20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
An Amazing Safari Experience!
Everything was even better than we expected! The guides were fantastic and the accommodations were amazing (stayed in a mix of A & B level camping).
Tanzania is an incredible place and the safari we had was incredible. Saw all of the Big 5 plus lots of others. Truly an amazing experience that everyone should do once in their life (or more as we plan too).
CA
65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
Seasoned travellers - but this was Beyond our Wildest Expectations
A group of 6 of us from Canada began planning for this vacation ~1 year before we traveled. We diligently researched, compared and interviewed 8 separate safari companies before selecting Planet Africa to help organize our tour. We dealt only with Leah Humphreys at Planet Africa and can only hope that all their agents are as well trained, knowledgeable, helpful and personable as she is.
We started our adventure in Cape Town - but handled the logistics of this part on our own. We arrived in Kilimanjaro airport in Tanzania and were met and transported to the Arusha Coffee Lodge in Arusha by a Planet Africa arranged vehicle. We spent two nights there to allow us time to regroup post Cape Town & the wine area of South Africa, plus the fairly long plane ride from SA to Tanzania. We wanted to start our safari rested and fresh. I would recommend you also consider this, since the Arusha Coffee Lodge has beautiful grounds to walk around - plus an excellent craft workshop at least partly manned by handicapped workers. The quality of goods there is very good - I was so impressed with the glass blowing and glass hand-craftsmanship that I videoed the whole process and bought a memorable distinctive tall wine glass (for only $11 CDN) and carefully hand carried it throughout the rest of our travels safely back to Canada. The food and comfort and service and ambiance at Arusha Coffee Lodge also are all excellent!
Our first day of Safari took us by jeep from Arusha to Tarangire National Park. We were met by our Safari guide (Stanford) who proved to be excellent - personable, articulate, and very knowledgeable of the wildlife and surprisingly the many birds that we encountered on our trip. We arrived at Tarangire in about 1 1/2 hours and started our first day of safari ~10:30 am. I won't go into the details of the specific wildlife & birds we saw over our 2 part days and 1 full day of safari other than to say - it was fantastic and it would take much too long to write. Tarangire seemed to me the most varied terrain we traveled - swampland, treed land and open savannas. It seemed that around every bend there was something fantastic to see. Some of the sightings were so impressive that you could spend 1/2 hour or longer marveling at them. Others were more fleeting. All were wild and memorable.
In Tarangire we spent two nights at Oliver's Camp. Our host & hostess there were Justin & Jackie. They were both very knowledgeable and helpful in identifying the many birds we saw around the property and Oliver's Camp has a beautiful deck overlooking a very large plain. We were served our breakfast there on our last morning and it was special to look out over the plain and see Zebras passing through and the small elusive Dik Dik antelope grazing in our midst. Oliver's is an upper scale camp, but if your budget allows, this is one of two camps that I recommend you indulge in.
After we left the Oliver's Camp, we had a final 1/2 day safari in Tarangire before we traveled to Lake Eyasi. This was an add on that we planned to our Safari experience to give us some feel for Tanzania and some of the peoples and tribes that live there. We spent one night at the Kisima Ngeda Lodge in Lake Eyasi and on the day travelling there we visited a Masai village. The next day when we traveled to the Ngoro Ngoro Crater , we hunted with four very skilled young boys from the Hadzabe tribe (one of the few remaining tribes in Africa that are truly bushmen - living off the land almost the same as they have for millenia). We also visited the DaToga tribe (blacksmiths) that make metal bracelets and arrowheads etc from reclaimed brass and aluminum. The Kisima Ngeda is a typical tented camp, very comfortable and accommodating. The extra day we allocated to allow for this cultural excursion was very well spent and very much recommended.
Our next stop was for two nights at the Plantation Lodge, which is very close to the Ngoro Ngoro Crater. The accommodation and grounds at this lodge are truly excellent. It is very much appointed like an upper scale hotel, with individual villas interspersed throughout beautifully maintained grounds. We asked for a brief tour around the grounds and it was arranged that the head gardener, who has been there for over 20 years, gave us an excellent tour around the Plantation. We spent one day touring the Crater area. We chose to get a very early start and had tie to loop the Crater a couple of times. The crater area (although very large and with a great variety of wildlife) can be reasonably covered in one day. And the wildlife there is amazing. We had excellent views of Hippos, and our only sighting of a pair of rhinos at the Crater.
