GR
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Good experience
Good authentic experience. The guide was very nice and made sure we had a good time
35-50 years of age
Serengeti, Lake Manayara & Ngorongoro Safari experience within budget.
It wasn't the way we had envisaged going on safari when we originally decided to go, but a camping safari was definitely the best we have experienced to date. Previously we have stayed at lodges in safari parks, and they have been very good. This time we were working to a budget and had to go during peak times so we had to look for alternatives. We booked a package directly with the tour operator based in Arusha and gave them details of what we wanted to see and do, they arranged everything: pick-up at the coach station, car, driver, cook, sleeping bags, tent, food. The tour guide/driver knew exactly which camping sites to stay at, the amount ot time needed to view the wildlife and also specifics about the wildlife. This allowed us plenty of time to see and enjoy the beautiful national parks (Lake Manyara, Ngorongoro and Serengeti). Once you arrive in Arusha it takes a couple of hours to get to Lake Mayara and the road is good. Getting to Ngorongoro takes a further 3 hours, but to get to Serengeti you have to go through Ngorongoro and it takes a good few hours, and be prepared for a rough ride, as the road is not smooth. But the whole experience was fantastic. Apart from the amazing wildlife the experience of staying in tented camps was graet. One night was spent in the middle of the Serengeti, where we could hear wildlife around at night and when we woke up we were a facing a glorious sunrise and giraffes and zebra roaming within a few hundred metres. Another night was a freezing cold night at the top of Ngorongoro Crater, but where you could see the stars so clearly that you felt you could touch them. Generally, the washroom facilities in these camps weren't great but the were usable. And having a cook travelling with us was great, he provided breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea and dinner. All-in-all this was a great adventure holiday for the family (2 adults and 2 boys) which we will never forget and which will provide us with stories to tell.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Fantastic safari tour company that really listens to your requests
I found YZS through an internet search and am glad i did.
I sent a brief email explaining what my wife and I were planning (we wanted to safari in Tanzania and see the migration on a restricted budget!) and within 45 mins Julian - director of YZS, had called me back to discuss further.
He was very pleasant and massively informed on Tanzania. He gave me a run down on his personal history and I knew then that I could leave the planning of our holiday to him and be confident that all our requirements would be met.
He offered 2 suggestions - one South Tanzania and one North and it wasn't hard to decide when he explained what both would involve and the costs involved.
To describe the holiday briefly does it an injustice however it does demonstrate how personally Julian takes planning your holiday.
We had had a few days in Kenya attending a friends wedding and then headed to Tanzania where we spent 7 days - 5 of which were on Safari with YZS.
We were picked up in Arusha by our tour company - WAYO africa. Danford was our guide and he was brilliant. WAYO's ethos is that your safari is your private holiday and therefore my wife and I were on the jeep on our own.
We set off and our first port of call was Lake Manyara. - Amazing. Baboons, Girraffes, Zebras, Hippos, Elephants and buffalo ( amongst others all on the first day)
We then headed on to and stayed the night in a tented lodge called Rhotia Valley. Our only regret is we didn't spend longer than one night here.
Our next day was spent in the Ngorogoro Crater. - Stunning. Here we saw the animals as above but also Rhinos. Danford again sharing his vast knowledge with us.
That evening was spent in Rhino lodge on the ourskirts of the crater.
We then moved onto the Serengetti. We spent 4 days 3 nights travelling round the Serengetti and saw the 'Big 5'.
The camp provided by WAYO was outstanding.
As i say, a very brief summary of our holiday organised by Yellow Zebra Safaris but they certainly made our holiday that of a lifetime by using their local knowledge, contacts and by listening to their clients needs and wants.
I can not recommend Yellow Zebra Safaris highly enough and will absolutely book with them should we or any family members be heading back to Tanzania at any point.
US
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Trip of a Lifetime...Thank You EASTCO
My wife and I went on a 12 day safari with EASTCO. Before choosing EASTCO, I read all the reviews. There were many great reviews and some not so great reviews. What I definitely understood that the #1 most important aspect of the trip is the selection of tour guide. Based on many great previous reviews we requested James to be our tour guide…we made this request one year in advance of our trip.
This review is neither a blow by blow detail of our trip nor a detailed list of what to bring or not to bring. This is a review of EASTCO and all that goes into selecting a tour company, accommodations, logistics and the tour guide.
