IN
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Let down
When I had made my booking, I had specified that I needed a driver/guide who had knowledge of local birds.
The vehicle provided was a below average vehicle. Lots of noise and smell. The driver a good man but not so knowledgeable about birds. There was not even a reference book for birds. Even worse was he was on the phone for a long time due to which he was not engaging with me.
A trip to Africa is probably once a lifetime to many people. The tour operators needs to respect that and ensure proper service.
CL
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Good experience and recommendable but not liked expected and with many objections
We are a couple that booked a group joining safari of 11 days in Kenia and Tanzania with Pride o Africa. We booked it in advance from our country. Below I describe first all the positive things of our experience with this company and then all the negatives:
Positives:
- All the staff is very friendly and are nice persons.
- Stephen was very fast in reply all our inquiries before and during the safari. He was very attentive and was always concerned about us and our satisfaction.
- Jacktone and Deo, our drivers in Kenia and Tanzania respectively, were very good guides, they knew good the visited parks and made a big effort for giving us a great time.
-We could see the big fives (but leopard just one time and it was the last today and from afar).
-Both drivers cleaned the vehicules everyday.
-In general good organization (except the problems mentioned below)
In general I think the people of Pride of Africa is serious and very reliable.
Negatives:
-As soon as we arrived at Nairobi and were picked up by the people of Pride of Africa (the managers), they persuaded us to change our group joining safari for a private safari (only for the Kenia’s part). We agreed because they recommended it strongly and we didn’t have much time to decide (we were under pressure). They said that the only way to keep the original accommodations was making the private tour. We had to pay an important extra cost not considered in our original budget. It would much better if people of Pride of Africa had talken about this before arriving there, so we would have time to think about it without pressure. Besides the group joining safari in Tanzania was as good as the private option in Kenya, we were only three persons in total, and finally we didn’t see real advantages to make the private safari in Kenya, specially considering we like to share with other people.
- We didn’t all the game drives indicated on the original program. I think this happened because the program was very optimistic. Is not possible to do all the game drives offered because of the timings.
-We were cheated in a shop where we stopped for resting on the way to Masai Mara. I think that the guide should not stop on bad reputation places or at least he or/and the company should aware the tourists of this bad practices.
-In Tanzania the Safari was made by another company from that country (I think that they are partners of Pride of Africa, but we were not informed in advance). They changed an important part of our program without asking or telling us. Luckly and casually we realized this the day before thanks to a conversation with the driver. We were just at time to talk the managers of both companies and claim for maintaining the original program. They solved it quickly, but if we didn’t see this the day before we would loss an important time in Seregenti.
-We liked all the lodges and campsites we stayed, except one because it was a campsite in a town and not in a park or in the wildlife as expected (Jambo Lodge, Lake Manyara). Also the staff there were not very friendly and we were almost the unique tourists there. We didn’t feel comfortable in that place. Unfortunately we spent three nights there(more than in all the other places).
- Again, without asking us, they changed 1 night in Nogrongoro for 1 night in Lake Manyara (Jambo Lodge, the place we didn’t like)
-The Land Cruiser in Tanzania didn’t have radio (important tool for communication between guides and to find animals). This was offered in the original program. The vehicle had also the windshield broken and seat belts were not very good working.
In brief we still recommend this company, but we suggest to be aware checking everyday the program in advance to have time to claim is anything is changed or wrong. Take care with the shops where you will stop for resting. If you visit Lake Manyara, ask to not say in Jambo Lodge, is not a comfortable place. Is better to stay on campsites inside the parks with the wildlife and sharing with more tourists.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Gorilla Trek
I'll begin with the positives... I had a remarkable time with the gorillas, I trekked with the chimpanzees, I saw a number of animals in Queen Elizabeth and Uganda is one beautiful country.
I was the only person on my tour, the car was nice and comfortable, the guide Jesse was enthusiastic, and for what I did and saw the experience was great value.
But.... The communication between Michael and the rest of the Mushra team was severely lacking, the moment I'd paid my tour fees communication stopped which caused a great deal of stress from my end. During the tour it was super unorganised with many fees still owed, which almost made me miss my trek with the chimps.
Overall it is what it is. It's super cheap compared to other agency, it's rough around the edges, but it delivered for me.
CA
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Safari to Masai Mara
We used this company for our safari to Masai Mara in December. It was great that they organized everything, but it was expensive for 3 nights. Once we got to the hotel, we couldn’t figure out why it was so expensive because our camp wasn’t too great. The safari was amazing though, the guide and driver were amazing and made our trip, but they were more affiliated with the hotel rather than this company. We were told there would be WiFi, but there wasn’t. Only a few hours of electricity each day. Carol was great, and I asked her to reschedule my trip many times, but I think the company is charging too much. If you use credit card you also have to pay a large fee. We had a lot of fun though. You need to have a positive attitude though, like expect to get stuck in water. We stayed 3 nights at the same place which was great because we got to do more, and weren’t so exhausted moving around. We also flew on a small plane which was interesting but I’m happy we didn’t drive that far. We saw the buses that people who drove in had, they didn’t look as great as our land cruiser, more like a van.
