CN
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
All arrangements were comfortable with timely communication
Our guide John Papa excels at communication, wildlife spotting and itinerary planning with prompt updates, making our safari an amazing experience.
CN
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
All arrangements were fine, but we were notified last-minute that no Lake Naivasha Sopa rooms.
Our guide John Papa was fantastic. He spotted nearly all wildlife except leopards for us across Amboseli, Lake Naivasha and Nakuru quickly. He’s warm, friendly and kept our trip perfectly well-organised.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Fantastic
I am so glad we found and booked our trip to Uganda through Safari.com! We had the lovely Mel Du Toit organise our trip for us, and she did such an incredible job. Everything from the hotels to the activities we did was incredible, but one of the key factors that made our trip that much more special was our amazing driver, Ismail from Exclusive Uganda Safaris!
He went above and beyond. His wealth of knowledge about the community and the animals made our trip that much more special, and we are so grateful to have had the opportunity to have him as our driver!
65+ years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Best of the best
Trip of a lifetime. Our guide James was just superb. Friendly humorous and so knowledgeable of the animals plants and geography. His ability to find wildlife was uncanny. Got to see a wildebeest Mara river crossing which was unbelievable. And of course the big 5 plus so many more. He made and served excellent lunches even in the Serengeti! Excellent driver and I am a nervous passenger. I cannot recommend mambeu enough. You have to do this!
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amazing
My partner James and I booked a three-day private camping safari with Kilipath African Safaris, visiting the Serengeti and Ngorongoro, and we can honestly say it was one of the best experiences of our lives.
From start to finish everything was organised brilliantly, but the person who truly made our safari so special was our private guide, Harry.
Harry was absolutely incredible throughout the entire three days. From the moment we met him, he was friendly, welcoming and so knowledgeable. His passion for the wildlife and the Serengeti really showed, and he seemed to have an amazing instinct for knowing exactly where to go. Thanks to him we had some unbelievable wildlife sightings.
Having Harry as our private guide made the whole experience feel so personal. Nothing ever felt rushed, he was endlessly patient with all our questions, and he always made sure we were comfortable and enjoying ourselves. He was just as excited as we were when we had an amazing sighting, which made those moments even more special.
The camping itself was an incredible experience too. Being right out in the Serengeti, surrounded by wildlife, was something neither of us will ever forget.
More than anything, Harry was just such a lovely person to spend the three days with. By the end of the safari, we were genuinely sad to say goodbye to him! He is an absolute credit to Kilipath and a huge part of why this experience meant so much to us.
Our safari completely exceeded anything we had imagined. It was without a doubt one of the highlights of our trip to Tanzania and genuinely one of the best things James and I have ever done together.
Thank you so much to Kilipath African Safaris, and especially to Harry, for giving us memories that will last a lifetime. We couldn’t recommend you enough! ❤️🦁🐘
IE
20-35 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Spiky is the best tour operator in East Africa
I've done multiple trips with Spiky tours across years and cannot recommend Sammy and his team enough.
He's an exceptional guide and with him you know you're in good hands.
Cannot recommend Sammy enough, and happy to chat to anyone considering a trip with him. Trust this guy 100%.
Until next time, Tutaonana
CA
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
A curator of an excellent experience
I loved Game Drive Africa. For the entirety of our trip they were consistently on time, well prepared, and equipped with a good attitude. The chefs were fantastic and the food was delicious. Our time in Tarangire National Park was awe inspiring. There were so many elephants, lions, zebras, giraffes, and an abundance of other animals I wouldn’t have thought to ask to seek out but I’m so glad we saw. I’m so grateful to Game Drive Africa for such a life-changing trip.
IL
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Tesher is an excellent driver and tour-guide
We had the luck to see all the best scenarios in Tanzania.
Tesher professionalism contributed a lot. His dedication and professionalism contributed a lot.
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Unforgettable experience
Great organisation from booking to finish. Communication via WhatsApp was prompt and precise. Pricing was transparent and the process was made really easy. On the day we got picked up from our hotel exactly on time. The drive to Maasai Mara was seemless despite the famous road massage. Kelvin and Lucas were great guides, knowledgeable and fun. We had a couple stop overs before reaching the accommodation (Mara Hilltop). Then on to the game drive where the guides were really dedicated to make us see as many animals as possible. We had a delicious picnic in the wild and return to the lodge at the end of the day. The place was amazing, I would definitely have loved spending several nights there. On the way back we visited a Maasai village, which was educative and enlightening. All in all, it was a beautiful experience thanks to Olengugih Safaris and I wouldn’t hesitate to book again with them
SE
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Unreliable and cancelled 1/3 of safari time without reason or reimbursement
Avoid Abuus avel trat all cost. Our experience with them in Tanzania was extremely poor. By our calculation, we missed at least 30% of the game-drive time included in our program, mainly because of delays, poor planning, combining passengers with different itineraries, and time spent dealing with logistics.
