FR
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
formidable
It's a very small agency. Isaya drives his own vehicle, he is careful but being his own boss does everything to please us.
We brought up 2 people whose vehicle had broken down (with our permission) they told us they had seen more animals in 1 hour with us than the day before all day with the driver of their big agency.
Thanks to Isaya our driver and Tatiana our French-speaking guide, they know how to be discreet but also like to share. we just want to go back!
(automatic translation from French)
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amazing experience
We had an amazing time with Kihindo safaris. We did the 3 day Selous reserve Safari. Our guide Francis was very knowledgable and accommodating. Everything about the trip was smooth start to finish. We were picked up on time from our hotel and taken straight to the safari. One thing to note is there was no Wi-Fi or hot water showers however this added to the bush experience. The food at the camp was amazing and we did not spend any more money whilst there. I would recommend getting your tour guide to take you to the village in the evening for a drink with the local people and experience the culture there. The boat Safari on day 1 was really
good and the full games drive safari on day 2 was also really good. We saw lots of animals and our guide did everything to make sure we got the most out of the day. at the end of the trip Francis took us to the ferry port and ensured we safely booked and made it on time. Overall I am really happy with this Safari tour and I would highly recommend. Also, the communication beforehand was perfect and they will pick up and drop from wherever you need to be.
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Excellent trip
We have just completed a 3 day safari with Isaya. It was excellent. The communication before hand was very prompt and informative. The food and accommodation was excellent. And the trip itself was fantastic. We saw lots of animals... starting just after we entered the national park. I highly recommend a safari with kihindo safari.
BE
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Very good and clear explanation!
The tour was guided by experts. We had a great time! We would everyone to book this tour and have the same experience.
US
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Unforgettable experience
Unforgettable experience.Our guide ,Goodluck was very knowledgeable,friendly and was great at sporting the animals.
We saw a lots of animals which made for some amazing pictures.
I would recommend a safaris and using Qualified Tours Tanzania to anyone.
Thanks
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Friendly, flexible...fantastic
From first contacting owner Frank to research trip options a year before travelling, to bidding a fond farewell to our great guide Tarfique at Kigali Airport we had a fantastic experience with Golden Rwanda Safaris. At every stage it was easy to contact Frank via email and he answered all my various questions politely. We booked the 12 Days Rwanda Safari Adventure, having agreed that we would alter the scheduled itinerary in a couple of places so that it best met our wishes. Prices were competitive, but the service from Frank gave me greater confidence to book with Golden Rwanda. When we arrived at Kigali Airport, Tarfique was waiting for us and we began what was like a trip with a well-informed, local friend. We had a great time, chatting and laughing with him, while at every stage of our tour Tarfique checked how we were feeling and what we wanted to do. We made more changes to the itinerary as we travelled round the beautiful country, having a wonderful experience. Although the National Parks organise the various primate treks, Tarfique ensure we had places on an easier gorilla trek due to my wife's mobility and we had a brilliant solo trek to meet colobus monkeys in Nyungwe which made that even more magical than the chimpanzee and golden monkeys treks that we did in small groups. Boat trips on the lakes of Kivu, Iheme and Rehondo (one of the itinerary changes we made) were wonderful too. Hotels we stayed in were described as mid-range, but were all great and varied from the gorgeous setting of Ruzizi Tented Camp in Akagera to the 5 star smoothness of Serena hotels in Kigali and Gisenyi. At all hotels the staff were very friendly and cheerful - but special mention to the lovely team at Ruzizi who made our stay there super special. All in all a dream holiday with Golden Rwanda Safaris and a big tick off our bucket list!
CA
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amazing Trip to Tanzania with EASTCO
Hello everyone. We just got back from our trip to East Africa and visiting Tanzania. We are both hoping to go back again some time at a different time of the year and experience another aspect of the wildlife.
We arrived in Arusha at around 11pm on March 1st and were greeted with a smiling James from EASTCO. We were not really expecting to be greeted at the airport since our Safari was going to start on March 3rd but Simon sent James over any way (which was a relief for us).