US
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Most of safari was fantastic, but disappointined with Galloping Safari Owner, Walter Tenga.
Our family safari in Ngorogoro and Serengheti with my two young adult children ( 18 and 21) was an incredible experience. Weather, variety and quantity of game viewed, Four Seasons Serengheti Lodge, Balloon ride and our safari tour guide, Kennedy, were all outstanding and lived up to all our expecations and more! I am, however, quite disappointed in Walter Tenga, the owner of Galloping Safaris. Our hotel the first night in Arusha was changed (downgraded) from the hotel documented on our itinerary, without any advance notice of the change. Mr. Tenga described the change as a "mistake". The hotel we stayed at was nice, but not nearly as nice the one stated on our itinerary. During our return from Serengheti to Arusha on the last day, we ran into a problem with our flight. We wer e told a flat tire on our small aircraft would result in over a two hour delay of our flight. I attempted to contact Galloping Safari Tour owner, Walter Tenga, for help. I called his office and cell phone multiple times, but he never answered and I was not able to leave a message. As a result of our delay, we missed a farewell luncheon at beautiful hotel on our last day and shopping time. No alternate lunches were provided, although I had already paid for these meals in our tour package. I contacted Mr. Tenga and requested a refund for our meals, but my request was ignored. Very disappointing. Last but not least, our Galloping Safari driver who took us back to the Killimanjaro airport seemed to misunderstand our flight information. Once I reviewed our departure time with him, he drove at a dangerously high speed to get us there on time. He was stopped by the police because he was driving so fast. When we entered the airport, my kids and I were met by security personnel because of our very late arrival to board our plane. All this made for a very stressful ending to an otherwise wonderful trip.
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Tour operator is good. The fact that they subcontract out the driving/facilitators creates problems.
We got what we paid for, so the following is not a complaint, but information that you may wish to use to improve your experience. Please note: subcontactors/drivers are not usually directly employed by the tour company, so get phone numbers that you can use in each country, and use local SIM cards.
1. Communications can be improved significantly, as we did not have a local telephone number to call when we went from Kenya to Tanzania - the border crossing "facilitator" was hopeless and left us to stand in the sun waiting for a bus we did not personally have tickets for. A local was kind enough to ring the Kenya phone number we had, and the company then verbally kicked the "facilitator" into fixing the issue.
2. The 2WD small vehicles used in Kenya are very uncomfortable for tall people like me (195cm or so), and get bogged easily - pay for an upgrade to 4WD Landcruiser safari vehicle if it is offered at a fair price. 2WD is adequate, incidentally, but expect the driving to be faster on the rough roads than you would expect. There were only 4WD Landcruisers in the Tanzania part of the trip, and they are much nicer, with plenty of head-room when the pop-top roof is open for animal viewing and photographing.
3. Water is supposed to be supplied on safari - it often wasn't in Kenya. I got a dozen bottles of water for myself and my wife, and the other passengers were so thirsty that they nicked most of them. I do not blame the passengers, incidentally. Water in Kenya was a problem, not in Tanzania.
4. Hot water was not often available for showers.
5. "Eco" camps that we used TRIED to do well, and in Kenya were at lease moderately comfortable (with beds) - but did not care that the roof leaked water onto the bed during a storm. The ones in Tanzania were camps (i.e. tents that were not waterproof , sleeping bags that needed fixing and washing, no hot water for showers, oh, and no towels supplied if we decided to have cold shower). Pay for upgrade in Tanzania, please.
6. i.e. Kenya basic cars, adequate accommodation; Tanzania much better cars, terrible accommodation. Even in the Serengeti there are proper hotels near the camps - pay for an upgrade if you hate tents and boring food, trust me. The tour company can juggle just about any request.
7. Finally, some changes were made without our permission, such as the order we saw some parks, and where we were staying or camping. We did, however, go to each and every place we were supposed to see, just out of order a bit.
Overall, I have to say that the tour operators are extremely competent, offer good value for money, and can accommodate almost any changes within reason.
