US
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Six Out of Five Stars- Amazing Kilimanjaro and Safari Experience!!
My wife and I, along with few friends climbed Kilimanjaro followed by a safari with Aardvark Expeditions. Over the course of 12 days spent with Aadrvark, we experienced nothing but great hospitality and excellent service. Kilmanjaro trip was very well organized. Our guides were excellent and food was delicious. Aardvark chose a great group of porters for us. Hard working lovely people. The arrangements on the mountain were A class. Our tents were always ready before we got to the camp and we were always greeted with hot tea and delicious popcorn followed by sumptuous meals. Four of us were vegetarians and they took our special diets into great consideration. The guides and porters played a critical role on the summit night. The attention we received was unbelievable. There was no other team on the mountain with porters singing for them on the summit night except us. It really kept us going during rough patches. If it were not for Aardvark, the wonderful guides and the porters, we would not have made it to the summit.
The safari experience with Aardvark was also fantastic. The vehicle was brand new and the chosen lodges were great. We stayed at Kati Kati Luxury camp in Serengeti and Rhino Lodge in Ngongoro Crater, both the places were quite amazing. Specially the Kati Kati camp, Its an experience in itself. Our guide Aaron was very knowledgeable and was able to spot animals from far away. We saw great wild life, all the big five and many others.
The owner Philemon Joel is a lovely human being. He was really prompt in communicating with me right from the beginning. He never took more than a day to reply to my text messages or emails. He went out of his way to help us whenever a situation arose in Tanzania. He also helped me in getting a local Tanzania sim. He even helped my wife and I to book tickets for Zanzibar. He helped us throughout our entire stay in Tanzania by giving us great advise and booking things for us. We only paid Aardvark for Kili and Safari but Philemon was pretty much our guide and contact for the whole trip.
I can go on and on about our wonderful experience wth Aardvark and Philemon. However, all good things must come to an end. I highly recommend Aardvark for Kilimanjaro and Safari trips in Tanzania. You cannot go wrong with them. I have extensively travelled throughout the world and Aardvark is one of the best adventure companies I’ve dealt with. Tanzania is a beautiful country with wonderful people. Must visit. 6/5 stars- Highly recommended company!!!!
US
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Awesome first time Safari
I have always dreamed of taking a safari and had decided that I wanted to go for my 50th birthday. What an awesome experience. It was the experience of a lifetime. Our Guide, Erustus, was amazing. He made the trip unforgettable. I would recommend Odyssey for your next trip. This was our first time out of the USA. I can't say that the week was uneventful - we had heavy rains and the windshield wipers would not work, flat tires, had to take a detour on the way back to Nairobi due to a wreck, took a few shortcuts along the way. Honestly it was these extra events that MADE the week memorable. Go with the flow and enjoy the week. t will be the best thing you ever did.
US
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Review about Serengeti National Park by cnm collection
a must see, one of a kind, precious place. it will change your life
US
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
we spent a lovely day in the crater
I would highly recommend visiting Ngorongoro. Saw lots of birds- pelicans, storks, tons of hippos. The scenery is incredible, so unique. I think its a must see. You may see more animals out in the Maasai Mara and Serengeti this is a totally unique and worthwhile experience.
CH
20-35 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Great remote desert views and scenery
The Namib naukluft national park is a great spot to see and experience a rugged red rock sand and desert landscape. It is however rather poor for wildlife viewing, except a few Orzx Antelopes.
US
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Review about Tarangire National Park by Matthew
The small birds were such a bonus. Neither I nor my wife expected to be that impressed by the birds, but they were amazing. Watching the elephants interact was easily the highlight of the trip, though. Loved seeing the little babies play in the mud. I was not expecting the variety of terrain, and that really made Tarangire unique.
US
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Review about Ngorongoro Crater by Matthew
So many animals; such a unique place with so many ecosystems all contained in the crater.
US
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Our safari experience can be summed up in Wild, Beautiful, Dangerous, Peaceful, Delicious
We traveled with Thomson Safaris and stayed in their tented camps. The camp accommodations were first rate and the camp staff, food, fellow travelers, guides, etc. were amazing. They really made the trip enjoyable. We were usually out on our game drives by 8am and didn't usually return until after 5pm, so we got tons of game viewing and were able to sit still for extended periods of time to just watch the animals interact. The elephants were the best.
One reason we chose Tanzania for our safari was to see the Serengeti. It was so vast; we only saw a tiny part of it and still what we saw was immense. We were lucky in that the Wildebeest herds had moved north into the Seronera region of the park because of rains that had come just before we arrived. That was a bonus, being surrounded by hundreds of thousands of animals.
The Thomson guides were excellent. We had 13 people in our group split among 3 Rovers and all 3 guides were amazing.
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
shamwari
just wonderful the accommodation and other visitors were great
CZ
As wild as possible
When I was thinking about visiting Tanzania, it was primary because of marine reservation park in Mafia Island and whale sharks. But when you travel half the world you want to see as much as possible right? So visiting one of the inland national parks was obvious. And the I saw a BBC documentary about Ruaha, and it was clear as a sky where to go.
Ruaha was my second Africa national park (Kruger was the first one) and I have to say I was blown away by the nature and the wildness. Right the day when we get to accommodation we saw two lioness close to the watering hole and we where there alone. Just me and my wife, sitting silently in the car listening to the birds and the breathing of the two lioness. And then herd of elephants come to the same watering hole and drove the lions away. I guess that is what watching the wild means. During the whole week we saw around only 8 other cars cruising the park, rest of the time it was just us and plain nature. The best way how to enjoy the park is to pack some supplies, drove early morning to some place where the animals gather (watering holes, fords, pools, river) sit and watch the animals coming and going and you will be rewarded for sure. Of course you need your own car.
I have been there during dry season - November - and the temperature was enormous - 50C during the day and 35 during the night. So be aware of this while there is no air conditioning in the accommodation and zircon in the car is useless while you drive so slowly through the park that it is not working well. The accommodation is basic. We stayed in the cottages (run directly by the NP). Two rooms, toilet + shower. Price 50USD pp/pn. Yes, I know it is quite a price for basic accommodation. The cheaper type, bandas, 30USD pp/pn, don’t have toilet and shower and basically it is just a metal hut with bed. And metal hut in 50C degrees during the day quickly change in to an oven. So the accommodation and the services absolutely do not match the price, but you have to accept that you pay a lot because there is no other way. In the whole Ruaha there is no proper shop, just two dinning places, where you get mostly chicken and rice or potatoes. So if you can, bring a lot of your own supplies. The only thinks you can buy there is bier, water, coke, rum and gin. Hope they restock the rum and gin while they had only one bottles, which we bought out. And of course in the cottages there is no fridge, I never drunk so much warm bier as in Ruaha.
The great think about staying few nights in Ruaha is, that the accommodation is not fenced. So you sit a front of the cottage enjoying the view and suddenly there is a herd of kudus just five meters a front of you, or hyena. Regular guest every evening, looking for some leftovers.
You wanna stay in the wild and under proper roof at the same time? You have enough money to spent? You have your own car (our 4x4 Toyota Rav 4 was OK)? Than Ruaha is perfect place to spent few days and watch and listen.