ES
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Review about Etosha National Park by Javier Elías Guzmán Téllez
It was not crowd, but some popular places remind you were not out totally out of civilization.
The salf plan, salvadora plains and rocky areas are very scenic, but most of the park is very monotonus, specially large patches of mopane.
I found the Namutoni area the most diverse and if I could came back I would spend more time there.
There are not many species of birds, but for raptors and first time birders in African, it is very good birding.
You see so much wildlife, but leopards and cheetahs are not easy. Lions are more predictable, but normally there is many people in their usuall territories.
A truly excelent birding tour with Wings/Sunbird. Great guides Brian Finch and Bruno Raveloson.
We began in Antananarivo and flew to Mahajanga, then flew back to Tana and had a long birding drive to Toliara. Then we flew back to Tana and had another birding drive to Moramanga, spending 3 days at the national park there. Wings/Sunbird and Boogie Pilgrim ran a first-class birding tour, with excellent accommodations, food and vehicles. The birding was great and both guides paid special attention to getting EVERYONE on the bird EVERY TIME. I saw six new bird families, 147 bird species and got 107 life birds; we saw nearly every bird on the trip list. We visited at the end of the dry season and the weather was very pleasant and dry. My only concern was that Madagascar's human population is growing very rapidly (40% of their 25 million people are less than 15 years old) and its forests are ruthlessly being cut down. So, visit Madagascar soon, as nowhere did we see large numbers of birds and mammals, even in protected forest areas. One exception was the delightful Ring-tailed lemurs, which were numerous in the two lemur sites we visited.
ES
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
As my first safari everything amazed me. I can say my dream to see african wildlife became true
Contrast feelings. In my opinion local people is plundered of their birthrights. The certitude of being in a totally wild territory flew away by the fact that allmost all the country is fenced and packaged and most of the wildlife intensely managed, although I do not deny this is, in some cases and for certain species, the best way to assure conservation.
Anyway, this is not true for the main place we visit (4 days, 3 nigths), etosha. Here the only artificial elements are the man made waterholes (some are natural) and the roads, but this is why you can see the animals here. As it was my first safari ever, everything was amazing. We even saw many rhinos (both) and lions in our self drives. After Etosha we went to Okonjima for leopards and cheetahs. The first are free born radiocallared animals and they guarantee you good observations, but the rescued cheetahs are semi-domesticated animals. Also here brown hyaena, ardwolf, mountain zebra, elephant shrew and white rhino. As birders we enjoyed tracking in this reserve. The guides were superb and the standard rooms were actually luxury: you could see a lot of life lying in the bed.
Etosha is vey good for raptors (martial eagle, bateleur and secretary, but we missed pygmy falcon) and steppe-land birds, but not so much for passerines, as you can not leave the car. For photographers: the most of the day the light is too bright and the sky leaden
The surrealistic vision of game, seemingly floating over the salt plan, seems a sweet alutination. The only night we spent camping at okaukuejo I will never forget: 7 black rhinos, including cubs playfully approaching elephant bulls (until a blast of water from his trunk made the cub run to mother's shelter), a genets and a hyaena (with a jackal as squire) in the waterhole. When I went to sleep the roar of lyons made my marrows shake.
The best place for lions where Nebrownii and Okondeka waterholes. We tried a lot with cheetah, but no luck in 4 days.
NZ
65+ years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
The value for money was outstanding. Our Tour Guide was truly amazing in every way.
I had no expectations, I just went with the flow. But we were looked after all day everyday by our Tour Leader who often prepared breakfast, lunch and dinner for us, to a very high standard. The accommodation was really good - some luxurious and some, in the game parks, a little more basic, but still of a very good standard. There was nothing Anthony didn't know about plants, insects, animals and birds and where mostly to find them and when. We had a fabulous time from start to finish, but I think you need to be reasonably fit to get the most out of it. You often spend long hours in the van, often on dirt roads. There are a few quite demanding walks, although not many and early mornings are pretty much the order of the day. Actually the whole tour was very well balanced. I would thoroughly recommend it. Loved every minute of it.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Excellent safari experience and great service
My wife and I booked our honeymoon through East Africa Wild Adventures, and the experience was amazing! Alym worked with us to craft a great trip that spanned 3 different parks across 6 days, and every aspect of the trip was positive - the game viewing experience, the service from our driver, the planning of the trip and communication, and the lodging. We managed to see the Big 5 and really enjoyed the service and experience provided by our driver, Selemani. We would absolutely use East Africa Wild Adventures again to book a future safari!
IT
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
HONEYMOON SAFARI
We've chosen to spend our honeymoon in Tanzania, to make safari. And so we've done it with Savannah Explorer.
It has been a great experience. We've seen a lot of animals and amazing landscape.
Our guide was very nice and ready to answer our questions.
We advice you to make safari and choose Savannah.
