FI
65+ years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Reliable and excellent!
We made two days trip with AFRICA UNIKE ADVENTURES & SAFARIS to Malindi and Mombasa.
They are a professional and reliable local company providing taylor made service for individuals travelling privatly. Everything was well organized. The trip just the four of us. Grandparents with boys 11 and 12 years old.
Our tour guide/driver Nicky was professional, friendly and knowledgeable. He made our two days very enjoyable and interesting.
MALINDI: Malindi Marine Park relaxing and exellent place for swimming, snorkling, marine life, fish and corals. We enjoyed to be there to study marine life.
Falconry of Kenya. It is a rehabilitation facility for injured, sick birds and location for Falcons. It is also home for tortles, Nile crocodiles, snakes, birds, owls and busbabies. Very educational place to visit.
MOMBASA: Mombasa City Tour. We had a very interesting visit Mombasa. We got insight on Mombasa city life, markets, people from a different parts of the world, traffic chaos, modern, old architecture and prosperous trading town since the 12th Century.
Hindu Temple: the great symbol of Hinduism and Mombasa cultural diversity. Our visit this temple were a great experience. We learnt about Hindu faith and saw unique paintings depicting the Hindu mythology on the walls throughout the temple.
Fort Jesus and the old Town. Fort Jesus. Portuquese fort built in 1591. Well preserved example of 16th Portuquese military fortification. We spent very interesting time looking around the fort with our quide Nicky. His knowlegde of the history of the Fort Jesus was excellent.
The Old Town: it was exiting experience to walk on the streets of the Old Town, to see historical Swahili houses, handcarved doors, balconies and people on their daily activities.
Thanks our quide Nicky and Africa Unike Adventrures & Safaris for two fantastic and memorable days.
We strongly recommend this company.
Knowledgeable, friendly, thorough
Elijah was our guide for one week during a trip to Kenya in 2011. He was reliable, and a very enjoyable person to get to know. He gave great attention to our safety and comfort, especially when the cape buffalo began to get territorial. He is also very knowledgeable about wildlife, in guiding clients to the best spots to see interesting animals & birds. He can identify many species of birds, as well as other types of animals. You will be in good hands with him.
HK
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
a magical stay
The local guides are fabulous. They are all rounded in their knowledge about the land, living creatures, culture, and doing their best to make our stay memorable. They are kind and personable, putting their heart in their work to show us their country and land. Lodgings and food are excellent and carefully chosen for our comfort and satisfaction.
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Family safari in zimbabwe and botswana
We booked a safari with Blessing who was also our driver. He answered all questions promptly before the trip and met us at the airport. He guided us through formalities and drove us to Hwange and Chobe. It was stress-free and we had a fantastic time. Our children are young (7 to 11) but Blessing ensured that we had nothing to worry about. I recommend Africa Zim Travel& Tours and Blessing and would love to book another safari with them. Xavier
US
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Perfect 4 Day, 3 Night: Serengeti, Ngorongoro, Manyara
While working in Northwest Tanzania during the summer of 2012, I began to look for options to tour the northern safari circuit from the west side of the Serengeti. Victor (owner of Vic Consult) was very responsive and worked quickly to help assemble a budget camping safari itinerary for 5 of us.
Because we were already in Tanzania, getting money to Victor was an issue for us. I imagine that some companies would not have the patience to handle such a short notice, difficult group, but Victor was patient and able to make everything work out. Vic Consult arranged to meet us at the gate of the park and Victor came to assure that all park fees and permits were handled with no issues. Victor then came on the trip with us to make sure things went well for the remainder of our safari.
Our driver, Jokta, was knowledgeable about the animals and had apparently been a ranger in a different park. Patrick, our cook, was phenomenal and made meal time one of our favorite parts of the day. We were on time (except when we stayed out a little extra on game drives) and both Patrick and Jokta were great guys and we enjoyed traveling with them and Victor. We did get a chance to meet another of Vic Consult's drivers and another cook who were very nice as well. This other driver was even fluent in Spanish.
