20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Wonderful time, can't wait to go back!
My sister and I went on an East African 9 day Safarai in Kenya and Tanzania with Africa Safari Classics and have finally got around to doing a review (almost a year later, whoops)! We had a great time - loved the people and the environment. We'll attempt to give you a brief, or not so brief summary.
First night we stayed in EKA hotel in Nairobi, which was lovely, clean and had good food. Maurice, our contact for Africa Safari Classics met us at the hotel the morning of departure for safari and went through everything with us again, prior to introducing us to our first guide, Mackenzie, who looked after us very well in Kenya and taught us our first Swahili words.
The next morning we headed to Maasai Mara reserve, where we stayed for 2 nights at Basecamp Mara, which was amazing! We were blown away by the welcoming staff, fantastic accommodation and mass amounts of food (delicious, but a bit too much for us - 3 courses 3 times a day). Grounds were beautiful, 'tent' was amazing, loved the eco side of things and the positives for the environment. Also note Obama and his family stayed at Basecamp Mara too. We were warned to lock our tents to stop the Baboons 'taking our passports' and going through things. Basecamp is mostly fenced, however one sides boundary is 'fenced' by a river that also backs onto the reserve. You can often see animals passing through the reserve from the camp grounds. The Maasai staff also danced for us one night too, which was great to see their culture. Reflecting back, I think Maasai Mara was the best animal viewing we had. We managed to get up close to Lions, Cheetahs and many others. We managed to see a small crossing at the Mara River also, and Mackenzie did a great job getting us good spots while not interrupting the animals or other viewers. I liked the accessibility of Maasai Mara - there were a lot more tracks that meant you could get to other spots more easily if you saw something in the distance.
Day 3 we drove from Maasai Mara (Kenya) to Serengeti (Tanzania). This was a very long day of driving, including through the boarder and immigration. We joined a small family and their guide for some of this day, who had booked with the same company. At the boarder we found our new driver, Abdul. Abdul, like Mackenzie, is a veteran at tour guiding and was a pleasure to be with. He joked with us and answered our many questions.
We arrived in the Serengeti with a little game drive and arrived at our accommodation at Serengeti Tented Bush Camp. Upon arrival it looked like a bunch of canvas tents in a field, but the tents were simply amazing! My sister was actually speechless. We had the most comfortable mattresses there compared to everywhere else on our entire trip (including Singapore). We each had a double bed to ourselves, accompanied by a writing desk and sitting chair with footstool. The ensuite had a flushing toilet, but you need to give notice when you want a shower so they can fill it for you. Worst shower we had, but they made up with everything else, plus what else can you expect in the middle of the Serengeti?! The staff were very friendly and loved teaching us Swahili around the campfire. The food was lovely, but not quite as great as Basecamp Mara. Most of our stories are from our time in the Serengeti. We loved just being with the staff, learning the language and seeing the animals pass through the field. This accommodation is not fenced at all and we loved it! The first night I saw our guard chase away a Hyena over dinner. The second night I woke to hear a pride of Lions killing something right outside the staff tent (roughly 150m away from us), then heard all the Hyena's calling and fighting the Lions for the carcass. Hence why many of our stories come from that time.
Day 5 we left Serengeti and headed to Ngorongoro Crater in the hope of finding a Rhino. The Crater is worth a look as it's quite fascinating. We did see one Rhino from afar, plus many other animals. We stayed at Bougainvillea Lodge, which wasn't the best accommodation we had, but still quite good.
Day 6 we departed for Lake Manyara National Park. Lake Manyara was probably the prettiest park in my opinion due to the rainforest-like trees. Despite being the most beautiful, unfortunately it had the least animals and was quite anticlimactic at this stage in the trip. It's worth noting that we apparently did the cheaper route - Kenya to Tanzania, rather than Tanzania to Kenya, but therefore meant the smaller parks were at the end. We didn't see Lions in trees, which is unique to this park. We were told this is reasonably uncommon to see; not rare, but uncommon, mainly due to accessibility of cars. We stayed at Manyara Wildlife Camp, which was gorgeous once again!
Day 7 we headed to Tarangire National Park, which was quite pleasant. Stayed at Lake Burunge Tented Camp, which was fabulous! We had time to relax with a swim. The staff sang a version of happy birthday to someone, which was joyful, cheeky and simply beautiful!
The only day I felt unsafe was the day we crossed the border. I found the people, it was mainly the children we noticed, were less friendly than in Kenya. Of course some were great, but others yelled at us as we drove past and seemed angry we were there. A few matters later dawned on me. Basecamp Mara in Kenya works well in conjunction with the local Maasai people, and many Kenyan's have experienced the good of tourists and missionaries, and realise the good it brings to their country. However the roads we travelled on our first day in Tanzania went through many secluded villages. The tour cars travel on these dirt roads, generally varying 60-80km/hr, which creates mass amounts of dust and disruption, while the locals are just trying to live a simple life and move their herds from one place to another (generally on the roads).
I would definitely go back (if I ever save the money). The people are fabulous - kind and funny. The culture is fascinating and the animals are marvellous. Thank you, Maurice, for a wonderful time!
