BE
Fantastic trekking in pure nature
Our trip was not an as usual safari tour, but a fantastic 14-days trekking through different landscapes in South-African mountains and Lesotho. Everything was perfectly organised : transport, food, various accomodations, walk-itinerary and meetings with local population. With sympathy and sense of humour as a bonus!
Thank you Thierry & Biwakwango !
35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Experience of a lifetime
The communication with Speke Uganda Holidays was excellent. All our Emails were answered quickly and to our full satisfaction. We were met at the airport in Entebbe by our friendly guide and driver. The vehicle was okay and there was always fresh water. I enjoyed the various type of accommodation: from simple to luxury. The food was outstanding and tasty (with a very few exceptions). How I miss those small sweet bananas! The people of Uganda are beautiful and friendly. I would have liked to interact a little more. It was also interesting to chat to some of our hosts, e.g. at Kluges Guest Farm. I loved the colourful markets. The landscape is breathtakingly beautiful and varies a lot. I have never seen elsewhere so many impressive lakes. One of my highlights were Murchison Falls NP with the cruise on the Victoria Nile and, of course, the mountain gorillas at Bwindi Impenetrable NP. There was a baby in the group which entertained us humans and it was sooo cute to watch!!! The chimps at Kibale Forest NP were amazing to see too and I did not know about their sleeping habits before I got there (nests in the trees!). I had underestimated the state of the roads (I have travelled quite a bit in Southern Africa) and we often arrived late with just an hour before dinner. We spent hours / days driving on bumpy roads. At Murchison River Lodge (beautiful), we arrived twice at dusk and left twice at dawn. No chance for their pool. In retrospect, I would have skipped the 4 days in Rwanda and rather extended my time in Uganda to stay longer at some of the places we visited or experience another NP. The birdlife is abundant and our guide knew them all! At Queen Victoria NP we were hoping to see more wildlife. There are often no boundaries between the park and human settlement. There are farm animals within the park. Overpopulation in both countries is certainly an issue. I was also hoping to learn something about the current political situation when it comes to gay people in Uganda, but this was a no-go-area for our guide. All in all, it was a fantastic holiday for my husband and myself of which we had dreamed for years. We are so glad that we made our dream come true. Thank you Tony Mulinde & team!
CH
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
One of the highlights of our trip!
My daughter and I were on a 1 day tour to Matopos in search of rhino and to see the cave paintings. We saw both and so much more! Courtney is an excellent guide...knowledgeable, passionate, and funny. He took us to a beautiful dam for lunch and enhanced our knowledge of the country, people, and conservation efforts through the day. Also, Norman and his wife came personally to our lodge the evening before to tell us about the tour and what to expect. It was a great experience!
DE
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
A perfectly wonderful journey through Namibia
Journey from Windhoek, Red Dunes Lodge, Kulala, Swakopmund, Damaraland, Etosha and Okonjima was carefully arranged, dense program, diversified. One Highlight ballon flight, another one the Katamaran-Tour and last but not least many, many animals: lions, elephants, cheetahs and many more.
US
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
World Tours And Safaris Tanzania
My husband and I went on a tour with World Tours And Safaris Tanzania in August 2009. We started in Tarangire, headed to Ngorongoro, Serengeti, Lake Manyara and ended in Arusha. We had a BLAST.
Richard, the tour operator, is wonderful, and by going with his company, we felt like we were supporting the local economy more than operators in the US who then contract with local companies. In fact, going "local" probably knocked a couple thousand dollars off the price of our trip. It was much more affordable and we didn't have an unlimited budget.
We did the step 2 type accommodations -- so we stayed in the wildlife lodges and not the Serenas. They were perfect for us -- not luxury but more than sufficient, and the views were beautiful.
I would go with Richard's tour company again -- in fact, we may be revisiting and we will book with him again. The only negative of the whole trip was that occasionally our jeep had some issues restarting, but our driver was able to get it going. It just meant a couple of pauses in some areas but still -- it didn't detract from the trip.
Oh and as far as wildlife viewing, we saw what the folks who book through more luxury type operators saw. Plenty of Abercrombie tour buses passing us by. We also saw a kill, and got so "tired" of seeing lions and cheetahs that we got to a point where we weren't stopping for them anymore. You know you are having a great trip when you've gotten to a point where you're only interested in the really rare stuff.