I will begin with the end….this was the most spectacular trip and far exceeded our already incredibly high expectations. Without seeing it in person it is hard to explain the beauty of Tanzania, the spectacular amount of diverse wildlife and the friendliness of the people. We saw it all….the big 5 plus so many other animals and an incredible (surprising) amount of beautiful birds. The month of February means baby animals everywhere in the park….it also meant the migration. You could look in every direction and it would be impossible to count all the Wildebeest, Zebra and Gazelle’s.
The communications with EASTCO was exclusively with Simon King. During the selection and planning phase, I must have sent Simon 20 emails. Almost without exception Simon got back to me within 24 hours. If he was later than that, he apologized and told me why it took 2 days to return my emails.
The selection of James as our driver was fantastic. James is an incredibly good guide (as you can see by all the great reviews). He is very knowledgeable about the parks, the animals (he was a great spotter of animals)….we would say “how would you know it was there?”….remember EASTCO drivers do not use radios to communicate. He was also a very good driver. We drove approximately 1,500KM during our 12 days together. So many times I witnessed out of control safari drivers and others rushing from one place to another. As they rushed past us...inevitably they would miss so much to see from the varied landscape to the far off lions on the rocks. James made our vacation fantastic….that is how important a driver can be for the overall experience.
Our safari car was a Landrover Defender 110 with slightly less than 300K miles before we started and more than 301K after we finished. There are a lot of newer safari vehicles in the parks, but ours was just right for us. Our car had no mechanical issues and several times we pulled over to help out other broken down safari vehicles….mostly Toyota Landcruisers. The vehicle was comfortable and very effective….remember you are not driving down a highway in America, you are on Tanzanian dirt roads with so many ruts and holes.
The logistics of a safari can be a nightmare….there are so many opportunities to miss being picked up or dropped off. The logistics for our trip were spot on and perfect…that is very important and showed the communications between EASTCO and the drivers, greeters, etc were handled without incident.
Our itinerary was designed by Simon and I used the Trip Advisor community to get 2nd and 3rd opinions. We took a hybrid approach to camps/lodges. We flew into Kili and overnighted in Rivertrees in Arusha. The next morning we flew to Mwanza and had a driver pick us up an bring us to Speke Bay Lodge on shores of Lake Victoria. This allowed us to get to the Ndabaka with 15 minutes from Speke Bay to start our safari. Our 1st night in the Serengeti we spent at the Four Seasons Serengeti….our 2nd night was at the EASTCO camp in between Olduvai and Ndutu, this was a basic camp but very comfortable. Our next 2 nights were spent at the Serengeti Savannah Camps and in particular camp #10….we really liked the camp location and the overall experience with Serengeti Savannah Camps. On safari we did the balloon ride with Serengeti Balloon Safari’s…the ride was great (it is fun being in a hot air balloon) but the winds were not in our favor in terms of the migration and we didn’t see a lot of animals while ballooning. After the Serengeti we went to Ngorongoro Crater for game viewing and stayed in the most spectacular lodge & Beyond Ngorongoro Crater Lodge. The following night we spent at the one EASTCO camp I would skip and that was Naitolia Camp…we thought this was too far away from everything…but the camp was still very beautiful and functional just not right for us. After Naitolia we headed to Tarangire Park for 3 nights at the Boundary Hill Lodge. I thought that 3 nights were too many at this place…but that was only before I stayed there, we loved our time at BHL. The views are spectacular and we took one full day of just relaxing, reading and playing cards…a great down day during a busy safari. We loved the incredible wildlife in Tarangire and ranked this only behind Serengeti in terms of the wildlife. After 3 nights at BHL we went to Manyara Park for a day of game viewing. We like Manyara for its diverse landscape but the wildlife is certainly less than the other parks we visited. We ended our stays with EASTCO with a final night at Ol Tukai camp on the shore (the shore was one mile away due to the time of year) of Lake Manyara. The following morning James drove us to Arusha airport for our last part of our trip 5 days at the Next Paradise Boutique Resort in Pwani Mchangani…we booked this separate from EASTCO.
One last point, when we were at the Arusha airport Simon King came by to personally see how our trip went…we talked for 10 minutes and we shared our experience with him.
Overall a trip of a lifetime which was made possible by our planning, our use of EASTCO and of course our driver James.
US
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Welcoming the New Year in Kenya!
From the warm welcome at the airport in Nairobi, the Kenya Walking Survivors Safaris representatives have been amazing and very professional. The food was delicious, the camp fire was amazing.
