NZ
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Friendly, knowledgeable and organised
The Spotted Safari Tour was an excellent aid to viewing wildlife at the Masai Mara. Our guide (Clevers Tumuti) was very knowledgeable both about the wildlife and also Masai culture and customs. He was friendly and organised and really helped us through our safaris. I would happily recommend Spotted Safaris to visitors who like getting good value for their tourist dollar.
ES
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Ok
Food, transportation, guide were great... but the wildlife and safari experience was regular
IT
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amazing experience, Masai Mara Safari is an immersion into nature’s wildlife
We went to Kenya during Christmas/nye period and it was an amazing experience; safari was great, We saw a lot of animals thanks to our guide, food was ok and accomodation was better then expected even in the low-budget tents. We were quite lucky with the weather because it did rain only one night and some days before our arrival (this can cause issues with the streets).
The highlight of the safari was a scene between leo and hyenas fighting for the prey, interrupted by a huge group of baboons
Fantastic Local Company!!
This company offered the best value for money for myself and a group I was organising a trip for. They came in at almost half the cost of international companies.If you are in any way capable of organising flights for yourself I could not recommend this company more. Some international companies rip you off on Kilimanjaro trips.
The hotel we stayed in before and after was beautiful, in the centre of Moshi. The climb itself was well planned out. The porters and staff are amazing. It is very straight forward and there is a real emphasis in this company and with its guides in sharing with and teaching you the culture of Tanzania. We even picked up some Swahili along the way. All 10 of us reached the summit!
If you are not that experienced with mountaineering, the guides will help you every step of the way, and you can also rent gear.
If you pick this company, you know your money is going to a local company, to local guides and it is helping to support them
PL
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Unforgettable safari in Tanzania
We’ve spent our safari in 5 different places, where you can see many different and vibrant sceneries and wildlife. In each one of them we’ve seen plenty of animals as well as great migration in Ndutu. Unforgettable and amazing experience. As for the winter in Africa it was pretty cold and the weather was changing, but you can see green Africa. Regarding accommodation everyone will find something suitable for oneself. We don’t recommend self-driving, it’s better to take local guide (one of many) that know the roads across parks and are taught to do so. From our side we can recommend Godson Adventures, very reliable tour organizer.
AR
35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Realmente increíble Tanzania, sus paisajes y su gente.
El mejor viaje de mi vida .
Tanzania es un país hermoso.
Paisajes increíbles, diversidad de fauna y especialmente por su cultura y Su gente
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Summiting with Eastern Sun
When looking for a company to arrange a Kilimanjaro climb, I must admit I was overwhelmed with the number of operators out there and found it difficult to know which operator could be trusted. After getting a few quotes from various operators, I found Eastern Sun on Safaribookings.com and was impressed with the speed of their responses to my initial emails. I was also impressed with how cheap they came up when compared to other operators. I was a bit nervous that they were so cheap that it was too good to be true, but any concerns I had were soon resolved on the morning of our trek.
Our pick up turned up at our hotel in Arusha at the arranged time and took us on the long drive to the start of the rongai route. The drive took us most of our first day. We were a little put out that we were only told at Marangu gate to kili that plastic bottles are not allowed on the mountain as we had planned to use these. In the end we had to arrange to borrow our guides' bottles. In future I believe this should be made clear in the booking emails. We were also a little annoyed that we had to pay $10pp to hire leccy poles when we thought they were included in the price.
Once we had resolved these issues we continued with our drive north. Once we got out of the jeeps, there was a lot of sitting around, but were soon on our way with the trek. On our first night we were pleastantly surprised with the quality and quantity of food provided by our chef Stephen. Throughout the trek we were well fed and never went hungry once. In terms of water, although I had water treatment pills I was told the water was treated, but later found out it was not. Fortunately we didn't get ill following this mix up (I think its pretty low risk anyway), but had to treat our water for the rest of our trip. For anyone looking to go on a trip, I'd advise taking water treatment pills just in case.
