US
It felt like an ad hoc freelance organization, thrown together from far away, without care.
The up front communication was relatively professional, but as soon as the trip started so did the problems. We sat in our hotel lobby in Moshi at 7am waiting for the pick up. We were the only guests in the lobby, but the driver was sitting in his van outside, instead of looking for us. The van had no markings to indicate it was from Soul of Tanzania. After about a half hour, he finally came inside and found us, and we were transferred to a safari truck in Arusha, again with no company markings. It seemed to be freelance, arranged ad hoc, and the results felt the same. Our contact at SoT, Jose, when he finally replied later that morning about our pickup issues, wasn't even apologetic. "I was informed by my operations team about the misunderstanding and I am glad that everything was sorted out."
In the truck, when we started seeing animals and asked for the binoculars that were included in our tour, we were told they were broken. Luckily we had brought one not very good pair from home, and had those to share between us. The driver found a pair at the camp that night.
Our driver drove slow on the public roads, when other trucks were all passing us (not a great feeling after a late start thanks to the pickup "misunderstanding"). On the other hand, he flew on the park roads, shaking the truck apart, with thick layers of dust coming in his open windows. We had to ask him to stop when we saw animals. On the first day we noticed that each time we asked him to stop, he would take out his phone and be playing on it until we said "ok, we can go". After asking him to be more involved, thankfully he stopped doing that and told us a bit about the animals.
At the end of a particularly long day, with a morning game drive in Manyare and then drive to the Serengeti, he couldn't find our camp. The sun set, we were exhausted, and we were still in the truck. I was trying to use google maps to help find a tented camp. Eventually we found a park staff camp, and got directions from them to find our camp. We checked in after dark, ate, and slept asap, to get up at 4am for the hot air balloon. Imagine our dismay when, the next night going to a different camp, we were lost again. We stopped at 2 very nice camps, and the 2nd camp let us use their toilet and sent one of their staff with us to show him the way. It seemed like a tiny amount of preparation could have avoided both issues, and especially after it happened the 1st time.
We saw the big 5, and a lot of of animals and beautiful sights, but we couldn't help but feel that we were an afterthought, just thrown into any car with any driver, and when the inevitable issues arose, we didn't find they had any interest in admitting mistakes or making them right. I thoroughly recommend doing a safari in Tanzania, just not with Soul of Tanzania.
MK
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Not bad not terrible.
Too many added costs to the tour. The basically give a driver that knows bits and pieces about animals and he just drives you like a taxi driver from place A to place B. No value for money for some of the "attractions" we saw.
US
20-35 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Choose another company
The Good: The safaris were incredible. Ngorongoro in particular was amazing. Lots of wildlife. We were worried about traveling during the “off” wet season, but it was amazing. Best safari so far in all of Africa. Keep in mind, the safari host is subcontracted.
The Bad: Communication before and during the tour was abysmal. We had no idea what was going on at any time and David did a poor job of confirming plans. We had to have backup plans upon arrival at the airport because we weren’t even sure if we were going to be picked up due to a lack of communication and confirmation.
The Ugly: Fig Tree Lodge, the Eco Lodge with which Dancing Simba contracts several stays, is pretty terrible. Mama Pia is a delight, but the rest of the staff are rude and it feels like a scam. A dirty one at that. Several of the tours felt the same way, including the coffee tour near Materuni Falls, Mto Wa Mbu, and the Maasai people nearby.
All in all, we made the best of it, but Dancing Simba was absolutely not the catalyst that made this trip amazing. We’ve traveled over 75 countries and have done many safaris and weeklong tours with guides. Highly encourage you to do your homework and book this type of trip with someone else, especially at this cost.
MX
65+ years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Not a good service.
I had bad experience with African Breeze safaris in Kenya. First. I paid part of the tour in cash in Nairobi, but they did not wanted to accept some USD bills issued before an specific year. Finally they accept it but only after they charged me an extra amount. Second. In part of the tour they put an extra person in the vehicle, 8 passengers, instead of 7 as in their brochure. It was very uncomfortable for several of us and we almost had a fight! Third. They changed two times my hotels during safaris, one of them of lower quality. In general not a good service.
NL
65+ years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Disappointing experience
We booked a 2 day safari tour and stayed at Ivory Tree Lodge. The rooms, food and open game drives provided by the lodge were excellent. The transfers from Johannesburg provided by MoAfrika Tours did not meet our expectations. Although we advised we would be travelling with 4 suitcases, no provisions had been made on the outbound transfer so the suitcases needed to be stacked in the aisle. The outbound transfer was a disgrace. Just before checking out of the lodge we received an email, offering us a choice between being picked up at the arranged time 11:30 AM) and spending time in Pilanesberg on a closed game drive. Or spending time in the lodge and being picked up at 2:00 PM. We chose the first option but ended up spending 3 hours in the reception area for our transfer. The people at MoAfrika Tours kept telling us they did not know why the driver did not pick us up but he would be there within 10 minutes. He arrived a little before 2 PM and was met by a group of angry people (7 in total) who had been waiting since 11 AM. And 2 people who had chosen the second option, to be picked up at 2. The driver told us that the people of MoAfrica were well aware that he would not be able to pick us up before 2PM as he was in the park woth another group of people. So obviously it had been the intention of MoAfrika from the start to pick us up at 2. They just were not honest about the situation and kept us waiting for 3 hours without food as they had us believe the drivers would be there any minute. To make things worse, the driver was supposed to wait until 3 PM to pick up 3 more people. After we refused to wait any longer (5 of us had flights to catch), he decided to leave the other 3 behind and drove us to the airport. The driver was not to blame for this mess up, solely the people at MoAfrika office.
