US
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Great planning, mediocre execution
We booked a 4 day Serengeti honeymoon through Walter with a 5-day Zanzibar add-on. We chose to book with him because he was easy to communicate with and seemed extremely knowledgeable. The detailed trip descriptions customized for the season gave me confidence that he would arrange a great trip for us.
Altogether, Walter's recommendations for lodging were all spot on. All the accommodation he recommended were truly outstanding.
Reasons for the 3-star review:
1) My most serious complaint was our guide named Anderson. While he was a safe driver, always punctual, and seemed very competent at finding game we had an unbelievably hard time communicating with him and that really put a damper on the trip for us. To give you some background, I have lived in the Middle East and Africa for extended periods of time so I would consider myself adept at speaking with non-native English speakers. However, both me and my wife found ourselves constantly frustrated. Anderson could not teach us much about the nature that we came to see nor could he answer our questions. To be honest, we would ask a question and usually get a completely off-the-wall answer as he didn't understand what we had asked. Eventually driving around gets boring if you don't know what you're really looking at with any depth! Other travelers and their guides we met along the way did not seem to have this issue.
2) There were some permit issues entering two of the parks, each one causing a 1-2 hour delay when we would have preferred to have been relaxing in the lodge. The driver tried to tell me it was the network, the park employees clarified it was poor preparations although didn't further elaborate. I ended up having to pay entrance fees to one park which I did get reimbursed for.
3) Our guide decided to go off the road in Serengeti to get closer to some lions. It was our first day and we had no idea that this wasn't allowed. Sure enough, the rangers came and we had to follow them back towards the airport (nearly an hour away in the wrong direction) for our driver to get a 'ticket.' About 5 minutes into this drive they stopped and motioned our driver out of the car. Next thing we knew our driver was asking us for money to bribe the rangers. I said I would not give him money. A few minutes later we were on our way without paying a fine. I have no idea what exactly was going on... I have no idea if this is a setup or common occurrence but it certainly left a bad taste in our mouth.
4) The airport transfer that Walter arranged for us in Zanzibar consisted of an hour of entrapped salesmanship. The transfer company he contracted was also a 'tour company' and spent the hour pushing countless tour options which we were not at all interested in. We both arrived with headaches.
Bottom line: I would trust Walter's planning again but I'd be weary of your guide. I honestly would go so far as to talk with your guide on the phone ahead to be sure you can communicate. Don't trust other's TripAdvisor notes mentioning guides because ours actually had a few decent comments!
AM
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amazing experience
This was one of the best trip I had in my life. Our time was short, so we chose to do Safari for 3 days. Right after I applied to listing, we've been contacted by Thompson and he arranged customized journey for us. Although, we did not visit Serengeti, but I think Thompson made ideal schedule which was possible for 3 days.
We've been staying in tented lodges, which were beautiful and part of the excitement of this trip. On the evening, we had few zebras staying around our lodge.
This safari could not been so much fun and amazing without our friend, Witson, who was our guide. He is very knowledgeable, caring and positively minded person. Although, 3 days are not enough for good safari, but Witson did everything to make sure we see as much as we can. And he did... We've seen some rare animals. Also, I admit, he drives better than me :) Words not enough, but he certainly exceeded our expectations. I hope to meet someday again.
We've had a good talk with Danny and Thompson who visited us in hotel on our last day. They were interested what was good/bad. I think this why they are amazing... They really do care that travelers feel comfortable.
This was excellent. Thanks Witson, Danny and Thompson! We'll meet someday. :)
20-35 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Cheetah safaris has the best customer care, they always make sure the client is happy and satisfied.
Booked with them a Masai Mara trip for their daily weekend departures and what they gave my friends and I was superb and would want more from them. John Thanks for your special service you give your clients.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
We loved our safari - would definitely recommend Alliance
James was great at organising our trip and helping with our last minute change of plan. Our guide Gerald was brilliant in the Masai Mara - we couldn’t have asked for a better trip!
CA
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amazing Honeymoon Adventure - Can't wait to go back!
Alym was amazing to work with from the very start. He took everything we wanted to see & do into consideration, while also staying within our budget. On our way to Tanzania, we missed our connection flying through Amsterdam. Alym was able to push back every part of our itinerary within a 12 hour time period so that we wouldn't miss out on a single aspect of our trip - It was amazing! After landing in Kilimanjaro, every aspect of our trip was seamless. Our guide, Selemani, was wonderful! He was very easy going, easy to get along with, and incredible at spotting different animals. We saw more than we could've ever imagined thanks to Selemani. All of the lodges and tented camps we stayed at were amazing. Great food, friendly staff, amazing locations. After our safari, we flew to Zanzibar for some rest and relaxation. We decided we wanted to go into Stonetown for a day and Alym helped us arrange this as well. Every aspect of the trip exceeded our expectations. We highly recommend East Africa Wild Aventures and we will definitely be booking with them again!