Day 1
We had booked this day to stay in Arusha, rest a bit and get ready for our 7 day adventure in the country but once again James came out, took us to Simon's place for a cup of coffee and we also got the chance to give him the balance for our trip. Afterwards he took us to Shanga for lunch and buying Tanzanite which we had asked for. He also promised to help us with getting a sim card on Monday.
Day 2
We were picked up in the morning, our sim card/cell phone matter was taken care of, packed lunched were picked up and we headed for Tarangire. It proced to be a beautiful park and we saw 3 of the big 5 on our first day of Safari! We saw a big herd of about 200 elephants migrating locally through the park. We saw a pride of lion with tiny cubs and we saw a beautiful leopard in a tree. We also saw giraffes, waterbucks, impalas, Zebra and ostriches which was nice. While driving to get to the leopard, James made a turn somehwere suddenly and to our surprise we had stopped a couple of meters from 4 male lions just hanging out under a tree! I'm not sure how he spotted them but I'm sure glad he did. They were gorgeous. at around 4:30, we started heading back to our camp for the night. We stayed at Naitolia and were the only guests so we were well taken care of and found the outdooor bush shower and toilet quite interesting.
Day 3
We had an early morning walking safari in Naitolia with a Masai guide. We spotted zebras from a distance but were really interested in seeing giraffes so our guide started tracking and leading us to where the Giraffe families were. They were terrified at first but after about 1 hour and slowly moving towards them, we ended up getting very close to them and it was thrilling to be walking so close to these magnificant creatures.
We called James to meet us along the trail back as we were too tired to walk back! We had walked for about 4 hours in the sun and didn't want to go back on foot. The camp staff awaited us with water ready for showers which was great as we were terribly sweaty and after lunch, we headed towards the great Ngorongoro.
We arrived in the conservation area and saw the baboons hanging by the entrance and then entered the park. We stopped at the viewing point to admire the beauty of the crater from up above and managed to spot elephants, buffalo and a rhino with our binoculars. It was great to go from the heat and dryness of Tarangire to the green and lush Ngorongoro. We arrived at Rhino Lodge to spend the night and saw a huge buffalo right next to our porch grazing at around 9! He didn't budge when we went out to the porch to look at him. Had a great dinner and went to bed early to wake up early in the morning for the crater drive.
Day 4
The crater offered us the rest of the big 5 and we managed to see 3 black rhinos (from a distance) and tons of buffalos. I never imagined that I could be surrounded by so many animals and so much beauty. It was just amazing. We saw two pairs of lions (Male and female) and about 30 cars watching them. James mentioned that they are going to be mating and all the cars stuck around. After about 40 minutes one of the pairs got up and left for the bushes and went out of sight. The second pair followed them shortly after and we ended up not seeing the lions mating! We did however, see some of the playful moves of the females trying to get the males to mate which was good enough for us.
We left the crater around noon to go towards Ndutu and southern Ngorongoro. Had our packed lunched with the Kites flying above us and trying to steal the food. It was quite interesting as I hadn't thought of Kites as the stealing type! They would literally come close to scratching people to get their food so we just got back in the car and had our lunch in there.
We stopped on the way for a visit at the Masai village and found it interesting to learn about how they live.
Driving south, we saw tons of Gazelle, giraffes, and Zebras and the local cattle and goats grazing along with them. Some wildebeest here and there as well so it was an interesting mix of animals. We got to our mobile camp in the middle of the wilderness eraly in the evening and had dinner and quick showers. We were also warned about the sound of the animals at night and not to move or make sounds if we hear an animal (elephant, lions, hyenas) coming close to the tents!
We did hear an elephant and a lion fighting in the distance but it was too far so didn't scare us much
Day 5
Our first game drive in serengeti was a great success. We saw lion cubs eating a zebra. We also saw the beautiful lake Ndutu and the giraffe, zebra and wildebeest on the plains. The highlights of the day however, was seeing the great migration! We saw what I can only guess was over 500 thousand wildebeest and their young calves all around us. It was amazing to be driving between this huge herd of animals. There were also tons an tons of zebras getting ready fo rtheir migration. I can't even describe the feeling we had watching these creatures and all the young feeding. We saw more lions and two cheetahs (a mom and an older cub) and back for the day. We also saw hyenas, jackals and vultues eating the remains of a baby wildebeest.