During our trip, we saw all of the animals and sights we had hoped to. We saw four of the big five; elephants in all three parks, lions in all three parks, buffalo in Serengeti and Ngorongoro, and black rhino in Ngorongoro (we only spent about one day in the Serengeti, so no leopard). We even got to see the tree climbing lions in Manyara and a cheetah in the Ngorongoro crater. The sunrise drive in Seronera was also beautiful, we got to see hippos out of the water, another first for me.
I would absolutely recommend Vic Consult for safaris out of Mwanza. I wish I had been able to stay in Mwanza the night before the start of our trip and I will next time I am in Tanzania. When you meet Victor, get to know him a little. It's a small company he started himself and it really shows how much he cares about Vic Consult and really loves the national parks.
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Best of All Possibilities for a Safari Trip
I have to say that I did a lot of shopping around before picking Vic. He was the most reasonable with the pricing of our 4 person and 4 night package (from Mwanza to Arusha) and he not only delivered on what he promised, but he exceeded it. We were able to have a boat ride in Lake Victoria thrown in, he put us up in very nice lodges (the one in Ngorongoro has an incredible view of the crater!) Our guide was great- he wanted to make sure we were able to see all the different wildlife and that we did- over 20 elephants in Serengeti NP at one point, over 10 lions, even 2 rhinos in Ngorongoro Crater They cannot promise such sightings and it'd be unfair to ask of them for a guarantee, but they sure put in the effort to make sure practically that you do! The safari Landcruiser truck had 2 outlets in the back row that made it convenient to charge our cellphones and use them during down time. And the pop up roof top is a must. Having a water cooler was great for all the fruit we bought on the way. The only thing that could use improvement is the couple of lunch boxes that we had- but this is standard fare across all the safari companies. And we had hot lunches half the other 2 days at the lodges.
Before going w/ Vic, I wanted to make sure I could trust him enough to wire him a deposit, so I had asked for references. He gave me 4 different ones from different parts of the world and they had nothing but good things to say about him. Now, that my parents, wife and I had such a great experience through his company, I can see why! Thank you Vic!
EG
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Excellent safari
I went to Mukumi national park and Udguah mountains with Bush Routes they were very professional not expensive , my overall experience with them was outstanding.
FR
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Amazing safaris in camps In Amboseli and Masai Mara
The safaris booked on internet where as per my expectations.
There were safaris in camps and I must say the camp in Masai Mara was really great.
The one in Amboseli was good: what an experience to face the Kilimanjaro when waking up!
Mathew has taken good care of me being there the 1st morning before I joined the group.
He was also there when I came back to Nairobi so we could debrief the safari.
All in all no bad surprise as I was wondering how it would go when booking on internet.
Happy with the choice of Tropical Vacations.
Maybe not as much lions as I expected, but this is the beauty of safaris as this is not an exact science and you never know in the morning which animals you are going to see. Of course if in Amboseli you don't see elephants then you can consider your guide is very bad. I've seen several groups of elephants there so no complain.
I loved Phinda for its beauty and variety of experiences
My dad and I visited Phinda Game Reserve on a safari to South Africa a few years ago. It had been recommended to us as a nice alternative to the private game reserves outside of Kruger. We had spent a week in Timbavati and Sabi Sands and wanted to safari in a different part of South Africa. Phinda is an excellent place to do that. We stayed at two properties in Phinda: Vlei Lodge and Rock Lodge in order to get a feel for different parts of the reserve. The lodges and rooms are first rate. Great views of the surrounding wilderness, plunge pools and big bathrooms, outdoor showers and mini bars---I can't think of anything they missed.
But I'm more about the wildlife than the accomodations and we had been told that Phinda is the best place in South Africa to see cheetah and had some great sightings in the few days we were there. A mother and cubs, and then two brothers hunting (we didn't see a chase). Other guests were intent upon photographing cheetahs hunting and I'm not certain if they were successful, but it's definitely a good place to observe cheetah.