(It was not my first safari, but the camping issues and my age has made it my last, as I am not a kid anymore and I have now seen what I want to see in Africa - don't let this affect you, as I am just commenting. Also 2 fellow travellers were a pain in the arse, complaining again and again about everything from not seeing lions feeding (they mostly rest during the day), to not getting the photos up close that they wanted IMMEDIATELY, wanting to change drivers because he could not arrange for a pair of binoculars to be returned {left, by them, in another vehicle} IMMEDIATELY, and so on. Animals move, so opportunities change, they were carrying a 65x zoom camera so should not be bitching about the photos of animals being too far away. My Nikon and 200mm lens was more than enough, and sometimes we were so close to animals (especially lions) that I had to change to a 18-55mm lens. I got photos of everything from lions in trees, leopards, cheetah, spotted hyenas, all sorts of herbivores imaginable, flamingos (2 types, up close) and more. In fact I photographed even more variety of animals than I expected (and expectations were high), and was simply blown away by the Serengeti migration. The animal numbers are simply staggering over a vast area. Seeing Kilimanjaro is fantastic, as was the photographs of elephants with Kilimanjaro in the background. Good trip, recommended highly, and my comments are just for your information should you want to do a similar 2 week Kenya/Tanzania budget trip.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Guide was fine. Tour was different to the itinerary. The mattress, tent & sleeping bags were gross
Advise if the tour is different to what is proposed . Advise us to bring sleeping bags as those were disgusting and we both had bed bugs
SE
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Do not themself drive in Tanzania
Communication with Simon prior booking was good, clear and fast. We booked a small group midrange safari 6 days Tarangire, lake manyara, ngorgoro and Serengeti national parks starting from Arusha.
While on site, we could not find their Arusha office. (The hotel listed on their website had never heard of the company.) The night befor the start of the safari a man from another safari company met us at the hotel, said he talked with Simon and would operate our trip. Overall we got what was agreed on in the itinerary, but days and accomodanditon was shifted with out any prior notice until the very last minute everyday. We would have appreciated to get a new updated itinerary befor we left. The driver/guide was really just a driver and did not tell us much about the parks or animals.
We are overall happy with the trip! Saw a lot of animals really close, an experience of a life time!!
It is hard to give a fare review of Wild Race Africa cause we have not met any of them.
US
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
July 2018 holiday
We signed with Northern Masailand Safaris operated by Henry Stanley Kapolondo during our July 2018 holiday . Our Safari included guide, lodging, and park fees.
Henry greeted us at the airport to introduce us to our guide. He also arranged for us to be dropped off at the airport on our return home.
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Do your own research
The main lesson I learned having booked a Tanzanian trip with EA is do your own research too.
When we arrived in Arusha, the accommodation was well below average. We have traveled all over India and are familiar with accommodation in an under developed country, however, this was quite shocking. We managed to upgrade to a nicer room at no extra charge, courtesy of the hotel.
We decided to travel by road throughout our trip so we could see the countryside, however, the vehicle was a rust bucket. The air con didn’t work and we were unable to close our windows for protection against the elements, mud and tsetseflies. The car seats had no cushioning left which, given that most of the trip was off road, made for an extremely uncomfortable ride. It also felt like the shock absorbers were shot too. The vehicle had done in excess of 380,000km all of which were off road. We all ended up with sore backs as a result. Just to note, some of the game drives took over 6 hours with no toilets around. It’s ok for guys, but I wasn’t comfortable going behind a bush for rest stops. It’s not something you are told prior.
A big part of our trip was to see the migration of the wildebeest. We had been warned by other travelers that the migration was delayed and all the animals were still at the Wester Corridor, so we should tell our driver so he could make alternate arrangements. He was very reluctant to do so. By the time we got to camp, the wildebeest has just started to arrive, but the other big animals had not. We spent hours and hours each day for nearly three days searching for signs of lions, elephants and other large animals. We finally insisted that we move to where other travelers had advised us to go. Reluctantly our guide agreed. We managed to see leopards, lions (many), hippos, crocodiles, wildebeest, zebras, hyenas many different antelope, all in one day. However, because of this earlier reluctance to move, we only managed to stay overnight. It was wonderful and we wanted to stay longer, agreeing to pay the additional costs associated with it. It was refused and we ended up moving very early the next day to stay at a hotel, which was not ideal. Another 10 hour drive in a sub standard vehicle.
Our driver could not be contacted the next day so we missed out on the morning game drive. So we spent over 24 hours in a hotel room. Not what you want when you pay big $$ to see wild life.
After missing out on seeing the migration, it was extremely disappointing that we were forced to leave the one place that had all the action we were searching for.
There were many enjoyable moments and the guide was extremely knowledgeable and a superb driver. Just make sure you do your own research. Check hotel reviews. Ask about the age and condition of the vehicle you will be traveling in. It will make all the difference when traveling through this stunning country. Africa is amazing. The people are warm and welcoming and the animals are breathtaking. It truly is an experience of a lifetime.