20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
The best trip with the best company
Africa Starpal Tours and Safaris organized our tour in lake Nakuru for our charismas holiday with my family. The guide spoke perfect English, was enthusiastic and explained to us the behavior of all the animals and birds. We saw rhinos and more animals at the park. Instead of vans, we had a land cruiser very clean and comfortable for our young kids. Nothing to complain, organization was flawless. We will do another safari with them soon. Aiming at Masai mara now.
US
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Quite Exceptional Services.
We did a 2weeks safari in Uganda and we are grateful for the excellent services we received from Mukisa Safaris. The Trip was fantastic and enjoyable from the start to the end. Richard was so exceptionally helpful and informative in the planning phase, communicating regularly and provided us with so many options and suggestions until we made a decision. On arrival at the airport, we went through the COVID-19 testing protocols and Richard was constantly calling to ascertain whether we were okay. After all was done, we found Richard and his team waiting for us and being at night, we were transferred to our already booked hotel in Entebbe with Hamida and Solomon as our guide and driver respectively. We enjoyed every moment of our vacation but the gorilla trekking experience was so awesome. It's an experience that's comparable to none. Uganda is a beautiful country with magnificent varying sceneries from the lowlands of Lake Mburo and Queen Elizabeth National Parks, vast rolling plains of Murchison falls and Kidepo Valley to the thick forests of Kibale and Bwindi National Parks. We extend our sincere gratitude to Hamida and Solomon for their exceptional friendship and professionalism. You made our safari so enjoyable and memorable. I would highly recommend Mukisa to anyone looking to go on safari in Uganda. They are exceptionally a reputable company.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Kibe bonfire adventures
Sarova white sands.
This was definitely a value for money; I didn’t have to sweat or think about anything they took care of everything and i loved it so much
US
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Sylvester Silvi is a reliable professional who truly cares about the experience of his clients.
Trip of a Lifetime!
My 18 year old daughter and I recently traveled with Seven By Far Travel to Kenya and Tanzania on their 15 Day African Safari and Beach Holiday. It was the trip of a lifetime. Everything about our journey was incredible - the animals, the land, the people, the accommodations, and the food. Safety was my first concern, and we felt safe throughout our adventure. The safari vehicles owned by the company proved to be reliable transportation in the rugged terrain.
Sylvester Silvi, the tour operator, was great from the start. He responded promptly to all the questions that I emailed to him, both before and after we booked the trip - and I did have a lot of questions! He was willing to work with us in terms of finding a start date that would work for us since the dates he had going out didn’t fit our schedule. When I asked if we could add five days on to the trip to extend our time in Zanzibar and push our flight back those extra days, he said it was no problem. No extra cost was incurred for that arrangement. He offered to book another hotel those last few days, but when I said that wouldn’t be necessary he let me know that he would arrange for us to be transported from one hotel to the next hotel we had chosen, and at the end of that time he would have us transported from our hotel to the airport. He wanted to be sure that we made it to the airport to get our flight back to Nairobi so that we wouldn’t miss our connecting flight back to the U.S. No extra fee was charged for this arrangement. This is going above and beyond by someone who truly cares. Sylvester met with us four times during the trip and corresponded with us regularly throughout our journey on What’s App. He was in contact with us until we landed back in the United States.
A company is only as good as its weakest link - we did not run into any weak links. Seven By Far Travel is comprised of many knowledgeable and personable guides and drivers. We feel so fortunate to have been taken under the wings by Alfani, Antony, Hassan, Ali, Cholo, Robin, and Sylvia. They were quite a team, meeting us at the airport, transporting us from one accommodation to the next, navigating through the game parks, teaching us about the animals, helping us get through borders, assisting with the exchange of money into local currency, and making lots of jokes along the way!
Selecting a safari company over the internet is a daunting experience. Fortunately, I made the perfect choice with Seven By Far Travel. There were no hidden expenses or surprise fees that I had read about in reviews for other companies and outfitters. The only surprises were good ones, like a complimentary balloon ride over the Maasai Mara for booking early and hotel upgrades. I highly recommend Seven By Far Travel and have already given the name to numerous family, friends, and even strangers in the airport! You won’t be disappointed! I will travel with them again if I ever have the opportunity. I am so grateful to Seven By Far Travel for taking us on an amazing African adventure that my daughter and I will always remember.
