SE
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Unique experience, staying in Masai village
We had a unique experience on our trip with Tayiai Safaris!
Our very competent and positive guide Lenny took us to his home village, where we were introduced to the traditional Masai life with bow-shooting, spear-throwing and story telling at the bonfire together with roasted goat meat (we were also attending the slaughter earlier in the day). After spending the night in the village, we were served breakfast (fresh fruits, chapati, coffee and tea, and also home made sour milk).
After breakfast, we continued to the camp outside the national reserve, Maasai Mara, checked in our bags, and went on safari! We saw elephants, ostriches, zillions of gnus and zebras, a glimpse of a cheetah, large buffaloes and many other wild animals. We stopped to have lunch in the shade of an acacia tree, and before we started off again, our Masai guides Lenny and Dennis showed us how to jump like a Masai!
In the evening, when we were on our way back to the camp, we saw a pack of lions with cubs passing us just five meters away. Truly fascinating!
Back in the camp, we had dinner (buffet with various kinds of food) and ice cold refreshments - a perfect end of the day!
If you want to do something very unique (okay, we did it before you), you should definitively ask Tayiai Safaris if they could bring you to a Masai village! It's not the most comfortable way of living, but it's absolutely worth it! And you can lay down and rest in the camp later!
CZ
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Reasonable priced service for safari and ascents with satisfying level of comfort.
Reliable tour operator not only for safari, no problems with payments, programm, level of service required. Good communication when in home preparing the trip, and on the spot very helpful too. I would recommend.
Mr london
Well , I have been with this compony recently to a trip to a maasi Mara & booked hotels through them I just like and love the service very very much , managers are so friendly and so helpful . So I recommend to all my friends to deal with this compony...., they R simply the best .
One of my favorite trips ever.
My friend and I booked a custom, 4-day safari with Afrishare that turned out to be one of the most memorable experiences of my life. Our driver/chef and guide were consummate pros, and on top of it, a blast to spend time with. They helped us find spots to get really close to amazing animals. They set up camp for us at each site... it could not have been easier. Even the food was excellent. Ibrah made everything as easy as can be with booking, and made sure every detail was taken care of. On top of his great service, he is friendly, genuine, and easy to talk with. Do not hesitate to book with Afrishare!
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Fantastic!!
Thank you for a wonderful holiday. You gave us an incredible experience, brilliant service and really good value for money. I would highly recommend Matoke to anyone for safaris and primate tracking in Uganda.
US
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
November Cape Town and Safari Vacation
First, we want to thank Go2Africa for their outstanding service and commitment to ensure that their clients receive unforgettable vacations. The four of us were especially impressed with Go2Africa’s stress-free service that occurred throughout the initial enquiry, recommendations, payment process, and prompt communication. We couldn’t have asked for a better organization to assist with our travels.
Secondly, we want to thank Ramona for her patience and extraordinary effort in ensuring that the four of us would have a vacation that we will always cherish. After enquiring about Go2Africa’s services, we received a quick response from Ramona explaining that she would be our travel expert to assist in planning our vacation. It is clear that Ramona cares about her clients and invests the time to ensure that their wishes are fulfilled. Ramona took into account all of our considerations and worked with the budget that the four of us were willing to commit to. We are confident in saying that Ramona planned an amazing Cape Town and Safari vacation. We are still amazed at the amount of things we were able to do in just 8 full days of vacation to include Table Mountain, Cape Point Tour, Stellenbosch Wine Tour, and 6 guided safari’s in the Sabi Sands. Ramona’s recommended accommodations in Cape Town and Sabi Sands were outstanding and more luxurious than we originally imagined. Ramona’s guidance in preparing us for the trip (to include vaccinations, what to pack, and many other things to consider while traveling) was extremely helpful. In addition, Ramona’s detailed itinerary made this vacation as stress-free as possible allowing us to enjoy what Cape Town and the Sabi Sands has to offer. Thank you again Ramona for an amazing journey!
There are a few recommendations that we would ask Ramona or Go2Africa to consider. First, the four of us were really disappointed that we were not able to participate in our scheduled cage shark diving excursion during our last day in Cape Town due to inclement weather. Had we known that cancellations often occur for this reason, we would have booked the cage shark diving on the first day of our trip so that we could reschedule in time before we left. Also, we were told we would get refunded for not being able to attend, and it’s taken 3 months to receive reimbursement. Secondly, although the list of recommendations for restaurants in Cape Town was sufficient, we found the list to be a little outdated. We recommend updating the list to include new and popular restaurants in addition to recommendations on when to request reservations. The four of us attempted to dine at the highly acclaimed “Test Kitchen” (not on the list) but when making reservations 3 weeks before, found out that we had to make reservations six months in advance. Lastly, although we were very happy with our guided tours, all the tours were booked through a company called “Ilios”. When our cage shark diving excursion was canceled we decided to go on another wine tour but this time through a different company than Ilios. We would have to say that we enjoyed the alternate company’s wine tour better as we were able to tour more vineyards, and in our opinion, more reputable wineries. We recommend that Go2Africa provide a recommended list of other companies they work with for clients to choose regarding their excursions on vacation.
Even though there were some setbacks along the way, Ramona and Go2Africa were very reliable and helpful in assisting us throughout the whole process from beginning to end. I cannot emphasize enough that this trip was one of the best trips the four of us have ever had the privilege to take. We hope to go back to Africa in the future, and we will most definitely be contacting Ramona and Go2Africa again for their exceptional service.