We had a great dinner and woke up at midnight at the sound of a lion and hyenas fighting! This time, a little too close for comfort but it was still awesome.
Day 6
Our second game drive was amazing as well. We saw two prides of lions and spent about 1 hour with one of the families as more and more of them kept coming out of the bushes and they started grooming each other and showing more affection for the cubs. It was a beautiful sight and I feel blessed to have witnessed this at such a close distance. The highlight of the day was seing a momma cheetah with 5 tiny cubs, little hairballs, eating and playing with a Thomson's Gazelle. Then the mother dragged the food to the shade of another tree since the first one was a little too much out in the open. The cubs started following her and it was just an amazing sight to see. heading back to the tent, we saw dik diks, two male lions hanging out in the marshes and making our day.
Day 7
We left for an early morning game drive, saw some more lions, giraffe, ... and headed towards Central Serengeti and the Western Corridor to see the Grumeti river and its Crocs. We saw 3 lions up in the trees in Central Serengeti and we also saw two leopards here. We went towards Grumetti and saw 4-5 big crocs in what was left of the river in this season and also saw lots of hippos. Our arrival in Speke bay was around 6 pm which gave us enough time to shower under running water for a change (it felt so good) and go for dinner. I loved the Speke Bay Lodge with its great view of the bay.
Day 8
We took the boat to the Fisherman's village close to the lodge, saw the people and how they lived there and saw the resident crocodile at Speke Bay lodge. Early afternoon we headed for Mwanza, had dinner and got on the ferry leaving for Bukoba where our Tanzania journey would end and Uganda would start.
Overall, we loved loved loved our time in Tanzania and would love to go there again, this time at a different time to see another aspect of the wildlife. EASTCO did a great job and there were no hiccups whatsoever on the trip. Our only complaint was that the car was a little too old but really, after being on so many game drives, I'm pretty sure that it doesn't matter what car you're in, it will still be pretty bumpy!
US
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Great safari to Ngorongoro, Serengeti & Tarangire
Overall we had a fantastic experience with just a few things that could have been improved upon. Our group of 8 people (ages 14 - 75) booked a 6-day / 5-night safari with EASTCO. First day/night to Ngorongoro, then to Serengeti (2 nights / 2-3 days) and 2 nights / 1 day at Tarangire. I know that numbering is a little confusing, but one blocked-road delay and the transiting between parks makes the "bookkeeping" difficult.
Itinerary: The itinerary was great in many ways, but in the end I wonder if we tried to cram in too much in the amount of time we had. There ended up being a lot of time driving. If I were going to do it again, I would try and stay in each lodging for 2 or more nights. We also had two walks scheduled into our safari. The one ended up being canceled because a stuck water truck blocked our way into the Crater on our first afternoon, so we went the following morning and skipped that hike, but putting in some walks is a really nice way to break up all the driving.
Accommodations: Mostly excellent. Ngorongoro Rhino Lodge - very cool with lovely rooms and an outstanding dining room / loungey area with fireplaces. Turner Camp in Serengeti - Nice tented camp, though apparently the camp had screwed up our reservation. When we arrived they told our guides that they could only host us for one night although we had been booked for two. The guides scrambled and found us a place for the following night in the Serengeti Savannah Camps, one of the Sera campsites. Since the Savannah Camp did not have much warning that we were coming, they were not very prepared for us and many of the staff had gone on holiday. (One of the tents we got was quite below-average compared to the others). But the few staff who were there worked really hard to accommodate us. Both tented camps had showers and flush toilets in the rooms, though limited water as would be expected out there. That seemed very luxurious given the location. The last two nights we were at Boundary Hill Lodge near Tarangire. This place is exceptional with beautiful and interesting rooms (all separate from one another with balconies overlooking the a valley). The staff were excellent. We were supposed to have been at Ol Tukai Manyara for one of the nights but after lots of heavy rain a part of the roof had collapsed and wasn't yet repaired. Though we don't know what we missed, we were very happy to spend two nights at Boundary Hill.
