35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Sympathetic
Tanzania was an experience. There were good things and other not so good.
Zanzibar was nice. Arusha too. The safari was good but definitely over priced. Almost 200 usd to sleep in tents and take a shower with cold water??? Our tour was oversold too. We had some inconveniences....so irecomm6to book direct6with a tour comp9, not agents ( agents are nice's s extremely helpful but, they don6do direct6the safari and if there is a complain they fix anything).
HR
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Beautiful landscape and animals
Nice parks and animals, scenery is great, safaries are the best part of Keny
Safari / diani beach trip Sep 2024
We booked a safari / Diani Beach trip through Jastros in late August / early September. Jastros we're responsive and competitive on price and they adapted quickly to changes to our preliminary itinerary as our trip planning progressed. There were a few difficulties with flight and accommodation times and dates so it's important to check these and stay on top of the details and the booking process. Jared engaged with us constructively and did his best to resolve the issues, and things turned out well in the end. Transfers between airports are challenging at the best of times but Jastros did a good job on these. Our game driver, John, was absolutely fantastic and we saw 4 of the big 5 within several hours of our first game drive - partly down to luck but also in large part due to John's skills and relationships with other game drivers.
DE
65+ years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Unique animal diversity
We did a 6-day trip with Lenchada Safaris in September 24. Massai Mara, Lake Nakuru and Amboseli. All parks have their own character, the variety of animals is fascinating and unique. Unfortunately, the operator only informed us of price increases 2 weeks before the start of the safari and only after we asked. Communication was problem-free, however. Lenchada and Jokey Tours are apparently one and the same operator.
Massai Mara: large herds, many wild cats and the impressive Mara River with hippos and crocodiles. Accommodation: Lenchada camps. The tent was clean and spacious. The facility is getting old. There were no chairs on the terrace and the dining area was a disgrace. There was no “campfire feeling” here.
Lake Nakuro: lots of water birds, rhinos, monkeys and buffalo. Accommodation: standard hotel in the Buruha Zenoni Hotel not far from the park entrance.
Amboseli: impressive backdrop with Kilimanjaro in the background. Large herds of elephants. Really great. Accommodation: highly, highly recommended the Manjaro Camp. Super friendly, good tents and good food.
Travel times/driver: The distances between the parks are very long. The main roads are heavily congested. Travel times of 6-8 hours are the norm. Our driver drove extremely carefully, but was not very taciturn.
Conclusion: The parks are truly uniquely beautiful. Lenchada Safaris can only be recommended to a limited extent. They look everywhere for savings. For example, they drove to an inferior lodge without prior agreement (but we were able to successfully refuse). You should have everything confirmed in writing beforehand.
(automatic translation from German)
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Hakuna Matata
We booked our tour several months prior to visiting Africa, upon enquiry we received some information about the Budget 4 day Safari. We went ahead and booked the tour, however received no receipt or confirmation of our payment.
The lack of information provided leading up to the tour was not good, we sent a couple of emails leading up to the trip asking questions for assurance and although they were responsive, we weren’t given any information except “Hakuna Matata”
As two young females going to a foreign country feeling unsafe this lack of assurance made us feel even more uncertain and unsafe.
Upon arrival to our hotel we were told due to the company being small we were joining a different company's Safari, which made no sense to us and we didn’t understand.
The other company was nothing short of amazing, we had a great time.
Thanks for booking our Safari Emanuel, Hakuna Matata.
HK
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Excellent guide but Jastro has to be more detail minded
We decided to book a safari tour with Jastro with their competitive quote. Before paying them, everything was good and smooth. And yet after deposit communication became difficult. They were quite irresponsive so you had to keep texting them if you had any requests or changes. They made several mistakes in bookings. Eg originally we rent 2 binoculars and 2 cameras and it turned out only 1 of each were available… it was a pretty big miss
But wells our driver Jonathan was very experienced and we saw the big 5 in 2 days! Highly recommend him to be your safari guide
NL
Experience level: 2-5 safaris
A bit over-promised
All in all it was ok. The bus from Joburg to Hoedspruit was small, packed and warm. It had a flat tire when we left.
The 3 hour sunset tour felt a bit stingy as we were the only vehicle that looked worn out and we didn’t have any wine or beer during the snack moment. Only soft drinks and water. The other cars were very well taken care of with nice glasses etc.
The tour guides were amazing though.
DK
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Review about Lake Manyara National Park by Maria
We went here on our last day and had luckily already seen everything we had hoped to see, because we only saw monkeys, a few impalas, zebras, elefants and two lions here.
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Great holiday booking, lack of support during holiday
I'll start by saying that we had an amazing experience and loved our holiday. Secret Namibia were helpful and patient with our requirements and booked an amazing trip for us. What left us sad was the lack of care and support that we received in the immediate run up to the trip and during it. We had to ask for a detailed itinerary in the days before our departure (which turned out to be little more than a list of where we were booked ie it didn't include any useful information about transfers, timings, what to expect, what tipping was etc etc), and we were told we would receive a printed version on our arrival (we never received anything). They suggested a transfer from our hotel in Windhoek the morning of our departure, for which we were charged the equivalent of £70 for a 5 min ride in a friend's car where the mess had to be moved off the back seat to allow us to sit down, and were we were just dumped in the airport car park with no further instructions. When we had delays and problems during the trip our pilot and his company had to solve the issues himself and Secret Namibia contacts us to 2 days later to say they hoped we were ok, but with no apology for non contact. For a trip of a lifetime, Secret Namibia are the only part that we feel let down with. Go to Namibia, but perhaps find another agency to book it through.
AE
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Budget Accommodation
Booked for a 3 night stay. The Lodge was comfortable but the room I was assigned was very jaded and dark with strange lighting and fixtures. The food was decent though the menu could have been altered more frequently. Staff efficient and pleasant. Its the old room that was an annoyance and seriously needs an upgrade. The photos on the tour operator's site does not give a true picture. Otherwise the tours were decent though the tour to the sights within the park was underwhelming and this can be substituted for something else.