From the Crater area, thanks to valuable input from Leah at Planet Africa, we decided to Fly from Lake Manyara airport to the Central Serengeti. This eliminated the need for a fairly long drive to reach this area and allowed for more time on safari. The small plane we traveled in was a wonderful experience in itself. Also, since we had decided to stay at Namiri Plains Camp in the Central Serengeti, it was necessary that we use their camp guides. So by opting to fly rather than drive, although we paid a premium to stay at the Namiri Plains, we also saved some money in that we did not have to pay for other less expensive accommodation, plus our own guide.
We spent three nights at the Namiri Plains Camp in the Serengeti, and for me, this was the highlight of the trip. This camp has recently been opened up in an area that had been closed to the public for ~20 years and is renowned for its cats. We saw several cheetahs, and many many lions at amazingly close distances!! Also, and this was somewhat fortuitous, we arrived at the camp (short rainy season) at the time that the wildebeest migration was passing through and saw tens - probably hundreds of thousands of these animals, several thousand of them parading by our campsite. This camp is also first class, but if your budget allows this would get my number one vote ( although my wife also makes a very good case for Oliver's Camp). If you can - do both.
Following our stay at Namiri Plains, we were transferred back to the airport and flew to Zanzibar. We spent two nights at Kisima House in Stone Town - also very comfortable accommodation - and spent a day doing the Spice Plantation Tour plus a guided walking tour of Stone Town. Both were well conducted and reasonable. We then went to Chumbe Island a very small and isolated Eco Tourism Island off the coast of Zanzibar. This was a truly delightful experience - we had a guided walking tour of the island, a night walk where we saw very big coconut crabs, and were transported to a coral reef where we snorkelled for an hour or two both days we were there. All in all an excellent experience.
In summary, Planet Africa and Leah in particular helped us put together a trip that truly exceeded our expectations. Of the 6 of us, Deanne & I decided to book our return flights from Canada to and from Cape Town. This allowed us to Fly via Mango Air from Zanzibar to Cape Town via Johannesburg. We decided to spend 2 nights in Jo-burg and (again at Leah's recommendation) stayed at the Residence Boutique Hotel there before traveling on to Capetown. If you visit Johannesburg as art of your adventure - I highly recommend this hotel and experience as well!
Kevin
IT
20-35 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Pole, Pole - Hakuna Matata
I got to know Spot Kenya Safaris thank to Safari Bookings.
I contacted Maurice via e-mail and from the very beginning he was very responsive and accommodating to our needs.
We did a roadtrip from Nairobi to Diani, stopping to Naivasha, Amboseli and Tsavo West on the way there and to Tsavo East on the way back. We covered a lot of ground, yet our drivers have always been available to take us to as many game drives as possible. Spotting wildlife was not the easiest (after rain season Tsavo was very lush), but we have been compensated by the amazing landscape, especially in Tsavo West. Jonas, one of the drivers, was of great company and has a great sight and instinct for finding animals.
While at the coast, Maurice organized for us a one day trip to Wasini Island at a good deal as well as showed us around town.
The few issues encountered on the road were promptly managed.
It was a great experience and I would definitely recommend Spot Kenya Safaris!
FR
65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
unforgettable tour
with a couple of friends we were looking to make a trip to South Africa, combining safaris and walking treks off the beaten tracks. We approached Thierry from Biwakwango, a local travel agency. The various proposals that were given to us, did meet our expectations. So we chose one of their proposals and in the end this choice was very judicious. We went for 19 days in November 2015 and did safaris, treks in the Drakensberg (climbing the amphitheatre) swaziland, lesotho and mountain table, as well as visiting the Cape region and its vineyards. Thierry very quickly made us feel comfortable and more than just a guide, we found a real pal. His extraordinary knowledge of wildlife, his capacity to do treks in beautiful an amazing places and his devotion to cook for us every day a different meal, have contributed to make this trip an unforgettable one. We are strongly recommending Biwakwango
CA
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great day safari, we all enjoyed.
Loved our tour guide, Jason. Learned lots on the safari, lunch was awesome
HK
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great time!
