IT
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Great Experience thanks to Splendid Vacations
Splendid Vacations made this trip seem a walk in the park. Alice was always available during the booking stage with great response time that made it easy to adjust itinerary to our needs. We booked very late but Alice managed to organise the trip seamlessly, exceeding our expectations. She checked about us during the trip and even after - so kudos to her. Joshua, our guide and driver was always cheerful and making sure we would reach on time every destination, driving very safely and giving insights about local culture and wildlife all along the trip. Impeccable service and great experience. We went to Ol Pejeta as Amboseli was fully booked and it was a great suggestion from Alice. Highly recommend the night safari. Another suggestion was a trekking adventure on Lake Naivasha, again spot on with plenty of animals roaming freely that you can almost touch, great experience. Next stop was Hell’s gate for a cycling adventure, followed by Lake Nakuru and the Masai Mara. Saw plenty of wildlife on all stops and almost managed to see a heard of wildebeest to cross the Mara river…unfortunately they changed their mind last minute…good excuse to go back once more. Second part of the trip was Diani beach with its pristine white beaches and plenty of activities to undertake. Alice organised for us the train tickets from Nairobi to Mombasa. It’s a 5 hours comfortable ride in first class (there is a restaurant too) with some amazing scenery through Tsavo park. If you have the time I recommend. Thanks again to Joshua who, after our lunch at Carnivore, accompanied us through safety checks at the train station as I saw several comments that made me a bit worried, nevertheless with Joshua there all went very smooth without any issues. We loved the itinerary put together by Alice, the care taken by Joshua - the whole family was very happy throughout the journey and I can only highly recommend Splendid Vacations for their professionalism, commitment to let guests experience the best and the smooth process from the first contact until even after we finished the tour.
Thank you Alice and Joshua for the memorable experience and services you provided us!
US
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Seamless planning
My wife and I would highly recommend African Big Cats Safaris! Emanuel and his team worked with us to create a seamless itinerary and Venance was a great safari guide! Venance is very knowledgeable and took care of us throughout our trip. The team at Big Cats had no hesitations with any requests we had and answered every one of our questions. We could not have asked for a better team to work with. We will forever remember this once in a lifetime safari experience.
US
65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
I had a wonderful - near perfect! - tour of northern Tanzania with Oreteti Safari Ltd!
Earlier this summer I had a fantastic 12-day safari tour in Tanzania. Thanks to the Oreteti Safari Ltd. tour company the trip was way beyond what I had hoped for. In varied habitats, from jungles to the Serengeti plains to the Ngorongoro crater, we saw all the animals on our list – including numerous giraffes, elephants, lions, zebras, baboons, gazelles, impalas, cheetahs, hippopotamus, ostriches, the elusive leopards and rhinoceros - and more! In the northern region of Serengeti National Park we were very fortunate to see the awesome migration of thousands of wildebeest across the Mara River. We also had fascinating visits to the villages of three local tribes. The Oreteti drivers/guides, Raymond and Renaldo, were wonderful - they knew where the animals would be, had endless patience in answering our questions, and generally took great care of us. We also appreciated the personal attention of Oreteti's owner Joseph. We enjoyed the accommodations (lodges in the towns and tented camps in the Serengeti); they were very comfortable and provided excellent meals. Overall it was a wonderful experience – if I could I would go back for another tour with Oreteti next year!
US
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Perfect planning, perfect execution, perfect trip!
We just got back from an amazing trip to Tanzania and Rwanda. Jake and Stacy from the Shadows of Africa USA office were very responsive, and accommodated all our preferences and even last minute changes. Emanuel (in Tanzania) and Ziwa (in Rwanda) were excellent guides, knowledgeable about where to find the animals. Emanuel gave us an amazing up-close view of the wildebeest river crossing migration. All local travel/flights were smooth and efficiently handled. The accommodations were all high-end and very comfortable, with attentive staff and careful consideration for our vegetarian requirements. Thanks Shadows of Africa, for a once in a lifetime experience that we’ll remember forever! It was one of our most expensive vacations but totally worth the price!
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Excellent safari trip with steve
We booked budget safari with Jocky tours, it was easy and they were approachable, replying to emails promptly, providing options, answering questions and their advice about packing, etc was useful, it was a smooth process
Steve was quite knowledgeable, very helpful and keen to show us the best of Kenya culture and showed us the big five multiple times. I learnt a lot about animals and Kenya culture from him.