Rhinos both white and black are also a feature of Phinda and we saw both while we were there. We watched a black rhino mother and calf casually feeding for a half hour or so. We also saw several white rhino including mother and calf as well.
Other highlights included elephant and lions and giraffe. Night drives are possible as well. There's really a great variety of activities and we took advantage of them. We went fishing in the Indian Ocean out of Sodwanna Bay and caught tuna and saw humpback whales. We took the Flight of the Fish Eagle to get a lay of the land and it was absolutely stunning! We left out of the airstrip in Phinda and flew over the sand forest, the estuarine areas and lakes and then over the dunes and out over the ocean. This was a spectacular flight. We spotted numerous whales (humpbacks) and even a whale shark. We loved the perspective from the air!
We also visited a zulu village for a little local culture. I thought it was a beautiful place with a lot of unique things to see and do. The only negative comment and it really shouldn't be taken negatively is that, to me, it had a little of that "managed" feel. I've been to Africa multiple times and there is a slight difference between one of the national parks and a privately managed game reserve. I would highly recommend it as a supplement to your South African safari and there are definitely some unique things to see and do here!
If you'd like to see some of the videos I took while at Phinda---search Phinda and Gunter32804 on Youtube and it will give you a flavor of the place. Hope this is helpful!
US
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Fantastically Planned Safari for an Unforgettable Experience
We just returned from our fantastic Safari in Tanzania! From planning to arrival the Safari Infinity team was great.
We were planning this trip for a few months, and planning involved lots of research on what tour company to go with. I scoured TripAdvisor forums for mentions of different companies as well as any other sources I could find. Based on what I found we narrowed it down to about 10 companies. We emailed all of them with our requirements: budget, timelines, and places we wanted to see. Safari Infinity got back to us right away with a great itinerary. Ultimately they beat out the rest of the Safari companies because they were prompt with their emails, they were not pushy, and they provided us a great itinerary with unique lodging that would give us the safari experience we pictured in our minds.
Since this was something we planned for months and months, we had many questions for the Safari Infinity team. We specifically communicated most with Augustine & Lucia. Both were great at giving prompt and thorough responses to all of our questions. Overall we had a great experience during the pre-trip planning.
Upon arrival to JRO Airport we were greeted by our Safari Guide, Kelly. I thought that was a very nice touch as it gave our group a chance to meet the person we would be spending so much time with. He was able to provide a basic outline of the trip and what to expect.
One person in our group arrived in Tanzania missing one piece of luggage. Kelly and the rest of the Safari Infinity team were great at not only tracking down the luggage but also getting the luggage delivered to us in the middle of the Serengeti.
Now onto our driver, Kelly, he was amazing! Somehow he was the perfect guide for all 5 different personalities in the car. He was extremely knowledgable about the animals we saw. He was especially good at crafting stories that connected the different animals we saw on any given day, to a holistic view of nature. We also couldn't believe his animal spotting skills, he would see things in far away places that I had trouble finding with binoculars. Kelly was great at answering our myriad of questions. We had questions about everything, and he was always able to give us good, thoughtful answers. One of the best things about Kelly was his passion for his job. You can tell he truly loves the Serengeti and Tanzania. He was also really skilled at understanding the needs of our group. Just when we seemed restless, Kelly had a stop for us where we could get out and stretch our legs. When we had a few early morning game drives in a row, he knew to give us a late start day. One of the most unexpected things about the experience was how much fun we had in the jeep with him. Joking around, asking him questions about his life, and in turn when he asked us questions about our lives, there was never a dull moment in the jeep. We even had an impromptu sing-along at one point during the Safari.
Overall the experience with Kelly and the Safari Infinity team made me fall in love with Africa. I can't wait to go back! My only concern is that I could never have a better trip than the one I just experienced.