DE
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Indeed Amazing
About 60 Lions, cheetahs, leopards, giraffe, elephants, one rhino in the distance - what we saw on our trip with Amazing Tansania was really amazing - due to the great organization by Laura und due to Joseph our excellent driver und guide we had for our ten day trip. Amazing Tanzania was the best to choose for these unforgettable trip to Arusha Park, to Tarangire, to Ndutu, to Ngorongoro and to the Serengeti. Laura and her small team did a great job from the very beginning we decided to go to Tanzania. Each Lodge and the tented camps and the Shangri-La Coffee Farm in Karatu Laura choose for us were awesome and amazing and gave a fantastic impression of the incredible landscape of Africa, but also of the friendly people of Tansania. And we can't imagine a better driver and guide than Joseph. He is exploring the parks in Tansania for nearly 30 years, speaks perfect German. He knows every path and nearly every stone in the parks and every spot where you will see animals. Pole, Pole - Hakuna Matata- Joseph - always friendly and smiling - took the time to watch out for animals - the best way to go for a safari. No hurry. If you go - Amazing Tanzania is the best choice. Asanta sana - Thanks a lot. If we come back to Tansania - Amazing will be for sure again our choice.
RU
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Thank you Top Cream Safary Tours.It was fantastic!!!Thank you Erastus, thank you Newtoun!!!!!
Excellent!!!Good communication, hotels, car, service!!! And there were very many animals.It was amazing!!!
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amazing Once In A Lifetime Experience!! Thank you Kerry!!!!
We started planning our trip over a year ago with Kerry at Pembury Tours. Not knowing all of what we wanted to see and do she asked questions and guided us through the process of planning our trip. I felt like I was asking so many questions but Kerry kept answering them in a timely manner and the 16 day trip was finally planned. Kerry was spot on with our whole trip!!! Our trip started in Cape Town then Sabi Sand Game Reserve, Hazyview, Livingstone, Zambia and finally Chobe Game Reserve. We did not stop with our daily agenda of all our places we wanted to visit and activities we had sign up for. At the Sabi Sand Game Reserve we saw the big 5 in two game rides and the amazing 7 in three game rides. At Chobe Game Reserve we had 7 elephants drinking from our pool outside our room!!!
The transfers and guides that were assigned to us were exceptional and on time. The whole trip worked like clockwork even the flights we had to take to move around to our destinations in Africa. If something had of went wrong Kerry was right there to fix the problem by email or phone.
I would recommend Kerry and Pembury Tours. I am so happy a friend had referred me.
Thank you Kerry for a wonderful once in a life time trip!!! We hope we can come back one day!!!
CA
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Fabulous Vacation!
We booked an 11 day Luxury vacation with Uhuru Travel & Tours which included a safari to Lake Manyara, Serengeti and NgoroNgoro Crater. Let me start off by saying that the country is absolutely GORGEOUS! The people were friendly and the animals we saw on safari were so beautiful. I was shocked at how many animals we got to see. It was beyond what I had imagined! What a once in a lifetime experience it was!
We stayed in some really fabulous luxury accommodations, and some more mid range as well. We did run into some trouble with payment issues for getting into the parks that gave us some setbacks. We also had our car break down twice, which is understandable once you consider the bumpy dirt roads they are driving on all day long, but did take away from some of our time spent in the parks on Safari, and also made us really close to missing a flight. My one complaint would be that although we booked a "luxury" safari, the car we received for our safari was more in line with "budget" level. It was quite old and obviously also needed some work. Although the car was older, our driver/safari guide John was absolutely wonderful. He was helpful and informative and we really enjoyed his company.
After Safari, we flew to Zanzibar where we spent some time in Stone Town, and then Karafuu beach resort. Uhuru arranged all of our tours, flights within the country, and transfers between places, and delivered on all aspects. We always had someone pick us up/meet us whenever needed and all accommodations and arrangements were taken care of with no issues.
Although, I was concerned on our first night when we arrived, as well as the next morning. Our itinerary simply said early morning game drive after breakfast, but there was no indication of timing. The person that had picked us up at the airport and driven us to our hotel had no information for us as he was just the driver Uhuru had arranged. We did not know what time to be ready the next morning or if anyone would be showing up. Because of this we got up super early and then just waited to see what would happen. We finally heard from someone at 8am saying they'd be there at 9 to pick us up. I did not like being left hanging and wondering what was going on. It would have been better if they'd left some information for us at the hotel or called us the night we arrived. Or at least given us a specific time on our itinierary so we'd know when to be ready to go.
So that lack of communication from Uhuru upon arrival in Tanzania was a little bit dissappointing, but the communication we had before the trip with the planning process was great. We spoke with Abdhalla while booking and he was great at answering all of our questions and was very quick with his replies.
So all in all, there were a few small concerns, but in the end everything worked out well and we really did have an amazing trip booked through Uhuru.