IL
65+ years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
NIce people but really poor equipment
We took a 3 day Central Kalahari Game Reserve trip with Shipungo. The three people that came with us, Kem the guide, Kem the chef and slo, were very nice and helpful. The food was excellent, and the tent/camping was fine.
However, the vehicle was old and bad un condition. The roof rattled horribly the whole time. It was not suited to pull the trailer, so we got stuck in the sand, and then the trailer kept falling off. On the way back the main tank ran out of petrol and the driver could not switch to the second one, so we waited 2 hours for them to bring petrol.
Since the team was really nice, if you are considering them, ask about the vehicle. They may/should have replaced it.
35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Traditional Grassroots Safari Experience
If you’re looking to rough it out on a Safari, Shipungo Safari and Tours is the company for you. Tough to beat from a cost benefit perspective, but there are still opportunities to improve the overall service. They provided a great support team for photo Safari, with experienced guide. The vehicle is fine, although demonstrating some age. The food prepared met expectations. The purpose of the trip was wildlife photography, the mission was accomplished. Strongly recommend that they install radio in the vehicle to communicate within the local guide network, this would go a long way to finding animals, but above for safety concerns, in the event of an emergency situation in an isolated or remote location
CA
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Good service
The service provided was very satisfying via emails - I always had good answers and replies and on time
But I was disappointed at the hotel as I was reassured the room was comfortable with a queen bed : I got a family bedroom with poor sanitary conditions as it was very dirty hotel and the pool was disgusting
The agency service was good
Thanks
CY
65+ years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Review about Lake Manyara National Park by Regina Ioannou
Hard to judge after having seen Serengeti.
LU
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Unstructured, unorganized and not carefully listing to the clients demand.
Overall it has been a nice trip and our guide and driver made a good job so that we improved the rating from 2 to 3 stars. The reasons why we don't rate this 4 to 5 stars are the following:
- We booked the safari in a different order and after we completed the trip, I have to recommend everyone to start with Amboseli first, second Lake Naivasha (or even better Lake Nakuru) and finish with Masai Mara as the Masai Mara is mind blowing and the other 2 are "only" good. So finally it felt from starting at the top, in the middle it was kind of useless and the end it was a bit better than expected but again, nothing to compare with Masai Mara.
- Our main goal of the trip was to see the GNUs crossing at the Mara River, but we have there only been for 15 minutes because it was raining. So this was really bad organised.
- We had to pay another fee which taken from the Bank of the operator even though I could evidence that I have paid the full amount Inch the local fees of my Bank.
So overall, I can't recommend Mwema.
PL
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
there were three days of safari in the program, we got one :(
Unfortunately, there is a lack of safari. Out of the promised three days - this was the program - we had one. The first day, instead of the morning, we left Nairobi in the afternoon and arrived at camp in the dark in the late evening, the group we were joined with was late. The second was a great safari in Amboseli Park, very fun. The third is a crazy rush to the Tanzanian border from 6⁰⁰ Am, with virtually no stops and a return to the capital, I felt treated like a shipment, We were arranging something else. I hope not all groups have this discomfort. Still, I recommend it. Patrick driver, a very nice guy.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Average
Fair services
but bad with time keeping both drivers and tour guide
US
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Review about Aberdare National Park by Clare
We didn't see quite as much wildlife in the Aberdare but had a great time! Definitely need a car with high clearance - the roads are rough but do-able & make for a fun adventure with the right people.
DE
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great tour, but there is room for improvement.
Hi,
we had a wonderful hike on the Marangu Route / Kilimandscharo. The planning, communication and overall process before the trip has been great, tour price reasonable. Onsite everything has worked as planned, everybody reliable and on time and we felt in good hands. The guides have been very friendly, knowledable, adapated the tour to our speed & wishes and the food has been good. (as higher you get as less it does taste, haven't known this before) We didn't make it fully to the peak due to elevation level but still we had a wonderful once in a lifetime trip!
On the downside of things our support group has been eleven(!) people (to get the two of us on the top?) and it has not been explained to us why we need so many people. This got clearer when it was time for the (not really mandatory) tipping round as everybody expected to receive something. We stayed a little under the 'recommended rates' and still gave 500$. This unfortunately left a negative impression on the professionality of Tansania specialist.
There is no reason not to book with Tansania Specialist, still it might make sense to compare with others as well and have a special attention on these type of details.
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great staff, but beware a bargain
My day trip to Saadani via speedboat from Zanzibar was a wonderful day out, but not without its complications. Abdallah was helpful and communicative from the start, but I had to pay $17 in Tanzanian bank fees to pay a deposit to hold my spot (not the operators’ fault, I appreciate). When the day of the Safari had to change due to adverse weather, the communication and rebooking process was excellent, and they even drove me to a different part of the island afterwards at no extra cost.
My main complaint is that the boat that took us from island to mainland and back was barely seaworthy. I couldn’t believe it when I saw the small size of the vessel, and learned that we had to wade through knee-deep water to disembark (I had asked beforehand if I should wear a swimsuit and was told no so I got my clothes wet!). En route back, the motor actually stopped working and we had to travel back at a very slow pace as a result, taking almost 3 hours instead of 75 mins. It was worrying, to say the least.
The Safari itself was indeed fantastic, and our park guides were very helpful and friendly and spoke excellent English. All in all a great park to visit if like me you only have one day. We saw giraffe, Impala, elephants, many more animals. It was the ideal first Safari experience.