DE
65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
Warning! Suspected insolvency! Capture Tanzania Adventure LTD ARUSHA
On 14.07.22 I booked a 2-day safari from Zanzibar to Tanzania (Ngorongoro Crater and Tarangire NP) on the recommendation of a regional TUI travel agency in Cottbus. The contacts to the above-mentioned tour operators took place exclusively through the local travel agency. On the eve of the departure for the safari in Zanzibar, the first cancellation (due to accident of the GF) with the alternative for an AWT took place on 23./24.09.22. Here, too, the cancellation was made by EMAIL the evening before to the local travel agency in Cottbus. On 22.09.22 there was an EMAIL with "comforting words" and the notification of the repayment of the travel price signed by the "booking team" of the above mentioned company. Since then, the owner has only sent a regrettable message to my travel agency because of my report in various travel portals and the substantive notification of insolvency combined with the threat of legal action, I should continue to warn against this above-mentioned company and have filed a criminal complaint against the mentioned company.
US
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Perfect!
Had a great experience booking with Leken Adventure! They were able to add us to a group safari just 2 days before it started. Everything went off without a hitch, and the free hotel was really nice. Bonus: the price was less than most of the quotes I got from other operators. Highly recommended!
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Perfectly orchestrated safari
We were amazed about how well organized everything was. Our guide Bakari was always doing his best to make us see all animals, landscapes und to be getting the best photos of them. The whole trip was well organised. The food was just amazing. We've enjoyed our warm meals, he was respecting our special needs as well ( vegetarian, lactose untolerance and gluten free). The orgonasors were flexible, beating uns a personalised experience ( airport und hotel pick up ..) The camping facilities were very very decent ( Toilets, tents, sleep sacks, hot shower).
DE
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Eric is very accommodating and reliable.
When we decided to book a safari at the last minute, we found Crossriver. Because the price was almost half of what the others charged, we weren’t sure if it was a legitimate company. After chatting online with Erick, he understood our hesitation and was very patient. We decided to go for it and we couldn’t be happier. Upon pick up, Erick introduced us to our tour guide, Joshua. We then proceeded to pick up another lovely couple who joined us for the next three days. Luckily we all got along perfectly and could share the anticipation and excitement of the epic adventure together. Joshua was so sweet and has many years experience finding the animals. Unfortunately we didn’t get to see the Rhinos, but we did see all the others, including a Chetah! The safari also includes a couple mini hikes, which was a pleasant surprise to be able to get out of the van. The lodges were not luxury but perfectly adequate. Overall it was the trip of a lifetime and we were so lucky to have found Erick and Joshua of Crossriver. We have no complaints, only gratitude for making our stay in Tsavo beautiful memory.
US
35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
9 Day trip to Tanzania
Tanzania was on our bucket list ever since we visited Kenya in 2018. Our cousin in Toronto had used Asili Explorer Safaris for their trip to Tanzania in 2019 and spoke very highly of them. While we reached out to at least 4 other travel companies in Tanzania, we received the most prompt and detailed response from Asili. Their quote was easily the best we received and they were very flexible with our schedule, budget.
We had sketched out a rough plan of where we wanted to go and worked with Joe’s team to make that plan a reality. They reviewed our plan, suggested alternatives, gave us 3 options (high, medium, low cost) for lodges/camps for every place we stayed overnight and helped build an itinerary with every activity we wanted to include on our trip. Planning a trip to an unknown country never this easy, Asili Explorer Safaris made the experience a breeze and a pleasure.
