LT
20-35 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
An okayish company with overpriced services
I had two tours with this company: Wasini Dolphin Tour & Shimba Hills. Below you will find my experiences with this provider.
1. The Wasini Dolphin Tour was so-so because we saw the dolphins only partly due to the overcrowdedness of the area where dolphins swim. There were too many other boats around, some people were even swimming though, technically, you can’t swim with the dolphins in the park (at least that’s what a guy from the ticket office told us), so yes, there are some dolphins in the area, but it’s simply overcrowded (at that was in their winter, or off-the-season!). On top of that, we followed the program only partly. In the beginning, our guide told us that we would be visiting a local village after lunch, but when the time came to do the walk, we were informed that the walk is canceled, giving us no adequate reason why.
2. The Shimba Tour was run by a very professional and knowledgeable driver that I really respect a lot! He did an awesome job, but the Shimba National Park is just too boring, and animals are too difficult to spot because of the lush vegetation. We spent half a day driving around and saw only a few antelopes, a small herd of buffalos, and a warthog family. No other animals were present, so you literally pay money just for driving around bushes in a hilly area.
All in all, the company is pretty reliable, they do what they promise to do, and I understand that it’s nature, so we can’t always predict or control everything. I just think the prices I paid for these trips were too high, considering how many animals you actually see during the trips.
IT
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Review about Lake Manyara National Park by Chiara
No flamingos, a lot of monkeys but less variety in comparison to the other parks
IT
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Very beautiful destination
The Ngorongoro Crater and Tarangine Park have been amazing, instead we have taken a bad decision going to Manyara lake, because we expected to find flamingos but it wasn't the correct season.
PT
65+ years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Nice Accommodation, Poor Safari
Most of the value of this 2-night package, which is higher than most, is in the accommodations, a fairly luxury fixed tent on a platform with private toilet and shower, at a nice lodge with a pretty good breakfast and dinner included.
The mokoro ride my first afternoon on the river next to the lodge was actually better than the more-hyped full-day "safari" mokoro ride on the delta the next day. There were plenty of birds, some hippos close by, and a beautiful sunset at the end.
The "safari" mokoro ride on the delta the next day first required a long, bumpy ride to get to the launch site. The actual mokoro ride through thick reeds was just okay. Not as many birds and the hippos only briefly appeared a long way off and quickly disappeared. The mokoro then landed at some remote spot and my guide took me on a long "Bushwalk" that was basically pointless. For the entire two hours we walked there was no wildlife other than a few random birds. The only thing that made it remotely interesting were some animal skeleton parts that looked like they'd been there for decades. My guide wanted to walk me a long way off to another area where the animals "might be", but I declined as my mobility was not up to an even longer hike.
Even if there had been animals, I question if making such a trek on foot a long way from any help with an unarmed guide was even a good idea (we did see some lion tracks).
The only thing that salvaged the day was that on the long, bumpy vehicle ride back we came across a herd of elephants.
The other safari option in this package was a Full Day Game Drive, but I learned from other guests that while there was a decent amount of wildlife, the drive to get to them was even longer, bumpier and more taxing than the one I took.
Three positives were my mokoro guides Kaiser and Carrie and my driver David. They were all very amiable fellows.
DE
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Okay for low budget journey
The trip was really good. We had a very good driver and great fellow travellers. What really bothered us was the organisation in the background. Every fellow traveller had booked a different trip with different hotels, different activities and different lengths of the trip. For this reason, the plan had to be changed constantly. A game drive in the morning was cancelled once and the other times we were late at the reserve because we had to collect all the people for 1 1/2 hours or we had to wait for an hour until the entrance fee for the park was paid. On the last day we were out of the park after an hour because a new traveler had a village visit in his activities.
US
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Very diverse and varied experience!
The reserves and botanical gardens are breathtaking! I recommend seeking tours that offer transport to and from the destinations.
We found people friendly, food and activities affordable and readily accessible.
US
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Unfortunately, Can’t Recommend
This review is long but explains why we would not recommend GoodEarth after two weeks and two excursions with them. We were on back to back safaris with GoodEarth; we did the Kilimanjaro Machame Route Hike and Serengeti to Masai Mara safari from June 25-July 10. We really REALLY wanted this company to work out for us as we spent collectively nearly $12k (USD) on everything and it seemed promising. However once the tour was handed over to the Arusha based team - things quickly fell apart.
It started at the airport for pickup. We landed 4:30pm on a Sunday and were told we’d be greeted by our driver with our names on a sign. We waited and waited and reached out to all the WhatsApp numbers we were given multiple times before we were informed the hotel driver had the wrong name on the name plate. So we waited for nothing. That was our first impression.