I would definitely recommend this trip as budget safari, accommodations as shown on website and all inclusive (no large buffets but local Kenyan food)
FR
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Amazing once in a lifetime adventure
Our safari with Sky View Adventure exceeded our every expectation. My husband, my adult daughter, and myself just returned from our 4 day best of Tanzania safari. We were treated like royalty the entire trip. Our accommodations, including food and service were excellent. Our guide, Bakari, not only made it possible for us to view numerous animals, he was very knowledgeable. Not only did we see elephants, baboons, zebras, and lions up close, we witnessed a cheetah and two cubs following their prey. We saw more animals and a wider variety than I would have ever imagined possible. For anyone considering a safari I would definitely recommend Sky View Adventure.
US
65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
Completely Amazing
We just returned from an incredible 13-day Great Apes & Africa Safari trip, and we can't say enough good things about our experience with Lush Africa Safaris. Abbey did an outstanding job planning our itinerary, spending extra time to adjust it to include additional locations we wanted to visit. The itinerary featured breathtaking sites in Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania. The trip was very reasonably priced. The only glitch was a minor hotel reservation mess-up in Kigali. Our guide, together with Lush Africa Safari regional office got the issue quickly resolved. (By the way, the hotel was the Hotel Des Mille Collins, the same hotel where the event described in the movie Hotel Rwanda took place.) Although it was most likely an error by the hotel and not Lush's fault, Abbey even upgraded two of our hotels and tents as we traveled.
Our guides Yves in Rwanda and Uganda, Peter in Kenya, and Joseph in Tanzania were all professional, reliable and did their best so that we can see as much wild life as possible. Their knowledge, experience, and keen eyes made our journey unforgettable. They knew the parks and reserves inside and out, spotting animals that other visitors often missed. Peter and Joseph always took us out very early in the morning and stayed later for game drives. Peter seemed to be a leader among the tour guides; he was often the first to find wildlife and would then radio the other drivers. During traffic jams (yes, believe it or not, there were traffic jams in African parks and reserves!), Peter acted like a traffic controller, directing drivers to back up or move to resolve the gridlock. Somehow, the other drivers seem always listened to him.
Seeing the great migration was a challenge. At the Masai Mara Reserve, the rangers blocked the road due to the many jeeps, so we could only
see the wildebeests running into and out of the Mara River, but not crossing it (Peter was even more upset about this than we were). On our first afternoon in Serengeti Park, Joseph spotted possible crossing site three times. However, over 30 inexperienced drivers rushed ahead and blocked the animals access to the river! We told Joseph to give up and move on, but he refused. The following morning, he drove an extra 1.5
hours back to the crossing site. Unlike others who rushed to the riverbank, where more than 50 jeeps were jammed up, Joseph stayed
back on a hill, watching closely. Then, suddenly, he turned in a different direction and drove like a maniac. Guess what! He beat the others and got us to the crossing site just in time. We witnessed the great migration with our own eyes! Another example, also in Serengeti park. We were waiting, with several other jeeps, for a group of leopards, hidden behind bushes, to come out. Joe intensely looked at horizon far away. Then he said "these leopards are not coming out anytime soon. I saw a elephant group in that direction, probably cross a road soon. Let's go there first." Even with a binocular, I saw nothing. I thought Joe must be kidding. We went anyway. After 3 or 4 mins fast driving, a family of elephants was about to cross the road right in front of us. Exactly the right time, Exactly the right spot. Exactly as Joe said! Amazing! He must have a 20/5 vision! Thanks to Joseph, we saw so much more than we ever expected. I must add this additional comment. In the morning of the last day of our trip, we drove from Serengeti Park to Ngorongoro Crater. On the way, we saw a disabled jeep. Joe and several other jeeps stopped to help. However, the problems could not be fixed, and other jeeps left. Joe asked us if it is ok if we took the passengers and the driver of the disabled jeep into our vehicle. (Our Land-cruiser can take 6 passengers, I and my wife were the only passengers). It would add a bit inconvenience to us. But of course, we said fine. So we continued our game drive to Ngorongoro Crater (also the designation of the disabled jeep). After the drive was done, Joe sent us to our hotel. Then took the rescued passengers to their hotel. We must praise Joe for his professionalism. Not only he helped his
fellow tour guide, he saved a young Italian couple's dream vacation!
