Fantastic climb of Kilimanjaro
Myself and three friends booked the eight day Lomosho route up Kilimanjaro. We could not have wished for a better time, we are all quite experienced mountaineers but the whole team looked after us from bottom to top and back to the bottom again. Everyone one of the team from the guides to the porters were great guys who went the extra mile to look after us and with a big smile on their faces as well. Could not have wished for a better experience.
US
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Wonderful experience - can't wait for the next one!
I don't even know where to start! The personalized attention to detail I received throughout every step - planning, actual travel, and arriving home - was incredible. Justin and his team made sure everything was taken care of prior to my arrival and checked in throughout my travels. They treated me as though I was their only client - which is what all travel companies should do. And, really, they didn't treat me as a client - more as an old friend who was coming for a visit and they were eager to show me all that their beautiful home has to offer. Having Justin greet me at Cape Town International Airport was a very nice touch. It was great to finally meet the person I had been corresponding with for several months - it felt like talking to an old friend.
I couldn't have asked for a better experience and can't wait to work with PaperJet Travel again! Thank you, guys!
US
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Thanks Brian and EWA crew for a fabulous safari and Kili climb!
Thanks Brian and EWA crew for a fabulous safari and Kili climb!
I recently returned from an outstanding Ecological Wilderness Adventures (EWA) wildlife safari with wildlife biologist friends in Kenya and Tanzania and I would enthusiastically recommend this professionally operated company to anyone. Our itinerary was complicated, orchestrated beautifully and in each place we saw most of what we hoped to see and so much more.
The Kenyan portion of the safari began in Nairobi, continuing on to Samburu, Lake Nakuru, Lake Navasha and Amboseli over a 10 day period. We had expert guiding by EWA owner, Brian Mengoriki, and his top-notch (and very funny!) associate, Gerald as well as excellent guides, Ken and Duncan from a Kenyan company that EWA partnered with in Kenya. In Tanzania we visited Tarangire, the Ngorogoro Crater, Ndutu, and the Central and Northern Serengeti over 13 days. There, another outstanding EWA guide, Amiri, joined Brian and Gerald and they are an awesome team…all so knowledgeable and expert at delivering not just the wildlife, but wildlife in action….and at photographic range! They have the knack for knowing when it's worth waiting patiently for things to happen and when time is better spent moving on. Our guides were keen on all species of wildlife, including birds which was important to most of the people in our group and they went all out to find what the group was interested in seeing. And these guys are all just great people who were a pleasure to spend all day, every day with for 3 weeks! There was no shortage of laughter either, our guides had a great sense of humor!
We stayed in various types of lodging from a large Sopa Lodge on the rim of Ngorogoro to comfortable tented camps where one could hear the intriguing sounds of the savanna throughout the night. All accommodations were excellent, but the tented camps were my favorite, particularly the ones owned and operated by EWA in the Central and Northern Serengeti. The staff there was especially gracious and the camps were situated in particularly wildlife rich areas. One night I awoke to the sound of munching and looked through the tent netting to see a wildebeest grazing in the moonlight just a few feet from my pillow. (However, there are guards patrolling all night to ensure clients don’t get munched!)
The food was delicious and plentiful. Picnic breakfasts and lunches eaten in the field were particularly enjoyable and enabled us to spend long hours in the savanna in search of animals.
The logistics of our complicated itinerary were managed beautifully. Brian and his crew were adept at satisfying divergent interests within the group and dealt quickly and easily with all unexpected circumstances that inevitably arise over a 3 week period.
In addition to sharing a wealth of information about wildlife, our guides educated us about the history, politics and diverse cultures of Kenya and Tanzania, including interesting visits to a multicultural village and a Maasai family compound.
EWA also arranged a pre-safari Kilimanjaro climb for me which was a rich and wonderful experience in itself. My guide, Dismas, had climbed the mountain 100’s of times (it was his office, he said), he was superbly competent and knowledgeable, great company, humorous and hadn’t run out of enthusiasm for guiding or for the mountain. We followed the interesting Machame Route through many different vegetation zones and Dismas, besides guiding me up the mountain, was able to explain much about the natural history along the way. Though he said at the beginning not to ask him about birds, it turned out he knew most of them. It was a pleasure to be on the mountain with someone who was so clearly well-liked and respected by the numerous other guides and porters we met along the route. Dismas had an excellent team of porters and a talented cook to support the climb. These amiable young men work with him regularly and went to great lengths to make the camping very comfortable and the food delicious.
