AT
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
It was an awesome time with lots of great experiences and fun :)
Last year I travelled the first time with African Suburbs Adventures during my volunteer time in Kenya and I can highly recommend the whole company because they did an excellent job. Sububrs adventures offered custom-made affordable tours for us. It was great, that we got a chance to see the "real african life" and the culture of this Country, because the tour guides and also the drivers were always really keen to show us places, where not every tourist comes around. We could talk to inhabitants and see how kind and friendly kenyan people are.
It was great to get many different experiences (game drives in Nairobi National Park and Lake Nakuru, bicycle tour with a Massai at Hells Gate Nationalpark, Fourteen falls at Thika, relaxing at Paradise lost, swimming and nightlife in Mombasa South Coast, City tour in Nairobi).
All in all I was more than satiesfied with the job African Suburbs Adventures did. The communications, the services during our tours and the knowledge of the tour guides and drivers were highly professional.
Wishes and expectations we had before were beated by reality! Looking forward for many and many more great trips with African Suburbs Adventures :)
Kind regards,
Tanja
US
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Very good tour operator
I have booked with Bestday Safaris 3 times (2009, 2011, 2013) and each of the times I have booked with them I have had a fantastic time. Peter Charles is a wonderful tour operator and will talk to you and find out exactly what you want to do on safari and will organize an awesome tour for you. I have been to the Serengeti National Park and the Ngorongoro Crater with this company and am overall very pleased with the service I have received. Overall HIGHLY RECOMMENDED and would book with them again.
CA
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Professional, knowledgeable, friendly and great service!
Go2Africa made my trip to Tanzania so memorable I would highly recommend them. They can customize a vacation to any budget and offer great advice. Two single females traveling; they understood safety was our main concern and I never felt safer.
US
65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
Wonderful 5 day safari to Kruger National Park and Game Preserve
We had a fantastic time and the excellent service was complete and portal to portal from our B&B's in Johannesburg. Anthony our humorous guide was an indefatigable driver, a sharp game spotter, and a knowledgeable naturalist with a great love of the African outdoors which he conveyed to us. Since he had served in the Johannesburg fire department as both a fireman and paramedic, we felt we were in great hands in this our first time in Africa. And we photographically bagged the Big Five. Highly recommended.
NZ
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Kruger safari sept 2013
Our travel agent was Madelein Norvel. She was by far the best travel agent we have encountered. Prompt, detailed communication. Every detail/request was thought of and taken care of and our holiday was perfect. We found go2africa to be a proffessional company with great value for money, quality holidays and would not hesitate to use again or recommend to others.
US
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Trip of a lifetime!
We recently returned from a 16 day safari though Zohar African Safaris. From our first contact with Zohar, we felt our needs and questions were responded to clearly and quickly. Lily, the owner, asked many questions about our interests. I had not realized at the time how well she could translate this information into a 16 day itinerary that completely reflected what I had shared with her, making the safari feel like a personal experience throughout our East African adventure.
Our itinerary was designed so that we did different kinds of activities each day. This was great, as it kept us alert the entire time, balancing animal viewing with recreation and cultural events. This also gave us the opportunity to stretch and exercise after long game viewing days. Every accommodation and the foods we had surpassed all our expectations.
We thought Africa would be spectacular on its own, but had not realized how having a fabulous safari guide would enhance our experience. Our safari guide, Sammy Sikombe, was one of the most likable, informative, talented (and humorous) person I ever met. He was flexible and seemed to care about every aspect of our safari.
To give an example how the itinerary worked, after our first day viewing the wildlife (Tarangire National Park) we had a bike ride in Mte wa Mbu and then did more wild life viewing at Lake Manyara. The next day we had the amazing experience of spending time with the Hadzabe bushmen hunting game and getting to know their way of life and why they live as they do. Our cultural safari guide and translator, Musa, was great. When I asked the Hadzabe chief why they still rub sticks together each time they wanted to make a fire, given they could just use a match or lighter, he said you never know when you will have a lighter or match available, so they keep the skill of rubbing sticks together by doing it for each fire. This practical response made a lot of sense to me. I just could not believe I was having this kind of conversation(translated by Musa) with a caveman in the 21st century !
The next day we did a walking safari in the Ngorongoro Highlands with its big and wide panoramic views and then visited a Maasai community that rarely had tourists visit them. We let Lily know we did not want our cultural visits to be in places that were over-touristed and canned performances and she said all the Zohar cultural visits were with groups that received few visitors , which made them personal, unique and spontaneous. All our cultural visits had the high quality we were looking for. This was how our safari continued for our entire time.