We had sent an email to the Arusha office a week prior to landing about renting gear for Kilimanjaro but they weren’t prepared at all. We had to scramble at 9pm Sunday for our Monday morning climb. The morning of the climb - our tour guide, Fredy, forgot to bring some of the gear with him. On our way to the trailhead he asked US to purchase the gear he forgot to pack. We gave him a stern “No”, then he went and found the cheapest gear possible and it leaked our entire climb. Fredy was nice enough, but an EXTREMELY lazy guide. He needed to make frequent stops, was always late, and didn’t want to do anything for himself. At every meal he would call a porter from across the camp to come serve him food that was right in front of him. The entire time on the mountain we listened to him whining and ordering the porters around. It was deplorable, honestly. The last straw for me was when we missed our highly requested and once-in-a-lifetime sunrise on summit day by an hour because Fredy “didn’t want to be cold”. Luckily, Nestory was the assistant guide and respected our time on the mountain. Most of our hike up and the entire hike down was led by Nestory, as Fredy was too tired, too late, or too slow to meet our needs. We were so grateful Nestory was there and we should’ve insisted on him being lead guide on summit day to make the sunrise. The porters were great, especially Reuben and Ola. And Paul, the chef, was amazing - he even went out of his way to make us local food when we requested it. We were extremely grateful to reach the summit and for the rest of the climbing team.
As an apology, the company paid for our laundry and gave us free hats, which was really nice, but the time and opportunity lost (and money spent) were gone forever.
On our safari we ran into issues with the office apparently not paying the park entrance gate fee, causing an hour delay on our game drive at Serengeti. (Luckily the ranger in the gate office eventually had mercy on us and let us in.) At another gate, GoodEarth somehow didn’t realize the gate didn’t accept cash. So I had to use my personal credit card to pay our entrance. ($320 USD.) We were also delayed at that gate for an hour.
We did send our issues to Ndashy (the manager), but he only referred us back to Rose in the office. Rose was incredibly sweet but perhaps was overworked, hence the disorganization and mistakes.
No matter which company you choose, the type of guide you get is the luck of the draw. Your guide makes or breaks your experience… During our Serengeti safari we had Elias, who checked in with us frequently and made sure we were ok. He wasn’t quite as charismatic as other guides we’ve had, but he’s good. If you’re the quiet type, he could be a nice fit. Elias also helped me surprise my husband with the hot air balloon ride I had secretly booked to celebrate our anniversary. He was so clever in helping me convince my husband we were going for an late night/early morning game drive and I’m forever grateful to him for that! My husband had no idea and the surprise was priceless. We can’t recommend our Masai Mara guide - I’ll leave it there.
Maybe we were just very unlucky with GoodEarth. But it was significant enough for us to not choose them again or recommend them to loved ones. Beside that, obviously the animals and nature were absolutely unforgettable and we hope to visit Serengeti again…
PT
65+ years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Review about Ngorongoro Crater by Nicholas J D'Anna
Ngorongoro Crater was a bit dreary because of the overcast. Even the animals, which were not many, seemed uninspired.
PT
65+ years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Not as great as the first time
Returned to Tanzania after 18 years hoping to recapture the magic. Not quite. The first time was during the Great Migration and it was glorious. Huge herds with hungry predators picking them off. This time in June it rained both days in the Serengeti, there were no real herds, and I didn't see a single kill. It didn't help that my tent was leaky or that our guide was more interested in yelling at other drivers and on his phone than being a guide. The overloaded vehicle didn't help nor did the fact that he seemed uncertain who he was supposed to take on which tour.
Also getting into and out of my Airbnb in the center of Arusha was an adventure in itself because of the awful roads, one of which was blocked, forcing us to reverse a long way.
The one highlight was Zanzibar. I stayed in Kiwengwa at The Kichwa House, a locally-owned place, for three glorious nights. The beach was gorgeous, the locals friendly, the food great.
MX
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Good but Unprofessional & Disrespectful
I joined the group as a solo female traveler. Day 1 as we waited for the others, the tour guide asked if I had a bf & that if I moved to Tanzania he would marry me because I’m so beautiful etc. On the last day, the others had to leave early so I was alone with the tour guide. He kept pressing me if I had a bf & said foreign women come to Africa to have sex with African men. He also asked me if my bf & I like to have fun & have sex.
The tour guide also kept watching YouTube videos out loud as we observed animals. It was annoying. I loved the safari but I was extremely uncomfortable with the guide.