Not only did we reach the summit, but we descended into the crater and up again to the rim of yet another crater within the larger crater where one looks down into yet a third crater, the Ash Crater. It was a fantastic, little-visited site, with amazing views and smells of the dramatic volcanic landscape, the walls streaked with yellow sulfur and the odor of sulfur hanging in the cool, still air…a special and totally unexpected opportunity!
I should mention that my luggage with all my climbing gear did not arrive on the KLM flight with me and when it showed up a day late and at the last minute, I discovered important items had been stolen. EWA staff filed all the paperwork with the airline for me and Dismas obtained rental gear to substitute for my losses so I could proceed on the climb as scheduled. I’m grateful to EWA staff for dealing efficiently with the problem so no time was lost getting to the mountain. KLM did eventually fully reimburse me for my losses.
The whole experience, from the climb through the safari was fabulous and exceeded all my expectations!
KR
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Memorable Camping Trip
I and my friends plan a safari but we did not know how to go about after contact many tour operators, then i came across to Safaris Packages Services after email then they replied very fast with a lot of safari ideas plus good rates. We loved it and book our safari trip travel to Tarangire then Lake Manyara before descend to the ctater floor of famous Ngorongoro Crater. We had a new experience, memorable and enjoyable safari organized by Nhojo, thank you Nak. 3 days camping safari our trip package i recommend to all holiday makers.
IE
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Review about Ngorongoro Crater by Aindriu H
Ngorongoro is a beautiful compact park that is full of wildlife. The small size means that is it is easy to get around and see the variety on offer: from the larger grassland areas to the forest area inside the park. It is definitely worth a visit, however, the cost may be prohibitive to some on a budget.
IE
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Great wildlife, beautiful, vast scenery on offer and some amazing camping memories.
I travelled to Serengeti NP in June of this year with my girlfriend as part of a tour of Tanzania organised with "I Dream of Africa" safaris. We stayed for two nights in the public camp grounds in Serengeti as part of this tour.
The journey to Serengeti was quite comfortable with paved roads all the way from Arusha to Ngorongoro and only the last part of the journey is on gravel roads. The scenery on this final leg of the tour does make up for this though and it is interesting to watch the local Maasai tend to their cattle or catch an early glimpse of migrating zebra.
On arrival, there are some small shops at the main gate to pick up some last minute snacks or drinks, but beware that the prices here will be higher than in Arusha or other smaller towns on route. At the main gate, there is also a small hill which is worth the climb just to get an idea of the vastness of the park.
Our first taste of the park was on our way to our camp ground. We took the long route there to take in some of the wildlife and scenery on offer. There are plenty of animals to see and even on this first step inside the park our guide spotted a pride of lions resting on some of the rocks that dot the landscape.
The public campsite is well maintained and cleaned daily. The toilets and bathroom facilities are clean but do not have warm water. However, given the weather and climate there it is nice to cool off from the 30 degree heat in a cold shower. The campsite is obviously not as comfortable as lodges nearby, but do offer the opportunity to stay inside the park. There are a number of advantages of this, first is waking up early in the morning and having giraffes and zebras outside your tent, it also allows you to be in the centre of the park for game drives early in the morning without travelling too far and finally it is was great to be able to sit in our campsite and watch the sunset over the vast plains.
During the game drives that day we were lucky to spot all of the big cats and get great views of lions and elephants. This was mostly down to our guide, Christopher, who had the ability to spot leopards and cheetahs from about 300 meters away with his naked eye at ease. The park does have an abundance of wildlife and you do not have to travel too far to see something interesting or beautiful that will make you call at the driver to stop for a moment. We were lucky that our guide was very friendly and patient with us and also had the knowledge to answer any of our questions.
Overall during our game drives there the wildlife viewing was excellent. June is a quieter time of the year for tourists and wildlife viewing, as it is just the very start of the dry season. However, we were fortunate to see a wide variety of animals and birds. Just to note though that although the park is very big, if there is something interesting to see, expect there to be a few trucks around it and be patient if you want to get up close.
I would recommend anyone that plans to visit the Serengeti to plan at least two nights in the park. The vast size of the park means that it cannot be explored even in that time and the variety it provides means that no game drive will be same there.
Marakele National Park is a hidden gem with magical scenery and good selection of wildlife.
My visit to Marakele took place at the end of September 2015. This is typically considered near the end of the dry season. The temperatures are above 30 degrees celsius daily with little to no sign of rain. The surrounding vegetation is quite dry, although leaves are starting to sprout with the advent of the coming summer. This means that the vegetation is not too thick enabling you to spot the animals further away from your vehicle than you otherwise would when everything is green and vibrant. Its also a good time to frequent waterholes in the morning and evening because water is still scarce and animals tend to congregate at the waterholes for their daily fill.