Because we were so close to the wildlife, lions, elephants, leopards, rhinoceroses, cheetahs, giraffes, hippos, zebras, buffalo's, crocodiles,
wildebeests, wild dogs, baboons, warthogs, impalas, kudus, gazelles, ostriches, and more. We took so many photos and videos. We could even
submit some to National Geographic!
Staying in the tents for several nights was a great experience! The quality of the tents and the services were exceptional. We could see wild animals from inside our tents. One night, a few buffaloes even slept right next to our door!
In addition to the wildlife, our guides enriched our trip by sharing fascinating insights into Africa's history and cultures, allowing us to learn a great deal along the way. We feel incredibly fortunate to have chosen Lush Africa Safaris for this adventure. The trip was absolutely amazing, and witnessing the great migration was the highlight of a lifetime. Words can't describe our feelings about this trip.
One thing we missed on this trip was hiking Mount Kilimanjaro. (But, I assure you, this was not the fault of Lush Africa Safari or any of the
drivers). We will have to do it in our next life!
Again, thanks for everything, Abbey, Yves, Peter, and Joseph!
65+ years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Knowledgeable, responsive, and a pleasure to deal with
We traveled to Kruger in South Africa, Vic Falls, Hwange in Zimbabwe, and the northern Serengeti in Tanzania for a 3 week multi camp trip over June and July 2024 and used The Explore and Travel Company to put together the bookings and logistics for us. We live in Australia and wanted to deal with someone local and after intense research decided upon this company located in Cape Town. We dealt directly with the Director of the company, Michelle, and couldn’t have asked for a better experience all round. My 22 year old niece did all the initial enquiries and communication and was extremely impressed with how well Michelle listened to and understood our needs and gave appropriate expert advice. She gave us choices that matched our strict criteria and our budget and helped us decide on the best camps for us with great patience as we peppered her with multiple questions over both Zoom meetings and emails. Michelle kept all her promises, was extremely knowledgeable and was absolutely lovely to deal with. She really went above and beyond to find out the answers to our questions if she did not know by contacting the properties themselves to ensure we got the most trustworthy information. All this care and attention to detail resulted in a most wonderful trip where properties lived up to or exceeded our expectations, ground and air partners were reliable and professional and gave us great value for money. Absolutely nothing went amiss and our experiences were very special and bespoke. We also loved the digital itinerary technology that Michelle used that we could download to our phones and simply check offline anything we wanted to know. We could not more highly recommend Michelle and her company and we would engage her again in a heat-beat.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
3 Day Gorilla and Golden Monkey Trekking
I booked the 3 day gorilla and golden monkey trekking tour with Katsam in early August 2024. Booking was easy and Richard was always prompt on responding. Overall the tour was a great experience and my guide and driver Medard was very friendly and easy to talk to. In the morning of my gorilla trekking day i had woken up an hour late due to the time difference in Rwanda and Uganda but Medard had already been to the park to reserve my spot and still waited patiently for me to have breakfast, an absolute lifesaver! I would definitely recommend doing your Gorilla trekking tour with Katsam and am looking forward to booking another tour with them when i return.
US
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Trip of a Lifetime
The 4 day guided tour by Gifted African Adventures was a dream come true! This was my 4th time visiting Africa-Gift did an amazing job in creating a trip of a lifetime. I did the tour with a group of friends. We started our tour by visiting the Serengeti. We were lucky enough to see all Big 5 and we stayed in a beautiful tented camp within the Serengeti. We saw the Ngorongoro crater, hiked the Maturini waterfall, visited a coffee plantation, and swam in the Chemka hot springs. Gift did a great job in creating a custom itinerary for us. Gift arranged transportation to and from the airport for us and also provided lodging choices-which is very helpful. Gift went above and beyond to make sure that we were having fun, were comfortable, and also safe. He is also a wealth of knowledge that knows a lot about the National Parks and their animals, Tanzania’s culture and history.
I highly recommend Gifted African Adventures for your trip to Tanzania. You will not be disappointed.