After returning home, we sent a complaint to MoAfrika, but we have not received a reply or apologies.
I would not recommend using MoAfrika Tours, just book the lodge yourself, nearly every lodge and hotel offers transfers. No need to book through MoAfrika or any other operator.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Not the best experience
After the trip we were taken to their office like hostage to demand more money than we agreed and already paid cause they decided that they didn't make enough profit. Very poor customer service.
Be expected to pay much more than the original agreed fees as they will claim it is not included, e.g. entry fees. At one point we were asked to pay for the fuel cost!
Make sure to pay yourself entry fees as we realised we have been scammed and paid more than the entry fee. Unfortunately only realised this after the trip when we talked with out friends who visited the same attractions
DE
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Not professionel
We have booked 2 safaris, the first was planned with 4 nights and the 2nd with 5 nights (so it was in the mail and was also paid). The first safari went well, we have also seen many animals, the guide really tried hard. On the 2nd safari we were told after the 4th day that tomorrow is the last day. Astonished we said that according to the mail the safari lasts 5 nights and 6 days. Suddenly nobody wanted to know anything about that. After a phone call and SMS to George, he then admitted that there is probably a misunderstanding, he actually meant only 4 nights even if there are 5 nights! Astonished and annoyed, we tried to make it clear to him that we expect 5 nights at this price according to the mail. George does not want to know anything about it and there was also no compensation. The end of the safari was accordingly bad, as we desperately tried to get another accommodation at a reasonable price! Thus, we have now paid an extra night and also the full price - which was for 5 nights. From our point of view, this is pure rip-off. Who books here, must clarify beforehand how many days and nights are included in the booking to avoid nasty surprises. We do not recommend this tour operator
MX
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Poor experience
We didn’t have a good experience with this tourist operator.
First they offer a guide Spanish spoken and it wasn’t true, the guide just know some words in Spanish so our communication was so complicated.
We bought the safari 5 day, in the service description they include two days safari at the Masai Mara (including some hours at the 5th day) and our guide said, no the last day is just for go back to Nairobi, we had to show him the description of the service to had the complete service.
US
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Not recommended for Kilimanjaro
I booked a Kilimanjaro climb with Tin Tin and was unfortunately was overall unimpressed and would NOT recommend this company for a Kilimanjaro summit. Highlights and lowlights are below.
Pro:
-Supporting a local KPAP company.
-The porters (Rashidi "happy happy", Ayubu, Gabriel, Lamiki, Rashidi) and camp manager (Mido) were kind.
Cons:
-Communication. The main POC, Fred, was very responsive at first. However I began getting email auto replies that his email was over quota after I had paid for my trek and it took him a week or so to respond to anything. My guide, Rama, was also hardly fluent in English. He could not understand questions I asked him.
-Safety. I am not convinced my guide was first aid certified considering he did nothing when I had a fever on the mountain. Health checks were not done twice daily with blood pressure and oximeter readings as originally promised.
-Experience. My guide made me uncomfortable with things like asking me to guess the age of all the other staff members in front of them and bringing the entire group into my tent with no warning when I was sick. He also did not pace well. During the summit hike, we hiked too quickly up the mountain and had to slow down a few hours in. It made for a frigid hike and I was unhappy to miss seeing the summit in daylight.
-Gear quality. My tent was not waterproof and had cigarette burn holes in the bug netting. I rented a waterproof bag from them and it had holes around the straps. I did not notice until my clothing was wet on the trip.
CA
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
A poor and frustrating experience!
My honest review of my experience with Safari Multiways.
I was a Canadian long-term volunteer in Moshi, Tanzania. My husband was coming to visit me from Canada so I started to research budget-friendly options for a 4D3N private safari in the northern circuit. I stumbled upon Safari (SM) Multiways as per a recommendation from a board discussion on Tripadvisor; of all the recommended companies it was SM that provided me with the most economical quote. SM does not have an account on Tripadvisor so I instead gathered information from Tripadvisor forums and safaribookings.com. The consensus was that SM is a excellent tour company that you can count on to be reliable, professional, and give you the most bang for your buck.
I was in contact with Victor during the planning stages. Victor immediately left a great impression as he was very professional, pleasant and responsive. The planning experience instilled my confidence and affirmed the great reviews left by hundreds of past clients. Unfortunately, our excitement and confidence was short-lived.
Our itinerary was as follows: 2 days in the Serengeti, 1 day in the Ngorogoro Crater, and 1 day in TP where we could journey home that very afternoon.