[Flights: We flew Melbourne to Nairobi (Kenya) with Qatar Airways via Doha. Loved Qatar Airways - so polite, give you everything you want and free care packages! We left Mt Kilimanjaro (Tanzania), also with Qatar, and flew to Singapore for a relaxing stop over (not realising how relaxing Africa would be).]
65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
A great opportunity to visit a game park
Thank you Rowley for taking me to Hluhluwe Park and St Lucia Wetlands. It was great to see so many animals although disappointing that the elephants decided to 'hide'. Without your tour I would not have been able to do this and see some of the 'real' South Africa. I really appreciated that you had taken care of all my bookings, met me at the airport and delivered me back there.
ES
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Excellent 6-day camping safari!!
We did an 6-day camping safari included Tarangire, Lake Manyara, Serengeti, Ngorongoro Crater. if I were to do it over again I'd skip Tarangire in favor of another Serengueti day, The best park for us is amazing. The safari was great we got to see the big five close to our jeep including the rhino.
Romeo is kind, professional and efficient . We worked together to create a custom itinerary that fit our desires.
Although this was not a luxury safari experience nor was it a price as such . We would highly recommend Safari Multiways.
US
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Amazing 7 Day Chimp/Gorilla Experience!!!
It was a pleasure to work with Bella Africa Safari's from start to finish. We were on the road when we booked and did not have access to our banks back home to wire money for our deposit. Bella went ahead and set up a way for us to pay with a credit card. We also had a complicated itinerary in which members of our group would be arriving in Uganda at different times. Arranging separate pickups at the airport for both groups was not a problem at all. That was great customer service!
A few days before our safari Bella informed us that she had gotten sick and was no longer going to be our guide. We were disappointed at first, but as soon as we met our guide at the airport, we knew we were still going to have an unforgettable experience. In Kibale Forest we had an amazing encounter with the chimps. We got to see a group of about 10 chimps (including babies) descent from the treetops to the forest floor around up. Our experience trekking for the Gorilla's was definitely the highlight. We got within mere inches of the Gorilla’s. One ever charged us for a moment giving our group an awesome thrill!
The reason I gave 4 stars instead of 5 is because communication between our guide and our group could have been a little better. We actually trekked for chimps one more time in addition to the experience above. The second time was supposed to be in the gorge but the chimp trackers cancelled the trek because of extreme heat. Instead of telling this up front, it seemed as if our guide was trying to convince us to skip the trek and rest up for the following gorilla trek. He ended up working really hard and found us another area to do some chimp trekking for that afternoon, but he never told us why we did not go to the gorge. We found out the reason (extreme heat) from the other couple who was trekking in our group. If instead of trying to convince us not to trek, he just let us know that the chimp trackers cancelled the trek and that he was having a hard time finding a replacement trek, we would have been very happy.
On our Gorilla trekking day our guide never let us know that he was anxious to get to the gorilla trekking headquarters and eventually drove off without any of us and told a member of our group that we could walk. Luckily, we were staying only about a 15 minute walk away. We concluded later that he ended up leaving so that he could get us a spot trekking for a family not too far into the forest. If he just told us that he needed to leave to go get us a good gorilla family to trek for, we would have been so grateful and happy that he left to secure us a good gorilla family. Instead we were confused about why our guide would take off and make us walk right before we were about to spend hours walking to find the gorillas. In both of these instances, clear communication about that was going on would have made us very happy.
However, I will say those are minor things, we still had an unbelievable, unforgettable experience. We chose the mid-range option and all of our lodging was superb and included fantastic meals. If I were to visit Uganda again, I would not hesitate to contact Bella Africa Safari’s to arrange my tour. They offered a great tour, at a great price, with great customer service from start to finish.
NL
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Well aranged safari, with experienced guide and human touch
The guide knew what he was doing, knew where to go for good spotting. Communication with Jeff was good, he kept us up to speed and offered alternatives if needed. We were well taken care of with good lunch and a human touch... Jeff was clear about the teams of our booking and explained everything very clearly. Only minus:you have to pay in cash...
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Perfect structuring
I can't help but recommend them to anyone and everyone.because you get your money's worth
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
customer care
Kajie safaris lived up to expectations. The communication lacked ambiguity. The safari tour was excellent.
In brief i plan to travel with them next time in December. Over all the customer care was excellent.
CA
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Unbelievable Animal Experience
We were quite satisfied with our 5 day camping safari experience.
Areas for improvement: The food was below par due to a mixup with the cook and we were cold, another miss-communication with blankets. Be sure to ask about these details prior to departure.
That being said our guide was great, vehicle was great and the animals we saw were outstanding. I have done the same safari before and this time we saw much more. Our guide really knew where and how to expose us to the animals which was the most important factor. I would book with Moyo again.
DE
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Good Safari for a very reasonable price
It was a very nice safari, our driver was quite experienced and did everything to make our experience unique. The food was also very nice. I think its hard to get a budget safari for a cheaper price. Although the price is pretty low I missed nothing and can only recommend this operator!
NL
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Well organised and nice schedule for the different parks
We did an 6 day safari, it was well organised with the tents and transportation. Communication with the manager was easy as well because I had an Tanzania simcard so we could call.
Only minor was that we had to pay in cash which was a bit difficult because we were already in Tanzania when we received that information.