The Masai Mara was amazing from the moment we arrive to the time we left. We saw a huge amount of wild life, including lions, cheetah, elephants, giraffe, hippo, and more. The wide open plains provided great opportunity to see the animals as well as the most brilliant sun rises and sun sets. Kenya Walking Survivors Safaris staff is a great company with reasonable price options and the staff was excellent and make the stay with them memorable, leaving you wanting to return in the future. The food was great. Our kids (3) enjoyed this unique experience. After all, it was worth the bumpy ride. We highly recommend this company.
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Eastco was easy to deal with communication was good, sound helpful advice, professional service.
We had contacted several Safari companies and decided to go with East African Safari Company. Simon at Eastco was friendly and professional he assisted us with advice and suggestions we felt comfortable, confident and in capable hands planning our once in a lifetime trip. Communication was good and all our queries were answered by Simon in a timely manner. We had 6 nights on Safari, 3 of them at Ndutu Tented Camp the staff there were wonderful, food delicious. The time we spent in Serengeti was fantastic it really is the endless plain. We followed this with 1 night at Rhino Lodge Ngorongoro good accommodation friendly staff and good food, Game drive down into Ngorongoro Crater the next morning and it was awe inspiring up on the rim looking down it's so vast, the last 2 nights were at Ol Tukai which was a quiet wind down after the Safari situated overlooking Lake Manyara wonderfully relaxing, enjoyed a great walk with Masai Guides and visited a Masai village all very special. Food at Ol Tukai was the best of all the places we had stayed at. Our driver was brilliant and could spot animals we would have missed seeing without his skill and knowledge. We saw so many amazing animals birds etc too many to list we met some really special people have taken hundreds of great photos and have so many truly incredible memories to cherish forever of our time in Tanzania, thank you Simon and your great team of staff at Eastco for helping us achieve a dream.
50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Flexible East African safari
I have just spent 4 weeks travelling Uganda and Tanzania with the East African Safari and Touring company run by Simon who lives in Tanzania. 2 families travelled together and put together a unique itinerary including the mountain gorillas, Serengeti, Zanzibar and Mafia island. All accommodation, travel and food was included. The company provided excellent service overall and come highly recommended, the guides were easy to get on with, well informed and competent. Some of the accommodation was at company owned lodges adding to the unique feel to the trip. Flights were booked but what seems to be a Tanzanian trend, only fully paid for the day prior, creating a bit of uncertainty when the flights departed until the day of the flight! Despite this all flights happened! Contact details to use if plans have to change would have been useful on the itineraries, short failing for a great, well priced trip and highly recommended.
The most incredible and adventurous holiday in my life thanks to Safarihub!
I have been on a couple of holidays but I must say that Safarihub are outstanding at what they do. It was easy to work with them as they are very well organised, informative and efficient. My safari was out of this world! Everything was so well taken care off, to top it off I ended with a magical trip to Zanzibar. I would highly recommend booking your safaris to Tanzania through Safarihub, they are amazing and their knowlege on Tanzania is great!
US
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amazing trip in Tanzania
We went on a trip with Asili Explorer Tanzania in November 2014 with two(2) girls, two(2) boys and we had some amazing time. The five(5)days experience in Tanzania was a private safari in a really nice 4-wheel jeep with an open pop up roof and we were accompanied by experienced tour guides Mr. Joe and best chef Habib, during the whole tripe the services were amazing,the guide and the chef were really nice and had lot of knowledge about the parks and the animals in it. We actually saw everything,like Lions,Zebras,Hippos,Gazelles,Cheetahs,Leopards,Giraffes and all kinds of gorgeous landscape. If i would ever book a safari again then definitely i will with Asili. It has so much value on your money, also compared to other tour operators that sometimes carry over eight(8) people in a car. Also if you doubt on taking a safari, do it. Its not even that expensive if you go with Asili explorer. All in all : Good service, Great safari, and its not expensive at all.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Excellent service, amazing experience
This was my second tour with this group. This was an amazing experience. The tour guide was exceptional, was very social, he was very well informed about the area visited and also well informed on the various species of animals that we saw. All the geographical characteristics and habitats of animals were well articulated to us in a ver educative way, including the historical and cultural background of the amazing kenyantribes whuch co- exist with the diverse wildlife.
This was an amazing and awesome experience worth doing again and again. Thanks to the whole team.