SM arranged to pick us up from Moshi at 7:00am to head to Serengeti central. It wasn’t until the day before our safari that Victor suggested we instead stay in Arusha overnight to head to the Serengeti as it is a 6 hour journey from Arusha; if we travel from Moshi another 2 hours would be added to the commute. I wish he suggested this to me earlier so that we could’ve made the necessary arrangements. We had an engagement the evening before the safari so there was no way for us to stay in Arusha the night before. This lack of communication/planning already left a bad taste in my mouth.
We were picked up the next morning by our driver and tour guide, Pius. We knew beforehand that we were not signing up for a luxury vehicle, however, the car was very much dilapidated. Throughout the safari, a few things from the car kept falling off at a time. For example, the window frame (not sure what the technical term for this is) fell off, as well as the bumper – which Pius needed to buy rope to secure back to the car. The seatbelt for one the front seats (which we preferred to sit in as we got a better view being closer to the dashboard) did not work; this is a safety hazard. There were no headrests so we woke up with headaches/neckaches every time we fell asleep during the commutes. Even worse, the car doors did not lock. So, whenever we had to leave the car to eat or use the washroom (with Pius included), I was relying on the good graces of the Lord to ensure no one tried to steal anything from the car. This is unacceptable.
On our way to the Serengeti, Pius asked if we had a lunch box. I don’t know what gave SM the impression that we’d have a lunch box with us as we were being picked up from home, not a hotel. Pius had to stop in Arusha to grab lunch boxes for us – adding 30min to an already long, 8-hour commute to the Serengeti. We arrived in the Serengeti around 4pm. What was supposed to be a 4-hour game drive in the Serengeti (according to the itinerary sent by Victor) turned into a 1-hour game drive as we were dropped to our camp by 5:30pm.
We enjoyed our second day in the Serengeti and Pius worked hard to ensure we saw all the animals we wanted to see. I can say that he was friendly and kind; however, the more time we spent with him, we started to realize that he felt more like a driver than a guide. He knew the names of the animals and birds but did not know anything else beyond that. I wasn’t expecting a national geographic commentary but he did not have any knowledge of basic things like their diet, or general information about their habitat. We were fortunate to see the critically endangered rhino through our binoculars, but when I asked Pius whether the black rhino can only be found in Tanzania or if it can be found in other countries as well, he did not know.
The worst part of our trip happened while we were in the Ngorogoro crater. First off, we didn’t reach the crater until 12pm. I was already worried about lack of time until I learned that the permits only allow 6-hour visits at a time. By 3pm, Pius explained that we saw all the animals we needed to see and there was not much else to see in the crater - and then suggested we head back to our lodge. I insisted that I would like to spend more time exploring the crater (considering we spent a lot of money on our permit) as we wanted to make the most of our time there. By 4pm he began to exit the crater. Therefore, we only explored the crater for 4 hours (1 hour lunch break included). After researching online, I learned that people usually use all 6 hours of their permit to explore the park. Halfway up the crater ascent the car engine seemed to stop working and we were stuck on an upwards slope. I was fearful that the car would break down completely and we would either fall off the ledge or slide backwards onto the vehicle parked behind us. While Pius was getting help from others around him, he did not explain what was happening but looked panicked. Some of the gentlemen helping had to put bricks behind the back tires so Pius didn’t have to keep shifting gears to keep the car in neutral/park. After everything was resolved I was honest with Pius and shared that we did not appreciate not being informed of what was happening at the time. He advised that these issues are common in Tanzania – but can be resolved easily – which is why he didn’t feel the need to explain, but profusely apologized – which we really appreciated.
For our last day, our lunch boxes were forgotten at the lodge. This was really frustrating as we not only had to cut our time in short in TP in order to have lunch in town, but the value and amount of food in a packed lunch box is worth far more than the local restaurant lunch we ended up having in Karatu.
Once the safari ended, I was relieved. It was singlehandedly the most stressful and frustrating vacation I've experienced, and if I were to do it all again, I would not go with SM. In fact, I wish I could do it all again and experience the stunning national parks Tanzania has to offer the RIGHT way! I understand that we went with the most affordable tour company, but when you spend well over two grand on an experience, you at least expect an acceptable level of standards.
Although, our experience does not seem to be consistent with reviews of many happy clients of SM, the cynic in me found that most (if not all) of the clients’ reviews had Amos or Omari as their guide. I tried to look for reviews of Pius and he is mentioned as the “driver only”. Based on pure speculation, I’m inclined to believe that SM may have been “testing the waters” with the knowledge that I’m a long-term volunteer and may not hold the same standards as the wealthy western tourists who often go on these safaris. I think we were given the bad end of the bargain (ie. a battered vehicle and a guide lacking in experience) perhaps as an experiment.
On a more positive note, the accommodation SM chose for our mid-range budget needs were superb (Tukaone in the Serengeti and Eileen’s Trees Inn in Karatu). Also, despite the lack of knowledge and experience, Pius was otherwise really sweet, and even bought red bananas and baobab fruit for us to try during the trip.
With hundreds of TOs in Tanzania, word of mouth is often the most powerful tool for raising the profile of your company. But as it stands, I cannot, in good conscience, recommend Safari Multiways to my large network of expat volunteers, friends, and family in Tanzania.