On Day 1, we landed at the Kilimanjaro Int. Airport at noon. Immigration and Baggage claim was very pleasant. The immigration officials were extremely friendly. Asili’s driver/guide/naturalist Ramadanu was waiting for us at the entrance and greeted us and immediately took our bags from us. He took us to our custom built Land Cruiser (the one where the top opens) and gave us a brief overview of our 8 day trip. His kindness and thoroughness showed that he really cared and this showed throughout our trip. Rama drove us to Arusha, where we met Joe (the owner of Asili). Joe had arranged for a delicious African BBQ lunch. He also arranged a portable WIFI hostspot though most lodges had wifi. After lunch Rama drove us to the Burunge Tented Lodge near Tarangire National Park. The Burunge tented lodge was glamping at its best with common (dining/ kitchen/ shop) areas overlooked the Burunge lake and the view was great. We had a 3 course dinner. The tented camp itself was very luxurious with 3 single beds for the three of us and a restroom attached. The tent is built on stilts and had a wood floor, everything else was canvas tents with all the amenities and service of a luxury hotel. Our first night in Tanzania was memorable though it rained throughout the night. Rain outside but bone dry clean tents was a very comforting experience. Needless to say we were worried about the safari the next morning.
Day 2 of our trip we started with an early breakfast where we were greeted by elephants right off the lookout from the dining area. Though it rained all night, it let up in the morning and was beautiful. We were off to Tarangire National park, named for the river that runs through its stunning landscape, the Tarangire National Park is said to have the country’s largest population of elephants. At Tarangire we saw many elephants, giraffe, zebra, wildebeests, a leopard (which is an extremely rare sight, given that these animals are extremely shy), dik diks(small deer said to travel in pairs and mate for life), tons of birds (black headed heron, battler eagles, grey crowned cranes), warthogs, various kids of mongoose, cape buffalo, monkeys etc. We stopped midday and had the box lunch in our truck while watching a herd of elephants have a mud bath. We saw a male cheetah that had just killed a red buck and finished its meal only for 20+ vultures to descend on the leftovers. The sighting that completely surprised us was seeing a pride of a lioness with 5 adolescent cubs on top of a tree fast asleep. We had seen leopards climb before, but never lions. This pride was a clumsy lot, however we found them pretty high up in the trees, some of them very comfortable, others completely uneasy perched at precarious angles on the tree. On a very eventful first all-day safari, Rama, our driver/ safari guide was phenomenal, pointing out animals, stopping for pictures, throwing in snippets of valuable information about every little thing we saw or asked about. Rama just mentioned that Baboons also eat meat. This was news to our 12 year old who prides herself on knowing anything wildlife. Just as Rama said this, we saw a male Baboon dart past the road with what looked like an impala faun. We stopped and watched as he tore it apart and refused to share it with his clan. We reached Burunge for dinner and watched 12 huge male tuskers drink at the waterhole around 20 yards away from the dining area while we had dinner. It was an amazing sight to watch them in the dark, their majestic large frames barely visible because of the dim lodge lights. We could hear their trumpeting and purrs really close. It was an experience we speak about fondly very often.
Day 3 Rama drove us to Lake Manyara National Park, home of the tree climbing lions, funnily we did not see any tree climbing lions in Lake Manyara. We had decided that we would go on all day safaris throughout this trip, which meant early breakfast, boxed lunches to take on the game drives and home to the camp before dusk, which was typically by 6.30-7pm. Lake Manyara was elephant central. We came across herds and herds of elephants, some of them came so close we could almost touch them. Rama was extremely careful. When he first turned the truck off when the first herd was by us, we asked him why he did so. He explained that they will be calm if the truck is turned off and get jittery only when the truck engine is on. We noticed this behavior multiple times. These herds were all walking on the road that day from the direction of the main gate to the Iyambi gate which was opposite to how we were headed. Over 100 elephants walked past our truck. We really understood why these animals are called the gentle giants, you could see the family dynamics in these herds playing, pushing, goading, little ones mock charging. Watching these herds of elephants was like watching the Hathi march in "Jungle Book" all of them single file following each other around. The elephant calves were a joy to watch, they would run, stop, play, drop, roll and were generally super playful and full of energy. At Lake Manyara Rama stopped at the hot geyser where water that was hot enough to boil an egg flowed from the cracks on the cliffs and flowed into the lake. We saw many buffaloes and hippos. We even a tiny newly born hippo calf maybe few days old. From Lake Manyara we headed to the Ngorongoro Serena Lodge for the night. Before getting to the lodge we stopped at Ngorongoro nature conservation welcome center. Here they have a model of the crater and the area around the conservation. They also had a naturalist there, who basically explains everything you needed to know about the crater and its ecosystem. Highly recommend a quick stop at the welcome center, this place is a wealth of information and gives you a basic understanding on where you were headed.