Our trip ended with 4 incredible days in Zanzibar, staying in one of the old palaces of the last ruling Sultan. It was located ideally and the hotel was magnificent with the most welcoming, helpful staff.
The combination of Lily’s efficiency, Sammy’s warmth and knowledge and a well designed itinerary taking us to high quality and unique settings made our safari perfect.
US
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Gorilla Trekking in Rwanda
We went with Umubano Tours for our Rwanda Gorilla Trek. They were absolutely wonderful! Our guide, John Bosco was a delight - as was the owner, Herbert.
They came highly recommended from a friend who used them a year earlier. I would definitely use them again and recommend them to others without hesitation.
CA
65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great company to work with.
The planning and execution of our trip to Botswana, Zimbabwe and Namibia was first class. There was very good communication with Madelein and she listened to our thoughts and ideas. It made for a trip of a lifetime ( and also gave us the dream of more African sojourns ).
IT
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Was a wonderfull esperience!!!
Location, service, safari tour and so on Was everything ok! Thank you Phillip
US
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
A Mixed Experience
I booked with Charles from Mwema Africa Safaris since his response time was great and he was easy to communicate with. He answered all my questions and was upfront what was included and what was excluded. I did a 3 day safari to Masai Mara with a visit to a Masai community and then onward to Lake Naivasha instead of returning to Nairobi.
Since I booked on short notice Charles met me at my hotel on time and took me to his office to complete our paperwork seamlessly and then onward to meet the Safari van. The van was old and a little worn but appeared serviceable. Charles had me join a group that various agents had booked and assured me that we were all staying at the Sopa Hotel in Masai Mara. We ended up going all over Nairobi to pick up various people which was fine since we were getting an early start. We ended up leaving one couple who were not ready on time and they joined us later.
The road into the Mara is terrible and unfortunately the safari van had holes in the floor boards so the dust just wallowed into the van which was worse than when It rained and the water ran down the windows and doors inside the van. It was pretty miserable since we kept the windows rolled up and no AC. When we got into the Mara there was a huge dispute since half the group had been unknowingly booked into a backpackers tent camp while the rest of us were staying at the Sopa Hotel. We all felt bad and while we were together during game drives it was a bit uncomfortable to have part of us staying at a different place. Our evening game drive was delayed while sorting out the accommodations, so some of us were not able to wipe the dust off or get a cold drink prior to the evening drive but the vote was to go on the evening game drive and it was well worth it. Amazing variety of animals and a magnificent sunset. We got back to the Sopa after dark and were greeted with hot towel and a glass of juice as we checked in. Nice accommodations with plenty of hot water, great buffet dinner and staff were wonderful.
The next morning we were to leave at 7:30 AM for an early all day game drive. Our driver was picking up the other group first and was 1 hour and 20 minutes late picking us up. Evidently one of the couples was not ready on time. Not OK and while his apology was sincere it was a loss of our only early morning time out in the Mara. I called Charles who apologized but frankly not much he could do. While our driver was fine he did not know any of the animals and really didn't know his way around the Mara. Since the drivers all have shortwave radios they are in constant communication and can get to where the animals are fairly quickly. We saw cheetahs hunting and a pride of female lions going out for the hunt . It was an amazing day with a picnic lunch under a tree while zebras and giraffes grazed nearby. It was surreal, animals everywhere! the wildebeest migration was just starting and from the overlook we could imagine what it must be like during the main part of the migration.
The next day I was to trade vehicles and meet up with a group going onto Lake Naivasha while the van I had been riding in returned to Nairobi. Unfortunately the van to Naivasha had brake problems so we waited a few hours while they were fixed and off we went over the hills and again with brake problems and another long delay. Finally arrived at Lake Naivasha Sopa hours late, just before sundown. The cottage at Lake Naivasha was great, staff were friendly and the hippos on the grounds in the evening and early morning hours were unreal. Who knew hippos make noises.
If I had to do it again. I would make sure that the agent owns their own van and employs the driver. While Charles was great once I was in the van he had no control . Being placed in a group is the luck of the draw, in regards to driver knowledge and van condition. While Charles assured me we were all staying at the Sopa hotel the other agents who booked clients on our van had obviously lied and told their clients they were staying at the Sopa hotel and when we arrived were told they were actually booked at a backpackers tent camp. I would skip the visit to the Masai community, very uncomfortable and certainly not culturally appropriate. Also our driver dropped two of us off in the village and told us we would be walking back with the Masai, when I protested he said it would be fine. I didn't feel unsafe and was tired of arguing. Unfortunately no one wanted to walk us back until we had bought the required amount of goods from community members.
Overall an amazing experience and I would go again. Hope someone else can benefit from my experience.