DE
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Exciting Honeymoon
An unforgettable experience and am so glad we decided on the Safari option as we were very sceptical at first. We did an 8 day Safari and spent 6 night in Zanzibar and were wined and dined like royalty. The combination of Safari and a beach holiday complimented itself and recommended to people wanting to go to Tanzania, what a blessed country.
KG
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
It was really good
I gave very short notice to them, that is why I had to go to safari alone(not with a group). Service was really good and it was very comfortable with guide and driver. I enjoyed my traveling.
IT
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
the parks of the North: great experience!
We had a 6 nights safari with Savannah Explorers and we had a great time. We visited Tarangire Park, Lake Manyara Park (we made a really nice night safari!), Serengeti and Ngorongoro.
All the parks worth a visit: Tarangire for its spectacular landscapes, Lake Manyara for the forest, Serengeti for predators and its amazing and different landscapes, Ngorongoro because its unique and fascinating.
Savannah explorers was professional from our arrival until our departure. The choice of Lodges and Camping was perfect: we recommend in particular Tarangire Safari Lodge and Kati Kati camps (Tanganyka Wildeness camps).
The guide (that spoke also a good italian) was friendly and helpful.
We say all the big 5, a family of Cheetah, lots of other animals. It was great!
Hope to come back one day!! Jambo!
50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Lots of Birds - and Animals, too
We had a great trip with Nature Travel Namibia over New Year 2015, seeing a huge number of birds as well as lots of antelope, cats, and other animals in only one week.
Three years ago, we took a group tour with a different company to the other, more famous leg of Namibia - the Namib Desert, the coast at Swakopmund, Damaraland and one day at Okakuejo in Etosha - and had such a good time we wanted to do the other leg which, as we hoped, is quite different.
We had only seven and a half days, and we wanted to fit a lot in. After discussion with Nick and Janeke, we worked out a stripped-down backwards version of the '10-Day Etosha, Caprivi, Chobe And Victoria Falls' trip which they offer. We flew in to Victoria Falls at noon and did a three-hour tour. This short visit was great as the falls are more spectacular than any photo can show, and it completely revived us after thirty hours of travel from our home. Then we went straight to Chobe in Botswana (2 nights), after which we crossed into Namibia and went along the Zambesi/Caprivi Strip via Camp Kwando (1 night), Mahangu (2). We stayed at Mushara (1) on the east of Etosha followed by a full day crossing Etosha to Okakuejo (1), then a final couple of hours in the park before driving down to Windhoek for the last night before flying out. This worked very well. Of course, the extra days of the full trip would have been even better, especially for some birds that we heard or saw briefly but didn't have the time to follow up on.
The accomodation was well-chosen and of high quality, and all the places had all the facilities you could want, and good food (and wine).
We arranged a private trip for just the two of us because we had been to East Africa four times, as well as our previous Namibia visit, and we had seen a lot of the basic birds and animals already - not that we didn't want to see them again, but we also wanted to spend time looking for some things, birds especially, that Africa beginners in a group might not be so interested in. It wasn't cheap, but in our opinion it was great value for money, everything went smoothly, and we were completely satisfied. (And, obviously, the price per person comes down if there are more of you.)
The trip had a great balance between land and river, birds and animals. We did three boat trips on the rivers (and all three were quite different). And we also saw lots of the spectacular Namibian skyscapes and sunsets. It was the rainy season in theory, but actually there was some cloud but little rain (nice for us, not so good for the local farmers).
Nick wasn't available, but we had another specialist bird guide who was very knowledgeable, and also great company. We saw over 220 species of bird in the week, of which 60 were new for us, and about 50 more were 'first decent photos'. Given our time constraint, we were very happy with this. Highlights for us on the river were great close-up views of Slaty Egret, Black Egret, Purple Heron amd Pygmy Duck. Our guide knew a spot where we got good sightings of Souza's Shrike and Tinkling Cisticola. He also had a spot for Little Jacana, which was a bird we especially wanted to see, and Sharp-tailed Starling. We saw Blue Crane in Etosha. On the trip we also got 23 accipiters and falcons, mostly with decent views.
We also wanted to find the local antelopes, and we got beautiful views of Sable, as well as Puku, Red Lechwe, Southern Reedbuck and Greater Kudu, as well as Common Duiker, which were all new for us. We saw seventeen antelope species in total, and I think we would have got Roan if we had an extra day at Mahangu.
We had seen Hippos before, of course, and Elephants, but we were surprised by how moved and impressed we were by the large groups of both that we saw. And the other regulars were there of course - Giraffe, Zebra, and so on. We also saw Lion and Cheetah, and our eagle-eyed guide found a well-hidden Leopard.
One special highlight was the huge Black Mamba that we saw clearly (and photographed) moving through the trees, and which our guide found because of the alarm calls of birds which had spotted it.
All in all, this was a great trip, organised and run by professionals, and which we happily recommend. And if you want to shorten or lengthen it, or do more in one place and less in another, or add a side-trip to somewhere not on the main plan, just ask!
And if you can time it to fit in with the great riverside New Year party with live music at Mahangu Safari Lodge, as we did, then go for it. Just avoid the Jägermeister!