65+ years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Had a fantastic time. Worth money spent
We had a very memorable experience vide this safari operator, as vehicle was in prim condition and driver cum guide was polite and charmimg even to the kids. Enroute accomodation at FARM OF DREAMS at Karatu was unique as well
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
The safari tour of a lifetime!!!
The communications were excellent. Jesca stayed in contact with us as necessary (pre, during and post tour). Our game drive guide Everest was great. He even went out on the limb to teach us the native language.
Easy Travel supplied us with a welcome gift that included baseball caps and African drink. They also arranged for birthday celebrations and cake at every lodging that we stayed at for the entire 7-day tour. We had access to a nice pair of binoculars and power outlets in the vehicle. The game drives were from sunup to sundown. This allowed us to witness the big wildebeest crossing. They helped us arrange the flight for the desert to Zanzibar.
The food at the lodgings was pretty tasty. The lunch boxes on the road were pretty creative and appreciated the fact that they catered to food intolerances.
We saw the Big 5 and even got to spot a white rhino sleeping in the Ngorongoro crater. The animal encounters were amazing. The chewys were tough to find but we spotted a couple in trees. Also got to see the Masai tribes with their extremely healthy cattle along the journey to, thru and from the crater.
The best part for me was staying in our tent camps. My sister was a little nervous but I completely enjoyed it.
The only thing that was a pester was those annoying tsetse flies
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Cuan was fabulous to deal with - personable, helpful & extremely knowledgeable.
Excellent. Cuan listened and then provided options for us to choose from that fitted our preferences & budget. He was extremely knowledgeable & was great with suggestions which would suit our kids ages. We’d love to travel to Africa again in the future & would have no hesitation in returning to Cuan to plan and book.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
CA
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Review about Timbavati Nature Reserve by Ashley
We stayed at Simbavati River Lodge (part of Timbavati) and were blown away by the luxury of our rooms, the amazing service (they catered to our every need), the food (we are vegan, and they totally accommodated!) and the knowledge of our guide (Mbongene) and tracker - who took risks for himself by tracking on foot a pride of lions, just so we could see them up close. I highly recommend Simbavati to anyone, and would love to return with our son for more safari!
NO
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Review about Selous Game Reserve by Tor Arne Fallingen
The park displayed a lot of what I feel African nature is like, it has dense vegetation areas and sparse vegetarion areas. It has the common animals, but you may not get to see the more rare ones. As our guide said, Selous you might not see everything, but you get close to the animals you see. In Mikumi you drive in hills and mountains, you may see more, but need good spectacles to make out what animal it is. This is 2 reserves easily accessible from Dar es Salaam, its not Serengeti og NgoroNgoro, which I understand is something completely different in many ways. But when we visited, there were 1 other car in the park, we saw it at the gate going in, so we didnt drive in a Safari convoy, this I appreciate.
CA
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Best vacation of my life so far!
In South Africa, we started our voyage from Capetown, on to Franchoek (wine region) and then onward to Kruger National Park and then through Johannesburg on our way back home. The country of South Africa is like no other I have seen - it is so diverse, with a very westernized city like Capetown with amazing food and scenery, and then the wine region which was like Napa Valley or Okanagan (Canada) on steroids - it was THAT good - the buildings were designed beautifully and the wine was fantastic. And finally, the unbelievable wild animal life in Kruger National Park! It really was a dream trip and South Africa is an amazing place with many secrets that unfold for the tourist! Our private lodge, Simbavati, was beautiful, high-end, amazing service and food. Our guides and trackers made our trip, by teaching us so much about the animals, the terrain and the foliage. We loved every minute of our trip and have been highly recommending to anyone who will listen.
CA
Best vacation of my life so far!
In South Africa, we started our voyage from Capetown, on to Franchoek (wine region) and then onward to Kruger National Park and then through Johannesburg on our way back home. The country of South Africa is like no other I have seen - it is so diverse, with a very westernized city like Capetown with amazing food and scenery, and then the wine region which was like Napa Valley or Okanagan (Canada) on steroids - it was THAT good - the buildings were designed beautifully and the wine was fantastic. And finally, the unbelievable wild animal life in Kruger National Park! It really was a dream trip and South Africa is an amazing place with many secrets that unfold for the tourist! Our private lodge, Simbavati, was beautiful, high-end, amazing service and food. Our guides and trackers made our trip, by teaching us so much about the animals, the terrain and the foliage. We loved every minute of our trip and have been highly recommending to anyone who will listen.
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Best trip ever
Thornybush lodge was terrific, with knowledgeable and friendly staff, great wildlife -saw everything, and not too crowded.
NO
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
It looked like we drowe into a Jehovas Witness poster.. Into their vision of paradise.
First of all, we went to Selous during the wet season. During the wet season roads may be difficult to impossible to drive and animals are more widespread, the watering holes have become lakes and rivers. Food and water is plentyful, so animals will be more widespread, predators will be harder to spot (we did not see lions). But the guides speak to each other so if one finds a flock of elephants, he will notify the others. This is one of the benefits of joining a tour instead of goind on your own. We did see a lot of impalas, giraffes, zebras, wilderbeest, bamboos and wild pigs, plus a few more. I honestly care more for the birds than the animals, we saw a lot of vultures, but the small colorful birds are the most beautiful sight.
Even though we went on safari during the wet season, we didnt see rain every day. During our 3 day/2night tour, we had rain overnight once. The accomodation was great, they called it tent, but basically we had a concrete room with shower, sink and wc, then a frame covered with tarp and palm leaf roof with 2 beds (mosquito net too) room. All this on a raised concrete foundation with a porch where you could sit and look at the view. This was one unit. We stayed at Ngalawa camp, the camp was basic, electricity for 2-3 hours at night and sometimes an hour in the very early morning. At night you lie in bed listening to the bush babies making a ruckus in the trees outside. No AC. The food was good, the service was good. Our guide was great, this man man did his best to please us, but what I admire the most is that he wanted us to leave nature untouched, we were not allowed to feed the animals neither in camp nor on tour, and this is such an important attitude if we are to safely watch nature close up. Ive seen so many horrible examples of feeding bread, fruit and even plastic to get animals close. Also, going back we had a severe breakdown of the car. The guide made sure we were as comfortable as possible while he tried to have the car fixed. When he knew he had to go to Dar es Salaam (we were stranded in Kibiti) for parts, he made it so we found a driver to take us up together, instead of waiting yet another 3-4 hours for the company to send a car to pick us up. Than way we were home before midnight, late, but justifiable so. We were also stopped in a road block going out of the bush, some youth had organized this. Our guide tackled this very well, talked to them and so we passed without paying (important, because these things should not pay off). I dont remember the homepage of the company we used, but their email is [email protected]
The guide was decent in english, and we ended up spending a full night just talking about life, there and back home for us. To me its extremely important to have good communication ability.