Communication was consistently terrible. In Arusha, we received no information about the briefing or when we would leave the next morning. The driver who collected us did not even know which tour company we belonged to.
We had not been told about luggage restrictions and only found out when we reached the vehicle, when this was communicated with a superior attitude as though we should have known. I had also specifically asked before leaving Stockholm whether we needed towels, soap, etc. We were not told that we did. During the briefing, we were promised this would be sorted out the next morning. It wasn't, so we borrowed what we needed from the hotel ourselves.
In Tarangire, we were delayed by about an hour waiting to collect other passengers from the airport. At the picnic site, the guide didn’t care to warn us about the aggressive monkeys. Other groups had guides explaining what to do and staying at their tables to keep them away. Our guide walked away, and we lost about half our lunch.
We did not leave for Serengeti until 10:30, while other groups left around 06:30 and had afternoon game drives. We therefore had no proper game drive on our first day. For the two Chinese passengers travelling with us, whose program consisted of one afternoon and one morning drive, this meant losing half their planned drives.
When we questioned this, our guide first said that the transport into the Serengeti counted as a game drive. He later changed the explanation and said the permits only allowed us to be in the Serengeti for 24 hours.
For our supposed full game-drive day, the guide wanted us to skip breakfast, do a morning drive, return to camp for lunch at 11:30, and then wait until 16:00 to go out again, because according to him you could never see animals between 13:00 and 16:00.
Because of a mistake with the other passengers' program, we also had to remain close to the base in the morning so they could be dropped off and transferred to another tour company. After we insisted, we went out again at 14:00 rather than 16:00. A considerable part of the afternoon was then spent driving to the airport to renew our park permits.
At the camp, there were no chairs in the dining area when we arrived. We were left standing for about an hour while other groups sat. Nobody explained where we could sit or what was happening. Our guide was generally absent except when driving, so there was often nobody to ask.
Ngorongoro was even worse.
The plan was to leave at 06:30. We were supposed to be briefed at dinner, but this did not happen. As we were about to go to bed, we were instead told that departure had changed to 07:30. This was particularly frustrating because we had been told the early morning was the best time in the crater, and we also wanted to see the sunrise.
We did not leave at 07:30 either. We waited another 90 minutes.
Four additional tourists were then added to our vehicle. They had been waiting at the park entrance for an hour (without breakfast), and some had had their entire Serengeti trip cancelled and were fuming.
We finally reached the crater at approximately 09:30. After a short drive, the guide told us it was time for lunch and then to leave. He first said we needed to return to Arusha. When we said we did not mind arriving late, he changed the explanation and said we had to leave because of the permits.
The other jeeps stayed. We could still see them in the crater from the rim more than an hour later. We were therefore the last to enter and among the first to leave, after already losing several hours that morning.
There were many other problems throughout the safari. New passengers continually joined the vehicle, so we heard the same information about the animals four or five times and repeatedly stopped for the same animals. We also drove much more slowly than other jeeps on transport sections inside the parks, further reducing our game-drive time.
The vehicle was consistently dirty and was not cleaned inside or outside. We cleaned it ourselves a couple of times. The windows were kept open during transportation, making the inside extremely dusty. Water was never offered unless we asked.
New passengers were rarely introduced, and nobody explained why they were joining us or how their schedules would affect ours. Departure times and plans changed constantly, often with little or no information. On several occasions, when we questioned what was happening, the explanation changed. Eventually, it became very difficult to trust the information we were being given.
The driver also repeatedly tried to persuade us that everything was fine and encouraged us to confirm that we were happy. Despite all these problems, we did not receive an apology during the program.
Even leaving Tanzania went wrong. There was no information at the hotel about our departure, so we asked the hotel to call. We were told we would leave at 07:30 and go directly to Nairobi.
Instead, we drove around Arusha collecting other passengers and were then dropped at a public bus to Nairobi, despite having a flight to catch. After we objected, the decision was reversed and we were put back into the same vehicle approximately 75 minutes later.
We made a deliberate effort to stay positive and complained very little until the final morning. By then, however, we had lost a substantial amount of the safari we had paid for, and it became clear that we were also going to lose much of our planned time in Ngorongoro.
This was not one late departure or one misunderstanding. It was a consistent pattern of poor organization, lack of information, changing explanations, delays, and other passengers' logistics taking priority over our planned itinerary.
By our calculation, we received at least 30% less game-drive time than promised.