I had a great time on my short safari with Rowly. The communications between myself and him was great. The animals at the reserve were magnificent! I think the trip was a great value for the money because Rowly is your private driver - you are not with a group. As such you are able to plan out exactly what you want to do and when. I would definitely recommend.
RO
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great adventure, very good organised
General opinion: Mr. Otieno is a reliable person, John (our driver) is a very good driver, the lodges were very nice, the safari car a little bit old but in general ok.
Me and my boyfriend booked a 4-days Safari Tour with Kenya Walking: Amboseli, Tsavo West and Tsavo East. Kenya Walking didn't have such a tour but we wanted very much to see both Amboseli and Tsvao West. Mr. Otieno was flexible with our request and organised this "special" tour and made us a good offer. We were skeptical of paying upfront with a deposit (and not with VISA/Mastercard as we are used to in Europe). But we did this and the payment was confirmed by Mr. Otieno.
We started the tour from Mombasa Airport. We were nervous if indeed somebody will wait for us at the airport. We were pleasant surprised as although we fixed a meeting time, John came earlier as he knew our flight details and estimated a sooner time for meeting us. In this way we didn't stay long outside airport. We were also pleased with the fact that Mr. Otieno called us to check if we landed ok and if we met our safari driver.
Related to the tour the first 3 days were intense. In the 1st day we were more on the road but we got to make a game drive in Amboseli park in the evening and the next day morning and saw many elephants, impala, a few hypos and ostriches. For Tsavo West it was as Mr. Otieno told us. There weren't too many animals but we got to see many giraffes and zebra. Our goal was to see also this part of the Tsavo park so it did worth for us. The surprise was that here we had the chance to see leopard. We stayed at Ngulia Safari Lodge where in the evening the personnel feeds the leopard: they arranged a place near lodge and they put meat and we were lucky that the leopard came to eat. Then in Tsavo East we stayed at the Voi Safari Lodge that allowed us to see all the park from above. (very nice lodge). Here our driver made his best in the evening to see lions, but we succeeded only in the morning to see 5 lioness. The great thing was that John guided us and told us when is best to begin the game drive. e.g. if we had stayed 5 minutes more at the Voi Safari lodge we would have missed the lioness.
The game drive from 4th day was short. We would have expected to stay longer in the park. But then we needed to be on road again for 200km to our next holiday destination Watamu beach.The great thing was that Kenya Walking drove us all the way from Tsavo East to Watamu with no extra costs.
So nevertheless a great experience! We will recommend Kenya Walking to friends.
Asante sana!
35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Tour of Bwindi & Murchison
Had a brilliant trip over Christmas & New year, David from Visit Uganda Safaris was absolutely excellent, even giving us a free tour around Entebbe before we left for the airport. Great driving, great knowledge of all the parks and really great flexibility & helpfulness throughout our whole trip.
US
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
ACZ Safaris made my biggest dream come true!
Having born in USA but with roots from Kenya, I have always wanted to visit the land of my ancestors. Since I was a child I wanted to take a group of my friends to this beautiful country I only saw in pictures, I approached a number of tour operators and finally decided to try ACZ safaris. John promised to arrange everything for me and within a few minutes he sent some itineraries and their quotes for me to choose one that fitted me and my group best. I chose 6 days Masai Mara, Lake Nakuru and Amboseli National Park and my friends agreed on my choice since it was within our budget.
We arrived 2 days before the date we planned to start the safari, John advised us to try day tours within Nairobi city and we started with David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust then Giraffe center and the Bomas of Kenya where we were entertained with traditional dances, this was the best welcome to my ancestors land. The next day we visited Safariwalk in KWS Headquaters, KICC, Carnivore for lunch and lastly the Nairobi National museum.
On the day we were starting the safari our tour guide arrived 30 minutes earlier to the hotel, Martin our guide was well informed and he drove very safely. He always stopped for us to take pictures and to explain to us about the animals we spotted. I am very grateful for Acz safaris for planning our safari from the Hotel booking before and after safari and the whole safari package. I will definitely be back as soon as possible.
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Best Safari Experience
This was by far one of the best experience. The tour was well organised from start to finish. Staff communication was great. The driver was quite patient during the tour allowed us to see the animals up close and shared insightful information about how the animals interact. Never seen so many animals in one place. The chance to meet the Masai community and learn their wau of life was also a valuable experience. I would highly recommend it!