said that he was waiting on the refund from Sarova, and said that we just need to pay for our plane tickets, total of $644 for Casey Parker, and myself, Caroline Wallace. He said, and I quote, that he would "sort us out tomorrow". We told him that we could not do that, we can't afford that. We asked him to give Mary Anne his credit card number. This is when he began hanging up on us, talking in circles, and he never gave us an answer.
We had to pay for our plane tickets, which was an additional $580, that we had already paid for well in advance. I am exteremely dissapoointed in the service I have recieved. Matthew Adams said that he would sort us out the next day, well unforunately that day has come and gone. He has turned off his phones, and has been dodging our calls and e-mails.
I do not want this to happen to anyone else. Please do not use Tropical Vacations!
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
The Best Day
Having stayed with Tanzania Expeditions previously in their hostel, and got to know Justin (the owner) well, I knew I could trust him to organise a great safari for a friend who was over visiting Tanzania.
We were limited in time, so decided to do a day-trip to Arusha National Park. The quote was incredibly competitive, the service offered before hand really informative and the day was utterly unforgettable. We wanted to do a walking safari as well as a drive, and Justin arranged for this around our limited budget.
Our guide, Steven, picked us up from my apartment in the morning and spent the day engaging us, teaching us, making us laugh and looking after our every need. He took us to some wonderful view points within the park, and made sure that we were happy to move on every time he drove. The day felt completely our own; we only saw a few other people in the park, as Steven wanted to take us away from the tourists, and we were rewarded with a spectacular array of animals and a feeling of complete isolation within the landscape. At one point, we found ourselves totally surrounded by a herd of giraffe, who stayed with us for half an hour; a completely mesmerising and unforgettable moment.
The walking safari took us into the plains midst buffalo and giraffe and our experienced guide / ranger from the National Park taught us a great deal about the natural flora and fauna growing in the area. Being on the ground in such beautiful surroundings with such knowledgeable guides was a really tremendous experience.
I could not fault the day for enjoy-ability, entertainment and learning, and felt that every part of the service that Justin and his team offered was excellent. I will be taking trips with them again and recommend their company wholeheartedly.
US
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Scammers- AVOID
We booked a car through Bencias office in Nairobi with Kennedy. The car was to take us from Nairobi to Amboseli and then to Emhali for a first class bus to Mombasa.
The car showed up on time in Nairobi and the ride to Amboseli was fine. We had to pay the driver 4000 Ksh to stay in the area for four days and then take us to the bus.
The day the driver was to appear he never did. A call to Ken and another car showed up about two hours later. These guys were locals in Amboseli and drive us to Emhali where we were supposed to get on the "First Class Bus". Of course when we got there they immediately started in on us about how Ken had ripped us off, was not paying them and the bus would not stop in Emhali. We awaited about two hours for the bus all the while listening to them tell us over and over how there was no bus. It was getting late and rather than have to spend the night in a very small and very scary town we agreed to let them drive us to Mtito which was about 90 minutes away at a cost of 9000Ksh. There was a local bus in Mtitto that took us to Mombasa at a cost of 1000 Ksh even though we had already paid Ken 7000 Ksh for a "First Class bus". We had no choice so went. We later found out the same bus stopped in Emhali earlier while we were arguing with the drivers
When we got back to Nairobi we visited Ken at the office and demanded a refund. We went back and forth and he agreed to a partial refund. If you have been keeping up we spent 4000 Ksh to keep the driver around, 7000 Ksh for the bus tickets we didn't use, 9000 Ksh to go to a different town and 2000 for the bus tickets we did use a total of 22,000 Ksh. We got a refund of 7000 Ksh.
These guys are scammers. They seem very nice but in the end they don't deliver.
NZ
65+ years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Thanks for a memorable holiday
Following our amazing holiday in Africa that Masihambe arranged, I can now understand how people get so passionate about Africa. I travelled with another couple (friends)(B & M). B had worked with Masihambe on establishing an itinerary which took us to 7 African countries. Activities included climbing Mt Kilimanjaro, safaris, resting on a beach, visiting the gorillas in Uganda, being a tourist at Victoria falls, visiting Soweto in Johannesburg, with a stop over in Perth on way home.
We had no "hiccups", every transfer went as arranged, and some planes even flew ahead of schedule.
A truly memorable holiday I will remember for the rest of my life.
Thanks Masihambe
IL
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Valentine Gumpo is and excellent guide we looved the 19 days trip
We had a 17 days Safari tour with Wild south safari In South Africa. It was the most amazing interesting diverse tour we have ever had. We were lucky to have Mr. Valentine Gumpo as our excellent guide. He is a bright, most professional, warm, reliable generous guide. We spent ours of most interesting discussions on life in Africa and Zimbabwe and got invaluable diverse information one that a usual tourist can not get. All guest houses we stayed in were wonderful. All places we visited were so amazing interesting and beautiful. We wanted to add Durban and Mr. Gumpo was very flexible to add the place to the tour. The explanations we got were very knowledgeable, interesting. Spotting the big 5 animals was unbelievable in Kruger park, Learning about rural life in Le Soto in Malealea was very special. Interacting with local people was easy and friendly. The waves of the Indian ocean in Tsitsikama just touched our bedroom in the guest house. All went very smoothly. We became really friends. There could not be a better introduction for Africa as the one we got from Valentine Gumpo. Thank you Valentine for such amazing trip.
Dr' Nava Sonnenschein and prof, Cobi Sonnenschein
The School for Peace director
Neve Shalom/ Wahat Al Salam
Israel
US
35-50 years of age
Our trip exceeded our expectations!
Accommodations and service exceeded our expectations. Mark from Odyssey Safari has covered all the details and was able to answer all of our questions starting from Visas, Immunizations, etc. He even selected the perfect match - the fourth passenger for our jeep! Our guide was waiting for us at the airport in Nairobi, we didn't have to worry about any details of our itinerary, everything was arranged ahead of time. Our guide even arranged for us to get an upgrade one night from the tent into two bedroom private villa with two bathrooms, large living room with fireplace... It was a treat, we felt like royalty! Even the tents we stayed at were very nice and luxurious with hardwood flooring, granite counters, comfortable beds... Our guide was very knowledgeable, we got to see so many animals in their habitat, we were just a few feet away from cheetahs, lions, elephants... We got to see the migration of wildebeests, which was incredible, there were thousands of them... I was traveling with my two daughters, we felt safe the entire time, and we immensely enjoyed our trip! We got to visit numerous areas including Samburu, Ol Pejeta, Lake Nakuru and Masai Mara. Besides amazing natural beauty of Kenya, we also got to witness tremendous outpour of support from US and other countries to help Kenyan people in dealing with their poverty level and health care... Definitely amazing experience, would use Odyssey Safaris again...!