CL
20-35 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
A great experience in South Luangwa
Our experience with Dens Safaris was quite good. We hired a 5 day and 4 night tour to South Luangwa.
Denver picked us up at our accommodation in Lilongwe (capital of Malawi) and moved us in a private vehicle to the border with Zambia, where we changed to another vehicle that took us to South Luangwa. Denver explained to us that they use their official 4x4 vehicles only if the number of passengers justifies, and as in this case we were only my girlfriend and I chose to mobilize from and to Luangwa in conventional vehicles. In any case, Denver told us that the game drives would be carried out in 4x4 vehicles.
We stayed at Croc Valley Camp as planned by Denver. Initially we had a tent (tent), but we were finally accommodated in larger tents equipped with beds and a safe (a major improvement!). The service at Croc Camp is very good (meals especially), and you have the possibility to see animals roaming freely around the place (at night they even crossed a couple of hippos a few meters from the store).
The game drives were carried out in 4x4 vehicles of Croc Valley Camp, some of which are quite old and require improvement. Even so they never had a panne or problem that prevented us from continuing. In total we had 7 game drives (4 sunset / night and 3 morning), all guided by the same guide that is part of Croc Camp Valley, and shared with other guests of Croc Camp. Denver was present in most of them, showing their interest that everything turned out well in our tour (the rest of the passengers depended only on Croc Camp). The guide that took us to the game drives (Simon) had a lot of knowledge, but often he gave a lot of time to animals or birds that were frequent to find, and little time to others that could be more attractive or unusual (many very showy birds and colorful were ignored, either because the guide did not see them despite being in front of him, or they may not have been attractive to him .. who knows). Despite those details, we saw many species of mammals, reptiles and birds, which confirmed that South Luangwa is one of the places that every lover of safari MUST visit. Especially we highlighted the possibility of spotting leopards hunting during the night, which was repeated during 3 of the 4 night safaris! Wild dogs, many elephants with offspring, thornicroft giraffes, lions, birds, etc.
We recommend Dens Safaris since the price paid is reasonable considering the number of game drives that included the tour and the facilities where we stayed (approx USD 490 per passenger, + tickets to Luangwa for USD 25 per day per person).
NL
under20 years of age | Experience level: first safari
very educational and structured throughout the whole tour.
Overall, I really liked the whole experience. The instructors were very clear in their explanations and so made the tour very educational and interesting. Also the places we stayed at during the safari were very well chosen and made the trip even nicer than it already was.
NL
under20 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Enthusiastic guide and journey
Coming to Uganda for the first time, I had no idea what to expect, especially with a large group. From the moment we met our guide, he was very informative about the different areas we traveled through and eager to answer any questions we had. On the safari tour there were many opportunities to see different animals which I had never seen before. Our guide in the bus was also very educated about the lives of the animals, and we took many pictures along the way. This trip definitely lived up to my expectations, and I feel like I had a really authentic Uganda experience.
NL
65+ years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Useful and educational safari tour
The safari tour was good however I would have preffered to see more wildlife specifically big cats.
MY
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
The guides were friendly, well informed, competent drivers and patient with our queries and demands.
The safari tours were memorable but the unplanned iteinaries, driving across rivers and on slippery dirt roads at night to one of the lodges were exciting and more thrilling.
Our travel in between national parks could be more comfortable, if the jeeps are equiped with air-conditioning such that we would not have to tolerate with the problem of dust.
IR
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
The most powerful and exciting experience- Marangu route Kili climb,Lake Manyara & Ngorongoro Crater
The climb team with God Luck and Jakson as a guide were very professional and his smart advises helped to all of us to climb to the top and make the dream come true.
during our climbing to the Kilimanjaro we enjoyed perfect service from Jiwe Adventures, our guide and his porters crew, all meals were served and the food was great. the porters support us through out all the difficulties of the climbing.
Kilimanjaro climbing and after that 2-days safari( Ngoronoro crater an Lake Manyara) were very well organized. Instructors and company managers were very friendly. Everything worked well. Thanks to Edgar(Managing of Jiwe Adventures), it was a great, unforgettable tour.
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Once we were on the safari, it was excellent!
Pros
+ Safari vehicle
+ Safari camp - Kibo Safari Camp: Beat expectations for accommodations, service and food.
+ Safari: Amboseli NP - great variety of animals to be seen. Great long weekend get-a-way!
+ Hotel pickup & airport dropoff.
+ Staff: driver was safe and courteous.
Cons:
- Traffic to and from Nairobi was absolutely horrible.
- Third person added to safari which was unannounced by tour operator. Caused 1 1/2 hour delay.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great experience!
This was my first safari and I wasn't disappointed at all!! Was a solo traveler, but had no problems because of that!
Food and water were provided as planned throughout the whole period.
PROs:
- managed to see all the Big 5 in Masai Mara thanks to Robert, our guide. Very experienced driver, took us out of some pretty complicated roads, cheers for that! Also stopped at Lake Naivasha even if it wasn't on our schedule, very flexible person!
- in Amboseli Boniface, our guide - very entertaining and funny, plus giving us a lot of information about the park and the animals.
CONs: the accommodations mentioned on the website are not ones you actually book into.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great team and very passionate about their work.
Perfect time to go on a safari, the weather was good, the people were nice and the service was really good.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Good guide/driver who made the most of uncontrollable circumstances
We did a 3 day/2night shared safari to Serengeti and Ngorongoro. It was amazingly easy to set up this safari. Our contact person was accommodating even when we had to switch days. We were picked up at a reasonable time from our hostel. It was a shared safari so we had to pick other people up. The car was somewhat cramped but still comfortable. The drives once in the parks were amazing. Our driver spotted many animals, even a leopard sleeping in a faraway tree. In the end, we managed to see all of the big 5. The food was delicious,but the cook was slow to prepare the dinner meals. It rained during our first night in Serengeti and our guide adjusted our schedule accordingly. The biggest hiccup came when the car had to be filled up with gas. The petrol station in the Serengeti didn't have any so we had to wait for trucks to come from Arusha. We continued our game drive during this wait, but in the end, we arrived at our campsite in Ngorongoro well past dark. I don't know what could have been done differently. Overall it was a good experience.