US
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
I couldn't have imagined a better trip!
This was an amazing safari :) I have never seen such a beautiful, wild landscape. Our tour guide, Joseph took very good care of us and was so accommodating. I asked him so many questions and he patiently answered all of them! I couldn't have asked for a better trip.
FR
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
professionnel ,quality/price
Hello, we are a couple having stayed from 02/02/2018 till 04/02/2018. We liked the place, the welcome was warm, the roo and the private bathroom toilet were clean. The meal prepared by the chef was delicious. The staff was nice and very helpful our guide ' Saloum ' (saddened for the spelling:-)), was very kind very nice, he took care of us during the stay, he even found us a flight for return. Mr Donatus was very professional, thanks to him we were able to reserve and to program our safari from France . I strongly recommend thank you for all Nahla
CA
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
A once in a lifetime experience... provided by Kenya Walking Survivors Safaris Ltd
Everything about this company is about providing clients a unique experience to showcase all that Kenya has to offer. Booking the trip was simple, questions were answered in a timely manner and overall my experience was first class all the way.
Each place that we stayed at offered amazing care and customer service. All staff focused on making our trip enjoyable, but more important we felt as if this was very much a customised and personalised experience.
Our guide was amazing. He took time to show us unique aspects of Kenya, including people, places and animals as we travelled from Nairobi through to the Masai Mara and answered questions as we experienced this journey.
I can't thank Kenya Walking Survivors Safaris Ltd enough for providing me the trip of a life time. I sincerely appreciate each of you involved and hope one day our paths cross again...thank you once again for EVERYTHING!!!
50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Well planned and wonderfully executed custom-built 12 day tour
From my initial enquiries about the tour through to the end when I said farewell to my driver and guide I can honestly say that it was all a marvellous experience.
I started out by asking about group tours as I thought a customised tour for me, as a solo traveller, would be too expensive. My communications with Lionel in the office were always very constructive and together we developed a tour that was perfect for me and for the costs I had in mind. In the end I paid significantly more than I had originally expected but the trip was worth it. The payments were all processed very smoothly and my special requests were attended to by Ilse, the manager.
On the tour itself I was fortunate to have been assigned a freelance tour guide and driver; Confidence Matsiko. He was very professional, knew the job well and he had a number of contacts, some of whom he called upon to ease the minor challenges that cropped up. Confidence has a good knowledge of birds and was keen to learn more; so with our shared interest we never tired of conversation. My tour however was to focus on the larger primates and I can honestly say my close encounters with both chimps and mountain gorillas were way beyond my expectations.
I'm so glad Lionel persuaded me to go for the Chimp habituation rather than chimp tracking. My full day with the chimp group enabled me to experience them successfully hunting a Colobus monkey. The insight into this aspect of chimp life would not have been possible had I been tracking them for just 2 hours.
The Gorilla experience was equally rewarding. Confidence had managed to put me into the group that was to locate the Bitukura group out of Ruhija. His friend was to be the lead ranger for the eight-person group. The Bitukura group were known to have silverbacks and youngsters in them so, when we finally located them after quite a tiring climb up through the forest, I was thrilled and delighted to find a huge silverback male with two young playing and tumbling with each other on his back. He was completely ignoring them until the babies moved off to join their mum after which he set off to find some more food to fill his enormous belly. To watch all of this and to experience the smells and sounds as well as the sights was just fantastic. No TV film could ever match the reality of sitting so close to these wonderful animals.
The choice of accommodations used was also entirely appropriate for me but next time I think I would opt for more homestays rather than the less-friendly lodges.
The only aspect that I offer as a helpful comment is to make customers aware of the journey time between locations. The 12 hour trek between Murchison Falls NP and Kibale was exhausting and I hadn't realised how long it would take. Perhaps in the itinerary some indication of travel time would help clients appreciate what is required and thus prepare themselves accordingly.
I'd like to thank Matoke tours for enabling me to enjoy such wonderful wildlife-filled experiences. All the other game-viewing and birdwatching days of the trip were equally enjoyable and I reckon that I managed to identify, with the help of Confidence, nearly 230 species of birds despite not really working hard for them. If you choose Matoke as your tour operator I think you will almost certainly be very happy with your experiences. Having travelled extensively across Africa I think my Ugandan trip was one of, if not, the best.
PT
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
AMAZING EXPERIENCE
Thank you Soul of Tanzania for making our trip an amazing experience!
Zamo, our game drive, is a very nice person, good driver, extremely professional, attentive to detail, polite, discreet and has a hawk eye for animals.
Lunches were tasty. Service was top! Warm food, cold wine, fresh coffee and good cookies... and nice tableware :)
We loved every detail.
We strongly recommended SOUL OF TANZÂNIA!