Marakele has a predator section and a non predator section. Camping is allowed at designated camp sites in the non-predator section. There are no fences around the camp sites so animals are free to walk through the camping area. This might sounds both exciting and scary, but what I noticed is that many campers are not used to this and do not respect the animals right to be there and try to chase them away when they come sniffing at the strange smells we humans bring. But its a lovely experience to see giraffes and rhino walking through the camp and the ability to grab the camera to get amazing photos. Additionally, Bontle Camp, where I stayed, has a waterhole alongside a wide plain that provides hours of peaceful wilflife entertainment where one can spend hours sitting and staring through binoculars. The non predator section has an abundnace of wildlife ranging from many species of buck, to more rare sightings of rhino and giraffe. Monkeys, babboons and warthogs are fairly prevalent too, as well as plenty of zebra and ostriches. There should be ample opportunity to spot most of these animals while driving through the park over the course of a few days.
The non-predator part of the park covers a small region of fairly flat savannah. The predator section takes you into the larger part of the park which is situated among some of the mountains making up the Waterberg mountain range. Most of the animals from the non-predator section can also be found in the predator section, but because of the larger area, sightings become more rare here. In addtion to the above, it is also possible to encounter lions, elephant and leopard. But these are rarer and they were mostly hanging around the single large dam which I, as a resident of the Bontle camping site, was off limits to me. But the most notable thing when driving into this part of the park are the high mountain peaks and craggy cliffs creating some amazing landscapes. The single tar road ends in a very beautiful scenic climb up one of the mountains ending at the top near a radio relay station with some spectacular views. Here you can also spend a while looking at the family of white backed vultures that fly gracefully around the valley and often come to glide above the viewpoint giving birders and photographers some great opportunities.
There is only one tarred road in the park. For the most part it is reasonably maintained except where it starts to rise up the side of the mountain leading up to the view point where you can encounter some tricky potholes. All other roads are dirt tracks of varying conditions. Most roads can easily be accessed by normal cars but some of the roads in the predator section are certainly uneven and can be very bumpy, and in some cases my require some careful navigation. There are a couple of marked 4x4 roads and certainly I wouldn't recommend low clearance cars trying them, but only the 4x4 track in the north eastern part of the park requires a capable 4x4 and a driver with some experience.
Overall the park is a lovely place and was not very busy when I was there, which is perfect. The guards and game rangers were friendly. Animals in the non-predator section were plentiful but the predator section was less eventful in this regard. But the spectacular scenery made up for that. Many of the local bird species appear in the park, of note are rollers, vultures and hornbill. Places like Pilanesburg probably have a higher density of animals, but Marakele has better scenery and certainly has its own charm that should not be ignored.
Kafue : A Truly Wonderful Experience
We recently visited the Kafue National Park in Zambia. Having visited Southern Africa for safaris several times before (South Africa, Namibia, Tanzania, Botswana) we decided that we wanted to visit somewhere a little bit different and a little bit rawer. It was suggested that we visit Zambia and the Kafue. We were not disappointed.
Kafue has the feel of a park the is yet to be truly discovered. The natural beauty of the country and the low key feel of the park made for a unique visit. There is plenty of wildlife to be seen, cheetahs was a first for us, and the amount of different birdlife on the river is remarkable. There is maybe not the amount of wildlife that we have seen in other countries but there is certainly the diversity to make up for it, plus you can drive all day with your guide and on most days not see another vehicle or boat. You get the impression that some of the wildlife there have never seen a jeep or a boat before too!
We visited three camps and they were all excellent. The standards are very high with regard to guiding and the accommodations. Everything was just.......great.
In summary, a truly wonderful experience and we are now discussing on how can better this for our next visit to Africa. It's not going to be easy.
IE
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Review about Tanzania by Aindriu H
I have only travelled on the northern safari circuit but have found the parks to be well maintained and abundant with wildlife. The tourist infrastructure in the north has also improved greatly in the last few years between my visits. I would love to go back and spend time in the southern parts of the country.
Review about South Africa by BitRogue
South Africa focuses on conservation and wildlife preservation. There are many national parks in South Africa highlighting this as one of its foremost tourist attractions. The biodiversity of South Africa is plentiful, and ecotourism takes full advantage of this. There is a big drive in the South African culture on ecotourism and much of the profits made in all the national parks are fed back into the system and education. When you add good roads and infrastructure into the mix, it makes South Africa arguably Africas foremost safari and ecotourism destination.