In terms of our guide (Arnold) and assistant guide (godfrey) we were very impressed. Not only did they make great company, but were also informative and made it clear that safety was put first. Our guide measured our heart rate and blood oxygen levels at least once a day and gave excellent advice based on years of experience on the mountain. If you go on a trip and use one of these devices (it takes a reading from your finger) ladies make sure you are not wearing nail varnish as this skews the results. Unfortunately I got bad altitude sickness symptoms at kibo (basically the worst headache i've ever experienced) but arnold's advice to take ibuprofen (I was already taking diamox)worked perfectly and I was able to summit feeling great!It was reassuring to know that Arnold would not have allowed us to summit unless he thought it was safe to do so.
All in all we were impressed with Eastern Sun and despite the minor issues we had, we were impressed with the service we received making it a trip we'll never forget.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Spectacular
The scenery was spectacular. Our driver and cook were both very accommodating on the safari. We felt very comfortable and were impressed by their amazing hospitality.
We saw the big 5 so we were very happy!
DE
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Safari with ups and downs but definitely worthwhile
As a group of 56 people we took a 3 day safari at the end of September to see the beautiful Serengeti. We booked our trip over Fourways Travel Agency and were guided by Masumin Safaris. The communication via mail was really friendly and easy.
1st day - 22.09.14:
09.30 Pick Up
10.30 Buying groceries
11.30 Driving
The Car was in moderate shape. Nice to have 8 seats for ourselves and enough space for our luggage. The cigarette charger was not working (I guess we wer expecting to much from Tnazanian standards).
13.30 Start Safari
14.30 flat tire (rear right)
15.00 pushing car (engine didn't start)
17.15 2nd flat tire
19.00 ride to camp with another company
19.45 arrival at camp
The time at the campsite was truly intense. One is used to see animals in cages at the zoo. In the Serengeti it is the other way around. For our own safety we were eating (Meat smells delicious for wild animals) in a big fenced hall. It was a mind-blowing experience. Being a guest in the wild, where the animals are superior. This “humiliation” felt amazingly good!
On part of the agency, the tents were pretty old (e.g. broken zipper) however we could fix it and were probably once again expecting to much from Tanzanian standards. Maybe this experience helped us too.
2nd day - 23.09.2014:
05.30 wake up (planned start of safari 06.00)
09.20 departure new car, Start of safari
18.30 finished game drive
I will never forget this day. Even though we started late we had perfect timing, being able to see a gepard hunting from under 20m distance. We were so excited when he finally began to run and chase the antelopes that were lying in the savanna around 100m away. The leopard chased one of the younger antelopes down and running with a speed of around 100km/h he managed to jump to catch the antelope by the neck and tear it down. We were so stunned and almost all of us had tears in our eyes. The rest of the day was full of great views and thousands of beautiful animals. For a fee of 15$ we were invited to visit a Massai village and exchange thoughts with some of the English speaking villagers. We visited the huge Ngorongoro crater and saw all of the local animals – even one of the few rhinos. Thank you so much.
3rd day - 24.09.2014:
06.00 wake up
07.30 breakfast
08.30 Start of safari
10.15-11.00 break
11.00 Safari
17.00 Return to Mwanza
The last day was a combination of returning to Mwanza (our starting point) and more Safari. We saw a family of elephants, many young giraffes and plenty of Zebras, Gnus and Buffalos. We returned to our starting point and received our car, that we were allowed to park at the company. The next day we received a refund for the missed hours due to the broken tires, which were 20% of the expenses of the agency. The rest (more that the half of the money) goes in to Serengeti park fees and is not refundable.
Overall, the agency and the gear was ok, the guides and the food were good and the Serengeti was perfect! Thank you so much for this unforgettable experience.
RU
Beautiful, but overpriced.
I am of two minds regarding our safari trip. Beautiful nature, animals, but people’s attitude to tourists is awful. There wasn’t a day native people didn’t try to cheat on us and try to extort money. Even our tour guide. We bought the tour with Travel partner, can’t recommend it. The accommodation was perfect, but our tour guide was only driver, I don’t remember anything interesting he told us about wild life. Only obvious things like: look, it’s a giraffe, it’s very tall.