Anyways long story short our trip was wonderful and we'll certainly never forget it. I wholeheartedly endorse Richard's company, and if you are looking to "go local," you won't go wrong here. Good luck and happy safari planning!
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Very Professional..
We did an 8 day safari with Robert. The whole experience was excellent - itinerary, accommodation, guides and food.
I recommend Robert and his team highly.
NL
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
We enjoyd the safari very much, everithing was perfect.
We had very different accomodations and the were very good. We were all day on safari, we had lunchboxes, so we could picknick and see more of the land. Our guide was very friendly and helpful.
We liked Tanzania a lot, our safari was very good even better than we expected
DE
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
The safari was very well organized and full of highlights in an arangement in a very private frame.
The tour was prepared high professionell. The distances between the different lodges well calculated and each day shows us the namibian world in other colors, land formations and people which are all absolut friendly.
The service in most of the lodges are fantastic and gives us the feeling that we are more friends than customers. The meals, the breakfast, the dinner and the different sides for sundowners are unforgotable. A lot of our friends are asking for more informations and pictures. We will deliver that.
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Fantastic Tour, Great Drivers and vehicles
We had previously been to Kenya with Kuoni but this time I wanted a more personal experience so looked at arranging things myself. Having seen the glowing reviews of KET Safaris on review sites, I decided that they were the right company for us - my husband, sister and her partner. I did get quotes from others, but Paul was quick to respond and answer my many questions. I outlined the parks I wanted to visit and this included Serengeti, and Ngorogoro in Tanzania. Between us, we worked out an itinerary which was realistic distance wise and included all the parks we wanted. Whilst I think we are all a little nervous about sending deposits to people we don't know so far away and paying the balance in cash when we arrive, you shouldn't worry as it was fine. When we arrived at Nairobi in the evening, a driver from the Meltonia Luxury Suites collected us and we stayed there overnight. Paul arrived at our hotel on time in the morning and introduced us to our first driver Benedict. It was a long and dusty drive to the Mara, but we had a couple of comfort breaks en route and when in the park Benedict took the longer route to the hotel to see some wildlife on the way. The Mara is one of the best places to view game and again it didn't disappoint. The Ashnil Mara was wonderful, very luxurious, great food and the staff couldn't do enough. Day four, we crossed the border at Isebania which was chaotic with laborious form filling but didn't really take as long as we imagined. A word of warning, don't use the loos here as they were not very nice and they charged both men and women 200 shillings. After saying our sorry goodbyes to Benedict who we were really fond of, we were introduced to Jeremiah (Jerry). He was younger and initially a little quieter but soon learned to understand our sense of humour and joined in the jokes. He was an excellent driver and spotter and clearly passionate about his job. We stayed at the Mbalgetti Lodge in the Serengeti which had fantastic tented lodges overlooking the countryside and was not fenced so was very natural. I do have reservations about this lodge because it took over 30 minutes to reach the other roads every time we went on a game drive which meant an hour of our drive over the same area (see separate review). After two nights, we then drove on to Ngorogoro which I have to say in itself was a little disappointing. Due the vast area in the crater (caldera) we mostly viewed game from a distance. However, Jerry did anticipate the destination of two black rhinos and drove round to enable us to watch them coming almost directly towards us before they headed off to the water. Rhino lodge was wonderful with open fires in restaurant and even in our rooms. Back to Kenya and our third and last guide Bryon. He had more long distance drives as we had to go to Amboselli, the next day Tsavo and finally Watamu. Whilst he did drive faster than the others we still felt safe and he found us lots of elephants in both these parks. He dropped us off at Watamu having bought us (courtesy of Paul) a final lunch in a restaurant in Malindi. We stayed at the Ocean Sports which was great with a wonderful friendly, laid back atmosphere and good food - right on the beach, what more could you want. I would like to thank Paul publicly for a wonderfully arranged safari. Everything went like clockwork and all three drivers were exceptional. I would recommend KET Safaris for anyone wanting to take book their holiday independently. Despite recent problems in Kenya, we always felt very safe and would happily return in the future should we get the opportunity.
DE
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
super job well done
Preparation and Organisation was excellent, every day a highlight, all things were safe. We were informed about country peculiarities very early and were well prepared. Safari-online every time again !