The Ngorongoro Serena lodge was by far the most luxurious place we stayed in. The lodge was located on the rim of the Ngorongoro crater, which gave us breathtaking views of the crater from our room balcony. We reached the lodge early in the evening, which gave us some time to wind down with a beer on the balcony of our room. We eventually made our way to the common dining and bar area, where everyone was entertained by Masai dancers before we made our way to our 5 course dinner.
The Serena lodge at Ngorongoro and the conservation area is probably the most beautiful place we have ever seen in our travels. The view from the balcony of our lodge is breathtaking. The lodge sits on the edge of the crater and each room has a balcony overlooking the crater. We saw a giant male tusker elephant walk past our balcony and disappear down the crater's steep wall at sunset. The crater at night is something to witness, we heard lions roar and hyenas at night. It was like witnessing a full-on national geographic lion pride hunting video through sounds and no visuals. Since we were along the rim of the crater, perhaps the crater walls amplified all the sounds on the floor of the crater. If Burunge dinner was great, Ngorongoro Serena was just at a totally different level. Whatever you can imagine in a dinner buffet, you would find. The desert bar was stacked.
Day 4 had an early breakfast and made our way down to the floor of the Ngorongoro crater. The crater is like an ecosystem of its own. You literally have every animal here except for giraffes. There is one way into the crater and one way out and we are not being dramatic here.
The Highlight of the safari was that we saw a pride of about 5 cubs and lionesses. We thought that was the highlight until we saw a lioness walk away alone. We waited to see what she was doing. She started stalking a herd of wildebeest. We waited patiently as she inched her way close to them in the high grass. She stalked them for around 10 mins before making the charge. Since the grass near the wildebeest herd was not too high we could clearly see her moves. However, that meant the wilder beast spotted her before she could get really close. Though she did make the charge she could not make the catch. However, this was our first time actually watching a hunt though unsuccessful. We came across many hyenas lying in puddles of water cooling off right on the roads taken by the jeeps, we saw tons of hippos in the hippo pools, warthogs, ostrich, zebra, gnu, and so much more. We saw a couple juvenile male lions here as well. Since the crater was like a cauldron, it was not uncommon seeing jeeps driving across the crater to where many jeeps were, as that meant that an animal/ animals was spotted. We had boxed lunch at a beautiful picnic spot located at a hippo pool. It was a very unique experience to get off the jeep and have hippos swim so close by while we had our picnic lunch. They say hippos are territorial, it didn't seem like they had learnt to coexist with the picnickers. We had already seen the big 4 already: Lion, Leopard, Elephant and Buffalo. We finally saw the rare member of the big 5, the Rhino. We actually saw 3. This was thanks to Rama. To be truthful we were not so concerned to see the Rhino as we had seen many really up close in Lake Nakuru in Kenya. But Rama insisted that we cannot leave without seeing the big 5. Rama went out of the way to stop where we wanted, tell us about all the animals we were seeing, he peppered the day trip with many nuggets of information as well. After an entire day in the crater we made our way back up, you notice giraffes on the way up the crater and we figured it had to be difficult for giraffes, with their long legs, to traverse the steep slope down to the crater floor. Back at the Serena lodge, this night we stayed longer in the room to enjoy the views from our balcony.