Guides: Our guides both had very sharp eyes and were very informative. Melk was very funny and chatty. Kessy was mostly quiet, though if we asked questions he was more than happy to answer them. Both spent a lot of time on their mobile phones, which, well, it detracted a bit from the experience. Kessy had a radio in his car, which he used a lot as well, though he turned it down when we asked. I realize the guides use the radios to help find game for the clients, but... I don't know, it's a mix. Both were good drivers, although we thought Melk drove way too fast at times (not while on game drives, but during transits between parks). I'm quite certain he could get a job as a stunt driver in the movies! It didn't even make sense since he would then have to stop and wait for Kessy. In any case, I finally requested he slow down, which he did.
Communications:
Pre-trip - Simon mostly responded to our pre-trip emails very promptly, though sometimes it would take a while. I had been on a trip with EASTCO in 2009 and I know there are often internet and phone problems, so I didn't worry too much when this happened. It never happened at any critical, time-sensitive moment. Simon is very friendly and also gave us a LOT of help organizing some pre- and post-safari travel for which he didn't request any compensation. He came out to our hotel to chat and never seemed to be in a hurry. I'm sure his schedule varies throughout the year, but we got a lot of his time and advice for nothing extra.
En route - At times the guides should have been more forthcoming with information. E.g. one day we stopped at a Maasai camp after leaving the Serengeti. Melk had arranged a hike for us to go on there because we had missed our Ngorongoro hike. We should have seen this coming, but after the hike (which was cool and interesting) the Maasai invited us to watch one of their traditional dances, visit the village, see their huts, etc. It was $50/car and we decided, "What the hell, we're here". So it was fun and we learned a lot and got the hard sell to buy some beaded products. We ended up with the Maasai for probably 3 hours. Fine. What we didn't know was that we were 5+ hours from our next lodge and it was already after 3pm. Had we known, we probably would have just skipped this or at least left directly after the hike. As it turned out, we were driving the last part of our day in the dark, we got lost for a while on the last stretch to the lodge and didn't arrive until late. They had been waiting to make dinner so it would be fresh, which was nice, but it meant we had to wait a while. It got to be a very long day.
In general: I have been on two EASTCO safaris now and I am impressed with what Simon delivers, especially at the cost. The park fees make up such a large part of a safari that it seems a really good value to get the fees plus the vehicle, guide/driver, unlimited miles, really nice accommodation, all your food and bottled water. And we saw so much cool stuff! All the "Big 5", including heaps of lions and a mother cheetah & 4 cubs. It was awesome. Good guides will know where to look for what you want to see, and we had that. No guarantees, of course, but we had a less experienced guide at a park in Kenya and it really showed.
People all want different things when they travel, but I would recommend thinking about how much time you want to spend driving and ask those questions when arranging a safari. The nice thing with EASTCO is that you are not on a pre-packaged tour. You can choose your own adventure. Simon will certainly help you choose a good itinerary, but you can weigh in with your preferences of what you'd like to see and do along the way. And then keep in mind that this is kind of the Wild West (or the Wild East). Things will happen along the way that are not really anyone's fault and your trip will likely have some glitches; if you can roll with it the misadventures sometimes make the best stories later on. If I decided to go on a third safari in East Africa, I would certainly go with EASTCO again!
US
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Spectacular!!!
I went on nine days trip with World Tour Staff named Steven the driver/guide and Soko4 cook. Steven is one of the most knowledge person in wildlife and vegetation, I ever come across. Trip was terrific and I learned a lot. Soko4 is a great and versatile cook. We had a awesome trip. I would recommend anyone to travel Tanzania via World Tours.
NL
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
It was a great experience, with good support
Very good service. The driver was good, listen to our ( animal ) wishes! Definitely recommended for others.
Hospitable,
Friendly,
Great experience!
Keep up the good job.