On Day 5 morning we made our way to the Ndutu plains, along the way we stopped off at the Olduvai Gorge, also famously known as the "Cradle of Humankind". This site yielded the very first known fossil remains of two contemporary humans, both dating back to approximately 1.84 million years. It was a great historic site to visit which brought into perspective that humans have evolved over time a great deal. We made our way to the Lake Masek tented lodge, which was very much like the Lake Burunge tented camp we stayed in the first two days. Ndutu plains is the birthing place of millions of wildebeests. The Ndutu park is made of rolling grasslands peppered with alkaline lakes that attract flocks of flamingos. We saw so many giraffes here, probably the most giraffe we had seen on the entire trip. They say the best time to come to the plains is from December, when the great migration herds start to arrive from the north to April, when the herds move back northward, from where they came. Rama told us that during the season there was barely enough room for jeeps to traverse the terrain as there were so many wildebeest. Since we were a couple months before season, the plains were sparse apart from the flocks of flamingos. The one thing that stands out in this area was that there was one side of the Ndutu lake that was literally like a graveyard, as it was filled with bones of wildebeest, our guide Rama told us that this was because during birthing season there are either several stampedes or in some cases a lot of the animals get diseased and what we see there is remains of the animals that die during the birthing season. We saw a pride of lions right beside the track resting under a tree. One of the lionesses in the pride was heavily pregnant. We stopped for lunch right beside the pride and ate our lunch inside our vehicle while watching the resting lion pride just a few feet away.
Day 6, 7 and 8 were the grand finale of the trip, the Serengeti National Park, the reason we were here in Tanzania and boy this was a sight to behold. This was big cat country, we saw a majestic male lion with its pride a few minutes into entering the Serengeti. We saw so many cats here that we kept count and our final count for the trip was 67 lions, 7 cheetahs and 4 leopards. The biggest pride we saw was a 14 lion pride, the dominant males all majestic. This pride had a mating pair as well. Rama, our guide, knew his way around the Serengeti, we went from one place to the other, no maps, no google, all thanks to Rama. He was so experienced that we saw many jeeps stop to ask for directions from him. On the plains, it was difficult to tell one place from the next, every place looked so similar. The things that stood out for us about the Serengeti was the sheer number of cats, the number of wildebeest and zebra that had already started on their migration journey and the vastness of the plains. This place is grasslands till the eye can see. We got to see a leopard with its kill atop a tree, we saw the leopard eating its red buck kill, the videos we got are absolutely stunning. We then saw him climb down the tree. What a graceful agile climber. We saw cheetah brothers who had just taken down a fully grown wilder beast feasting on their kill. A heavily pregnant cheetah all alert under a tree. We saw the famous picture of a cheetah and her cub on an ant hill in person. For our stay we decided to go adventurous and stayed in the Kati Kati semi luxury camp. This was an experience in and of itself. Our tented camp was right in the middle of the wildebeest migration path. At night you could hear everything, the wildebeest, the hyena, and hear a lion roar. A hyena visited the dining tent the first evening and was chased away by the guards. This was unnerving the first night but nights 2 and 3 were awesome.
We decided to fly back from Serengeti to Arusha as we did not want to spend 8 hours driving back. Joe booked the air tickets for us as a part of the package. Rama dropped us off at the Seronera airstrip and waited to see us off. He said he was not leaving until he saw our flight take off. He need not have done that. We felt very well cared for. We took the 16 seater Cessna flight. It was an adventure in and of itself. It flew low right over the Ngorongoro crater and through the rift valley ranges. On arriving at Arusha Joe met us at the airport and took us for lunch. After lunch he dropped us at the Kilimanjaro airport.
All in all we had an awesome nine day trip. Thank you Asili and Joe for making the planning and execution of the trip of a lifetime possible. Thank you Rama and Joe for taking such good care of us, you made this trip memorable. We would recommend Tanzania to anyone who wants to see the Big Five, nothing compares to the sheer volume of wildlife you see here. We have been on multiple safaris in India and have been to Kenya. Asili Explorer Safaris service and the accommodations that they arranged is easily the best we have experienced.
US
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
They offer great stress relief.James
3 Day Epic Holiday Safari- Murchison Falls N.P
Me and my friends had a 3 day safari in Murchison Falls and thanks to Pascal everything was well planned and organized.
Wonderful experience. You can really appreciate a lot of fauna in the wild.
I totally recommend Twipa Safaris.